Are all street sweepers the same? To the untrained eye, every street sweeper probably looks the same and serves the same purpose. However, as industry insiders will tell you, there are three main types of street sweeping technologies. Several factors will inform the decision by a professional street sweeping service provider such as WA Sweeping to use one technology over the rest.

The three technologies are mechanical broom street sweepers, vacuum street sweepers and lastly, regenerative air street sweepers. Each of these technologies has its own distinct advantages and one may be more suitably used for a particular street, road or car park sweeping job. For each type of technology, different manufacturers have produced different variants of street sweepers. 

There are several factors that will influence the decision to pick one particular type of street sweeper over others. Here is a rundown of some of these factors

The Size Of The Job

The bigger the street sweeper, the less time it will take to effectively clean a large roadway or parking area.  Larger units will cover a specific area with just a few passes, compared to their smaller counterparts. For areas with larger and wider streets, these large-sized sweepers are a great fit and allow the crew to finish their sweeping in a matter of just a few passes.

For areas with smaller and narrower streets and roadways, such large units will simply not do, because, for starters, they will not fit in the streets.  The smaller and easier to maneuver units are a great choice for street sweeping in such a municipality. 

Quality Of The Road Surface 

Roads and streets should ideally be flat and smooth, which would be a lot easier to clean. In reality, however, while there are flat and smooth roads and streets, a significant portion of the roads and streets today have rough and uneven surfaces and are covered with potholes. 

These and other such characteristics have to be taken into account when choosing the specific type of street sweeper to use. The street sweeper has to be up to the task and be effective in picking up debris, even in the light of these challenges.

The Influence of Climate 

The climate in a particular region will most definitely have an impact on the choice of sweepers.  Think of an area that experiences fair weather for the most part of the year, and is a little dusty. For such an area, sweepers that use water for dust suppression and debris loosening are a great fit.

On the other hand, such a street sweeper wouldn’t be of no real or practical use for an area that is snowy for the most part. To provide traction and also melt the snow, the perfect sweepers for such an area would be those that use salt and sand. Again, such sweepers would need to have a more robust and powerful brushing assembly and debris transport system in order to effectively remove the compacted debris and sand and/or salt mixture off of the road surfaces.

The Influence Of The Environment 

The environment or surroundings, and by extension, the nature of the debris will impact the choice of a street sweeper. If, for example, an area is lined up with many mature trees, then you no doubt expect that fallen leaves will be a large part of the debris that will need removing.  For such an area, the simplest of mechanical broom sweepers and regenerative air street sweepers would easily do the job at hand. 

Source Of Power and Environmental Impact

The last few years have seen manufacturers developing more and more sweepers that use alternative fuel sources.  The motivation has always been to reduce costs in fuel expenditure and even more importantly, to protect Mother Nature from all the harmful emissions that come with using traditional fuel sources. 

For areas that place great importance on environmental protection and conservation, units that make use of these alternative fuel sources are an easy pick. Again, there may be some regulations and policies in place about what type of fuel can be used, and in that case, it ceases being a matter of being proactive in matters of environmental conservation as it becomes more of a compliance issue and avoiding penalties for being otherwise non-compliant. 

Leave It To The Experts 

Experts like WA Sweeping & Scrubbing understand that choosing the specific type of street sweeper to use is no decision that should be made arbitrarily. If the decision about what sweeper to use on a particular job was left to you as a client, the results may not be so great, for lack of a deeper understanding of what works for what area and what doesn’t.  It’s exactly for that reason that we take away that burden and come in with our expertise, and leave you to wait to enjoy the aftermath of our work. 

During the initial consultation and visit, our team will look around at where you need the street sweeping service and follow up with some questions which will help in informing our choice. For the best results, we will need to get the right tools for the job and thanks to our professional training and experience, we know exactly which street sweeper to use for a specific area. 

Get in touch with us today for professional street sweeping service done by top-of-the-range sweepers that are both effective and efficient.