Avoid shortcuts to get the maximum ROI from your floor cleaning equipment

You’ve purchased good quality floor cleaning equipment, developed an effective cleaning program, and trained your staff. That’s a huge investment in time and money. Doesn’t it make sense to get the maximum ROI out of all that? Avoid shortcuts that can undermine your efforts! Commit to following these five best practice processes to improve cleaning effectiveness and extend the life of your machine:

Best practices

 Always pre-sweep

Pre-sweeping, before you run your auto scrubber, is essential to effective floor cleaning and avoiding damage to the scrubber. Debris can also block hoses and filters, so removing excess dirt and debris prior to scrubbing will help your scrubber clean more thoroughly and prevent blockages. Pre-sweeping also avoids adding unwanted stress on your machine’s vacuum system.

 Use recommended cleaning chemical dilution ratios

You are literally pouring money down the drain if you use more than the manufacturer has specified. More is not better! More can be dangerous! Mixing chemicals at a stronger than recommended ratio leads to the following issues:

• Mixing chemicals that are dangerous to use
• Creating chemicals that can damage the machine and/or floors
• Using chemicals that do not clean as well as properly diluted chemicals
• Using chemicals that can leave residue and cause streaking
• Waste in the form of increased cost, having to order/transport more products than necessary and environmental impact

 Learn more about cleaning solutions here.

 Care for your batteries

The batteries will require some maintenance in the form of adding distilled water periodically. With new batteries, you’ll want to check the water level every few weeks to determine how frequently you’ll need to add water to your batteries. This amount of time will likely shorten as the batteries age.

Some scrubbers are equipped with onboard battery chargers. This allows the machine to be charged at any 120-volt outlet. Keep in mind, the machine cannot be plugged into an on-board battery charger when running. 

Only charge batteries after completion of the whole cleaning procedure or when the batteries have less than the recommended charge capacity which is typically 20%.

 

 Remember it’s a scrubber, not a stock car

Auto scrubbers are the fastest way to clean floors and the related labor savings grow exponentially the larger the area you’re scrubbing. A person can damp mop about 5,000 square feet of floor area in an hour. Auto scrubbers can do more than 5 times that. But you still want to allow the machine time to do its job effectively. Operating walk-behind or rider scrubbers at the recommended travel speed allows the solution, scrub brushes and vacuum system to clean the floor.

 Clean the tanks after every use

If left to sit in the recovery tank, the dirty water which can contain oils, grease, odor-causing bacteria, and other particles, will smell terrible turn into a sludge that is difficult to clean. Gross! Leaving chemicals in the solution tank can corrode the tank, clog filters, and slow productivity.

We highly recommend cleaning out both the recovery and solution tanks after each use. And, once the solution and recovery tanks are drained and cleaned, leave them open to air dry. This reduces the chance that mold, and mildew will grow.

While some shortcuts may seem like a good idea, in the long run, they always cost you through machine downtime, cleaning do-overs, and repair costs like replacing parts (and machines) that wear out before their time.

 

Related articles:

Squeegees: Where the Rubber Meets the Road!

The Nitty Gritty on Scrub Brushes

 

Rely on Morrison

Our floor cleaning professionals are here to help you determine the best fit for your facility—on everything from machines to cleaning procedures to preventive maintenance. We offer top quality floor cleaning equipment from leading OEMs and our factory-trained service technicians offer ongoing support, parts, and fast, knowledgeable service for your floor cleaning equipment as well as your forklifts.