Are battery-powered backpack vacuums worth the investment?
Cordless equipment is something of a
holy grail to the cleaning industry. It is safer to
clean without the potential tripping hazard of
a cord, and the elimination of cord management
tasks and outlet limitations considerably
speeds up vacuuming. Some cordless units
clean faster than a corded model or an upright.
Many users calculate their labor savings and
purchase it for that reason alone.
Cordless backpacks are still a relatively
new technology, so early adopters do pay a
premium price for a quality model. In order to
determine whether that investment is worthwhile
for your program, look at the proven
benefits of cordless equipment and determine
which are specifically relevant to your facility
challenges.
For example, one university we talked
to was losing time cleaning its library with
corded backpack vacuums because their
bookshelves were longer than a 50-foot
extension cord could reach. They would need
to unplug and plug in again just to clean a
single row. With a cordless backpack vacuum,
they significantly improved productivity for
vacuuming the library, and they were able to
apply the cordless backpack vacuum in other
areas to maximize the return on investment.
Another university needed to do high
cleaning of rafters and ductwork on a lift. They
were not comfortable with the risk of hanging
a cord off the lift and invested in a cordless
backpack vacuum for that task. Once they had
it, they discovered that other types of detail
cleaning, like vacuuming along all the baseboards
of a room at once, were more efficient
with the cordless backpack.
Quiet cleaning, cleaning amidst building
occupants, and cleaning areas with large
square footage are other ways that we have
seen clients justify the investment.
This article originally appeared in the issue of .
About the Author
Jacalyn High is director of Marketing for ProTeam Vacuums. She can be reached at 866/888-2168 or through proteam.emerson.com.