How and why the more inexpensive steamers are purchased first?
The Journey from Skepticism to Essential Tool: Steam Cleaners in Auto Detailing
Suppose you have been around long enough and have been in the car detailing business for a while. In that case, you will remember the days when steamers either did not exist, nobody knew much about them, or nobody trusted that they could actually HELP your business. So, only a few detailers bought them. The selection was also limited, and the performance was mid-line as I go back many, many years ago. I saw the potential, so I bought a cheaper one just to try. And it worked, so I kept using one. But I certainly did not buy the most expensive one out there as I was on the fence, and not many detailers had them. There was not a lot of feedback or information about steamers and detailed use, so I was kind of on my own. Gradually, I stepped up in quality and price. I learned a few lessons along the way. And today, we have Chief Steamer. I think we can admit that many detailers use one of our models.
Evaluating Cost vs. Quality: Making Your First Steamer Purchase
It’s basically a given that almost ALL detailers know of steamers. I am sure they know that they can significantly help. Most have one, and more importantly, if they do not, most are thinking about getting one.
So……which one and how much money do you spend on one?
It was way back when I did not have or want to spend a lot of money on one. Especially my first one. I really did not know how effective steam cleaning would be. I did not know how much time it would save. I did not know how customers would react and accept steam cleaning. And I did not know how much MORE money a steam cleaner was going to make me. So I went as inexpensive as I could. I figured they were all about the same. They blew steam and were hot. I did not have the experience I do now in knowing everything about steam cleaners and how they need to be built to aid car detailers. So my first one was cheap and inexpensive. It worked fine, I guess. Then, I quickly broke it. I bought another. Then another, then another. I have been there and done that. So I get it, and I understand the thinking of buying your first one. You think they are all about the same and the cheaper ones will be as good as the expensive ones. So let’s see how much money we can save and get the cheaper one.
Breaking the Cycle of Cheap Steamers: When to Invest in Commercial-Grade Equipment
I understand most people will want to spend the LEAST amount of money possible and still get good performance and reliability. Can you get this? Maybe. But probably not. It depends, of course, on the steamer, what your expectations are, how hard you are going to push the machine, and how dirty the cars are. Very inexpensive steamers are generally just not up to the task. And it’s NOT the steamer’s fault (insert any brand you want here). Inexpensive steamers are NOT made for commercial use. They are NOT designed for high pressure, high volume, high heat, or high performance. How can you possibly expect that? These steamers are good for what they were designed to do. Low duty and low volume use. As soon as you expect one of these machines to perform at a commercial level, you will either be disappointed or break it soon enough. And it’s NOT the steamer’s fault. If you are a commercial user, and you break a residential cheaper steamer, and you complain about how poor the machine is, then shame on you. Again, NOT the steamer’s fault
And some guys KNOW this! But they buy them anyway because they are cheap, and they, deep down, do not think that a commercial steamer will give that much more performance for the added cost.
Chief Steamer’s Philosophy: Quality and Performance at the Right Price
Let’s do some math.
We have to assume that the cheaper steamer, even if it performs for a while, will still be slower and less effective overall than a commercial steamer. However, the detailer still knows even the cheaper steamer is still better than cleaning the car the old-fashioned way with tons of cleaner, manual brushing, and getting everything soaking wet. So, the cheap steamer wins BIG over the conventional methods. Let’s say the cheaper steamer saves you 15-20 minutes per car. It’s making you money by saving time and chemicals and producing a cleaner car that customers are happy with. It’s a TOTAL WIN! Sure looks that way if you do 3-4 cars per day, you save an hour or more. It gets you to the next car quicker, and if you are at a minimum of $70 per hour or more, you can make another $70 per day.
Understanding the Specifications: What Sets Commercial Steamers Apart
But if you push that steamer hard, it’s going to break. ALL steamers break. I repeat….ALL steamers break at some point. The cheaper ones just break first. So you break it. It’s probably not the steamer’s fault as you beat on it and do not maintain it (maybe because you don’t take care of any of your equipment, or it’s cheap, and you don’t care when it breaks). But it breaks. What is wrong, and can it be fixed? Is it under warranty, as you are using a residential steamer for commercial use? Is this a catastrophic failure and not worth fixing? Is it simple and easily repaired? Can the company it be purchased from repair it, or are any part failures just not worth fixing, and you just buy a new one?
From Chief Steamer 75 to High-Pressure Models: Navigating the Range
Many detailers tell me that when they break a cheap one, they buy another. You’ve made a bunch of money with this one already, so just invest in another and maybe take care of this one a little better and get it to last a little longer this time. So the first is now a parts donor. And you place the second one into action. So that is 2. Use this for a while and get a little longer life out of it, but then that one breaks. Maybe you can figure out the issue or have the company figure it out. Maybe the donor machine has a different problem than this one. So maybe you can fix one of them and get a little longer use out of it. You are still making money with that cheaper steamer. But at some point, you may have to go to unit #3 or keep fixing units #1 and #2. Performance remains the same, and time savings remain the same
The machines have long ago paid for themselves, so it’s not a big deal to keep replacing them or fixing them (if possible or worth it). At some point, the detailers will realize they really should have a higher-performing, more commercial steamer. It is NOT that the cheaper steamer is BAD. It actually has been pretty good. But what can a better-performing machine do, how long can it last, and how easy is it to fix when it breaks? How many cheaper steamers do you want to keep buying before considering something a little more expensive, and is it actually worth it to spend more money in the first place? By doing that with a Chief Steamer, you will have a machine that can always be repaired, will have more pressure and heat, and should perform better and save more time, making you more money on EVERY job. A Chief Steamer will pay for itself in no time, and you will always be able to repair it.
Where is your budget?
You would think that spending considerably more money will give considerably more performance. Generally, that is true. You want to look not only at who the manufacturer is and what their reputation is on building quality, performance, and reliability but also at customer service. Once you get higher in pressure, you do have to use better components that can stand up to the added heat and pressure. That also means the boiler needs to be of better quality. The heater is most likely more powerful and more heavy-duty. The accessories are better. And so on. Once you get into your research, you will most likely see this. So this steamer will be more money. Sometimes MUCH more.
But if the least inexpensive steamer is in the $200 range, is a $300 or $400 steamer that much better? Or is it dressed up in a pretty body with a little more pressure and a few more accessories? Do you spend $500-$700 and maybe get one a little better (hopefully)? Or do you just bite the bullet and spend $1000 on the commercial units? It’s a difficult decision when you have not even used a steamer yet and are buying your first one. Or, you want to upgrade but want to make sure it’s a TRUE upgrade, and you are not just spending more money for a “slightly” better machine if that. It’s ALWAYS more comfortable to buy a cheaper one and keep buying cheaper ones. You don’t feel as bad when they break. You don’t feel bad that you beat on it and don’t maintain it. And when the car is just way too dirty, you know the steamer will be slow, and you simply take the added time and deal with the added effort and lesser results.
Where does Chief Steamer slot in?
We have always made commercial steamers. As I said, I have been there and done that with the inexpensive ones that do not perform well in a detailed business on dirty cars every day. We have always had one of the higher-pressure machines with high steam volume and high heat, and our machines hold up to everyday use. Sure, they break. But when they do, they are serviceable and easily repaired. The “entry-level” model we had was still a commercial machine. It originally was a 75 PSI machine that we upgraded to 85 PSI. It was always made of stainless steel, and all the components were commercial grade. It was the traditional “single” or boiler cap machine where water was filled directly into the boiler. When the water ran out, you had to wait for it to cool, manually refill it, and heat it again. These are still great steamers and very simple. However, most of our customers wanted the higher pressure and continuous refill machines. As we gradually increased the price of our 85 PSI machine, it got a little closer to the price of our 100 continuous refill machine at 110 PSI. Therefore, many people who had a budget to spend a little more money chose the 100 over the 85. There was not a huge difference in price. And as demand grew for the 100, we had to focus on manufacturing more of that one and bring in more of the 100s than 85 units. So we decided to discontinue the 85 PSI machine for no other reason than the demand for the 100 was more than the 85. Shipping also got extremely expensive, so we had to concentrate on that one and the higher-pressure models. The 85 was a great machine. May it rest in peace. But we were not bringing it back in that form and that price. It did not make sense. However, we still get requests for that machine as people want a good commercial traditional boiler cap machine. But we had to make the difficult choice to discontinue it. We were left with our great line of the 100, 125, and 155 machines. All great commercial steamers, but the price is considerably more than the entry-level lower-pressure machines that most detailers start with.
What we CAN, CANT, and won’t do
We absolutely know that so many people are buying the more inexpensive steamers to begin a business or just for home use. It does make sense. We also absolutely know we can’t come close to manufacturing a $200 steamer in ANY form. It can’t happen with an all-Italian machine. And we want higher performance, reliability, and serviceability. So we can’t do it, and we did not even try. However, we do want to introduce the entry-level model that we feel has close to big-boy performance but at a near entry-level price. We feel there is a middle ground between the entry-level, very low-price steamers and our 100 machine, which is where we currently begin.
So here is what we CAN’T and WON’T do in a steamer from our many years of experience.
We CAN’T and WON’T use a plastic body. Detailers seem to easily break plastic bodies. I have broken more than a few. And when a body breaks, it’s a big deal. To replace the body, all the components need to be swapped over to a new body. There is a lot of labor in this, and most of the time, it is not worth it. Sure, plastic is pretty. It can be any color. They are light. But they can easily break. We DON’T do plastic. It would reduce the price, and the weight would be less. But we do stainless steel only.
We CAN’T and WON’T do low pressure. 50-60 PSI just won’t do for a detailer. It’s generally fine for home use where lower pressure is okay. But dirty cars need higher pressure and higher volume. And, of course, if you know steam and the physics behind it, the second you start using it and depress the trigger, pressure drops. It drops faster than it can replenish, so beginning at a higher pressure is generally more helpful in maintaining a good working pressure and maintaining good heat and performance.
We CAN’T and WON’T do tiny little boilers that use the water extremely fast and constantly have to be filled with wait time in between. We carefully choose the size of a boiler in any machine we make so heating time is reasonable, recovery is fast, steam output is good, and pressure drop is controlled. Boiler size and the type of stainless used are very important.
We CAN’T and WON’T do poor accessories. A very cheap hose and cheaper accessories will not last. They will break and wear much faster if in commercial use. Residential use is a different story. But we know how hard these steamers are pushed, and if we skimp on accessory quality, a great steamer can look much cheaper if these accessories are of poor quality. Also, the family of accessories we currently use on ALL of our Chief Steamers are of commercial quality. To bring in a totally different level of accessories is actually more difficult and even more expensive to stock if we use a cheaper version.
We CAN’T and WON’T do poor serviceability. We design ALL of our steamers to be easily serviceable and easily able to repair. We try to make them simple to diagnose problems and simple to replace parts. As we have said, ALL steamers will break at some point. We want them to be able to be fixed easily and back in action quickly. We do not want to have a “throw-away” machine. We realize that cheaper steamers will have cheaper parts. Whether these parts will break faster if placed in commercial use is debatable, but we feel they will surely break faster. And even though the parts may be cheaper, what is the availability of parts? The ease of diagnosis and replacement? And do you even want to fix a cheaper steamer in the first place? All of our steamers are easy to repair. All parts are readily available, and we know how to easily diagnose problems and allow you to install a failed part if we deem it easy enough to replace. We want the machine to be back in service ASAP. And our newest and least expensive machine yet is easily serviceable.
We CAN’T and WON’T price a steamer at the price of the competitors’ cheapest ones for all the reasons listed above. We just can’t do it. These are all Italian-made machines. They are of high quality and will cost more. Shipping is expensive to get them here. We can’t compete on rock bottom prices. But we are much closer than we ever have been.
We want to join the party. We feel left out
or a very long time, we were left outside looking in. We had nothing even close to an “entry-level” steamer or anything that was deemed “cheap.” Well, we have joined the party……sort of. As we said, we can’t price a steamer the way some of the others are priced. However, we want to introduce our newest steamer. It may be “entry-level” (sort of, but not really). We still will classify this as a commercial even though it’s much smaller than our other steamers. We would like to welcome and reintroduce…….
The NEW Chief Steamer 75
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