February 23, 2016

Buyer's Guide - Auto Scrubber

If you have dirty floors that you want to make clean, an auto scrubber is nearly always the best, most efficient solution. Why is that you ask?

1. Power

Auto Scrubbers use the power of a brush motor to agitate the floor’s surface with an abrasive attachment while mopping uses only a soft cotton or synthetic blend mop backed by nothing more than the operator’s elbow grease.

2. Clean Water, Always

In addition, auto scrubbers use fresh, clean water and solution with every step you take. How many dunks of your mop does it take to dirty your whole mop bucket of “clean” solution?

3. Recovers Dirty Water Immediately

Lastly (and possibly most importantly), an auto scrubber recovers the dirty water immediately and completely by means of the squeegee arm and a vacuum system, while mops allow at least some of the dirty water to pool and re-dry on the surface, re-depositing soils.

Once you decide that you need an auto scrubber, how do you pick the right one? You’ll want to keep in mind the characteristics of the area you are cleaning and match the specifications of the auto scrubber to those needs.

Available Features:

Cord Electric – Power by an attached electrical cord. If you have access to an outlet, you can run. No dealing with dead batteries or checking water levels in lead acid batteries. The added benefit is the elimination of a wear item that you’ll need to replace – sometimes as often as yearly.
Battery Powered – Great for areas where you don’t have easy access to outlets or you have fixed obstacles that your cord would get wrapped around.
Compact – Small and / or low profile machine styles that allow you to access small spaces like restrooms and kitchens or anywhere that you have fixed items to work around.
Wide Area – Larger cleaning path that allows you to cover more ground more quickly. Great for wide open spaces with a lot of cleanable area.
Eco-Friendly – Auto Scrubbers that are designed to use microfiber attachments that allow you to use less water and less chemical to clean.

A convenience store with fixed shelving units is going to want a compact, battery-operated unit to avoid tangles with the power cord and be able to get between the shelving.

A school may want a cord electric scrubber since hallways would be the primary area to be cleaned as well as to avoid housing an item with lead acid batteries.

A warehouse facility might be more interested in a 24" Battery Operated Auto Scrubber or even larger in order to cover a lot of ground.