With five animals running around the house, keeping things clean is a constant—and often losing—battle. To add insult to injury, I recently had a new carpet installed and find myself on my hands and knees trying to scrub out dirt and cat vomit (sorry for the visual) more than I would like. So when I saw the Dupray NEAT Steam Cleaner and its claim to handle heavy-duty jobs in seconds without the use of harsh chemicals, I knew I had to get my hands on it. When the cleaner arrived, I couldn’t wait to use it. Fortunately, I didn’t have to since it was practically ready to use right out of the box. All I had to do was unscrew the boiler cap, fill it with water—the maximum capacity is 40 ounces—and then press the start button. The water goes in easily, thanks to a funneled design, and the button turned orange as soon as I turned it on. It took eight minutes to switch to green, which indicates that the steam cleaner is heated and ready to use. Since there were some lingering stains on the bedroom carpet, I decided to start there. I put the triangular attachment on the hose and covered it with the microfiber bonnet, which helps pull out excess dirt and debris. All it took was a few passes over each stain, and they were completely gone—literally in seconds. The carpet was left wetter than I expected, sometimes the steam cleaner spits out water instead of steam, and it took a couple of hours to dry completely, but when it did, it looked good as new. Next, I took the steam cleaner to the bathroom to tackle the mirror and the stainless steel faucets in the tub. At just 9 pounds, the steam cleaner is easy to transport. There’s a handle that lifts from the top of the steam cleaner and lies flush with the compact square design when not in use. The 16-foot power cord made it easy to move around the room, so I didn’t have to keep switching outlets when cleaning in a large space. There’s nowhere to wrap the hose, though, so at almost 7 feet long, it’s a little cumbersome to carry it. For the mirrors, I switched to the window tool, which is essentially a squeegee attachment. The attachments come off and snap on in seconds, so it’s easy to switch them out when you’re changing tasks without missing a beat. I wasn’t as impressed with the window tool as I was with the triangular tool. However, the steam lance with the nylon brush did an exceptional job on the shower and the grout in the bathroom; the microfiber pads cleaned my kitchen tile in no time. The only thing missing was a storage container to neatly pack away all of the attachments, but it’s a small price to pay for the exceptional job the Dupray steam cleaner does.
Can you use the Dupray NEAT Steam Cleaner on Carpet?
Yes, the Dupray NEAT Steam Cleaner can be used on carpet. It has a specialized brush attachment and includes a microfiber cloth that, when used together, does an excellent job of pulling out dirt and stains from carpet fibers. However, you should only spot clean carpets.
What does the Dupray NEAT Steam Cleaner come with?
The Dupray NEAT Steam Cleaner is loaded with accessories to complete almost every cleaning job you can think of. It includes two extension tubes, a steam lance, a floor tool, a window tool, a triangular tool (that’s good for carpet), five nylon brushes, and a brass brush. It also includes three microfiber pads, a microfiber cloth, a microfiber bonnet, and one fragrance disc. While the microfiber pads came in handy for cleaning my hardwood floors and kitchen tiles, the Dupray NEAT Steam Cleaner can be used with towels too.
How do you clean the Dupray NEAT Steam Cleaner?
Dupray recommends cleaning the NEAT Steam Cleaner for every 20 hours of use (you may have to clean yours more often if you have hard water). Fortunately, most of the time spent cleaning the machine out is passive. All you have to do is make sure the steam cleaner is at room temperature, empty water from the reservoir, and then fill the cleaner with a mixture of equal parts water and white vinegar and let it sit overnight. In the morning, all you have to do is drain the vinegar mixture, rinse with water, and you’re done.
How much cleaning can you do on one water tank?
Dupray states that you can get up to 50 minutes of cleaning time on one fill, and I found this to be mostly true. There were a few times that water came out when I pressed the button rather than steam. When that happened, the water reservoir emptied faster, which translated to shorter cleaning times. Of course, this was partly a user error, but I think it would be helpful if there was a button you could press to keep the machine on and steaming consistently, rather than having to hold the button manually throughout the whole cleaning process. Since you have to wait for the machine to cool down before adding more water—a process that takes 20 minutes—it can take longer to tackle cleaning projects that require more than an hour of your time since you’ll have to factor in that downtime. As you clean, heat escapes through the steam, so sometimes you have to pause and wait for the light to turn green again, which takes a minute or two before you can continue cleaning.
Dupray NEAT Steam Cleaner vs Poulan PRO PP270 Portable Power Steam Cleaner
The Dupray NEAT Steam Cleaner has a compact square design, but it’s not totally portable. If you’re looking for something that’s a little easier to carry around as you clean, the Poulan Pro PP270 Portable Power Steam Cleaner has similar heavy-duty power and a handful of attachments that allow you to tackle all cleaning jobs around the house. The PP270 is also a few dollars cheaper, retailing around $120 against Dupray’s $150 price tag. However, you will have to fill it up more often—the Poulan holds a max capacity of 25 ounces, while the Dupray can take up to 40 ounces. The Dupray NEAT Steam Cleaner is a multifunctional cleaning tool with an impressive performance on all types of surfaces. It includes all of the attachments you need and runs solely on tap water. So once you make the purchase, you won’t rack up any additional expenses.
