Bucketless Mops Utilize Built-in Chemical Reservoirs

When it comes to reducing water use, bucketless mops with built-in chemical reservoirs are a suitable alternative to traditional mop buckets for quick interim cleaning.

“The concept of a bucketless mop is to reduce the amount of liquid that’s deposited on the floor,” says Meaney, “especially during high-frequency hours when you have a lot of foot traffic. Usually the cleaning solution comes out of the base of the mop in a spray pattern or mist, and then you allow for a quick dwell time.”

Bucketless mops are lightweight and can be filled with a neutral floor cleaner or disinfectant to reduce cross-contamination, says Uselman.

Even though janitors aren’t dunking the mop head into a bucket of solution, they still need to change mop heads frequently. Visual cues, such as a streaky floor or a dirty-looking pad, can indicate that a pad change is overdue.

Gosson suggests changing mop heads every 400 square feet in healthcare facilities and between 600 and 800 square feet in general cleaning applications.

“These mops only have the capability of retaining a certain amount of soil, and then you have to remove the pad and replace it with a fresh one,” says Gosson.

Distributors suggest using washable microfiber pads with bucketless mops or, in some instances, disposable microfiber pads.
 
“If you don’t have the capacity to rinse out or launder mops, you can use disposable microfiber,” says Gosson. They are also preferable in critical areas, like high-tech manufacturing plants, that don’t allow reusable products.”

In fact, distributors recommend using microfiber mops in conjunction with all alternative mop buckets.  For instance, ABCO Cleaning Product’s dual-chambered bucket and microfiber mop work together as a system.

“We’ve worked with a third party to develop a mop fiber technology that absorbs more than a conventional mop and at the same time releases grease, oil, and liquid more easily than a conventional mop,” says Meaney.