The Importance of Preventative Maintenance on Your Auto Scrubber

Automatic Floor Scrubbers live in dirt. They are designed to suck up all the dirt and debris and contaminants that most other types of equipment are designed to avoid. This dirt gets everywhere. Most of it goes where it is designed to and ends up in the recovery water tank. However, because these machines work in water, the dirt also sticks to the inside of hoses, feed lines, filters, control valves, float assemblies, spray jets, squeegees, wheels, drive assemblies and a variety of other places.

These machines must be maintained if they are to continue functioning properly. I hear a lot of people say when they purchase a new machine that they don’t need a maintenance agreement. The new scrubber is under warranty and they can maintain it themselves in the meantime. The issue I’ve seen for over 30 years is that they never seem to have the time for the required periodic maintenance and they don’t realize the warranty coverage from almost all manufacturers does not cover routine maintenance. Warranties from manufacturers cover defects in material and workmanship. So, if the scrubber runs well when it is delivered, it becomes difficult to claim a defect after many hours of use when the machine is covered in dirt and debris and hasn’t been properly cleaned, inspected or maintained.

The average life of an automatic scrubber is approximately 7 years. With proper care they can last 10 years or more. It just makes sense when you consider the several thousand dollar investment, that the equipment be properly maintained.

A good periodic maintenance program will list many crucial areas to be inspected on a routine basis. A good rule to follow for preventative maintenance is every 100 hours or every 90 days. Perform the basic inspections to keep the machine in good running order. These include checking, repairing or replacing hoses, filters, linkages, grease fittings, drive motors, brush motors, vacuum motors, actuator motors, LCD displays, switches, solenoids, squeegees, and batteries are just some of the items that need routine inspection. Anything that moves or comes in contact with water or cleaning chemical needs to be cleaned.

Daily and weekly maintenance is something that needs constant attention. Check out this infograph for daily automatic scrubber maintenance. Batteries need to be checked, tested and filled at least on a weekly basis. Brooms, brushes, squeegees, solution and recovery tanks and debris trays need to be cleaned daily. At the end of every day wipe down the machine to remove any standing water that may promote corrosion or wear.

The importance of periodic maintenance on equipment that lives in dirt and water cannot be emphasized enough. The best place to start is by requesting a service inspection from your local expert cleaning equipment distributor. Most good local cleaning equipment distributors have the expertise and can inspect and maintain a variety of different brands, makes and models.

Contact us at the Rhiel Supply Company and we will be able to service your equipment on a timely and routine basis. We provide all the reports necessary for good record keeping. If you are outside our service area we can provide the name of a servicing distributor in your area.

image call to action for service and preventative maintenance