Knowing how long it takes to clean an escalator is very important when it comes to pricing as well as planning the work assignment. Therefor we want to give you an overview of what you have to calculate. Since both the STEP 150 and STEP 110 are designed to clean the horizontal as well as the vertical parts of the escalators the calculation method is the same.

The first thing you need to know how many steps are installed in the escalator. This number varies of course from building to building. In our example we use an escalator with 90 installed steps. In Germany you find very often escalators with 70 to 90 steps. In addition, we have to know the width of the escalators. Most of the escalators worldwide have eighter 1000 mm or 800 mm width. 600 mm is very seldom. Since the working width of the machine is 520 mm that means that you have to clean 2 times on each step.

So, let us start with the calculation:

  1. Fill in chemicals and check the dirty water tank.
    Before you start to clean you of course have to fill in the fresh water and chemicals in the fresh water tank. Then you have to control if the dirty water tank is empty. Let us pretend that the dirty water tank is empty and you are close to a water source. The whole procedure should take 5 min.
  2. Adjust the machine to the heights of the steps
    The escalator manufacturers have different angles of escalators that they are offering. Since the steps are always the same the height difference of the steps changes. When you are using one of our STEP-Models you have to make sure that you check this point. If you do not do this it can cause you some major issues

    1. The emergency brake that protects the operator can be out of function. This happens if you come from a escalator with a small angle and come to an escalator with a big angle.
    2. Water and chemicals can go inside the escalator.

Since the adjustment is quite simple to make it takes only 5 minutes as well.

  1. The amount of dirt that you have on the escalator
    The amount of dirt that you have on the escalator is – together with the total amount of installed steps of the escalator – the main time consuming factor. Herewith we do see the main difference between the STEP 150 and the STEP 110. The adaption to the amount of dirt that you have on an escalator can be way more efficient and accurate than with the STEP 110. You will also see this in another Article.
    Still this sector is quite difficult to estimate since you need at least some experience to make a good estimation. For this calculation example we suggest to clean an escalator that we have to clean 2 times a year. We also suggest that this escalator is not in the area of the entrance or near the food court. So that is why we use the 27 sec. cleaning cycle (Program 2 at the STEP 110).

 

 

To calculate it you have to do the following:

The final formula will be:
(cleaning time + 15 sec to bring it to the next step) x amount of installed steps x 2
= (27 seconds + 15 seconds) x 90 installed steps x 2
= 42 sec. x 90 installed steps x 2
= 3.780 sec x 2
= 7.560 sec

This is the equivalent of 126 min
Then we have to add the 5 min for filling the fresh water tank and 5 min to adjust the machine so the total cleaning time is 136 min (2 hours and 16 min).

 

Please also keep in mind that this is the time for a regular cleaned escalator. And not for a first time escalator cleaning. Please also keep in mind that there are different kind of soiling that will not be removed within the 27 sec. So you eighter have to run another cleaning cycle of that steps or you clean manually. Stones, chewing gum are also factors that you have to think of. This has to be removed manually.
If the escalator is too long and dirty it is also possible that you have to refill and empty the freshwater and dirty water tank. This also takes time.

 

If you are interested in an Excel document please write and E-Mail to
tj@juma-reinigungstechnik.de

And ask for the Excel calculation scheme.

 

In this scheme you can estimate the cleaning time as well as the consumption of cleaning chemical that you are going to need for the cleaning.