EXPERT ADVICE
mops, stored wet, supported bacterial growth to very high levels and could not be adequately decontaminated by chemical disinfection products.” Mops can collect contaminants, and when this happens, ‘contamination from one surface is transferred to a [new] surface.’
RK: How are new floor cleaning systems preventing this from
happening? MF: Some floor equipment manufacturers have introduced a wider variety of floorcare equipment, mostly automatic scrubbers, designed to be used on large and smaller floor areas. These help do away with our culprits, the mop and mop bucket, but automatic scrubbers, large or small, are costly and often complicated machines needing ongoing service and attention.
What Kaivac has done to eliminate the use of mops and mop buckets is design a system that works very much like a traditional automatic scrubber, but without the hefty price tag or the service requirements. As with a scrubber, cleaning solution is applied directly to the floor as it is walked over the surface. A rear pad provides agitation to loosen soils; they are collected by a squeegee, and then vacuumed up and removed from the floor. This is essentially what an automatic scrubber does.
RK: Has the effectiveness of this floorcare technology been scientifically evaluated?
MF: Yes – the University of Massachusetts tested floors before and after cleaning using a microfibre flat mop, a traditional auto scrubber, and one of Kaivac’s AutoVac floor machines. To evaluate the results, the researchers used an ATP monitoring system. What they found was that all three methods did help reduce overall ATP readings, indicating that the floors were cleaner and healthier after cleaning. However, the floor cleaned with the AutoVac cleaning system saw a reduction in ATP of almost 100%. This was even higher than we expected. Our own testing indicated that the cleaning effectiveness of the system would be very high. However, these results exceeded what we anticipated.
RK: Are there cost savings with
these floor cleaning systems? MF: We calculate the savings in different ways. For instance, the battery operated AutoVac (and its sister system, the SUV) clean as much as 19,000m² of floor space in an hour. This is comparable to an automatic scrubber. However, the real savings are in the purchase price and what we call the machine’s ‘cost of ownership’. For instance, a battery-powered AutoVac costs about £1,598.80 to purchase. Compare that with a similar-sized auto scrubber that costs as much as £5,600. Also, expect to pay about £640 per year in maintenance costs for an auto scrubber but less than £400 in annual maintenance costs for the AutoVac. So the total cost of ownership for an auto scrubber after four years is £8,154. In comparison, an AutoVac system after four years costs less than £3,200, a saving of about 60%.
RK: Do you expect continued industry emphasis on floor
cleaning systems? MF:Manufacturers build cleaning equipment based on two things: what the customer needs and where they see a market – preferably a growing market. Both are happening now when it comes to floorcare equipment. While we may see more facilities install carpet tiles and industrial carpets, the movement to hard surface floors appears strong and will likely grow stronger in years to come.
www.kaivac.com
www.tomorrowscleaning.com Tomorrow’s Cleaning | 9
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