When all is said and done, those that are going to benefit most from a vapor steam vacuum are those that suffer from allergies, particularly those who need to have dust mites exterminated and removed from their bedding, couches, clothes, and stuffed animals. The other group of individuals who will benefit from these upper tier vapor steam cleaners are those who wish to utilize their cleaner for a considerable amount of time at one stretch.

For everyone else, the cheaper* cleaner is probably going to be sufficient. It will still clean very effectively without the use of chemical solutions that can irritate the skin and lungs, it just won't have the staying power that a steam vapor vacuum is going to have.

* Steam vapor cleaners are often anything but cheap, but some of the lower end models do resemble a higher end vacuum cleaner while the higher end models can run upwards of $3000.

The reason that vapor vacuums are better that normal steam cleaners and normal vacuums comes down to the way that a steam vapor vacuum processes the air that passes through its system. Again, this is particularly important to those that suffer from dust mite allergies.

You see, dust mites are extremely small - thousands of them could live on the tip of a pencil - and there can be millions living in your bed right now, so getting rid of them can be handful for conventional vacuum cleaners. Take for example the amount of dust that your vacuum spits back out as you go about cleaning your carpet with it. That vacuum smell is usually just dust getting recycled into the air, the particles being too small for the vacuum's filter to catch before spitting it back out into the air.

The filter on a steam vapor cleaner with a vacuum is going to stop this from happening. It uses a third water tank that acts as a filter for all those microscopic elements that normal vacuums will just send flying into the lungs of someone allergic to them. This capturing process is particularly important for those allergic to dust mites because it isn't even dust mites that they are allergic to, but their skin flakes and feces. If thousands of dust mites can fit on a the tip of pencil, how much of their feces do you think can fit there?

The water filtering system on the vapor vacuum is going to catch all that fecal matter and skin debri and catch it so that it won't affect the allergy sufferer any more.

Another great thing about the dry vapor steam cleaner with a vacuum is that they will remove the dust mites as they kill them. But how do they kill them? With the power of super hot steam - that is how.

What a vapor steam cleaner is going to do is it is going to take water and heat it up in a pressurized compartment. This does two things at the same time: it helps increase the temperature of the steam so that it reaches blistering temperatures of over 240 degrees Fahrenheit and it helps reduce the amount of liquid water withing the steam, making it dry. Both are important for using these cleaners to help remove common household allergens like dust mites.

The extremely high temperature is important because it kills the mites on contact. Like most creatures that live on this earth, dust mites can't live in temperatures above 200 degrees Fahrenheit for very long. They get cooked pretty quickly and if you can kill them you will prevent them from creating more dust mites and from excreting more feces and skin flakes. Then, if you can get them off your bed with a your water filtered vacuum you will be set.

The dryness of the steam is important because it allows you to use the cleaner on almost any surface. Many fabrics would be damaged if they were to get too wet. Beds and pillows especially would suffer since they are so bulky and would have a hard time drying after a thorough cleaning. Just imagine how wet a bed would be if you poured boiling water all over it. For sure the dust mites would all be dead, but your bed would be ruined and may even get moldy as a result. How is that going to help your allergies?

The "dry" steam of a vapor steam cleaner only contains approximately 5% water, making it perfect for cleaning these water absorbent fabrics in a safe and effective way.

When you go out and buy your steam vapor vacuum there should be a couple of things that you look for:

1. Make sure that you are getting a pressurized steam cleaner.  If you aren't then the system will not be able to heat the water up to the levels need to create the dry vapor that will let you clean your pillows and bedding without worries.  If you can't get this then you need to find another vacuum.
2. Make sure that there are three water compartments in your cleaner.  You need one compartment where the water is actually heated for the cleaning.  Then you need a second one that will act as a refill area.  This is called continuous flow and is pretty important to have on your steam vapor cleaner if you want it to be able to clean for hours on end without stopping.  Finally, the last one that you are going to need is for the filtering system.  If your vac doesn't filter its air with water you probably want to look somewhere else.
3. Make sure your vapor steam vacuum is sturdy.  If you pay thousands of dollars for something that is going to be cleaning your house you should probably be sure that the cleaner is going to last for several years to come.  You also don't want something happening to the pressurized steam inside the vacuum - an explosion when at full pressure can leave you with massive burns or shrapnel wounds.

Most of all, make sure that your steam vapor vacuum is going to be a good fit for you, your allergies, and your needs.