The line shuts down at 10 p.m. and the oven door seals, the fryer cabinet and the grout behind the dish station are coated again. Degreaser works, but then you rinse chemical off food contact areas and wait for it to dry. The Therma-Kleen Therma-Steem #10 dry vapor steam cleaner turns plain water into 330°F steam at up to 100 PSI, hot enough to melt grease and lift grime out of cracks a brush alone never reaches, with no chemical left behind.
Dry vapor means the steam carries very little water (Therma-Kleen rates it at about 5% moisture), so surfaces are nearly dry a minute after you wipe them. You fill the 1.5-gallon stainless steel boiler, plug into a wall outlet, and pick low, medium or high steam with two switches right on the wand. Therma-Kleen builds it in Au Gres, Michigan.
The video is Therma-Kleen's dry vapor demo, filmed on the compact Therma-Steem .75. The #10 works the same way with a bigger boiler.
Therma-Kleen makes two kinds of steam cleaners, and buying the wrong one is the most common mistake we see.
Dry vapor (Therma-Steem, like this #10) heats water in a sealed boiler until it leaves as superheated vapor with very little liquid. It cleans and sanitizes indoors without soaking anything: kitchens, restrooms, patient rooms, grout, upholstery, equipment with electrical parts nearby. It runs from a wall outlet and needs no drain.
High-pressure wet steam (Therma-Kleen's Ultra series) pumps water through a burner or heater at hundreds of PSI. It blasts caked grease off engines, dumpster pads, masonry and gum, but it puts water everywhere. The propane models, like the Ultra 600, need open air or strong ventilation, and the electric ones, like the Ultra 600E, need 3-phase power.
If your job is inside a building and the surface can't take a flood of water, dry vapor is the answer. Not sure? Call (855) 601-5678 and tell us what you're cleaning.
The #10 and the Therma-Steem Industrial 400 share the same 1.5-gallon stainless boiler, Incoloy heating element and stainless body. The real difference is refilling. The #10 has no reserve tank, so when the boiler runs low you switch it off, let the pressure out, let it cool and pour in fresh water. The 400 adds a 2-gallon reserve tank with a pump, so you top it off while you keep cleaning.
|
Therma-Steem #10 |
Therma-Steem Industrial 400 |
| Max temperature |
330°F (170°C) |
380°F (193°C) |
| Max pressure |
100 PSI (6.8 bar) |
180 PSI (12.4 bar) |
| Water |
1.5 gal boiler, refill when cool |
1.5 gal boiler plus 2 gal reserve, refill while running |
| Power |
120 V, 15 A, or 240 V |
120 V, 18 A (20 A circuit), or 240 V |
| Steam control |
Low, medium, high switches on the wand |
Variable steam knob plus lockable trigger gun |
| Hose and tools |
14 ft hose and wand, push-on brushes |
15 ft stainless hose, screw-on brushes, blast nozzle |
| Price |
$3,595 |
$6,595 |
Pick the #10 for kitchen deep cleans, restrooms and detail work in sessions of an hour or two. Pick the 400 when one operator steams most of a shift, when you need the extra heat and pressure for baked-on soil, or when stopping to refill would stall the job. It costs $3,000 more.
Only need spot cleaning, or a machine you can carry up stairs and into a van? The Therma-Steem .75 is the compact sibling: 30 pounds, a 0.75-gallon boiler and 300°F steam, from $2,295.
Restaurants are where the #10 earns its keep. The steam softens grease on hood filters, fryer cabinets, oven doors and burner grates, and a brass or stainless detail brush on the wand lifts it out of seams and hinges. Wipe with a towel while it's still warm and the grease goes with it.
Therma-Kleen's own list of kitchen jobs includes the seals of ovens and walk-in coolers, refrigerator condenser coils, cooking vats, prep areas and conveyor belts. Because nothing but water touches the surface, there's no chemical residue to rinse off a prep table, and no chemical smell in the dining room. Therma-Kleen also says kosher establishments use its dry vapor machines to kasher equipment; your supervising rabbi has the final word on that.
Work top down, clean the tight spots first with the small brushes, then move to the triangle brush with a cloth clipped on for larger flat areas.
What sells me on the #10 is what it's made of. The body, the handle, the boiler and the hose fittings are stainless steel or brass, not plastic, and Therma-Kleen backs the boiler for life. It rolls on 10-inch rubber wheels, and the handle comes off for storage and holds the whole brush kit.
The best fit is a restaurant, a school kitchen, a clinic or a cleaning company that steams a few areas a day: hood filters, restroom grout, exam room fixtures, a car interior.
The honest part: plan around the refill. From cold it takes about 25 minutes to heat up, and when the low water alarm sounds you have to cool it down before you open the cap. If your crew steams for a whole shift, the Industrial 400 is the better buy. Use distilled water, every time. Therma-Kleen makes it a condition of the heating element warranty.
The owner of Dar's Steaks in Haddon Township, New Jersey, wrote on Therma-Kleen's site that the #10 cut their kitchen cleaning time to about a third of what it used to be, and that it handles the heavy buildup of a busy commercial kitchen. Another owner says the steam reaches spots that are hard to clean by hand, and that grease and built-up grime come off much more easily. Both rated it 5 out of 5. Those are the only owner reviews we found, so we'd rather show you two real ones than pad this section.
330°F vapor at 100 PSI. Melts grease and lifts grime from pores and seams, then the surface dries in about a minute.
Steam control on the wand. Two switches give you low, medium and high steam without walking back to the machine.
Stainless boiler with a lifetime warranty. A 1.5-gallon 305 stainless boiler and an Incoloy 800 heating element hold up to daily use.
Safety cut-offs. A low water alarm shuts the heater off, and a pressure relief cap, high temperature cut-off and pressure limit switch back it up.
A complete tool kit. Floor brush, squeegee, triangle brush, 10 detail brushes, two extensions, towels and heat gloves come in the box.
120 V or 240 V. The standard build plugs into a grounded 120 V outlet on a 20 A circuit; a 240 V build costs the same.
14 ft steam hose and wand with the low and medium switches (press both for high), a single hole nozzle and two 19-inch extensions.
Floor brush with clips and extensions for tile, grout lines and restroom floors, plus a handheld squeegee for glass, mirrors and counters.
Triangle brush with cloth clips. Clip a microfiber or terry towel over it and the dirt goes straight into the cloth in one pass.
10 detail brushes: three 1-inch nylon, three 1-inch brass, three 1-inch stainless and one 2 1/2-inch nylon. Start with nylon, use brass on most metals and ovens, and save stainless for masonry and scratch-proof steel.
You also get two microfiber cloths, two terry towels, a funnel and a pair of high temperature gloves. Horsehair brushes for leather, vinyl and delicate trim are optional extras.
Fill the #10 with distilled water. Tap water leaves scale on the heating element, and Therma-Kleen won't cover the element if scale is present. Don't use softened water either: the manual warns the sodium shortens the life of the boiler. Never pour detergent or chemicals into the boiler; that voids the warranty.
Upkeep is simple. Empty the boiler after each use, and flush it with tap water every other week until the water runs clear. When scale does build up, Therma-Kleen gives two household methods: a baking soda and distilled water soak, or a half vinegar, half distilled water steam-out. No branded descaler needed.
We sell three portable steamers, and they're built for different budgets. The Tornado VS4 runs at 87 PSI and 293°F and costs $2,575 less: strong value for occasional detail cleaning. The NaceCare JS 1600C is hotter on paper (338°F, 115 PSI), refills while running, weighs 12 lb and costs $1,600 less.
So why pay more for the #10? A boiler five times the size of the JS 1600C's, stainless steel and brass instead of plastic, a lifetime boiler warranty, heavy 10-inch wheels, and a brush kit made for daily commercial degreasing. If you steam a few fixtures a week, one of the others will do. If steam is part of your kitchen's nightly routine, the #10 is built for that. Compare them all in our commercial steam cleaners, or see just the dry vapor steam cleaners.
Therma-Kleen's 15-minute walkthrough covers filling, heat-up, the wand switches, the accessories and shutdown on the #10. Their how-to videos for owners:
Therma-Kleen (Vertim Inc.) has built steam cleaners in Au Gres, Michigan for over 30 years, and its Therma-Steem dry vapor line for about 20. Every machine carries a 1-year parts warranty counted from the factory ship date, and Therma-Steem boilers are covered for life. Warranty and repair work goes through Therma-Kleen or its authorized service centers, and we help you open the claim. We're an authorized Therma-Kleen dealer, and the #10 ships free to the lower 48 states.
Not sure the #10 is the right size? Tell us what you clean and how many hours a day, or call (855) 601-5678, and we'll tell you which steamer fits, including when it's a cheaper one.
