Two feeding patterns produce two different jobs
A fixed steam cleaning machine is designed to sit at one position and draw water through a hose from a supply point next to it. Once the hose is connected, the operator works without carrying water or watching a level. The trade is that the cleaning area is bounded by hose reach, and the machine, its hose and its cable all need a permanent home with a tap, a drain and a floor that suits a wet task.
A mobile unit carries its own tank and can be pushed to the surface instead of pulling the surface to the machine. That freedom has a cost measured in walking. Count the round trip from the cleaning position to the nearest usable tap, add the time to connect and refill, and the result tells you how many refills a task needs. A four minute round trip repeated through a long task is not a rounding error; it is a decision about how many people the task needs and whether it fits in one shift.
Ask the supplier which pattern the quoted unit supports. Some units accept a continuous feed through an inlet while also carrying a tank, which allows a short task on tank water and a long task plumbed in. Whether a particular unit does both is a question for the offer, not something to infer from a brochure.
Read the inlet row as a physical part, not a description
Most specification tables say only that a machine takes tap water. The part that decides the installation is the connection: the thread size, whether the fitting is internal or external, and whether a tap adapter and hose are supplied with the machine or bought separately. The detail page for the fixed unit in this range records a 4 point internal-tooth joint in 1/2 inch as the connection for its tap water inlet. Treat that as the record for that machine, and ask for the equivalent line for any other model, because a fitting that suits one unit does not fit the next.
Then walk the position and check three things on site. First, is there a drinking water tap within the hose length you intend to run? If not, one has to be put in. Second, is there a drain, gully or trap where the run off from the task may be allowed to go? Third, is there somewhere to store the hose so it is not left across a walkway? A missing tap or a missing drain turns an equipment purchase into building work, and building work rarely appears on an equipment quotation.
Tank volume is not working time
A tank figure tells you how much water the machine holds. It does not tell you how long you can clean before refilling, because the missing term is how much water the machine consumes while running. Ask for the consumption figure and the tank capacity together, then do the arithmetic yourself for the task you actually have. The same tank supports a very different working window on a light wipe down and on a heavy degreasing pass over the same area.
There is a second effect worth planning for. Steam machines draw water into a heated circuit, and as the water goes through, dissolved minerals are left behind. The rate at which this happens depends on the water at your site far more than on the machine. Ask the supplier in writing what water treatment, if any, the machine expects, what descaling interval they recommend for your water, and what part of the machine is covered by warranty when scale is found. Sites with hard water should price descaling as a recurring cost rather than a surprise.
- Tank capacity and the material it is made from, stated for the exact unit quoted.
- Water consumption while running, stated as a figure with the duty it belongs to.
- The refill method: open fill point, sealed inlet, or both, and whether the machine must be stopped to refill.
- Scale treatment, recommended interval, and the warranty position if scale is present.
Water supply has an electrical half
The requirement that stops most installations is not the tap; it is the circuit. A machine that heats water draws power continuously while it works, and the figures that matter are the supply voltage the machine is designed for and the heating power it takes at that voltage. Both are lines on the specification table. Both have to be checked against what the chosen position can deliver: the length of cable run, whether the circuit is shared with other equipment, and whether a local isolator is allowed at the operating position.
Water and electricity sitting side by side is also a safety arrangement, not just a wiring one. A machine intended to run unattended at a supply point should trip and stop when its water supply fails or when the circuit is disturbed. The protection functions a machine provides, and the conditions each one responds to, belong in the written offer alongside the water inlet row, because the two requirements are satisfied or failed at the same spot on the floor.
A battery powered mobile unit moves the question rather than removing it. It no longer needs a cable run to a socket, but it still needs water at the cleaning position, and it needs a charging place that is dry and permanent. Ask what run time the battery supports and how long a recharge takes, so that the shift plan matches the machine.
Judge the supply against your own task
Buyers compare machines against each other when they should be comparing a machine against a task. Write the task down first: the surfaces, how often they are cleaned, whether cleaning happens while the area is in use, and where the water and the run off can be handled without disturbing the work. Then test one machine against that description rather than reading specification tables side by side.
Decide the acceptance standard before the trial starts, in terms you can observe. Did the job finish without an unplanned refill? Did the planned refill fit inside the shift? Did the run off go where it was supposed to? Was anything near the cleaned surface damaged? Set a stop condition for a trial that fails, so a poor first trial produces a written answer instead of another purchase.
A bounded trial on one of your own surfaces, at your own tap, settles more than any datasheet. It also shows the hose length you really need, the walking distance you had not planned for, and whether the machine can be left running while an operator works.
What to ask for before the order
Send the supplier the task description and ask them to answer the same list in writing for the exact unit they intend to ship. The answer you want is not a yes or no; it is the row from the specification table for the exact machine, plus the parts and services that make that row usable on your site.
- The inlet fitting as an ordered part: size, form, and the adapter or hose needed to connect it to a standard tap.
- Hose length options, and the maximum reach the machine supports before performance is affected.
- Supply voltage and heating power for the machine as shipped, so an electrician can check the position.
- Consumables and spares that wear in the water path, and how they are ordered.
Where the standard machines do not match the site, that is a configuration question rather than a rejection. The cleaning range can be specified as customized steam cleaning equipment, and supplier engineers will want the same facts you gathered for the trial. Send those facts with the enquiry: the surfaces, the position, the water and drain available, and how the task is fitted into the working day. The answer then comes back as a proposal instead of a catalogue page.
