April 17, 2018 Scott Allmendinger

Can a Sweeper Work in Wet Conditions?

If you are looking to buy a sweeper and are concerned with how it performs under wet conditions, you are most likely buying the wrong machine. Sweepers are built to run dry, not wet. When the manufacturer says they can be run in some wet applications, you should envision a parking lot after a rain with some occasional low spots holding water. The ground is obviously damp, but your intentions are not to sweep up mud with 100% effectiveness. Mud and large dirt chunks will obviously smear on pavement, with the majority of mud and wet debris going into the hopper. It’s not a scrubber. It will not be applying solution and chemical to the hard surface and creating a direct suction to the floor with a squeegee.

If this sounds too limiting, you would be better off with a sweeper/scrubber unit. You can use that unit in dry or wet conditions. We are assuming the reason for the desire of purchasing a sweeper over a sweeper/scrubber unit is the volume of dry sweeping versus scrubbing. We definitely understand the desire to have a one size fits all solution, but just want to make sure that the customer tempers his/her expectations of the sweeper in a wet environment. The photos below hopefully demonstrate the types of applications that we would feel comfortable telling an end user that he/she would have success sweeping.

If you need help finding the exact machine to fit your unique conditions, email us at info@sweepscrub.com for a fast consultation.

would NOT sweep this parking lot

sweep wet parking lot