Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Floor Pad Uses

Many people ask me what pads should I use for what situation. So I thought I would do a nice simple break down on what color pads should be used for what. The information is based on a 3M reference chart.

Cleaning
  White - Summer cleaning
  Red - Winter cleaning, heavier traffic floors

Buffing 
  White - Low speed under 300
  Tan - 300 RPM and up

Burnishing - In order of aggressiveness
  Pink Eraser - Black mark removal made easy
  Natural Blend - Includes Hog's hair, Buckaroo, Jackeroo, Gorilla and Porko
  Tan Burnish - Good for gloss and long life of finish
  Light Blend - Includes Jackaroo Lite, Gorilla Lite, and Porko Elite
  Blue Ice - My personal favorite, Restores gloss and designed for floors that are burnished daily

Scrubbing
  Blue - Dark blue for light coat removal or repair of heavy scratching i.e.Under chairs
  Green - To remove a little more

Stripping
  High Pro - Aggressive pad, rinse easy great for any heavy build up floor
  Black stripping - Standard black pad
  Brown - Nice aggressive pad to remove fewer coats on the floor. Falls nicely between a black and green pad.

I hope this quick basic breakdown will help you to choose the right pad next time you have to buy pads.

Phil-T
"Nothings too filthy for Phil-T"



Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Winter cleaning cautions

Winter cleaning poses many problems, and one of these has to do with using floor scrubbers. All summer long we may clean with our floor scrubber. Typically when the clean water is empty, then the dirty water is full and it's time to drain our vacuum tank. Winter however can be quite different.

In the course of the day hundreds of people enter our facility and all of them bring in snow, especially on a snowy day. As the day goes on, the snow melts and becomes water. In the evening when we pass our scrubber the recovery (vacuum) tank fills faster then our solution tank empties and sometimes we don't notice. This cause our vacuums to work harder and at times suck foam and water through to the vacuum motor.

Vac motor that has had overflow issues
The other problem can arise at this point. We may take the opportunity of emptying our scrubber, as a time to refill the solution tank. If you are not using a proportioning system then you may add too much chemical causing excessive bubbling in the recovery tank and leaving excess residue on the floor causing the wax to breakdown prematurely.

So here's the tip.
- Fill floor scrubbers using proportioning
- Keep an eye on recovery tank over filling
- At the end of shift after cleaning everything out run the vacuum for 30-60 seconds to help dry moisture in vac
- Consider using a defoamer on occasion to help keep excess foam down

The picture inserted is a vacuum motor from a client who has allowed his tank to over flow and suck water, foam and dust through to his vacuum.

Phil-T
"Nothings too filthy for Phil-T"