32 THE WORLD OF CLEANING
Choosing The Right
Commercial Vacuum Cleaner
Truvox
Natalie Dowse, Marketing and
Product Manager for Truvox
International Ltd, gives advice
on the issues to consider when
investing in vacuum cleaners for
commercial settings. Vacuuming is
one of the mainstays of any cleaning
regime – but there is a big difference
between domestic and commercial
situations. While at home we only
vacuum around twice a week - unless
we are particularly fastidious or
house-proud - in work situations,
vacuuming may take place every
single day.
This means that commercial vacuum
cleaners need to be hard working,
hard wearing, and able to handle a
variety of different surfaces, dirt and
debris. Some models are designed
for specific sites and tasks. For
example, in factories or warehouses
it makes sense to use vacuums that
have been built for particular jobs
such as picking up metal such as
screws and other hard materials –
but when it comes to other, more
multi-purpose buildings, a multi-
tasking vacuum is preferable.
Vacuums are predominantly
designed to deal with carpeted areas,
but these can vary significantly
throughout a location. Whereas
boardrooms may benefit from
deeper-pile carpeting, surfaces
in corridors or other places that
experience heavier footfall may be
‘shallower’, having been worn down
through continuous use. The latest
vacuum designs feature brush heads
that ‘sense’ differing carpet pile
heights, self-adjusting automatically
to ensure they float evenly over
all carpeted surfaces. This helps
to ensure a more thorough clean,
and also makes life easier for the
cleaning operative, who does not
have to worry about making manual
adjustments to the machine. If your
vacuum does need to perform on a
variety of floor surfaces then models
that can work at a range of different
speeds could be a good option. As a
general rule, a low speed is better for
thick carpeting, while a higher speed
is more effective and efficient on
bare floors.
Upright or cylinder designs both
have their advantages so it is mainly
a question of personal preferences.
Don’t assume that upright vacuums
are less manoeuvrable than
cylinders, as again the newest
designs have made great progress
in this area. The most versatile ones
can lay almost flat, enabling them to
clean the most hard to reach areas,
under beds or desks, for example.
On-board accessories and tools also
give access to stairs and ceilings
or curtains, as well as enabling a
thorough clean for upholstery and
seating.
One particular advantage of an
upright vacuum is its wide cleaning
path. This enables a greater expanse
of carpet to be cleaned than via
the smaller ‘footprint’ of a cylinder
vacuum. Many upright models also
have the ability to clean right up to
the edge of a surface, without the
need to employ crevice tools to clean
the area beside the skirting board or
wall edge.
WEBsiTE: www.truvox.com
Vacuums mainly deal with dry dirt,
so filtration systems are also vitally
important. A vacuum cleaner that
exacerbates allergies for employees
or customers is far from ideal, so
models incorporating HEPA filtration
are now the norm. Models can
incorporate various numbers of
filtration stages, but, for example,
a three-stage filtration, including
HEPA 10 filter, will provide a high
filtration of all particles of 0.3
microns and larger.
Another issue to consider is noise
– does this need to be kept to a
minimum due to the nature of the
workplace being cleaned? Also think
about the weight of the vacuum,
and the positioning of carry handles,
as this will have a bearing on how
easily it can be transported around
the building. Hose and cable length
is also crucial. Being unable to reach
the area that has to be cleaned
without unplugging and finding a
new power outlet will do nothing for
productivity.
Vacuums play an important role in
any contract cleaning regime, but
don’t be fooled into thinking that ‘one
size fits all’. Advances in technology
and design mean that vacuums are
now more versatile and adaptable
than ever.