Thursday, September 3, 2009

Look To Garment Steamers For Better Profit

By Martha Serensford

Looking to take all those wrinkles out of dresses, slacks, jackets, suits, and even sweaters without ironing them all? The latest thing to hit households are economical and practical garment steamers which don't damage delicate fabrics like some irons do.

If you want to steam bedskirts or even items like drapes, a garment steamer will do the trick and certainly much faster than an iron could do. Some experts say that clothing steamers have trouble with heavier fabrics like cotton, but they work well with lighter fabrics.

Lots of homeowners are buying garment steamers and are realizing how well they do on getting a nice, crisp finish on shirts and other clothes items. Whether you need to smooth creases or press a pleat, choosing to buy a garment clothes steamer is not a bad idea. They are priced to sell with many $60 to $150

Steaming your garments is not something that all of us have done at home, but the process is fairly simple. Garment steamers are designed to remove wrinkles from fabric and they can also help reduce odors in clothing. Ironing can be rough on clothes but steaming will prolong the life of your fabrics. Many that use garment steamers are surprised at how much faster they operate than a traditional iron.

In a Good Housekeeping article they mention that the person using the garment steamer was able to "smooth the creases" on a silk blouse roughly 2 minutes faster than doing the same process using an iron. You will find the hand held garment steamers which don't rate that well compared to the professional grade steamers

The portable garment steamers are lightweight, inexpensive, and travel nicely but may not be as durable as the professional models and the handheld steamers lack power.

if you're thinking of adding some lavender water to your steamer so everything smells nice, please learn from my error - it'll ruin your steamer. Go figure.

The cleaning procedure below is recommended as a regular maintenance measure to help your steamer maintain its maximum steaming performance.

You will want to perform this maintenance about every three to six months depending on your supply of water. If your garment steamer is severely clogged, it will require that it be disassembled in order to prolong the life of the steamer.

It is recommended that you should take your garment steamer to a technician if it is required that you need to completely disassemble the unit.

1. Remove the hose attachment from the unit. Be sure to remove any excess water from your garment steamer.

2. The hose attachment could be blocked by sediment build-up--use a water hose to clean inside the hose. This should loosen and remove any build-up that may have occurred within the hose.

3. Clean the internal parts of the unit with some type of garment steamer cleaner. This cleaner is acid based so it will remove the hard water deposits as well as the sediment build-up.

4. Fill the steamer with a gallon of water and add at least ten ounces garment cleaner. Turn the steamer on to preheat and allow water and solution to warm.

5. Turn the switch to off and unplug the steamer from the wall outlet. Allow the water and cleaning solution to remain in the steamer for 2-3 hours. Make sure nt to steam the unit with the solution in it as damage will occur.

6. Remove the cleaning solution from the unit. do this by simply tipping the steamer over and pouring the solution out where the hose fits.

7. rinse thoroughly with fresh water a few times.

8. If discolored water or residue continues to come from the steamer, the procedure may need to be repeated.

9. Contact you garment steamer specialist for further instructions or questions.

These few bits of advice will allow you to get the most out of your garment steamer and keep your dry cleaning budget down to a minimum or zero.

About the Author:

No comments: