Wet Vacuum Cleaner vs Mopping: A Comprehensive Comparison

Ever thought that Is a wet vacuum cleaner as good as mopping?

Are you still stuck lifting a bucket full of water with a wet cloth from room to room? Doesn’t it consume a lot of time and drain your energy to a great extent right? 

Well, here’s a new gadget as a savior of your time and energy: A wet vacuum cleaner, a prominent mopping gadget with advanced features that cleans our floors much more easily and quickly as compared to manual mopping. But, is a wet vacuum cleaner as good as mopping? 

In case a wet vacuum cleaner is better than manual mopping, let us consider each and every merit and demerit of each of them.

Related Post: The Dos and Don’ts of Mopping Hardwood Floors: A Comprehensive Guide

Advantages of using a wet vacuum cleaner for floor cleaning

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Let’s begin with the advantages of a wet vacuum cleaner first.

• Wet vacuum cleaners have separate tanks for clean and dirty water preventing the dirty water from spreading over the floor again and again, which leaves behind soil and dirt. 
• A wet vacuum cleaner removes 90-95% of soil and dirt and avoids the chances of cross-contamination.
• A wet vacuum cleaner has an efficient high speed of mopping the floor in a very short period. It can clean a room three to four times faster than manual mopping.
• There’s no need to dip and wring the cloth into the same bucket of dirty water again and again after every mop.
• You don’t need to change water frequently and substantial manual force to operate.
• Floors will dry swiftly using a wet vacuum cleaner.
• The suction power of a vacuum cleaner sucks the excess moisture, thus leading to quick drying of floors.
• Using a wet vacuum cleaner doesn’t create any mess like spilling excess detergent water on floors.
• It saves much of our time and energy as physical labor is not much required.
• You can easily remove dirt, debris and stubborn stains using a wet vacuum cleaner with less effort.
• It can work on any kind of surface, such as hard floors, carpets, tiles, or marble which is difficult in the case of manual mopping.
• You can reach difficult areas using a wet vacuum cleaner.
• It reduces labor costs.
• Mops and brooms create messes rather than cleaning.
• Such gadgets are more eco-friendly as they use minimal water and cleaning agents.
• According to the cleaning requirements, you can change Scrubber pads.
• The rotatory spinning of scrubbing pads and brushes cleans the floors, making them hygienic.
• You can clean big houses or apartments in less time using a wet vacuum cleaner. Some wet vacuum cleaners can cover over 20,000 square feet per hour.

We’ve also covered a topic on: Advantages and disadvantages of floor cleaning machine. Be sure to read it!

Advantages of mopping for floor cleaning

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After taking a look at the benefits of wet vacuum cleaning, let us also give a glance at the advantages of mopping.

• Special attention to each corner of the floor can be given while mopping.
•  It keeps our body active by burning calories, as it requires physical labor.
• The traditional method of mopping doesn’t produce any sound.
• There are fewer chances of harming furniture and devices in manual mopping.

For more insights on Dry and Wet Vacuum Cleaner, be sure to read our related blog post: What is the difference between Dry and Wet Vacuum Cleaner

Disadvantages of using a wet vacuum cleaner for floor cleaning

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Like all other gadgets and devices, a wet vacuum cleaner also has its limitations. So to help you decide better, go through the advantages as well.

• The machines are quite heavy and bulky. Thus they can only be used for occasional cleaning.
• They demand good and regular maintenance of the filters and motors of the device.
• Wet vacuum cleaners are comparatively more expensive than traditional mopping styles.
• These machines require additional space for storage.
• Such machines are noisy that can be fatal if one is prone to loud noise or headache problems.
• Extra care should be taken while using such devices as they are very heavy to use. Also, accidental damage to the device or clogging of the hose may occur, which can be costly to repair.
• Using Such devices increases the consumption of electricity.

Also Read:- Advantage and disadvantage of wet and dry vacuum cleaner

Disadvantages of mopping for floor cleaning

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At last, take a look at the disadvantages of mopping before making your final decision.

• Mopping leaves the floor wet as they don’t dry easily, taking more time compared to wet vacuum cleaning.
• This method is time and energy-consuming.
• Mopping demands intensive physical labor, such as kneeling and scrubbing the floors hard to get rid of dirt and stains.
• Mopping requires repetitive filtering of water in the bucket.
• It often spreads the dirty water again on the floor rather than cleaning it. The chances of cross-contamination are very high in traditional mopping methods.
• Labor costs are higher.
• Mopping requires more water and cleaning agents as compared to wet vacuum cleaners for cleaning. 

Comparing the cost of wet vacuum cleaners vs mopping

Undoubtedly the upfront cost of buying an automated cleaning machine is much higher than the cost of buying a traditional broom and mop. However, the overall labor cost for cleaning floors is comparatively 90% of industrial cleaning machines in the long run. 

A small cloth or scrubber can clean about a few centimeters at once, but a large scrubber can clean about a large area with less consumption of cleaning detergent. Manual mopping of floors requires more time as compared to machine cleaning. Hence, labor will charge more money. 

Different brands of wet vacuum cleaners cost differently according to the features available, so it is advised to check and compare the prices properly before buying a wet vacuum cleaner.

Also Read- Know Are Vacuum Mop Combos Worth It?

Tips for using a wet vacuum cleaner for floor cleaning

If you are using a wet vacuum cleaner, then make sure to follow the given tips to keep your wet vacuum cleaner safe and healthy.

• Make sure the tanks and dust bags are empty before use.
• Check that the filter is correctly placed according to instructions.
• Use the right attachment as per the requirements of cleaning and type of surface.
• Empty the bin after every use.
• You should clean the device at least once per month.
• Change the water after every cleaning as dirty water might stick to the tanks, and it might smell foul.

Is a wet vacuum cleaner as good as mopping?

After going through all the advantages and disadvantages of both techniques of cleaning, it can be noticed that a wet vacuum cleaner is worth investing in for the long run, as it cuts short the use of time, energy, and even budget. It is indeed a good option to be opted for in place of mopping. Lastly, it depends on your preference.

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