All men may be created equal, but all industrial cleaning machines are not. Contrary to popular belief, scrubber sweeper models suitable for commercial floors (i.e. carpet and vinyl) may not always be the best option for industrial floors in warehouses and manufacturing plants. For example, industrial flooring is often treated with a special coating called epoxy. This coating strengthens the floor’s surface to make it more durable to withstand heavy foot traffic and machinery. A standard sweeper scrubber model will remove debris and sanitize, but an industry designed sweeper scrubber will protect both the floor surface and its coating.
In addition to floor preservation, mechanical engineers have created a long line of industry-specific equipment to improve the overall cleaning efficiency for industrial applications. The most significant variances between commercial and industrial machines are their holding capacities, cleaning surface areas, and power types.
Tank Capacities
The capacities of cleaning tanks and trash hoppers are one of the major differences between commercial and industrial cleaning equipment that make an enormous difference in the time efficiency of sweepers, scrubbers or combination machines. For example, ride on floor scrubbers can have anywhere from a 10 gallon to 68-gallon tank. By purchasing an industrial sweeper scrubber with a 68-gallon tank, you save yourself the work of emptying the tank of old, dirty water and refilling it with seven different times. Instead, you only have to do it once in comparison.
Surface Area
Like the capacity of the storage and cleaning supply tanks within industrial cleaning machines, the surface area of the brushes and brooms are significantly greater. Commercial sweepers intended for retail or hospitality environments have a sweeping path of just 15 to 20-some inches. On the other hand, industrial sweepers have a sweeping path of up to 78 inches, more than 6 feet. Commercial sweepers have to be smaller to fit in narrow aisles, but this is unnecessary on large warehouse floors. Imagine the difference between sweeping your warehouse floor with a 15-inch sweeping path and a 78-inch sweeping path. Together with the surface area and tank capacity, an industrial machine would save you about 5x the time and effort.
Powering Options
The powering options for industrial machines are also quite different from commercial ones. Because commercial environments are more closed-in and concerned about being quiet for the sake of their customers, their powering options for cleaning machines are limited. Oftentimes, they have to choose a quiet, battery-operated or cord plug-in machine that only lasts a few hours before needing a recharge or can only reach so far. Industrial environments, on the other hand, are much larger, have significantly more open air space and ventilation, and are less concerned about noise. Because of this, an industrial environment allows for a much more powerful engine, like an internal combustion engine. Using fuel types like diesel or alternative, cleaner-burning options like LPG or CNG, these ride-on machines can go for hours without end. They can travel anywhere and everywhere within your warehouse. Furthermore, a compact ride on sweeper scrubber engine only has about 0.75 horsepower while a larger, industrial-sized ride on machine engine has up to 3 horsepower.
With a sweeper scrubber cleaning machine specialized for a warehouse environment, you will notice a significant amount of time and work saved by your cleaning crew. In addition, the floors will maintain their shine and preserve any special floor treatments or coatings. To learn more about industrial sweeper scrubbers, call 877-676-7889 to speak with a ViziClean representative.