Satusteam™ – Condensate of super-heated water flashing into saturated steam and boiling water
Steam – water in vapour form at a temperature above the ambient atmospheric temperature
Hot water – water that is heated
Boiling water – 100C / 212F at sea level.
Superheated water – water that is heated above boiling point, under pressure, which is not in the physical state of boiling.
Lethal heat – temperatures in the range of 58C/ 136F – 98C / 208F Cooks vegetation slowly
Thermal Shock – 100C/ 212F +/– 1C
Steam can be created at any temperature above the ambient atmosphere. Think of a warm spa outside on a winters day. Steam vapour does actually have very little benefit in weed control. Our first Steamwand in 1997 generated small volumes of hot water and steam. The hot water killed the weeds slowly and the steam was just vapour. It was too slow to ever become commercial.
That’s why our patented method of creating Saturated Steam and delivering Boiling Water (Satusteam™) relies on water volume delivered at boiling point and utilises the principle of Thermal Shock. Thermal Shock occurs by rapidly heating the weed by applying 98-100C (212F) water and wet steam for just 0.1 seconds. This causes the cells to literally explode, killing the weed instantly. The thermal shock delivered at temperatures above 98C / 205F is 2-3 times more efficient than lethal heat which hot water systems rely on.
The reason our system of killing weeds using Thermal Shock works so effectively is because water is brilliant at transferring heat. Think about it like this. Imagine you’ve turned on the oven to 300C (572F) and you put your arm in there. You’ll feel the heat instantly, but it’ll take a couple of minutes for it to actually start burning you. Now imagine pouring 100C (212F) water on your arm, it will burn instantly and deeply penetrate, give you large blisters, and you’ll have to go to a hospital.
Whilst we haven’t dropped the legacy of our first named Steamwand machine, we don’t actually use Steam. Our method of weed control generates superheated water at 118C/ 245F, explodes it into Saturated Steam in our patented nozzle system and delivers it as Boiling Water. As such, we’re able to operate on this principle of thermal shock. This method of weed control is the most efficient hydro-thermal method available for weed control and we know how to do it efficiently.