Advance SC100 Upright Floor Scrubber, 12", Corded, Standard or Complete

A coffee shop, a convenience store or a clinic restroom is too small for a walk-behind auto scrubber, so it usually gets mopped. The trouble is that a mop spreads the same dirty water around the floor and leaves it wet. The Advance SC100 is built for exactly those spaces: it handles like an upright vacuum, scrubs and dries in one pass, and puts down only clean solution from its tank, so the floor is dry and safe to walk on right behind you.

It has a 12.2-inch cylindrical brush spinning at 2,100 rpm, a 0.94 hp vacuum motor with 72 inches of water lift, a 0.8-gallon solution tank and a 1-gallon recovery tank. It weighs only 26.5 pounds, and its low deck reaches under tables and counters with less than 4 inches of clearance. Nilfisk rates it at up to 1,590 square feet an hour in real use.

Choose the SC100 if you only scrub hard floors in one or two small rooms close to an outlet. Choose the SC100 Complete if you need to reach corners, baseboards and spills the deck can't get to, want to freshen small carpeted areas or entrance mats with the same machine, or clean spaces where 33 feet of cord means unplugging and moving. The Complete costs $160 more for the hose, the carpet kit and the longer cord.

• Scrubs and dries in one pass. No wet floor signs and no waiting, which cuts the risk of slip-and-fall accidents.

• Two solution flow settings. A low setting for routine cleaning and a high one for heavy soil, plus a low solution indicator light.

• Dosing cap. The solution tank cap holds 30 ml, about a 1% mix in a full tank, so measuring detergent takes no guesswork.

• Tank-in-tank design. Lift both tanks off together to fill and empty them at the sink.

• Tool-free brush and squeegees. Daily cleaning takes a couple of minutes, and the squeegees lift for a double-scrub pass on heavy soil.

• Stops when you stand it upright. Brush and vacuum shut off in the parked position.

• Aluminum frame. Light enough to carry between rooms, built for daily commercial use.

The SC100 is at its best on floors up to about 1,500 to 2,000 square feet a day: cafes, small restaurants, gas station stores, waiting rooms, restrooms and small offices. Its tanks are small on purpose to keep it light, and a full solution tank lasts up to 16 minutes, so on larger floors you'll stop to refill often. If you're cleaning more than that every day, a 14 to 17 inch walk-behind scrubber will save you time.

One honest note: the Clarke MA10 12E is built by Nilfisk on the same platform, with the same 12-inch brush, tanks, vacuum and weight, and it costs $75 less in the standard version. Buy the SC100 if you want the Advance model or already run Advance machines; otherwise the MA10 is a fine choice.

Sweep or dust mop the floor first to pick up grit and debris. Lift the tank assembly off by its handle, fill the solution tank with water no warmer than 104 °F (40 °C), leaving a little room at the top, and add detergent with the dosing cap following the chemical label. Set the tanks back on until they click.

Plug in, release the handle from the parked position with the foot pedal, lower the squeegee and press the solution button: level 1 for everyday dirt, level 2 for heavy soil. Work in straight, overlapping passes. For stubborn spots, raise the squeegee for a first scrubbing pass and lower it again to pick up on the second. When the recovery tank is full, a float shuts the vacuum off and the motor pitch rises; empty it before you carry on.

After every use, empty and rinse the recovery tank, wash the brush and its compartment, and clean the squeegee blades and the vacuum opening. Check the solution filter and the air filter regularly, and don't run the pump for more than a minute with an empty solution tank. The SC100 is for indoor use on level floors only.

Same machine, lower price. The Clarke MA10 12E comes in the same standard and complete versions, for $75 and $71 less.

No cord. The Nilfisk Dryft is a 15-inch battery micro scrubber with an oscillating pad, for $999 more than the SC100.

See every option in our floor scrubbers collection, or call (855) 601-5678.