There is an old axiom that when a prob­lem remains a problem long enough, it sim­ply becomes a fact. This is what appears to have happened with escalator cleaning.

Since facility managers have never had a cost efficient solution for deep-cleaning their steps and risers, it’s been permanently placed on the backburner and completely forgotten. Dirty escalators have become an accepted fact.

This is unfortunate when you consider that an escalator, particularly the vertical riser, is one of the first things that a person sees when entering a facility. Therefore, despite maintaining and cleaning the rest of the facility, a person’s initial impression may not be favorable.

Fortunately, new equipment and options have become available in the U.S. in the last few years that have finally enabled fa­cility managers to address and solve this challenge. But we’ll talk about these later. The first thing that we need to discuss is whether or not escalators need to be cleaned? Is it really necessary or important? The answer is a resounding yes.

If a poll were conducted asking managers to list the reasons why escalators should be cleaned, I’m sure that cosmetics would be the runaway winner. After all, this is what pops into your mind first, and improving the overall appearance of your facility is your job.

However, there are three equally important reasons for cleaning your escalators that you may not have considered:

Corrosion Control — If left unclean, grease, oil and dirt will eventually impregnate the aluminum steps and compromise the integrity of the metal. When this happens, the escalator will lose its luster and look much older and worn-out than its actual age. Isn’t it ironic that carpets and flooring are cared for religiously but escalators, which are much more expensive to install and maintain, receive no “tender loving care” and are allowed to depreciate before their time?

Safety — Cleaning escalators and removing sticky or slippery material can reduce the number of slippage incidents. This is not a panacea, and there will certainly continue to be accidents, but establishing a regular cleaning program eliminates any chance for punitive damages from a law-suit. I know of a major International Air port that embarked on a cleaning program primarily to make their risk/liability department happy. In today’s litigious climate, if you’re a good corporate citizen and know you have a problem but don’t take any steps to correct it, you’re asking for trouble.

Reduce Maintenance Costs – Although, it is impossible to quantify, nobody will dispute the conventional wisdom that a clean escalator will require less maintenance than a dirty one. Since escalators are affectionately referred to as the most expensive form of vertical transportation, management will certainly appreciate any cost reduction.

Now that you’ve been reminded that your escalators are dirty (you’d forgotten that they’ve never been cleaned, didn’t you) and recognize the need to clean them, how do you address the problem? There are currently six different cleaning methods, with each option having advantages and disadvantages:

Hand Cleaning — Giving your workers some rags and a cleaner/degreaser is the oldest form of cleaning. After all, utilizing your internal labor pool doesn’t involve a higher operating budget, submitting and justifying a capital expenditure, or prepar­ing a bid. Unfortunately, hand cleaning is also going to give you the worst results— facilities have told me that it could take one person a full week to clean a single escala­tor by hand and that the end result was in­consistent and mediocre. I’ve heard countless times how “thankless and difficult” this job was, and, as a result, these programs were usually quickly discontin­ued. As an aside, I’ve also heard a few hor­ror stories of workers causing extensive damage to an escalator by flooding the mo­tor and the electronic safety switches with excess water.

Power Washing — Your escalator maintenance company can dismantle your escalator, take it off site to power wash, and then bring it back and reassemble it. This deep cleaning will give you the best results because both the exterior and inte­rior sides are thoroughly cleaned. Unfortu­nately, the escalator is out of service for close to a week and the cost per escalator is extremely high. This option is therefore in­frequently used.

Dry Cleaning Steps — Today this is the most widely used method and involves purchasing or utilizing a relatively inex­pensive machine that is placed on the es­calator after hours while it’s running. Aggressive brushes and a vacuum cleaner then remove the loose dirt, lint and debris from the steps.

Although it’s considered a quick fix, these machines only vacuum and don’t address any grease, oil, or food stains on the steps. They also need to be used fre­quently, and because of the abrasive na­ture of the brushes will literally wear away the step’s factory coating and over time leave scratch and etch marks. More importantly, dry machines don’t address the risers.

Wet Cleaning Steps — Two machines are now available that clean steps via a two-cycle process. During the initial dry cycle, brushes agitate into the grooved sur­faces of the tread, dislodge all of the loose dirt, lint, and dust, and collect it in a high filtration vacuum system. The operator then converts the machine to its wet cycle and distributes a cleaner that dissolves the in­grained dirt stains and grease and removes the debris onto belts that transfer it into a central recovery tank.

This process is much faster (less than one hour per escalator) than dry, and you are cleaning steps, not simply vacuuming them. Unlike the dry method, which needs to be done at least monthly, wet cleanings are generally scheduled no more than once a quar­ter or when an unexpected spill occurs. However, the “dry-wet machines” are 5 to 7 times more expensive than the dry only ma­chines and you still haven’t addressed how to clean the risers.

Wet Cleaning Both Steps and Risers — There is one ma­chine, Rotomac 340, that simultaneously deep cleans both the steps and the risers. A fully automated panel allows the operator to select from three electronically controlled deep cleaning and drying cycles. Brushes rotate in both directions to thoroughly scrub and dry the treads and risers.

Cleaning solution is dispersed in a metered manner to remove dirt and grease and the residue is then automatically collected and deposited in a recovery tank. Utilizing this machine, escala­tor cleanings that used to take days can now be done in hours safely without any harmful side effects to the escalator. More­over, cleanings are generally not done more than once a year.

Unfortunately, this machine is quite expensive and therefore only suitable for end users that have a critical mass of escalators, usually at least four or five sets.

Contract Cleaning/Out-Sourcing — Several contractors across the country have recognized the need for an escalator clean­ing service and the profit potential that goes along with it. They have purchased the expensive equipment described above and now provide a deep cleaning service that achieves a comparable result to power washing. These cleanings are done on site (usually dur­ing the “graveyard” shift), with no disruption in escalator service and at a fraction of the cost of a power washing. The only disad­vantages are that the underside is not being addressed (if needed, this can be addressed separately by your maintenance company) and the cost involved will usually still require budget approval.

Because there are now affordable solutions to cleaning escala­tors, they no longer should be the forgotten child, or eye sore in your facility. Choosing the option that is right for you will de­pend on the number of escalators you have, how dirty they are, and most importantly where you prioritize clean escalators inter­nally when competing for scarce budget dollars. ❑

Richard Helfman is a senior vice-president at The Escalator Cleaning Co. and can be reached at richard@ihwusa.com.