steamers or ultrasonics?

[:)]

Well, I do not have my stone yet, but thinking ahead

, is there a preference/differerence between home steam cleaners and ultrasonics? The jewelers seem to have steam cleaners which makes me think they may be better (but it may just be because it is easier to not have to scrub after the ultrasonic), and it looks like from prior threads people like the SI ultrasonic. I could not find a thread that actually compared the two methods of cleaning head to head. Thoughts?

 

[oldminer]

They both can do an excllent job. The ultrasonic can be stored dry and put into running order in a about thirty seconds. A steamer needs time to get the water up to pressure. You can burn yourself with a steamer and also blow small stones out of older, more fragile items. Both require care in use and certain gems don''t like heat, or ultrasonic solutions. Ultrasonics also can pop a loose stone out from time to time.

Both are way better than washing out jewelry over a sink drain where if a stone comes out away down the drain it goes.

 

[Tool Guy]

Date: 7/26/2006 8:06:03 PM
Author:
Well, I do not have my stone yet, but thinking ahead

, is there a preference/differerence between home steam cleaners and ultrasonics? The jewelers seem to have steam cleaners which makes me think they may be better (but it may just be because it is easier to not have to scrub after the ultrasonic), and it looks like from prior threads people like the SI ultrasonic. I could not find a thread that actually compared the two methods of cleaning head to head. Thoughts?

They make consumer models that you can use at home with not much problems. If you have lots of jewelery to clean at once it nice to have an ultrsonic cleaner so you can put it into the tank and walk away. If you are just trying to clean you diamond every so many days you can get the Jewel Jet steam machine for home use for under $100.00 and it uses tap water and is very easy to use. This unit gets steam in about 3 minutes and will last around a solid minute of steam at a time.

They both will do a great job. When you go into more expensive ultrasonics they include heat and that could help with really dirty items. I hope this helps.

 

[:)]

Thank you! I wasn''t sure which one to purchase. I did see one or two comments by people about using the u/s followed by steaming and getting great results. I don''t mind investing to keep it looking sparkly! Thank you for the input!