Buyer's Guide to Floor/Hard Surface Cleaners

Overview

Floor/hard surface cleaners are specialized machines that provide simultaneous cleaning and extraction, which allows them to clean up to 30 times faster than conventional methods. The equipment operates on a variety of surfaces, including porous and non-porous floors, concrete and masonry, grout, walls and even carpeting, depending on the configuration.

The equipment can include several components: a cleaning head, an extraction unit, and a pressure and heating unit. But not all of these machines perform equally on every surface and job.

Here is a quick guideline to surfaces and cleaning equipment:

For large indoor facilities with multiple surfaces and environments that require an all-electric machine, consider a self-contained floor and hard surface cleaners. This equipment uses a pressure and extraction unit that -- when paired with the right head -- can clean carpets, upholstery, porous tile and flooring, non-porous tile, concrete floors, grout and most other surfaces. The machines can generate pressure levels of up to 1500 psi and are designed to minimize water use, overflow and drying times.

The machines can accept hot water of up to 210ºF and have a dumping capacity of five gallons per minute. Available heads: dedicated hard floor spinning heads, carpet wands, upholstery wands, pressure washer wands, squeegee wands.

Large outdoor jobs involving heavy grease and extraction require more heat, more pressure and more suction. In these situations, consider a heated hard surface/spinning cleaning machine. These systems are similar to the self-contained floor and hard surface cleaners except they add a more powerful extractor and a steam pressure washer. The machines are ideal for removing oil and grime from concrete, walkways, parking lots, driveways, and sidewalks. For tough jobs, pre-spraying with cleaning chemical may be required.

The systems can also be used indoors to clean large indoor facilities that allow the use of propane or natural gas as a heating source. The products won't work on carpets or upholstery. The equipment offers steam temperatures up to 330ºF, pressure levels of up to 3000 psi and auto-dumping capacity of up to 30 gallons per minute. Available heads: dedicated hard floor spinning heads, pressure washer wands and squeegee wands.

Configurations powered or heated with fuels can be used to clean indoor facilities. The trick is to truck mount the machines, run them outdoors, and use long water hoses of 200 feet or longer. The hose connects to a tool/wand, which is used indoors to clean; the vacuum connects to the tool and extracts the dirty water. When a water hose is connected to the extractor the extracted water can be automatically dumped down a sewer drain or waste water collection tank as the system cleans.

For smaller porous tile, routine maintenance and carpet cleaning jobs, consider a porous tile floor cleaner. These machines heat with electricity and combine an extractor unit with a squeegee wand. The machines are ideal for granite, limestone, marble, travertine, unglazed ceramic tile, and porous surfaces with minimal grout. The systems can accept a 10-inch carpet cleaning wand or an upholstery wand. Porous tile floor cleaners provide temperatures of up to 150ºF and pressure levels of up to 150 psi. The machines are not designed for extraction or cleaning dirty grout. Available heads: squeegee wands, carpet wands, upholstery wands.

Key Features

Hard-surface spinning heads:

For optimal cleaning power, choose a powered or turbo spinning head, as opposed to non-motorized spinner. The motorized spinners allow the water to flow at maximum, yet safe pressure level and penetrate the pores of porous surfaces for deeper cleaning; this creates maximum productivity, less mess, requires less water, and minimizes cleaning time.

Spinning heads come in different sizes and the proper size can be ordered depending on the size of the job. Daimer offers a large 19-inch motorized head for big jobs; it is capable of cleaning up to 1000 square feet per hour, spins at 1000 rpm, and sprays water up to 1500 psi when used with the XTreme Power® 13000/13000A/14000/14000A. The spinners support up to 3000 psi for use with heated high pressure washer machines.

The spinner head features a rubber guard that helps prevent over-spraying and leakage. The attachment even works on uneven surfaces.

The smaller 9-inch motorized head spins at the same speed and generates the same pressure levels as the larger model. It is ideal for smaller spaces and the head can be removed from its wand and substituted with various squeegee wands for cleaning walls, floors, counter tops, and most other hard surfaces.

Squeegee wands:

Squeegee wands save time on smaller jobs or tight spaces. Daimer's wands include a grip handle and jets to clean while extracting in tight areas and corners with 1500 psi force when using Daimer's 13000 and 14000 series machines. The squeegee, similar to the spinner heads, also support pressure levels up to 3000 psi when used with heated configurations.

Squeegees are ideal for cleaning many surfaces such as VCT flooring, toilet areas, under tables in restaurants, or around service-station islands. The wands come in two sizes: 12-inch, 4-jet squeegees or 18-inch 6-jet models. Both sizes include angled jets to create a contiguous spray pattern that covers the width of squeegee.

Extractors:

Daimer's heated hard surface floor cleaners feature heavy duty sludge extractors capable of handling storm debris up to a ½-inch in diameter at a rate of 30 gallons per minute. Other self-contained systems include an extractor within the same housing that operates at a rate of five gallons per minute.

Pressure and heating units:

For cleaning extremely dirty or greasy surfaces, consider a hard surface cleaning machine that includes the power of a steam pressure washer. If you need to use the unit indoors, select a unit heated by propane. With the use of long hoses of 200-feet or more, any electric, gas or diesel powered, oil-heated machines can be trailer-mounted and used to clean outdoor as well as indoor surfaces.

Quiet Housing:

For hospitals, nursing homes, and other environments where noise is an issue, consider a machine with an acoustic case that reduces noise. Daimer offers two such units, the XTreme Power HSC 13000A and XTreme Power HSC 14000A, that reduce noise to 58 decibels.

More Information about Hard Surface Cleaners

Floor Cleaning Machines - Overview

How to Clean Tile and Grout

Five Questions to Ask Before Buying a Hard Surface Cleaning Machine