Match your facility to the right machine — by square footage, aisle width, and cleaning schedule. No guesswork.
You need a floor scrubber sized to match three things — your facility's square footage, your tightest aisle, and how long you have to clean. Get those right and you skip the two costliest mistakes in this business: buying something too small to finish the job, or too big to fit through the door.
This guide walks you through exactly how to match those numbers, starting with a chart you can bookmark and come back to.
Start here. Match your facility size to the machine category, then check your aisle width.
This chart gets you in the ballpark. If your facility has narrow aisles under 48", multiple floors, or mixed-use zones, read on — those factors can shift your decision by a whole machine category.
There's a lot of noise in floor scrubber marketing. These three numbers are what you actually need to look at.
This is the big one. A 20" machine needs three passes to cover a 60" aisle. A 34" machine does it in two. Wider path = faster cleaning. But wider also means less maneuverable — you can't run a 34" machine down a 36" retail aisle.
Simple rule: Measure your narrowest doorway or aisle. Your cleaning width should be at least 6–8 inches narrower.
The TerraScrub A3 walk-behind has a 530mm (20.9") cleaning width and a 550mm body — fits through a standard 30" door with room to spare.
People nail the cleaning width but pick tanks too small for their space. Then the operator spends a third of their shift draining and refilling.
Quick rule of thumb: 5 gallons of clean water per 10,000 sq ft. If your facility is 30,000 sq ft, you want at least 15 gallons.
Your machine needs to outlast the cleaning shift — not the other way around. For single-shift work, 3–4 hours of runtime is usually enough. For heavy use, look for 5+ hours or lithium batteries that charge faster between shifts.
Lead-acid batteries last about 500 charge cycles. Lithium (available on the TS-A7) hits 2,000+ cycles — four times the lifespan, and it charges faster.
This is where most buyers get stuck. You've sized the machine — now which type?
The threshold is roughly 15,000–20,000 sq ft. Below that, walk-behind. Above it, a ride-on starts paying for itself in labor savings alone.
Here's the math: At $25/hour, a walk-behind operator covers about 12,000 sq ft/hr. A ride-on operator covers 25,000–45,000 sq ft/hr. For a 30,000 sq ft facility, that's 2.5 hours on a walk-behind versus under an hour on a ride-on — saving 1.5 hours per day, every day.
The fix: Size for your tightest zone, not your largest. If your narrowest aisle is 42", don't go wider than 34". The TS-A5, at 24" wide, can navigate those corridors while still giving ride-on productivity.
The fix: Look at battery lifespan, parts availability, and build quality. The TS-A7's steel frame and maintenance-free battery mean lower cost over three years than a cheap machine that keeps breaking.
The fix: Match tank capacity to your space. A TS-A5 with 17-gallon tanks covers 18,000 sq ft on a single fill. No mid-shift stops.
A walk-behind with a 20–24" cleaning width and at least 12-gallon tanks. The TerraScrub A3 (20.9" width, 13.2-gallon tank) works well. If your aisles are wide enough, the TS-A5 is also an option — it cleans 2,700 m²/h while staying compact.
A ride-on with a 28–34" cleaning width and 30+ gallon tanks. The TS-A7 (34" width, 37-gallon tank) covers this range comfortably — it can do 30,000 sq ft in under an hour.
Cleanable floor area. Subtract storage rooms, carpeted offices, and off-limits zones. Total building size can overstate your needs by 30–50%.
Yes, but portability matters. The TS-A5 fits in standard passenger elevators (1260mm × 620mm) and can be moved between sites. A larger ride-on like the TS-A7 is better as a dedicated machine for one facility.
Look for adjustable brush pressure. The TS-A3 has 10–30 kg adjustable pressure — dial it down for delicate tile, crank it up for industrial concrete. One machine, multiple surfaces.
Very. Your squeegee should be wider than your cleaning path — typically by 4–8 inches. The TS-A7 has an 860mm cleaning width and an 1100mm squeegee, so it picks up all the dirty water in one pass with no streaks.
Choosing the right size comes down to three numbers: your cleanable square footage, your narrowest aisle, and your tank capacity. Miss any of these and you risk buying a machine that slows you down instead of speeding you up.
Your action plan:
