When it comes to the cleaning of hard floor surfaces within buildings, there can be no doubt that scrubber dryers have become the tool of choice for most cleaning service providers.
With the ongoing advancement in manufacturing technology, gone are the days of the scrubber dryer only being effective in large, open plan spaces such as shopping centres and airport terminals.
In fact, machines such as the Wetrok Tango, with its compact and low profile design, allow for scrubber dryer cleaning in environments such as classrooms, offices, washrooms and so on, which were historically off limits to cleaning with anything other than a mopping system due to size and manoeuvrability. As a result, we are now able to appreciate the same advantages in smaller more congested spaces that scrubber dryer cleaning has long since delivered in much larger spaces.
Whilst advancements in the manufacture of smaller machines are a very positive thing indeed, this is not to decry or undermine the larger end of the scrubber dryer range. They certainly continue to have their place and to deliver greater levels of productivity and standards of cleanliness than any other hard floor cleaning system across large spaces.
The question then, where large floor spaces are concerned, is not so much to scrub or not to scrub (scrubber dryer cleaning is a given) but more to ride or not to ride? In other words, where and when does the application of a large pedestrian scrubber dryer take preference over that of a ride-on machine and vice versa?
In all honesty, our humble yet professional opinion is that it is difficult, if not impossible, to specify a machine for a floor area without physically seeing it first, hence the reason we insist on completing a comprehensive site survey before even getting to the demonstration phase of our offer.
In our experience there is no generic “size chart” whereby X number of m2 = Y size of machine. As a matter of fact, we have just completed a fairly major undertaking with a customer, during the initial phase of which we drew up a hypothetical list of machines required for 17 new sites based on square metreage alone in the full knowledge that we were subsequently going to visit all of the sites to complete the type of survey mentioned above. It comes as no great surprise to us that the final list (post survey) is quite different in places from the original one.
During the survey phase of any project there are key areas on which we focus our attention;
Area
Clearly the machine specified needs to be compatible with the location’s floor types and have a battery life / recharge rate that will facilitate the floors in question being cleaned as frequently and for as long as the customer desires. Size of area versus congestion (furniture, fixtures and fittings) is also clearly a critical factor.
Productivity
In very basic terms it is prerequisite that the equipment supplied delivers a level of productivity sufficient to clean the floor areas in question within the allotted times.
Flexibility
The issue of flexibility and adaptability is important to us. On a fairly regular basis we will find ourselves of the opinion that two pedestrian machines (at a lower cost) are a better option for our customers than one large ride-on, given that work rate / productivity will remain undiminished by nature of there being two machines but the option to utilise them in a greater number of areas is increased by virtue of their size and manoeuvrability.
Hours and practical requirements
It is very much our desire to avoid providing a sledgehammer for the purposes of cracking a nut and with this in mind there is no advantage to be had in specifying a machine that will perform for longer than there are cleaning hours available or indeed that delivers a productivity rating over and above that required.
Budget
It almost goes without saying that for the most part, we are all required to work within the confines of a budget in the modern day and age. Therefore, it is absolutely essential that we are sensitive and supportive of the customer’s boundaries as far as this matter is concerned.
In summary it is our objective to supply and provide ongoing support for machinery that is right for our customer (service provider), right for the cleaner and right for the client (building owner / user).
