Choosing The Right Equipment: Floor Sweepers And Scrubbers

In the previous edition of this guide we covered what factors needed to be considered before deciding if you need a floor sweeper / scrubber to clean your facility. If you covered those factors and decided that it is in your best interest to get a floor sweeper / scrubber, the next step is deciding which kind would best meet your needs. This section of our floor sweeper scrubber guide will walk you through the different types of floor sweepers that are available and the application in which they work best.

Floor sweepers are made to pick up dry material such as dirt and dust that are covering your floors. While your maintenance crew can sweep up messes most larger facilities have dirt, dust, and other dry messes that a simple push broom can’t clean fast enough to be efficient.

Floor scrubbers are made to pick up the kind of messes that floor sweepers can’t clean. Most wet, sticky, or compacted messes can’t be swept up so you have to use something that can apply a cleaning solution and then scrub the floor to make sure the facility is cleaned. Floor scrubbers do exactly this by dispensing the cleaner onto the floor, scrubbing the floor where the cleaner is applied, and then vacuuming up the cleaner after it is scrubbed all in one passing which limits how much labor is needed to clean your facilities floors. Floor scrubbers come with two water tanks, one for dispensing cleaning solution and a separate tank for storing the dirty water that is vacuumed back into the scrubber.

Using a floor sweeper / scrubber is efficient both in terms of time and cost – making it a great solution when trying to replace a simple push broom. There are many different types of floor sweepers to consider however, and this guide will walk you through the different kinds of floor sweepers to help you figure out which one is best for you.

Walk Behind Sweepers And Scrubbers

Walk behind sweepers / scrubbers can be either manual or automatic. Manual walk behind floor sweepers / scrubbers must be pushed by the operator while automatic walk behind floor sweepers / scrubbers are battery powered and only need to be guided by the operator. Both of these provide an easy and fast method for your employees to maintain your facility with and increase productivity greatly over standard push brooms or mops.

One of the biggest perks of this kind of floor sweeper / scrubber is the overall cost of the equipment. Walk behind sweepers / scrubbers will require a much lower initial investment than other sweepers.  The small maintenance costs of walk behind sweepers / scrubbers makes these one of the most affordable options for facility upkeep.

Increased efficiency and reduced labor costs due to quicker clean-up versus a standard push broom or mop make walk behind sweepers / scrubbers a popular choice for economically minded organizations. Additionally, the easy to use walk behind sweepers / scrubbers reduce operator fatigue, allowing more area to be cleaned during a shift. All of this allows for a significant decrease to labor cost over standard push brooms.

If you’re considering a floor sweeper / scrubber for surfaces that are more than moderately dirty, you may need to go with a stronger floor sweeper / scrubber such as a rider sweeper / scrubber.

Difference between rider and walk behind floor sweeper

Rider Sweepers And Scrubbers

A rider floor sweeper / scrubber is controlled by an operator riding and controlling the machine using a steering wheel and levers. This kind of floor sweeper / scrubber is ideal for large areas, such as industrial warehouses or facilities. Depending on your preference, your floor sweeper / scrubber can be powered by either battery, propane, or gas.

Rider sweepers / scrubbers require a larger up-front investment but with many finance options available, monthly payments fit most budgets. Because rider sweepers are typically more heavy duty than walk behind sweepers / scrubbers there is also more maintenance to be done on these machines. Depending on fuel type your rider sweeper / scrubber may need oil, grease, or battery maintenance to make sure the sweeper / scrubber remains as efficient and effective as possible.

While these factors may make for a pricier piece of equipment, rider sweepers / scrubbers also outperform cheaper pieces of equipment in both efficiency and effectiveness. Rider sweepers / scrubbers can cover more square footage than a walk behind sweeper and require less effort from the operator.

Rider sweepers / scrubbers also clean dirt and dust more effectively than walk behind sweepers / scrubbers, leaving a cleaner environment. If you are cleaning a facility that gathers large amounts of dirt and dust, a walk behind sweeper may not be able to handle the clean-up as efficiently as a rider sweeper.

Difference between rider and walk behind floor scrubber

How To Know When You Need A Floor Sweeper Scrubber

Facility maintenance can be costly with training, labor, equipment, and maintenance all factoring into that one task. This makes it important to choose the right solution for your facility when deciding how to best approach cleaning the facility.

Sweeper scrubbers are among the best and most efficient solutions to this problem but with many different options it is important to know what you need in a sweeper scrubber to get the most out of your purchase. While some facilities may only need a sweeper others may need just a scrubber. However, sometimes you need a sweeper scrubber combination to get the most from your cleaning equipment.

This guide will help you identify what kind of sweeper or scrubber best fits your facility’s needs.

Part one of this guide will cover the first steps in deciding whether or not a floor sweeper scrubber is the right tool to increase efficiency and effectiveness in your facility.

Would a Sweeper Scrubber Improve Your Cleaning Process?

The most important part of making the decision to get a sweeper scrubber is determining if your current process is cost-effective.

Would a Sweeper Scrubber Reduce The Time You Spend Cleaning?

Before you can determine whether you should upgrade from a push broom or from a different floor sweeper, you need to know how long it currently takes to clean your floors. If you find that your employees are spending more time cleaning your facility than they are at other revenue generating task, it may be a good time to look at other options.

A great way to decide if your employees are spending too much time cleaning is to set a maximum amount of hours per week that make financial sense for this endeavor. This duration should be based on how big the area your employees are cleaning as well as their labor rate. If you’re not sure whether a floor sweeper would be faster, you can always find a floor sweeper rental to use and compare to your current method.

Would A Sweeper Scrubber Reduce Your Cleaning Costs?

Everyone wants to cut costs as much as they can, so that their company is running as efficiently as possible. Facility maintenance can come with big costs attached to it, and while it’s a necessary cost, this does not mean it has to be a high cost. Paying attention to what your facility maintenance costs run, can be a key factor in deciding whether or not you want to upgrade. Set an acceptable cleaning cost benchmark based on the size of your facility when making a decision on a floor sweeper scrubber.

Is Your Facility Big Enough to Justify Using A Sweeper Scrubber?

One item to consider when deciding on a floor sweeper scrubber versus a push broom is how big of a facility you have to clean. If you’re cleaning a small facility that can be easily managed with a push broom, then you’re probably not going to get much use from a floor sweeper scrubber.

However, if you have a larger facility that you’re cleaning with a push broom, you may find your employees are spending a large portion of their time cleaning. A large facility cannot be easily maintained with a broom like it can with a floor sweeper scrubber. And, when you have a large facility to manage you don’t want to spend all your time cleaning when there are other, more lucrative tasks.

Would A Sweeper Scrubber Reduce How Often You Have to Clean?

Another key factor in deciding whether or not you need a floor sweeper scrubber is knowing how often your floors are getting cleaned. You should record how many days a week your floors get swept or mopped. This should tell you if you’re spending too much time cleaning versus other more profitable tasks.

If you are sweeping a large facility every day, then you’re likely losing a lot of productivity to facility maintenance, and the job could be done quicker with a floor sweeper.

Would A Sweeper Scrubber Be Able to Clean Better Than Your Employees?

Even if you’re within what you find to be an acceptable range of time spent cleaning, you also need to consider how effectively the cleaning may be. Sometimes a mess can’t be completely cleaned with a simple push broom and something more powerful is needed to meet facility or regulatory standards.

Floor sweeper scrubbers are very effective when it comes to cleaning both wet and dry messes. So, if you find too much of your wet or dry messes are being left behind because of improper tools it may be worthwhile to look into buying a floor sweeper scrubber.

How Much Could a Floor Sweeper Scrubber Save You in The Long Run?

While buying a floor sweeper scrubber clearly has a higher initial costs than a simple push broom or mop, it is important to look at where it can save you money in the long run. A decrease in time spent cleaning floors reduces cleaning labor cost as well as recoups revenue generating productivity.

Will A Sweeper Scrubber Help You Keep OSHA Compliant?

OSHA has recently reduced the permissible exposure limit for respirable crystalline silica and requires employers to limit worker exposure. This change in OSHA regulation can affect many different industries. One simple way to make sure you are keeping your business compliant with this rule is to make sure the area that workers operate stays as clean as possible.

A floor sweeper scrubber is an effective way to accomplish this efficiently. While it is not the only thing needed to stay OSHA compliant, most industrial sweeper / scrubbers not only remove debris but filter the air.