The Evolution Of Autoscrubbers - Key Features

This article was originally published in Cleaning & Maintenance Management.

Today's automatic scrubbers offer a variety of features and benefits to satisfy diverse cleaning applications, including:

• Greener: This applies to the types of chemicals used, as well as chemical and water usage. Today’s machines use less water and chemical, especially cylindrical brush systems.
• Safer: These machines are now safer for both the operator and others in the facility in which the machine is being used. Some of today’s automatic scrubbers have easy-access digital controls and greater visibility than older models, allowing users of varying heights to operate them. More machines are also fitted with solenoid technology to control water flow. In the past, water could continue to flow from these machines even when turned off, which was wasteful and increased the chances of a slip-and-fall accident. Now, water flows only when the machine is in use.
• Easier to service: A key advance in some floor machines is that they are now easier to service; operators can even handle many minor repair issues themselves.
• Manufactured with fewer parts: Some machines have fewer mechanical parts now and that reducing the number of parts has also reduced the overall cost of ownership of some automatic scrubbers.

Check back next week for Part III in this series to learn about future trends of automatic scrubbers.

The Evolution Of Autoscrubbers

This article was originally published in Cleaning & Maintenance Management.

Before the invention of autoscrubbers, floors in airports, train stations and other large facilities were dust mopped and then cleaned using mops and buckets. It was slow, tedious work, and the results were often less than satisfactory.

Automatic scrubbers were first introduced during the mid-1950s. They looked like push lawn mowers containing a well for water and detergent, which the machine sprayed on the floor using jets. A set of rotary pads or brushes worked the combination into the floor, effectively removing soils.

While the equipment certainly did not clean and dry the floors all in one pass, as autoscrubbers do today, these early machines were a very big advance in floorcare technology. They used less water and less detergent and were overall more effective at cleaning floors than the old manual method. Floors also dried faster after cleaning. And, best of all, these machines improved worker productivity and morale tremendously.

Today’s Machines

By the 1970s, cleaning professionals had widely accepted these machines as a far more efficient and effective way to clean floors, and manufacturers had made significant advances in automatic scrubber technology.

In time, virtually all autoscrubbers shared the following three basic features:

• A solution tank and water delivery system
• A scrubbing system, which could be either rotary pads or, in recent years, cylindrical brushes
• A moisture recovery system to vacuum up water/solution and soils into a recovery tank.

Most of today’s machines now offer a fourth feature: A drive system that propels the autoscrubber forward, backward, left and right. When it comes to floor machines, greater mobility and maneuverability are typically high on the “want list” of floorcare technicians.

However, greater mobility is not the only advance in automatic scrubber technology. Check back next week to learn what other key features automatic scrubbers offer.

Using Automatic Scrubbers To Remove Grit And Soil

This article was originally published in CleanLink.

Automatic scrubbers can be used on floors in many different ways as they are designed to reduce time and effort spent on floor care, while increasing performance and productivity. When used in a green cleaning program they are effective because they apply consistent, clean, solution to the floor, mechanically agitate the dirt, and then the dirt and solution are physically removed with a vacuum system. This is typically done in one pass. Even with the advancements in mopping technology, this process cannot be duplicated with a mop and bucket.

Be sure to size the unit appropriately to the area being cleaned and the surfaces the unit will be required to maintain. Cylindrical style brushes are far and away the most versatile, cost effective and results producing option available today for any green cleaning operation. Add water/solution savings and less abrasion to floor surfaces and this will be your best starting point. Additionally, you should only purchase sealed/maintenance free batteries.

The major advantage to automatic scrubbers is the remove of dirt and grit from floors and they do it very quickly. This makes them the perfect daily floor cleaning tool. When you add in the fact that when adjusted and used properly, most styles and models leave the floor instantly dry, reducing the risks of someone slipping, it becomes apparent why they truly are the best practice for daily floor cleaning in any green program.

The squeegee is the business end of any unit and therefore it is very important to remove dry debris, grit and soil from the floors. When storing the unit after use it is extremely necessary to remove the squeegee bar, clean and inspect the blades and store the squeegee on a shelf and not on the machine. This tip will ensure the squeegee is capable of producing the results the entire unit was purchased for.

Automatic scrubbers can be used on floors in many different ways as they are designed to reduce time and effort spent on floor care, while increasing performance and productivity. When used in a Green cleaning program they are effective because they apply consistent, clean, solution to the floor, mechanically agitate the dirt, and then the dirt and solution are physically removed with a vacuum system. This is typically done in one pass. Even with the advancements in mopping technology, this process cannot be duplicated with a mop and bucket.
Be sure to size the unit appropriately to the area being cleaned and the surfaces the unit will be required to maintain. Cylindrical style brushes are far and away the most versatile, cost effective and results producing option available today for any Green cleaning operation. Add water/solution savings and less abrasion to floor surfaces and this will be your best starting point. Additionally, you should only purchase sealed/maintenance free batteries.
The major advantage to automatic scrubbers is the remove of dirt and grit from floors and they do it very quickly. This makes them the perfect daily floor cleaning tool. When you add in the fact that when adjusted and used properly, most styles and models leave the floor instantly dry, reducing the risks of someone slipping, it becomes apparent why they truly are the best practice for daily floor cleaning in any Green program.
The squeegee is the business end of any unit and therefore it is very important to remove dry debris, grit and soil from the floors. When storing the unit after use it is extremely necessary to remove the squeegee bar, clean & inspect the blades and store the squeegee on a shelf and not on the machine. This tip will ensure the squeegee is capable of producing the results the entire unit was purchased for.
- See more at: http://cleanlink.com/cleanlinkminute/details/Using-Automatic-Scrubbers-To-Remove-Grit-And-Soil--38435#sthash.5kKNxmPS.dpu

Automatic scrubbers can be used on floors in many different ways as they are designed to reduce time and effort spent on floor care, while increasing performance and productivity. When used in a Green cleaning program they are effective because they apply consistent, clean, solution to the floor, mechanically agitate the dirt, and then the dirt and solution are physically removed with a vacuum system. This is typically done in one pass. Even with the advancements in mopping technology, this process cannot be duplicated with a mop and bucket.
Be sure to size the unit appropriately to the area being cleaned and the surfaces the unit will be required to maintain. Cylindrical style brushes are far and away the most versatile, cost effective and results producing option available today for any Green cleaning operation. Add water/solution savings and less abrasion to floor surfaces and this will be your best starting point. Additionally, you should only purchase sealed/maintenance free batteries.
The major advantage to automatic scrubbers is the remove of dirt and grit from floors and they do it very quickly. This makes them the perfect daily floor cleaning tool. When you add in the fact that when adjusted and used properly, most styles and models leave the floor instantly dry, reducing the risks of someone slipping, it becomes apparent why they truly are the best practice for daily floor cleaning in any Green program.
The squeegee is the business end of any unit and therefore it is very important to remove dry debris, grit and soil from the floors. When storing the unit after use it is extremely necessary to remove the squeegee bar, clean & inspect the blades and store the squeegee on a shelf and not on the machine. This tip will ensure the squeegee is capable of producing the results the entire unit was purchased for.
- See more at: http://cleanlink.com/cleanlinkminute/details/Using-Automatic-Scrubbers-To-Remove-Grit-And-Soil--38435#sthash.5kKNxmPS.dpu