Cordless Backpack Vacuum Perfect For School Market

For a consultant with more than 27 years experience cleaning schools, battery vacuums are a “game changer,” analogous to taking the training wheels off a bicycle, says Rex Morrison, president of the nonprofit Process Cleaning for Healthy Schools (PCHS) Consortium.

“When you are not tethered to a wall socket, the whole world opens up to you,” Morrison says. “Now, you take a look at your area and start determining what your flow is going to be so you can achieve the greatest productivity in the smallest amount of time.”

Morrison, who field-tested various brands of battery backpacks in school districts across the United States, found that productivity increased anywhere from 35 to 50 percent. Lithium batteries provide up to 1.5 hours of continuous run time, which translates into covering 37,000 to 40,000 square feet of floor in one battery cycle without recharging.

One of Morrison’s field sites was a school cleaned by H2Only Renewable Cleaning, a BSC in Miami.

“It’s very promising,” says company President and CEO Ruben Rives, who likes battery models for their versatility, speed and suction. “Backpack vacuums have a much better filtration system than any other vacuum whether it be battery-powered or not.”

Since he cleans around young kids, Rives doesn’t like to use chemicals. Instead, his cleaning program incorporates activated water, microfiber and backpack vacuums. By eliminating dust, janitors are reducing bacteria, he says.

“Bacteria don’t have legs so they hitch rides on top of dust particles and that’s how they transfer from one zip code to another,” says Rives.

Battery vacuums are well-suited to school environments for other reasons, including their low-decibel features. Buildings are active with students and faculty during the day, homework study after the bell rings and parent conferences in the evening. Quieter battery vacuums are less disruptive.

Also, they work well with typical school floor surfaces, such as VCT, wood and carpet.

Morrison predicts battery vacuums will eventually replace most corded vacuums due to their ease-of-use, flexibility and productivity. While the price point is higher than corded vacuums, the return on investment is fairly short.

“Before the kids are out of school, you’ve paid for that machine,” says Morrison.