3 Smart Reasons to Use a Floor Scrubber in Your Wine Cellar
Let’s pop a myth – industrial floor scrubbers can be used in a wine cellar. Traditional cleaning methods like mopping and brushes can spread microorganisms that thrive in the cellar’s humid environment, potentially spoiling the wine. Floor scrubbers are routinely used to effectively remove organic residues that harbor bacteria and mold.
Floor scrubbers’ mechanical scrubbing action and ability to suck up dirty water provides superior cleaning, especially on porous concrete floors. Floor scrubbers work to ensure a clean environment and help prevent contamination that can lead to off-flavors, and helps to protect the wine’s quality as well as your investment.
Important things to know about why you should use a floor scrubber in a wine cellar
1. Maintains hygiene and prevents contamination
- Removes mold and bacteria: Wine cellars offer dark and humid environments, perfect breeding grounds for mold and bacteria. An industrial floor scrubber thoroughly cleans and disinfects surfaces, and removes the organic residues, like spilled wine or grape solids, that microorganisms feed on.
- Prevents off-flavors: Contamination from floor microbes can be aerosolized during cleaning or dragged into contact with equipment and barrels. This can introduce unwanted flavors into the wine, compromising its quality and taste. Floor scrubbers suck up the dirty water and do not spatter or spread microbes.
- Cleans porous surfaces: Many cellars have concrete floors, which are porous and can harbor contaminants in cracks and crevices. Floor scrubbers with roller brushes can reach into textured surfaces and deep clean more effectively than a standard mop.
- Removes tough grime: Floor scrubbers are designed to handle tough dirt, grease, and grime that traditional mopping may not be able to remove, further reducing the risk of microbial contamination.
2. Increases efficiency and safety
- Saves time and labor: An industrial floor scrubber automates the application of cleaning solution as well as the scrubbing and water pickup, and allows you to clean a larger area in a fraction of the time it would take to mop. This increased efficiency frees up staff for other important cellar tasks.
- Reduces slip hazards: Manual mopping leaves floors wet and slippery, which poses a fall risk. An industrial floor scrubber uses a vacuum and squeegee system to recover the dirty water, leaving the floor clean and almost immediately dry, promoting a safer work environment.
- Eliminates dirty water reuse: Unlike mopping, which reuses increasingly dirty and fouled water from a bucket, a floor scrubber uses fresh cleaning solution throughout the process. The dirty water is collected in a separate recovery tank, preventing cross-contamination.
3. Protects corks, labels and flooring – and your investment
- Preserves corks and labels from microbial load: Mold in a humid cellar environment can damage wine labels and, even more critically, it can weaken corks. Compromised corks can lead to oxidation, contamination and spoilage of the wine. An industrial floor scrubber helps control the microbial load in the cellar, protecting the integrity of your cellared wines.
- Protects flooring: Regularly deep-cleaning the floor removes the corrosive effects of wine acids and prevents the buildup of grime that can damage the surface over time. Using the right cleaning solution and brush for your floor type (e.g., concrete, epoxy) extends its lifespan.
