We have just introduced a NEW Chief Steamer 75. It was redesigned to be simpler and, MOST important, it’s LESS expensive (by a lot) than our previous version.

Way back when…….. we had our original 75 machine. It was a great machine and the conventional “single” or boiler cap steamer. This means that you fill the boiler directly and screw the boiler cap on to make the pressure inside the boiler. It was NON-continuous refill machine. It was always less expensive than our hugely popular 100 machine, but not significantly cheaper. Realizing that many people do not need a continuous refill machine, there will always be a place for a boiler cap machine. However, certain things make any steamer more expensive, especially an Italian-made steamer.

Main competitor – We have always tried to make a steamer that stacked up well against the VX5000. We felt we did that and exceeded them on pressure, hose length, boiler temperature, and price. They had a slightly larger boiler and water injection. We never did that as it gets more complicated and “steals” water from the boiler to do this. The older 75 did extremely well for a very long time.

Times change – During and after the pandemic, prices on everything went sky-high. We held prices very well as shipping more than doubled, and our prices were raised a few times. Eventually, we had to raise the price of the older 75 (not by too much and still far less than the VX5000), but that brought it closer to the price of our continuous refill and higher pressure Chief Steamer 100. With that, many people spent the added money and purchased the 100 machine. With the 100 machine, the 125, and the introduction of our now popular 155 machine, production needed also to be focused on these models. And container space was needed for these models and the cost to bring machines in was more focused on the other models. Eventually we discontinued the older 75 model and kept the idea on the shelf of a smaller, more entry level, LESS expensive, but still commercial version of a boiler cap machine. With good sales of all our other steamers, this project had to wait a while.

Developing the NEW 75 – Keeping in mind what start-up people want and need and the money they spend on entry-level machines, we had a tough time with this one. Most of the other entry level steamers are plastic. We don’t do plastic even though I would have if the price could have been lowered even more. We just did not have a mold. To make one is an astronomical amount of money and to lease one is also hugely expensive. So we had to stay with stainless steel on the body which is fine with us. We want quality and toughness. But that also makes it more money right off the bat. We knew we wanted to go smaller but that is also less capacity. But so be it. its an entry level machine for most and the fist time steamer buyer may not be using it all day long. The same with a home owner.

We felt we did not need to compete with VX5000 anymore. The higher capacity boiler cap machines are kind of dinosaurs, as many full-time users are going with continuous refill, and we have that covered with our 100 machine and 125. So we wanted something smaller, lighter, and, most importantly, LESS expensive than what we had in our older 75.

We knew we would never get the price equal to, or that close to the entry level plastic steamers with low capacity and poor performance (for people who try to use them for commercial purposes). These plastic entry level steamers are not bad at all if used for non commercial purposes. But as soon as you demand a little more performance, they cant keep up. And if you run them all day long (which they were not designed for) they will break easier. And the BIG question is….What do you do when it breaks?

And as we have always said, ALL steamer will break at some point. It just what do you do when they do, how easy are they to fix and are they worth it to fix? Well, ANY Chief steamer is ALWAYS worth repairing as nothing is ever that big of a deal. So we continued our venture into making a new one. In speaking with our manufacturer we had to have a give and take. Certain things needed to be left off the machine to keep it at a decent price such as a detachable hose, indicator LED’s, the steam adjuster on the front, and certain accessories. It was the ONLY way. If we did anything close to what we had, we would not be able to drop the price all that much, and it would not have been worth it to go back into production.

The Time is here – It took a while to figure out what we wanted and what would work and not work. Building it was not the issue. It was keeping the price as low as possible and giving the customer what was needed in a machine but not tons of bells and whistles. This machine is about as simple as a steamer can get. And that is a good thing! Fixing it will be easy, and we do not anticipate many breakdowns, as the old 75 was super reliable and this one has less “stuff” in it.

We know we are still more expensive than the other popular entry level plastic machines. But lets face it, this is a Chief steamer. You have to compare apples to apples. And if someone still thinks the other less expensive plastic steamer will suit them better, then you can still buy 2 of theirs to 1 of ours. But if you want a high performing entry level steamer, that is ALL ITALIAN made, then we think this will be a great machine for you. Please go back to the 75 product page on our website to see the exact specs and videos on this machine for even more detailed information.