Selecting a scrubber/dryer for tough winter floor cleaning
January 1st 2006 Your hard floors are at risk. With winter approaching, bringing with it the annual round of ice, snow and slush, ice melting agents such as salt and sand brought in by building users from outside not only makes floors look dirty, but it can even damage the flooring surface. It is also worth remembering that a dirty floor will be much more slippery than a clean one, so with hard flooring under greater pressure than at any other time of year, examining your existing floorcare equipment to see if it will get you through the long winter months is critical says Simon Collins, national sales manager of Truvox International
Scrubber/dryers with their ability to produce clean, dry floors in even the most challenging of environments are currently the number one choice amongst cleaning professionals for hard floor cleaning. When selecting a machine however, there are a number of considerations that should be made to ensure you have the right one for your needs.
Firstly, floors in high traffic locations such as the entrance, corridor or washroom areas of schools, hospitals, restaurants, shops or offices, require more frequent cleaning during the winter months to keep floors dirt free. Selecting a well designed scrubber/dryer that is lightweight, simple to manoeuvre and operate, not only encourages cleaners to use it more frequently, but also ensures a faster and easier performance.
The Truvox Multiwash range of scrubber/dryers which includes the 240, 340, 340 Pump and new 440 models offer an excellent example. Easy to use, lightweight and compact they offer excellent manoeuvrability without heavy pushing, pulling or lifting, while their ability to wash, mop, scrub and dry in a single pass enables rapid cleaning.
Spot cleaning may also be required for exceptionally dirty flooring. While an ergonomic, lightweight design encourages the greater usage of scrubber/dryers for this task, any additional features which can boost cleaning performance will be a major bonus. The Truvox Solaris scrubber/dryer for example, features a separate vacuum control which allows exceptionally dirty floors to be "double scrubbed". Cleaning is performed in two separate passes, initially scrubbing cleaning solution into the floor with the brush while the vacuum is turned off, then repeating with the vacuum turned on, to allow further scrubbing and simultaneous pickup.
Versatility is another important consideration. During cleaning having one machine that can clean all floors rather than needing to swap between several machines can enable significant time savings over the course of a day. Multi-purpose scrubber/dryers like the Multiwash are ideal as they can clean a wide range of hard flooring surfaces from vinyl, PVC, lino and profiled ceramic floors to more robust surfaces such as marble, granite and stone. They are even effective on soft floorcoverings, including woven and non-woven shortpile carpet, carpet tiles and entrance matting.
The Multiwash can even be used to deep clean carpets with Truvox's new Cimex-Encap carpet cleaning solution. This revolutionary solution is scrubbed into the carpet with the Multiwash, as it dries dirt is encapsulated which is then simply removed by routine vacuuming to achieve even cleaner, better looking carpets.
Any in-built features which can improve safety, while minimising the disturbance to other building users should also be considered. When choosing a scrubber/dryer, one with an effective water pick-up not only ensure floors are left completely dry to avoid slips and trips, it will also enable flooring areas to be put back into use sooner after cleaning.
For example, the Solaris employs twin squeegees which collect solution going forwards or backwards via a powerful vacuum, which leaves floors dry and safe to walk on immediately after cleaning.
Ease of maintenance and features that can boost the reliability of a machine are also important. Look for machines with ultra tough constructions or simple features that enable fast, trouble-free maintenance. The Solaris scrubber/dryer includes a simple cartridge system for changing squeegee blades, while no tools are required to remove the brush, making user maintenance easier. It also uses tried and tested components throughout, including rotationally moulded tanks that will not split, crack or rust for optimum reliability and minimum down-time.
With proper planning and a thorough examination of your floorcare equipment you can ensure you are ready for the winter months. By choosing the correct scrubber/dryer you will achieve cleaner, better looking floors that will also be safer to walk on throughout the year More articles from Truvox International Ltd: | 
