steam cleaners to replace mops?

[Whistler]

http://www.amazon.com/Eureka-Enviro-Har ... 284&sr=1-1

This looks so much cleaner and awesomer than mopping. Has anyone tried steaming their kitchen floors before?

[Dragon Lady]

I have not, but I am interested. Though, I don't love the idea of paying for distilled water to run it. Or putting in soft water just for that.

[Sky Bones]

I steam cleaned my couches today. I also steam clean my bathrooms and few other miscellaneous things/places around my house. I just have a smell hand-held one for now that doesn't have an attachment for the floor, but goodness I LOVE steam cleaning. I love not having to use harsh chemicals but still being able to disinfect.

[Tao]

I've not ever used one, though it looks like a swiffer on steroids, and my mom swears by them. (the mops, not the steroids) I wonder about the lack of surfactants though. Non-polar molecules simply don't stick to water, you need some sort of go-between that sticks to the polar water and any non-polar grime.

I'm posting largely in response to DL's comment; after working as a repairman for a couple of years in a hard-water prone area (not too uncommon here in the Jello-belt) I can say that I was convinced that water softeners are actually a financially smart move, with the preventative maintenance of dishwashers and water heaters alone being enough to counter (most of) the cost of salt. Many of the selling points I hear soft-water nuts espousing are merely icing after that.

[Dragon Lady]

Tao: I'm not against water softeners. Yellow's parents have one, and I've enjoyed it the last few months of living here. (Except getting used to my hands still feeling like they have soap on them after washing was a little difficult.) But my finances are a wee bit tight right now, and probably will be for a few more years, and there are many things I'd prioritize over a water-softener. So… it's just not an option at the moment.

[Sky Bones]

Funny, because we have a water-softener (it's kind of a must with well water), but I still prefer to buy distilled water for my steam-cleaner. Not having to buy as many cleaning supplies makes up for it in my mind. Not to mention I don't mind leaving gallons of distilled water within Baby Bones' reach (for now, she doesn't know how to open brand new ones), whereas chemicals have to go up high.

[Laser Jock]

Are there any water softeners that don't make the water taste super nasty? Or if you have a water softener do you just have to resign yourself to never drinking from the tap again?

(This, along with the still-feeling-soapy thing, are the two big reasons I can't stand softened water.)

[Dragon Lady]

Funny, because we have a water-softener (it's kind of a must with well water)

Not true. At least not in that kind of blanket statement. My parents have well water and have never had a water softener. I would be quite surprised if they ever buy one. And to go along with LJ's comment (sort of, I don't really answer his question), I much prefer the taste of my parents' well water to anything I've ever had in a city. So perhaps it's just the case where you live that well water requires a water softener.

[Whistler]

we have a water softener, but we also have a tap you can get unsoftened water from for drinking. I grew up with naturally soft water and I don't mind it too much.

[Marduk]

Personally, I prefer the taste of soft water to hard water. And even if you don't, I don't really see how it can make water taste "super nasty." It is a purification process; it doesn't add anything, just removes certain minerals. I can see how one might prefer the taste with the minerals, but without isn't bad.

[Sky Bones]

@DL-- I said "kind of" because without the softener, the well water here is kind of stinky and, well, just generally icky. The couple that lived here before us (and built the house) didn't have a softener so it's certainly doable but kind of gross... did I mention I live in the middle of nowhere? The closest grocery store is almost 30 minutes away.

[Genuine Article]

I much prefer the taste of my parents' well water to anything I've ever had in a city.

I first drank well water in a cemetery. Then I realized where I was and that there was a good chance I was drinking up dead people. That kind of put me off of well water.

[Whistler]

Personally, I prefer the taste of soft water to hard water. And even if you don't, I don't really see how it can make water taste "super nasty." It is a purification process; it doesn't add anything, just removes certain minerals. I can see how one might prefer the taste with the minerals, but without isn't bad.

I think naturally soft water has a pleasant taste. However, salt-softened water, when left in a pipe for a long time, has a distinctive flavor that I believe is not due to a mere absence of minerals. It tastes kinda nasty (if you scroll down on the wikiepedia article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_softening, it talks about how drinking really softened water can, in fact, affect your health).

[Laser Jock]

Personally, I prefer the taste of soft water to hard water. And even if you don't, I don't really see how it can make water taste "super nasty." It is a purification process; it doesn't add anything, just removes certain minerals. I can see how one might prefer the taste with the minerals, but without isn't bad.

Like Whistler mentioned, naturally-soft water and salt-softened water are very different. If you soften water using salt (which is the way I specifically dislike), you are adding something: salt, in order to remove the calcium, magnesium, and whatever else. That leaves a very nasty salty taste in the water, which I don't care for at all. I stayed in a motel not long ago that had such gross water I couldn't drink from the tap at all—and I'm not usually a water snob. (I don't drink bottled water, and I generally have no problem with the way tap water tastes different in different places.)

[Sky Bones]

Yeah, our water is also salt-softened and I don't drink it. I wish I could, because I drink a absurd amount of water, but there's just not something quite right with it as far as consuming it goes. Even filtering it doesn't quite do the trick, unfortunately. (But I am just a little bit of a water snob...)

[Marduk]

If we're describing personal preferences, I prefer water that is softened and filtered; just one or the other is not quite as good. I'm not enough of a snob to buy bottled water instead; I'll drink what's available. But LJ, and I admit this is just personal opinion, but I find sodium ions just as bad tasting as the harder mineral ions.

[Architect]

I just want to say that when I saw the title of this topic, I thought whistler had turned into a spam-bot.
That is all.
/disappear

[Yarjka]

I just want to say that when I saw the title of this topic, I thought whistler had turned into a spam-bot.
That is all.
/disappear

Me too. It took me being really bored at 4:30 in the morning for me to even take a peek at this thread. Now that I'm here, I find the conversation about water softening to be quite interesting.