Floor scrubbers just aren’t what they used to be, and every business operator knows that is really good news. Your forefathers may have had their office floors scrubbed by workers on all fours with hand brush, soap and water bucket, but that is not practical for today’s cleaning requirements. Imaginative thinking has turned bucket duty into modern-day floor scrubbers that answer today’s demanding requirements for hygiene, conservation and public safety.
A glance at the technical advancements makes it easy to see why newer floor scrubbers are viewed as so important in the proper maintenance of today’s workplace:
The wow factor in early floor scrubbers was in those rotary brushes that placed the cleanser on to the floor and worked to lift the dirt and scrub. The laborious task of manual scrubbing was removed. No customers had to be turned away from wet floors or implored to tiptoe carefully. Floors dried more quickly and business traffic was uninterrupted.
From multi-story corporate office sites to cleanroom R&D labs, staying “environment-friendly” has become a must for the cleaning industry. Floor scrubbers are not only expected to clean but to show they can conserve energy, forego harmful chemicals and utilize resources better than their predecessors.
Experts further note that the ideal floor scrubber enables the use of any type of detergent or cleaning fluid. Machines designed to use a proprietary cleaning fluid only or water only don’t fully respond to varied cleaning needs today. Some settings require moderate cleaning; others require strong detergents to remove grimy surfaces due to heavy foot traffic. Some establishments such as hospitals and schools have stringent requirements for floor scrubbers that can use disinfectants, as a preventive measure against MRSA and H1N1.
Another significant advancement in saving time and resources has been made with the debut of versatile walk-behind scrubbers with technologies that can suit all cleaning-agent needs. One model is equipped with technology that can convert tap water or with foam-activated scrubbing technology that can use 70 percent less water and 90 percent less detergent.
As for high-traffic areas such as entryways and lobbies that accumulate dirt and grime quickly, today’s new scrubbers allow operators to temporarily increase cleaning action for these problem areas. One such model has a “burst of power” button. The button can release increased detergents and brush pressure for one minute or as long as needed. The conservation factor lies in the time and labor saved from double-scrubbing. This is a technological step up from floor-scrubbers that use only one type, low-flow or water-only, of scrubber.