via the conduit 32 from an external water supply such as that used to supply water to other parts of the washer 10 in other embodiments the water container 36 may include an openable cap 50 fig3 and the user of the washer may refill the water container manually the chemical container 42 may also include an openable cap 52 to permit refilling of the chemical in some embodiments the chemical container may contain a long term supply such as a supply that should last for 10 years under normal usage the chemical container 42 might be a cartridge that is removable and replaceable with a fresh supply of chemical separately from the remainder of the disinfecting unit 30 in still other embodiments the entire disinfecting unit 30 is removable and replaceable with a fresh unit so that no refilling is necessary or so that accessibility for refilling is improved the water container 36 includes a water dispenser 54 which also may be electrically or mechanically controlled to cause drops of water to be dispensed into the steam chamber 40 preferably located below the water container the heating element 38 is thermally associated with a portion of the steam chamber 40 to heat the water drops that have entered the steam chamber although depicted.