Criteria to Consider When Choosing an Automatic Floor Scrubber

Then below is the TOP 5 CRITERIA you need to select a good one:

What is a Floor Scrubber Machine or Auto Scrubber?

The word “floor scrubber” is used to describe what we call an automatic floor scrubber or an auto scrubber. The word “auto scrubber” is the more common term used today and in its most basic function, it is a replacement for a mop and bucket.

An auto scrubber machine does three primary things simultaneously:

#1: It delivers a cleaning solution to the cleaning brush or floor pad – this could be either water or water mixed with a floor cleaning detergent.

#2: It uses a device like a brush or a floor pad to clean and scrub the floor.

#3: It has a recovery system that uses a squeegee and vacuum to pick up the dirty water after cleaning.

What Are the Top Advantages of Using an Auto Scrubber?

There are 3 primary advantages of using an auto scrubber (of floor scrubber):

Advantage #1: Speed of Cleaning

It’s way much faster to clean floors with an auto scrubber than using a mop and bucket. According to ISSA (The Worldwide Cleaning Industry Association), it takes an hour to clean about 1500 sq ft to 2000 sq ft with a mop and bucket. On the other hand, with a medium-sized auto scrubber, you can clean about 20,000 sq ft in that same hour. And with larger auto scrubbers, you can clean upwards of 50,000 sq ft in an hour.

Advantage #2: Use of Less Water

The second advantage is that an auto scrubber uses much less water than you’d use when mopping.

This is not only better for the environment, but it makes for efficient use of water and detergent when cleaning floors.

Advantage #3: Cleaner Floors

The third advantage is that an auto scrubber will give you better cleaning results and hygienic floors.

And the reason for this is whereas mopping spreads the dirt around, the auto scrubber picks up the dirt and leaves a much cleaner, and drier floor surface.

What Are Some Distinguishing Features of an Auto Scrubber?

#1 – Cleaning Path:

The first would be the size or the cleaning path of the auto scrubber. In other words, how big your brush or pad is that you can use on your auto scrubber.

Auto scrubber cleaning paths range from 15 inches to up to 38 inches but the most common cleaning paths are in the 20-to-24-inch size range.

#2 – Power Source:

The second type of distinguishing feature of an auto scrubber is the power source.

The most common power source is the battery. But some of the smaller units still come corded and are less expensive than battery-powered machines.

The battery-powered floor scrubber gives you much more versatility in terms of how far and where you can go.

The one limitation to consider with a battery-operated auto scrubber is how long you can run it before it needs to be recharged.

Typical battery runtimes go anywhere from two hours to four hours, but with cleaning efficiencies of 20,000, square feet to 40,000 square feet that’s a lot of square footage you can cover in two to four hours.

#3 – Machine Operation:

The third major feature would be how the machine moves.

The most basic types of machines are pushed from behind where human force is needed to propel the machine forward and control the speed of that motion.

One tier up from that would be machines that have traction assist. What this means is that a human being is still pushing the machine, but the onboard motor traction is helping to propel the machine forward.

And then the third is a fully ride-on operation, where you’ve got somebody actually sitting or standing on the machine and steering the auto scrubber which self-propels itself.

#4 – Machine Size:

The fourth distinguishing feature would be the size of the onboard tank.

This is important because the size of the tank determines how much cleaning solution and how much waste (dirty pick-up) you can carry onboard.

This in turn will determine how much square footage you can cover.

#5 – Brush Formats:

And then finally there is the format of brush that you want to consider.

There are typically two types of brushes used on an auto scrubber. One is a cylindrical brush that runs perpendicular to the floor, and the other is a circular brush that runs flat on the floor.

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What Types of Floors Can You Clean with an Auto Scrubber?

So, the rule of thumb for the use of an auto scrubber is that wherever you are able to use a mop and bucket, you can use an auto scrubber.

So, you can use it on any type of resilient floor surfaces like vinyl, terrazzo, concrete, stone, and tile.

There are specialized applications that you could also use an auto scrubber for example on wood.

But the other rule of thumb that you should always follow is that make sure to check with the manufacturer of your flooring, to ensure that you can use an auto scrubber on it.

How Much Do Floor Scrubbers Cost?

There are many factors that influence the cost.

The first is size and versatility in terms of features you get on your auto scrubber to do things like controlling the head pressure and controlling the speed.

The second is brand. There are several no-name brands available but if you go to a recognized brand that may give you a sense of higher reliability, and better support and service, those will cost you more.

In general, what you’ll find is that smaller machines will cost you anywhere from $2500 to $4,000. Medium-sized machines will cost you from $4,000 to $8,000 and the larger machines will typically cost $10,000 plus.