Emerson Fabric Steamer (Rule Violations)

Steam...

Date of Purchase: August 23, 2010
Price: $22.95
Topics:

• Normal use
• Breaking the rules
• Bang for your buck

Breaking the rules:

Sometimes it's more fun to live outside of the law, especially when the consequences are relatively moderate.  This week's widget seemed to be placing an unreasonable amount of restrictions on us.  In an attempt to rebel against the civilized world, we decided to break some of the rules.

Our rule breaking spree actually started while we were testing a claim (this is sort of our favorite thing).  The "claim" is actually less of a claim and more of a marking or two on the side of the included re-filling container....

 

Could these measurements possibly represent the amount of water that one would need to operate the steamer for that amount of time?  With that question comes a simple and easily verifiable answer.  The results are as follows.

• Water to the 5min level: Steam time of 5:05
• Water to the 10min level: Steam time of 9:57

The results have spoken: the times on the side of the cup are fairly accurate.  Naturally, the next thing that we decided to to was to fill the steamer to the "max fill" line and conduct a similar test.

• Max Fill: Steam time of 19:13

Because the max fill line seems to be considerably lower than the top of the reservoir, our next step was to conduct the same test with the reservoir completely full.  This is clearly against the wishes of the manufactuer... what do they know, anyway?

Over full

Although the steamer lasted over 30 minutes on a full tank, we would not recommend this for normal use.  This is the part where the author of the user manual can sit back, sigh, and say "told you so."  As you may have expected, there is definitely a good reason for the extra space in the reservoir and it might have something to do with boiling water.  Have you ever boiled a pot of water after filling to its rim?  It's kind of like that.  With no other place for it to go, the boiling water violently spews out of the steam spout.  Certainly not recommended.

Over heat

After getting a little taste of rebellion, we wanted more.  For the next test, we wanted to know what would happen if you left the steamer on long after the water was boiled off.  You may recall some sort of urban legend where a coffee pot could burn your house down if left on after the coffee is gone.  With a similar heating element, this steamer ought to present a similar risk.

It seems, though, that the only thing you will end up burning through is your power bill.  After roughly 8 hours of leaving this steamer in the "on" position, no significant event had occurred.  Although we do not suggest trying this in your home, we're fairly sure that it won't start a fire unless, of course, it is strategically placed beside something extremely flammable (we wanted to try this, but there are some laws that we feel we shouldn't break).

One theory, of which we have no data to support, is that doing this on a regular basis will probably reduce the life of the product.  Common sense, right?

Over tip

   

What happens if you tip the steamer on its side?  Don't do this.  For reference, see the "over full" section above and expect similar results.

Steam bath

In the spirit of violating rules and possibly the most dangerous of the tests we conducted on this steamer, we attempted to steam some clothes... fully clothed.  If that didn't make sense to you, let us re-phrase... Imagine you are in a hurry and you realize that the clothes that you just put on are desperately in need of being de-wrinkled.  With no time left to change, you only have one option - steam your clothes in place.  Again, we feel the legal need to say the following: don't try this.

We did try this and the results were surprising.  The steam, while very wet, was not nearly as painful as you might imagine.  Although it may be an effective way to steam your clothes, the trade-off is your own personal comfort.  If you can get over the extreme heat, you probably won't get over the fact that you feel as if you've just stepped out of a steam shower by the time you're finished steaming your clothes.  We're guessing that you may want to feel a little drier before rushing off to work, but this is simply a matter of preference.

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Emerson Fabric Steamer