Tennant Floor Cleaning Machine Buying Guide

Tennant is one of the top brands for cleaning machines. The company makes machines that are meant to be eco-friendly, save on time, and minimize the labor required.

Tennant manufacturers also pride themselves on increasing operator safety. All Tennant machines are marked with the ™ logo, and their color palette incorporates aqua-blue and dark grays.

You can identify them fairly easily, but how do you decide which machine to get? There are several useful points of criteria.

Tips for Selecting the Right Sweeper or Scrubber

For commercial or industrial cleaning operations, it’s best to start by reviewing the needs of your organization, including daily processes, inventory, and budget. For example, yhink about how much floor area you have to cover and whether or not you’re going to have to get into any tight corners.

Chances are that a larger scrubber will work faster in an overwhelming majority of circumstances. However, these might not be best for those who have to scrub around pillars or go along the edges of a room.

Scrubbers are normally followed up with by floor burnishers or some other piece of equipment used to buff the floors. Those who can only pick one piece of equipment will definitely want to go with a scrubber more than anything else, however.

What Should I Look for in a Floor Scrubber?

Build quality is always going to be your first concern, but this isn’t much an issue with Tennant devices. When buying them refurbished, you’ll want to be certain that all of the expendable parts are fresh.

Our crews always swap out the existing components with new batteries and squeegees, thus alleviating this problem as well. Since you won’t have to worry about these factors, you’ll want to look into not only size, but also the speed and width of the brushes that will actually come into contact with the floor.

Higher RPM measurements will usually translate into faster cleaning times, but they might damage some sensitive types of flooring. Weigh both of these factors when you take a closer look at any of the Tennant models currently on the second-hand market.

Consider Your Cleaning Needs.

Determine what tasks you need to complete to get a clean “floor.” Do you need the surface to be scrubbed down?

Or, do you need to sweep away any dust that a vacuum cleaner can’t pick up? Floor scrubbers are best for cleaning machines, while sweepers are meant to handle the dust.

Refurbished Tennant 8300 Sweeper and Scrubber in 1

The 8300 is an example of a sweeper-scrubber that provides the best of both worlds.

You can either scrub and sweep at the same time or do a pre-sweep before a deep clean.

Use this machine when you have a service plan with a tight schedule.

Measure the Floor Size.

You want a larger machine for a space that has a bigger surface area, and a smaller one for when you need to maneuver while cleaning. This also determines your operator involvement, another criterion that we will examine below.

Refurbished Tennant 2510 20″ Battery Powered Floor Buffer with Dust Control

A good small size is the 2510.

This is good for tiny spaces, due to the compact design and long handle for directing.

It also boasts a tilt-back system that reduces the effort needed to change the buffing pad.

Identify Your Floor Type.

Hard concrete and vinyl tile floors will need floor scrubbers to clean.

A carpet extractor, in contrast, works on fibers and to give them a deep clean.

If you have linoleum, you want to use a carpet extractor to ensure that you have rinsed them thoroughly.

Refurbished Tennant T5E 32″ Floor Scrubber

The T5E is one of the best models that you can get for a deep scrub. It boasts variable pad pressure and can run for 1.5 hours on the given power, empowering you to cover about 35,000 square feet in one hour.

Consider Your Operators’ Workloads and Output.

The operator, in this case, refers to the person who manages the machine while it is cleaning. They can either be yourself or a member of the crew, depending on your budget and the number of people involved with the cleaning.

A walk-behind floor scrubber is when the operator stands and moves with the machine, which allows for more control in narrow areas. If you want a rideable model, those are also available and reduce the physical stress on the operator.

An automatic floor scrubber is best for when you want the operator to have as little involvement as possible. They tend to be smaller and work like automatic mopping machines, such as the Scuba, but on a larger scale.

Determine The Power Source For Your Machine.

Tennant machines come with battery power and electronic cords, and you need to decide which one you want. Batteries are generally rechargeable and tend to come in a larger size.

At PS Janitorial, we include new batteries in our machines, but from other places, you may need to buy them separately. Floor scrubbers that need to be plugged in have less maneuverability.

Which are the Best Tennant Machines to Sweep & Scrub Floors With?

The simple answer is that the best Tennant machine to own is the one you’ll use. If a smaller sized machine is best for your particular circumstances, than there’s no reason not to invest in it.

Midrange devices, such as any 32″ autoscrubber, would be ideal for those who have to provide jan-san services to outside organizations. These are relatively easy to move around.

This is an especially important consideration for individuals who want to be sure that they can fit their unit into a truck or trailer. You don’t want to learn that it’s too big on the day of your first job, after all.

Riding Scrubbers from Tennant

Larger enterprise-level organizations will want to invest in a riding floor scrubber like the Tennant 7300, which has a scrubbing path that’s generous enough for most jobs. In spite of being more technologically complex than most of Tennant’s other offerings, it’s also considerably easier to learn to use than most comparable pieces of equipment.

Those who are training a large number of staffers to work with their tools shouldn’t find it particularly difficult to bring people onboard. Even smaller riding speed scrubbers are on the market to help departments that need to get the job done quickly.

Buffer Packages

Invest in a buffer package with a 32″ scrubber if you were already planning on purchasing one of these two machines. Adding both to your collection at the same time will ensure that you have all of the right tools to keep floors clean in every situation you might come into.

Most custodial departments will recommend initially scrubbing a floor before buffing or burnishing it anyway. This is another reason why you’d want to have a couple of these devices to begin with.

Tennant Buyer’s Guide at PS Janitorial

PS Janitorial is proud to sell Tennant floor scrubbers and sweepers in the United States. We believe in delivering cleaning solutions for everyone.

Our machines are new or refurbished, to give you the opportunity to get a better deal. You can get competitve prices on our Tennant scrubbers, and the best advice on how to work them.
Our experts will help guide you to the right scrubber or carpet extractor. To find the best Tennant cleaning equipment for your operations, reach out to our team today.