Commercial Cleaning: 10 Commonly Used Types of Machines

When it comes to cleaning and maintaining a commercial and residential space, there’s no difference in terms of required tools and level of cleanliness. Having the space spotless is the goal of both commercial and residential homes for sure, and while the goals are the same, the machines aren’t. The truth is that you cannot achieve the same goals and have a spotless, clean commercial space if you use cleaning machines for residential use. The reason is that residential floor cleaning machines have a less powerful engine, and less suction and scrubber power, making it impossible to clean the area.

Today’s commercial-designed floor machines are more powerful and efficient, which makes them perfect for giving you excellent results in a shorter period.

Common Types

Floor Scrubber

The first and most important thing worth mentioning is that this machine is designed for wet cleaning. As the name suggests, a commercial floor scrubber is designed to scrub the floors with its brushes to remove any dirt and stubborn stains. 

Designed for industrial and commercial use, a versatile commercial floor scrubber is a commonly used cleaning machine, which uses water and chemicals to remove grease, grime stains, dirt and debris from a surface, and dry it. Aside from brushes, these cleaning machines feature a tank where you’re supposed to add the cleaning solution. The residual water solution is collected in a separate tank, making it impossible to mix clean and dirty water.  

Generally speaking, you can choose from three types of floor scrubbers: walk-behind, ride-on and robotic scrubbers. All of them differ in model, purpose and running power.

Walk-Behind

These scrubbers are perfect for cleaning any hard floor surface. They are usually designed for small and medium-sized areas and are mainly used in hard-to-access areas, narrower hallways and congested areas. The most common use of walk-behind scrubbers for floors is in hospitals, hospitality, schools and retail environments.

Ride-On

These cleaning machines are larger and are mainly used in larger and more open spaces like warehouses, shopping centres, factories and transport hubs. Given the fact their size and power, they can easily clean a larger floor surface in a shorter period which, on the other hand, will reduce the chances of the operator feeling fatigued and tired.

Robotic

Last but not least, scrubbers are the robotic ones that are widely used in both commercial and industrial facilities. These machines aren’t operated by an operator, instead, they have advanced AI technology that allows them to navigate, mop, clean and dry the floor in a shorter period. They are mainly used for faster and easier cleaning of larger areas like shopping centres, airports, etc.

Sweeper

Unlike the floor scrubbing machine, this one is designed for dry cleaning. It can be used both indoors and outdoors and it is designed to collect dust, debris, dirt and other particles from the surface. Depending on the model you choose, the older ones can only collect the debris by sweeping the dirt into an onboard waste bin and disposing of it later, while the newer models can have a vacuum to ensure that dust is removed completely from the surface.

The best thing about these machines is that they can be used for any type of surface whether it is small, medium or large. Generally, you can choose between several types of sweepers.

• Manual Push – designed to be pushed by an operator. Features a rotating brush that collects the dirt in a collector. It’s perfect for cleaning smaller areas like yards and pavements.
• Walk-Behind –  it has a motor that can run on battery, petrol, diesel or LPG, which drives the brush to rotate and clean the surface. This model requires minimal operator effort which makes cleaning easier and faster, making them perfect for factories, warehouses, halls, workshops, etc.

Ride-On

These sweepers are larger and they can have combustion or electric engines. Even though motorised, they need to be operated by a person. They are used for cleaning larger surface areas like airports, larger car parks, logistics, manufacturing facilities, etc.

Road/Street

These sweepers are perfect for cleaning roads and parking lots because of their size and large waste containers. This feature makes them perfect for cleaning airports, larger car parks, logistics, etc.

Pressure Washer

As the name suggests, this cleaning machine uses highly pressured water to clean the designated surface and remove any grime or build-up. These cleaning machines are mainly used for cleaning outdoor areas like driveways, walls, and different outdoor floors that need pressure to eliminate dirt, grease and stubborn stains. These washers use adjustable pressure jets and hot and cold water functions to meet the different commercial and industrial settings.

Vacuums

These sturdy and robust commercial and industrial cleaning machines have the purpose of vacuuming any dirt and dust particles from floors, leaving them squeaky clean. They can be used for different sizes and types of flooring, whether smooth or textured. The type of vacuum cleaners these days is huge, so doing thorough research and finding the right model is paramount to make the right choice.