Without a commercial wet cleaner, some tasks may seem impossible. Imagine you run a business, or manage a facility where it is essential that the floors are clean and dry at all times. Retirement homes, hospitals, schools, and even medical offices may have miles of hallways that cannot have any kind of slipping or tripping hazards.
While these beauties have all the elegance of a Segway, commercial wet cleaners are the best solution for areas where floors need to be very clean, but can never actually be wet. This article will describe what they are and how they work, and why having one might be your perfect solution.
First of all, what is it?
Commercial rider floor scrubbers look a bit like a mobility scooter, although there are also push designs that don’t require the user to ride. They normally have a cleaning disc, squeegee, and vacuum hose underneath, and a water tank, steering mechanism and seat on top.
The function differently based on what attachments are chosen, and these can be customized for the type of flooring you will be cleaning. Some even have orbital high RPM scrubbers that can clean surfaces without chemicals, if you have a facility that requires that.
There are a vast array of sizes and capacities that one can choose, and depending on whether or not it needs to pass through regular-sized doors or not, they can even resemble a small car.
How do they work?
Water is put into the tank, along with cleaning solution if you choose, and this is delivered to the cleaning pad. The cleaning pad then brushes, or scrubs the floor within the prescribed area of its bristles.
Then the squeegee collects the dirty water, and the vacuum picks it up and deposits it in a recovery tank. Generally, these machines are battery operated, although some corded, and even propane powered models are available.
There are a few drawbacks.
Since these machines do not have the flexibility of the human wrist and shoulder, corners, curved walls, areas under benches and low shelving and narrow entryways can be tricky. Your staff may still have to do some smaller areas by hand.
Also, battery life and water capacity will limit the amount that can be accomplished.
What are the advantages of having a wet cleaner on site?
The primary advantage is speed. When having clear, clean and easy to navigate spaces is your goal, the less time a cleaner spends there, the better.
According to estimates, an average mop and bucket clean of a 1500 square foot area can take up to an hour. A machine scrubber can accomplish the task in one tenth of the time!
Floor scrubbers also tend to use less water than traditional methods, and that means less cleaning solution too. Finally, since the dirty water is sucked away by the vacuum, floors stay cleaner longer, and you will never see that grimy film in the corners that a mop and bucket clean will leave you.
Choosing the right scrubbing machine could be a game-changer for your business!