Write down the job before the machine arrives
Before any cleaning starts, describe the site in the same terms you will use in the evaluation. For vehicle work, note whether the equipment will be parked in an indoor garage or in narrow outdoor bays, and whether the target is exterior bodywork, interior surfaces, or engine-compartment grease. For fixed installations, note the available power supply, the water source, and where waste water can be collected. This matters because trial conditions that do not match your site produce results you cannot rely on later.
On the equipment side, two families in our PowerDe cleaning equipment range cover most trial cases. Mobile units such as the driving style machines offer dry steam, wet steam and hot-water modes and are intended for indoor garages and narrow outdoor parking spaces; some variants are supplied with a battery, others without. A fixed unit such as the Fixed Steam Cleaning Machine PowerDe HW02 is listed at 220 V with dry and wet steam plus a vacuum function, and is described for exterior cleaning at fuelling stations and parking areas, interior vacuuming and disinfection, and engine-compartment cleaning.
Set the trial areas and the pass criteria
Split the work into three or four repeatable areas rather than cleaning one vehicle end to end. A common split for vehicle trials is: one heavily soiled exterior panel, one interior area that needs vacuuming and surface work, and one engine compartment or machinery area with built-up oil. Fix the pass criteria in advance and in observable terms — for example "no visible residue on the panel after one pass, with no re-spraying of detergent" — so that two operators judging the same surface reach the same answer.
Keep everything else constant during the trial. Use the same operator or the same pair of operators, the same nozzle and lance set-up, the same working mode, and the same sequence of steps for each area. If you change two variables at once, the record cannot tell you which change produced the improvement.
What to log during the trial
Use one row per area and one sheet per trial day. The columns below are enough for a purchase decision and can be filled in on paper beside the machine.
| Record item | How to note it |
|---|---|
| Area and soil type | Name the part and the soil (road film, mud, grease, food residue, cutting fluid). |
| Mode used | Dry steam, wet steam, hot water, or vacuum, recorded per area. |
| Passes and time | Number of lance passes and total minutes from start to sign-off, including prep. |
| Water and refills | Number of tank refills or top-ups per area. The HW02 tank is listed at 80 L of clean water. |
| Downtime | Any pause for heating, water shortage, protection cut-out or charging, with the cause. |
| Residue and rework | Whether any area needed a second attempt, and what extra step was used. |
| Operator comment | Weight, reach, hose handling, noise, and anything that slowed the work. |
| Before-and-after photos | Same angle, same light, same distance, one pair per area. |
For sites where the supply arrangement is the constraint, log it explicitly. A battery-equipped mobile unit and the same model supplied without a battery will behave differently in an indoor garage, and a fixed 220 V unit depends on stable power and a tap-water connection. Our HW02 detail page lists a 4-point internal-tooth joint, 1/2 inch tap-water inlet, and 220 V working voltage; check those against your actual connections during the trial rather than assuming a match.
Protect and service notes to capture in the same pass
The HW02 page lists leakage, short-circuit, high-temperature, high-voltage and water-shortage protection among its safety features, and several mobile models carry a similar set. During the trial, note which protections actually engaged and how the machine was brought back into service. That record feeds directly into your safety file and tells you whether an operator can recover a job without calling a technician.
Also record consumables and routine tasks: tank rinsing, filter or nozzle cleaning, and any scaling in your water supply. Hard water changes both the maintenance interval and the running cost, and it is one of the few trial findings that changes the total cost of ownership rather than just the cleaning result.
Turning the record into a decision
Compare the sheet against what the work costs you today, using only figures you measured. Minutes per area multiplied by daily volume gives labour time; refills give water and handling time; downtime and rework give the hidden cost. A trial that saves operator time on a single showcase surface but adds refills and cut-outs has not saved anything, and the sheet will show that clearly.
Bring the completed sheet, the photos and your questions to the equipment supplier. If your site needs something that a standard commercial steam cleaning equipment configuration does not cover — a different power arrangement, a specific accessory set, or a fixed installation layout — Shenzhen PowerDe Automation Precision Equipment offers customised configurations and engineering services, and you can start that conversation through our contact page with your trial record attached.
Model descriptions and specifications above follow the published PowerDe product pages as of the date of writing. Confirm current specifications, protection features and suitability for your specific site with us before ordering, and keep your trial sheet as the reference document for that conversation.
