McCulloch MC1275 Heavy-Duty Steam Cleaner, 45 Minute Runtime, 18 Accessories: Mop Head, Brushes, & More - Built for Home, Tile, Grout, Carpet, Furniture, & Personal Car Detailing

After some research and contemplation, I bought this unit to clean and disinfect bathrooms and other household stuff. By in large, most of the observations from the reviews here have been consistent with what I've seen. PROS: 1. Steam lasts a very long time. The manual says it can hold up to 48oz of water from which to generate 2 hrs of steam. This appears to be right if you're holding the nozzle open constantly. In reality, its longer because you have to steam-wipe-steam-wipe repeatedly, letting the machine rest during "wipes". I can get a good 3 hrs of cleaning done on one full tank of water. Also keeping you from holding open the nozzle is that you have to give it time to "recharge" since it appears that it does not generate steam as fast as you use it. 2. It works on what it claims: most "organic" build-ups like soap scum, toothpaste, dirt, etc. Cleans darkened grout nicely. Doesn't damage the finish on fixtures. I was expecting a little too much on the calcium deposits from hard water... steam just wasn't effective. 3. Nice supply of attachments (brushes) although its unclear what types of surfaces these brushes can be safely used on. In particular, I refer to the smaller round brushes. For example, my guess is that the brass brushes are not meant for highly polished finishes. 4. Good enough to clean hard to reach crevices like sliding door tracks (shower doors or patio doors), faucet details, etc. 5. Works well on car wheels. Brake dust is very fine and a pain to clean by hand. Not to mention that the chemicals are often not meant to touch the brake disc surface (I have yet to figure out how splashing water from a hose can be directed only to the wheel and not the brakes within). 6. Steam is the only option for cleaning chemically-prohibited surfaces (I never knew chemical cleaners were not recommended in microwaves!). CONS: 1. Its loud! Not the machine, but the steam as it comes out of the nozzle. I strongly recommend hearing protection while you use it when indoors. My ears were ringing for about an hour after my first session. 2. Steaming takes time. If you're not opposed to using chemicals, often I find that bleach works as good, if not better, than steam. Compared to 5-10 mins steaming a polished chrome bath fixture to get it sparkling, it took 30 secs using your household bath cleaner with bleach. 3. Steam just doesn't work efficiently on mineral build-up. Chemicals are far more time-efficient. Hard water stains and deposits require lots of time and lots of elbow-grease (scrubbing). And even then, I'm not convinced it was cleaner than using chemicals (i.e., judging from the "gleam" off the surface). 4. The steam pressure is not very high. It isn't very low either, but definnitely not high enough to "blow" debris away more than an inch or two from where the steam jet hits. The best approach seems to loosen with steam then wash away with water or wipe away with sponge. Hence, I don't recommend using this for something like cleaning a car engine where neither wash nor wipe are feasible. (I guess you could steam long enough so that the condensed water from the steam was enough to wash away the gunk on its own, but that would take forever.) 5. It needs time to build up steam pressure while you work. The light is supposed to turn off when it is ready. While in use, the light will come on when the pressure reaches some threshold. Continued use beyond that point without letting it rest means you work with less pressure. When the tank is full of "condensed" water, the light comes on more frequently. As the water is depleted and more volume in the tank can accommodate vapor steam, the light comes on less often. 6. The width of the brushes simply do not permit reaching into 90 degree crevices or those really tight spaces. This is minor, however, but a flat or low-profile brush attachment would have been nice. A medium bristle toothbrush is a nice companion in my cleaning adventures... Overall, pretty happy with this unit. To be efficient, I've found using a combined balance of chemicals and steam is best. It definitely reduces the amount of chemicals I need to use. For hard-to-reach or delicate surface areas, steam wins outright (with the mentioned toothbrush).

This is my first steamer of any kind, other than a clothes iron that is hand held. Ive seen infomercials for other stuff but curious about chemical free cleaning. This is a little "loud" but loud is relative. Its not any louder than a vaccuum, but yea its louder than using your hands to wipe something. It is also only loud when u squeeze the trigger not all the time while using it. I got about, on a full tank of water, 2 hrs+ And i didnt even use it all up. It was squeeze and steam, than wipe, and so on.. ot constant while squeegeeing or mopping with it. The book says 45 min of continuous use and i say NO way.. Now note - u dont have to pull the trigger full blast either for it to work. You can do different amounts of steam each time u pull. It also has an autolock so for mopping or etc u can lock it down. Packaging: Box of items came farely well packed. A little concern on how the hose could be inside, could be prone to kinks but all in all - well dont and items easy to open. Materials: Plastic from accessories are NICE. They look solid and feel solid. Sometimes companies provide thing guage cheap feeling plastic that either WILL break or just makes u be overly cautious for being afraid it will. None of these gives that impression at all. I feel these are pretty heavy duty and will even hold up against the abuse i am sure my wife will give it. The shiny plastic on the actual unit is nice and astheticlly pleasing to the eye BUT looks like could easily scratch. To me its a tool, not a Porsche so its fine. The power cord and tank to nozzel hose are REALLLLLLLLLLLY long. I mean when its plugged in to my kitchen in our townhouse i can walk to the front of the house and do some steam mopping.. Thats a good 30 feet?? Nice added bonus surprise. Performance: Blown away.. completely surprise. Little flap opens and unscrew a veryyyyy heavy duty bolt top. That is where the water goes in. Be sure to use the funnel like instructions say so water doesnt spill. It holds about 48+ oz of water. I have a paper towel around the funnel when pouring water just to make sure to catch any spill.. can go down into electronics. So fill it up, screw down TIGHT, and one button turn on. For a medium to small fill tank - maybe the 4-8minutes heatup informed by the owner manual is correct but NOT at all for the full tank. That took a bit more. But the heating mechanism i believe is a series of metal fins that are conducted with electiricty to heat. SO think heating up 2 gallons or so of water on a stove. ITS NOT GOING TO HEAT IN 4 MINUTES!!!!! So all the negative reviews "it doesnt heat in 5 minutes".... just think about it people sheesh.... Even when filled its still light weight. Accessories: NICE!! i couldnt believe how many they sent. seems kinda lame to label that "handle and nozzle holder" as an accessory. That must be a joke, right? I mean its actually PART of the unit u have to screen in. If anything, say the phillips screw driver they include for free as an accessory (it was a added perk and VERY nice quality driver). The squeegee worked OK. you have to make sure both front and back of of it are down so the channel of the steamer holes can trap steam in. the first lip is stiff and hits "soap scum or goop" on a window or wall, then steam channel, than rummer squeegee. I read others had issues, some didnt. Just learn a technique and you are good. The steamer mop is great. We have another stand alone steamer mop and it is just... not nearly as good. This steamer mop head swivels which the other doesnt, has a better groove set design where it steams from, is much hotter water, and over all a better performance. The little brushes- ive used the soft brush, the triangle brush, and the other.. they are OK. I mean id rather use the nozzle part and wipe or use a scotch brite sponge and do the job by hand than scrub with that thing.I havent tried it on the grill yet. Areas i cleaned which surprised me: The HVAC intake vent - its had years of just whatever stained on it. and its th slotted vent fins so an odd angle. Just was never on my to do paint list. This time i blasted it with steam and it all wiped right off... chemicals and other stuff have all failed! Faucets, the lip where the sink mounts to counter, parts of microwave and stove, and faucet heads themselves - it BLASTEDDDDDD out years of mildew (no our house isnt dirty, just normal buildup thats hard to get), lime, and grease just came right out. I even cleaned inside our stove and bam - sparkling! I am going to use one of the attachment heads for clothes but have not had the chance to. I will def come back on here and give an update review at a later date. Only downside.. and i mean only - is that sometimes the nozzle blasts a little water and not steam out. Is this my fault? I am wondering if it is because perhaps when i put the nozzle down it goes below the level of the tank and causes that bubble to move.... i wanna try to use it more and google to see what i can find. I strongly recommend this to anyone and this will be used just about every weekend if i can help it. I simply am AMAZED and have not written a review like this in a longggggg time. I will check back in a month or two to update this review. I have a good feeling i will be using this an aweful lot.

Easy to use. Works decent. It's definitely not an $8000 unit, but I do feel that it's definitely well built and works great, and for less than $200 bucks you really can't go wrong with this purchase. Why only 4 stars? Well because I do feel the advertisement video is over-hyped. Don't get me wrong, this is a great unit, and it does get some things clean fairly easily and to satisfactory results... I really don't see anyone cleaning their engine with this thing unless you don't have any heavy build-up (as shown in the video). I honestly don't think I would have used this for that anyways. But I do feel that in order to get the fifth star that the product needs to at least do what it shows in the advertisements. I'm Satisfied with my purchase (1 star), The price is right (2nd Star), I would recommend the product to a friend (3rd star), The product feels durable (4th star), Works as Advertised (removal of the 5th star).. I have used this for cleaning my house though, and I can constant comments from visitors about how clean my house is, how new my windows look etc.. This unit does a great job at cleaning household things, and perhaps detailing the interior of your car. The floor steamer works great, the nozzles are cheap to replace when they wear out, in fact you can get the replacement bristles in a 5 pack from MCCulloch for like 10 bucks, which isn't that bad at all. Compared to everything else in the price range, I feel like this was perhaps the best buy. I originally had planned on getting the SteamFast unit which was slightly cheaper than this one, but decided against that buy because people complained about the attachments breaking. After purchasing this one I feel like it was definitely the better buy because the attachments just don't feel like they're going to break, they feel fairly solid to me... It's easy to get carried away with this thing, so make sure you have plenty of time when you decide to power it on! Everytime I whip this thing out, it's like immediately I start thinking "What can I steam?" I enjoy using mine, and without any thought I strangely find myself steaming everything in my house, but it does effectively remove a lot of grime and crud, and I've cleaned my stove with it... Now before you buy this thing... You need to realize that it is a steamer. It doesn't suck up water, it does generate steam which comes from heated up water, so whatever you steam you will need to devise a way to clean that up whether it be a vacuum, rag, or paper towel. Additionally think of it like your coffee maker... If you use tap water in it, you're going to find yourself later running vinegar through it to clean out the crap in your tap water, which is why I use distilled water in mine (not bad since it's cheap to buy anyways). So do yourself a favor, save time and maintenance by buying distilled water or filtered water in it. Additionally you need to make sure it cools off before you decide to empty the water, and make sure after you turn it off that you relieve the built up pressure inside of it (i.e. unplug the unit, pull the trigger on the steam control much like you do on a pressure washing unit). Not really a whole lot more I can say about it. I love using this thing, It's like having a new essential item in the home, it has a lot of great uses and will save you time cleaning quite a few things. If you're looking for a great unit under $200 you can't go wrong with this unit... If you have $8000 to blow then go buy a professional line steamer. This unit does everything I need it to, and I'm sure it will do most of the things you'll want it to, unless what you want it to do is blast off 80 years of grease build-up off a car engine... Great buy... Have fun!

For months I have been reading reviews trying to figure out if the McCulloch Steam Cleaner was worth it. Some people loved it, while others derided it. I read dozens of reviews looking for balance among them. Finally, I ordered it and hoped for the best. The beauty of Amazon user's reviews is that with enough reviews, positive or not, it is possible to figure out an accurate 'feel' for a product. This one kind of had me stumped. There are plenty of reviews already, but I hope my opinion is helpful in further clarifying the many previous good reviews. It is well made, seems to be an ABS plastic, so it will withstand some punishment. The brass fittings are a nice touch and just part of the overall good build of the machine. There are several parts for different cleaning applications, such as floors, a squeegee for flat surfaces, and several different small heads, some with nylon bristles, others, metal. The unit is fully assembled, except for one piece, the handle, which takes about 10 seconds to attach with the included screwdriver. I do wish they designed something for cord storage. I just gather in and bind it with a heavy elastic band. I find the unit small and even when full of water, not heavy. The cord and the steam hose are both adequately long for me. Before I started, I took 5 minutes to read the manual. I didn't use distilled water, but I have filtered water and I expect I will have to follow the process removing minerals every so often. There is no sound that I can tell, coming from the base unit, but the escaping steam makes a loud hiss, nothing that bothered me, others or pets. You couldn't watch television with someone using this in the same room, but the sound is what I expected with a machine that sprays steam. The base control is a button/trigger that also has a lock for continuous steaming. I cleaned all over and this little machine surprised me. I cleaned my bath and shower and overall, I was impressed. The porcelain wall tile, toilet and marble floor came out quite literally, as new. The textured privacy glass, the metal all over was perfect. Using cloths to wipe up following the steam was fast and easy. My 8' x 4' mirror wall cleaned fast and easy with no streaks. The grout in the floor and walls was cleaner, not perfect, but good. A second time might yield better results. Where it didn't work so well was soap residue and mineral deposits. There were some mineral deposits on the granite counter, those actually came out, and with just a little more effort than I had been using. I was surprised, as the soap reside in the shower did come off the walls, but very very slowly but on the tub floor, it really wasn't worth it and would have taken a long time and likely a few refills of water. I am a pretty neat and tidy person to begin with, so these surfaces are not untouched for months and I am expecting the steam cleaner to instantly overcome that. It seems to be a combination of minerals and soap residue that needs to be scrubbed off and the steam cleaner isn't up to the task. Given how hard it is to get that off manually, I'm hardly surprised the steam cleaner can't remove it. The reddish colored iron water stains however, came right off. These are stains that appears reddish in tone in sinks, tubs, shower and toilets. The pressure of the unit is adequate for cleaning around the home. Thinking of steam cleaning your car engine with this machine? I think that is a stretch. Do not buy this unit thinking that you are getting the power of a pressure washer, you don't. A little more pressure would be nice, but for cleaning around the home, this does a nice job as is. The reservoir holds 48 oz of water and if you need just a quick clean, you add 16 oz, which will give you about 15 minutes of steam, also the less water you add, the faster it heats up. A full tank took several minutes to heat up, I didn't time it, but it was fast enough. The plastic bristle heads seem to melt sooner than I'd thought, but I count those as a disposable part, plus replacement is inexpensive. In the kitchen, the cleaning continued. My refrigerator is newer and looks clean, but this machine brought out stuff from every crack and crevice. The controls, the door seals and the surface are indistinguishable from new. The same with the dishwasher, range hood and the stove, their previously unreachable crevices that hide dirt are now reachable. They never looked this clean before. Porcelain sinks in the bath and kitchen are items that I don't think a steam cleaner can clean adequately. They might be clean on the surface, but the stains tend to be in the porcelain and beyond the reach of steam cleaning. I used a liquid cleanser on the kitchen sink and finished with the kitchen. It was exceptionally clean. One thing to note is the superb job that steam cleaning does on metal surfaces. The range, the faucets, trim all look out-of-the-box new. I cleaned microfiber upholstery, painted walls, the Litter Robot LRII Automatic Self-Cleaning Litter Box, Beige , windows sills and screens, bath & kitchen cabinets and inside the microwave. With few exceptions, the McCulloch Steam Cleaner has taken everything I have thrown at it. I bet this can steam clothes, but I haven't tried it. So, for me, I am quite happy that I listened to the positive reviews. As to those that didn't have a positive experience, my only thoughts are that they may have been used to a more powerful (and expensive) unit, they have significant minerals in their water or possibly they expect more of this steam cleaning unit than they should. I can't say, those are guesses. My experience has been almost completely positive. Pros: * cleans most surfaces fast and easy with no chemicals * versatile attachments * simple operation * small & lightweight * impressive cleaning of many surfaces Cons: * no organizer for the power cord * steam pressure is adequate, but a little more would be good * can't remove heavy soap residue/minerals from bathtub & shower Bottom Line: At this price range, this unit is hands down, a great performer. I did look at other units that were 4x and 10x the cost of the McCulloch Steam Cleaner, an amount which is far more than I am willing to spend. For household cleaning, this unit did an impressive job and left most everything noticeably cleaner. Only exceptions are the heavy soap residue and minerals which I still need to use elbow grease and cleaner. With that said, this is a very good value for a good steam cleaner.

I am allergic to everything, especially dust. For this reason, I have no carpet - only hardwood floors, or tiles in the kitchen and bath. I saw an infomertial for some Euro-steamer thing, where they touted how well the "steamer" cleans hardwood and tile floors with water and no chemicals. I figured I'd buy through Amazon for quicker shipping. However, most of the reviews explained that the unit was cheap, and that it would break in just a few uses. Other people burned themselves. One reviewer suggested this McCulloch steamer. I bought the McCulloch MC-1272 in December 2005, to clean all the floors in my apartment. I've used it every 2-3 weeks since. In general, using this steamer is a little more inconvenient than a vacuum because you really don't want to bang it around or tug on the hose. Here are the negatives- it doesn't have a handle, which makes moving it from one room to the next a bit of a pain. But I guess that's because they don't want you walking around, carrying a tank of super-scalding pressurized water. Nuff said. Also, the device ships with one cloth that's used for the floor-cleaning attachment. It wears pretty fast, so if you're getting the steamer primarily to clean floors, I highly recommend you order some extras right away. They are machine washable. Also, I recommend you get a six or eight inch funnel from your hardware store, for filling the tank. If you try to use the spout of a pitcher, you will spill water everywhere - but that's mopped up pretty easily once the beast is fired up. Here are the positives- fill it up, turn it on, in about 10 minutes you're steamin' away. The hose is quite durable, and despite the warning stickers everywhere, none of the surfaces on the attachments have gotten so hot that they could have burnt me. This was a subject of many complaints with the EuroSteam thing. Also, none of the attachments has sprung leaks, or melted - another common complaint with cheaper steamers. With a gallon of water, this steamer pushed steam for about 45 minutes, which was ample time for all the floors in my apartment. I figured I'd plug in some of the wire-brushes and attack all the mildew in the shower while waiting for it to empty. The jury's still out on the shower; I think a few squirts of Tilex do a better job on grout. But for cleaning hard surface floors, I have found nothing better than this steamer. The bottom line- if you're thinking of getting a steamer, here's what you should consider: this model steamer is the low-end of the "good" quality devices. Anything cheaper will be a waste of money, and will only be good for a few uses before it breaks, melts, or springs a leak and burns you. If you have the cash and can spend more, do so - you DO get what you pay for. There are more expensive models with fancy features, and greater capacity. However, if you're like me and trying to get the most bang for the least possible buck, this machine is where innexpensive and quality meet. It has been reliable for me, for the past 5 months.

I purchased this a few months ago because our new home has 12 foot tile covered walls in the shower and cleaning would be very hard without a ladder. I first tested it when I needed a deep cleaning of our rental home before moving out. I let it head up for about 20 minutes and only use distilled water. Someone previously reviewed and said to ignore the red light coming on and off. I do just that and haven't had an issue with the steam running out. Floors were a different steam story..(see what I don't like) Here is what I love about this cleaner. Easy to use, lightweight, steam lasts a long time, reminds me of a snorkeldorf. (google it) Window screens-Works really fast and I had no idea the screens were so dirty until I blasted them with the steam. Baseboards-Probably not a good idea to mix water with baseboard but my sons room had really dirty ones behind where the bed and the computer desk was. I used a Swiffer and that didn't work, shop vac didn't work so I tried the steamer and it worked great. Used a cloth to catch the mud that the dirt/water mixture made when it was running down the baseboard. Shower/bath soap scum-Loosened all the tough to remove film from the tub. My daughter uses bath gels in the tub and the steamer worked wonders and took away the need for heavy arm scrubbing. I previously would buy the Magic Erasers which are great but expensive. This worked just as well. Also does a great job blasting away the dust that gathers in the tile area of the tub. I love that I can use this around the base of the toilets and just wipe the yuck away. Steam cleaned the mirrors. The squeegee thing is awful but the steamer and paper towels worked very well. HAIRSPRAY RESIDUE!-This gets all caps because hairspray is really hard to remove from vanities and tile flooring. The cleaner paid for itself when the residue was magically melted from the vanity and floors. Carpet-Used yellow cleaner from the dollar store on stains. Blast the spot with the steamer, stain is gone and hasn't reappeared. Refrigerator-I am amazed at how easy cleaning the fridge was with the steamer. It does get hard to see because of the steam but removes sticky residue with no problems. The grates under the fridge easily cleaned as well. Drains and faucets. Cleaned fast and well. Glass top stove and overall kitchen was cleaned using the steamer and small brush and everything came out clean. Diamond ring-I had to try it and yes it cleaned it as good as when I take it to the store for a cleaning. I don't know how safe it is, but it does work great. Tires-cleaned the rims up nicely. In the new house I attached the mop and used it to do the high walls. It worked ok but it was hard to maneuver. I isn't meant to go vertical and not worth the hassle. I will stick with using one of the brushes. The steamer leaves a nice clean scent behind. I'm not one to care about using chemicals but if you are, then you will love how clean things get and smell with just distilled water. Here is what I didn't like: Grout. I'm in tile hell with these Florida houses. Steamer did not do anything for the grout. Floors. I use an Enviro steamer that works great. The McCulloch steamer couldn't hang. Ran out of steam within five minutes and had to wait another 20 min to rebuild the steam. I'll stick with my Enviro steamer for the floors. Squeegee-I don't know why they even include this. It doesn't work. Walls-I foolishly tried the steamer on the spots on the walls and the contractor grade paint in the rental house melted away. I had to repaint. My fault, but I wanted to mention don't use it on cheap paint. If you set the nozzle down for a few minutes and push the trigger you will get a good amount of water spray before the steam comes. This doesn't bother me but some may not like it.

I purchased my "Moe", back in Oct. I haven't been disappointed. I call him Moe because he is my robot buddy following me around cleaning up after me, like in a certain robot Pixar movie. Anyway,Moe has helped me clean bathrooms, tile/laminate floors, soot out of the fireplace, the bbq grill, throw up in the car, mirrors, windows, chairs, tables,oil stains on concrete, mattresses, carpets, walls, bookshelves, plastic toys, a desk, the desk chair, baseboards, hangers, dress clothes and I am sure there has been more but I think the idea has been conveyed. I got this steamer to help with a bedbug problem. Our family went on a multi phase strike to wipe those nasty buggers out. I feel very strongly that we would not have reached success so quickly without Moe. Since then I have found a million other things that he is handy at helping me with. I did not give five stars for the reason that the attachments have the tendency to fall apart after a few uses. The glue on some of the scrubbers doesn't hold up, but I wouldn't trade him in for anything. He has earned his keep. I wanted to give a 4.75 star rating, but alas they only like whole numbers. The steam noise is loud, so use caution with small pets around. Our little dog is not happy to see Moe come out to work. And I disagree with other reviews saying it doesn't get hot. It does! So if you have children it's a wonderful tool to clean up all kinds of spills, but careful when they are around. Some have said that it is awkward to not have a place to put the scrubbers and such. I have a gallon zip top bag that most all the pieces fit in except the squeegee, I keep everything all together in a canvas tote with extra rags to wipe excess water. When I am finished with Moe and he gets tucked away in his corner I hang the bag on his spout/nozzle holder. It works well for me. We have cut down our household chemical expenses drastically since our purchase. I think with proper care we won't have any problems. He has proven to be a true work horse. ****UPDATE 2016***** I purchased my "moe" in 2012. I have now been using him for four years. We are a military family and move a lot! So every house we move into and out of this is my go to cleaner. It blasts through years of grime at rental homes we are moving into that do not have my standard of clean. I use it when we leave a rental home and we ALWAYS get our deposit refunded and usually we get the remark that the property management company do not have to send in a professional cleaning crew. I have not had any issues with my steamer. And I use "moe" every week. EVERY WEEK! When we move this goes in the car with us. I do not leave him behind. We are getting ready to move again so we will add another house to our conquered list. I have UP GRADED to five stars because it's still going strong. As I have mentioned the accessories are not the greatest but it is easy enough to use other scrubbers and such. The accessories that I really need the power sprayer, the floor steamer, and the squeegee are still top notch shape. The pads to the floor attachment are kind of sad and do not want to adhere to the attachment but after four years of constant use I am really ok with that. I hope this updated review is useful.

I just received this steamer today.It took me 1hr and 20 minutes to do my room.This is better than a handheld steamer because it puts out a lot more steam at one time.On my handheld steamer it used two cups of distilled water to do my room with this McCulloch steamer I use 6 cups of distilled water to do my room.The more volume of steam help kill the bedbugs better.This steamer still has one problem it does not get hot enough to do a good job killing bedbugs.When I was steaming my vinyl sheet flooring a lot of times I would feel the floor afterward and it would only be warm.I saw on youtube bedbug tv That the area you just got steaming should be hot after you steam it to get correct tempature to kill bedbugs.This steamer work very good at killing bedbugs on my vinyl sheet flooring I have only 3 vinyl floor seams going across the width of my room.When I am doing a area of floor I put my 6 way outlet boxes on top of a plastic half size milk crate I bought from the container store.I do a area and if the next area has 6 way outlet boxes and sometimes where the two extension cords connect I put it on the half plastic milk crate.I connect the floor mop attachament directly to the handle and get on my hands and knees to do the underneath my bed ,metro rack,and underneath the sink.I stand up and bend over when using it on the floor with nothing to go under.I hold the attachment 1 to 2 1/2 inches above the floor do not put the mop pad on use it without the mop pad and put it on continuious steam.For the edges and hard to reach places I use the triangle attachment because the floor attachment is to big to get in a small areas.This steamer might be a 4 or 5 stars steamer if you compare it with other 1500 watt steamers in its effectiveness to kill bedbugs.Maybe the only difference is some 1500 watt steamers have a valve that lets mostly only steam come out then no valve I am only guessing.I always try to place the steamer postioned horizontally on the floor with the steam hose going thru the carry handle going down thru the front of the machine this makes the steam ready light easier to see.I sit in a chair with the machine horizontally in front of me.When the steam ready light goes off I pick up the machine and postion it horizontally in the new area where I am going to steam this way when the steam ready light goes back on I can stop steaming.This takes some time to learn how to do this because you need to get used to where to postion the machine in the area you are steaming first. After using this machine 6 to 8 times you should be able to do this.This steamer probably will not kill bedbugs in carpet and do a so so job killing bedbugs on upholstered furniture.But for me that am steaming my vinyl floor I am not supposed to be steaming it work good because a hotter steamer would ruin my vinyl floor.Plus it only pulls 12.5 amps and will not trip my electrical breaker.So this steamer is a perfect fit for my bedbug situation.A update about my steamer I have stopped using it because it does not cover my furniture where clutter is where bedbugs are coming and leaves no residual poison so I am using a spray you mix in a one gallon sprayer and Phantom aerosol,delta dust and Cimexa for my bedbug problemI was getting to many bedbug bites everyday.You need to use something that leaves a residual poison to kill bedbugs or you will have a big bedbug problem.I have since changed to using pesticides and this has solved my problem.