We field a large number of calls in our customer service department at Douglas Equipment, and one of the questions that customers often ask is, “We need to keep our floors clean – what casters should we choose?”
Our answer depends on each customer’s unique situation, and the problems they’re trying to solve. We’ll ask follow-up questions, because the objective – “Keeping Floors Clean” – means different things, depending upon the circumstances.
Non-Marking – The tread material on a caster can rub off and leave marks on the floor. Many of our customers want to avoid this. The right choice of tread can eliminate this problem. We often recommend rubber treads; they are available in red or black, and won’t mark floors.
Floor Protection – For many customers, when they say they want to keep their floors clean, what they mean is that they want to protect their floors from being damaged by casters. Polyurethane or Performa rubber wheels work well to protect floors made of tile, linoleum, carpet or other materials.
Not Leave Tracks – In situations where a cart moves from outdoors to indoors, customers want to avoid having the casters bring in debris from outside. At a hotel, for example, the bellman’s luggage cart moves from the snow, slush, or rain at curbside, and into the lobby. It’s important that the casters not track debris through the lobby. The right choice of tread design can help solve this problem.
Not Pick Up Debris – In industrial settings, floors are often covered with metal shavings and chips. Casters, if not properly chosen, can absorb the metal debris into their treads, and then dislodge the debris in other areas of the facility. The shavings can also destroy the treads. To avoid these type of problems, we will recommend types of wheels that offer resistance to metal debris, never picking up the chips and shavings in the first place.
Cleanable Casters – In settings like hospitals or food service facilities, part of the solution to keeping floors clean is to decontaminate the equipment involved. This is done by spraying the equipment with harsh cleaning chemicals, blasting it with steam, or baking it in high temperature ovens and autoclaves. For our customers that have these stringent requirements, we’ll recommend casters that have been designed to stand up to high heat and strong chemicals.
There are tradeoffs. A caster that works great at keeping floors clean in one situation might fail in another. Choosing the right caster depends upon how it’s going to be used.
Top 3 Casters for Keeping Floors Clean
Let’s look at three situations – light, medium, and heavy loads, and find casters that are good choices in each of these situations. Colson Caster Corporation, one of the companies that Douglas Equipment represents, makes the following products.
- Light Loads / Low Capacity – For light loads, rubber wheels are certainly a good choice. There are many other options. For example, Colson’s 1 Series casters are available with several options for wheels. For a material that has better impact strength than hard rubber, consider Colson’s polyolefin wheels. They are non-marking, and give excellent floor protection. Their resistance to oils, grease, and chemicals are very good. With capacities rated up to 300 lbs. for each wheel, they are suitable for light and medium duty situations.
- Medium Loads / Medium Capacity – For medium capacity, Colson’s Performa rubber wheels are a good choice. This wheel material is available on Colson’s 4 Series casters and offers excellent floor protection on carpet, tile or linoleum. The thermoplastic elastomer the wheels are made from is non-marking to help keep your floors clean. It also rejects metal shavings and other floor debris. Performa wheels combine the advantages of hard and soft tread materials. Even though a Performa wheel rolls easily, with great durability (like a hard tread wheel), it also rolls quietly and protects floors like a soft tread wheel.
- Heavy Loads / High Capacity – Under heavy loads, rubber wheels and other soft materials may not stand up to the pressures involved. There are wheel materials that perform better than these soft materials. Colson’s 7 Series Enforcer Casters for example, are available with wheels made from a high impact polymer. Rather than being injection molded, these wheels are machined, which gives increased impact, strength, and resilience. Their tread profile is crowned, which allows the wheel to roll easily. These wheels will not only help to keep floors clean, they will protect the floors from damage when compared to the phenolic, iron, or steel wheels are often used for heavy loads.
Please note each of these wheels is available in other materials than those we have mentioned above. Some of these materials will definitely not protect your floors, or help keep the floors clean. Cast iron wheels, for example, are available as a wheel option for Colson casters, but should only be used where floor protection is not a consideration.
Colson manufactures a large range of casters. Other casters will also work well to keep your floors clean. To provide you even more choices, we’re also an authorized sales representative for other caster companies like Shepherd, Albion, Hamiltonand many others that manufactures caster products that will keep floors clean.
Want Clean Floors? Call Douglas Equipment for the Top Casters!
With so many caster companies to choose from, how do you choose? We suggest you give us a call, and speak with the experts in our customer service department. They can identify the right product from each manufacturer, and help you choose casters that will be perfect for your unique situation. We can be reached toll-free at 800-451-0030. Our local phone number in the Miami area is 305-888-3700, and of course, you can find us online anytime through our contact form. We look forward to hearing from you today!
