A hotel ballroom or a big conference room takes a lot of passes with a 16-inch machine, and every refill eats into the window you have before the next event. The Advance ES400 XLP covers more carpet per stripe with an 18-inch path and a 12-gallon solution tank, and its flip handle lets you clean pulling back or pushing forward, so there is less turning around at the end of each run.
It has three cleaning modes on the panel. LIFT is Nilfisk's low-moisture interim mode: only 0.17 gallons a minute through a single nozzle, with carpets ready for traffic in as little as 30 minutes, according to Nilfisk. Deep Clean runs at 0.7 gallons a minute for restorative cleaning, and Pre-Treat lays down chemical ahead of the clean. A 120 psi pump, a 1.5 hp, 3-stage vacuum motor with 120 inches of water lift and an integrated hand tool come standard.
Flip handle for two-way cleaning. Clean pulling back, or flip the handle and push forward, with fewer stops to reposition the machine.
Floating brush head. It needs no adjusting, keeps contact with the carpet and improves water pickup, so carpets dry faster.
12 and 10 gallon tanks. Fewer trips to the sink on big rooms and long corridors.
Integrated hand tool. Stairs, edges and upholstery without a separate machine.
Front-mounted drain hose. Dump the recovery tank straight into a floor drain or bucket without lifting it.
CRI Gold Seal of Approval. Tested by the Carpet and Rug Institute for soil removal, water recovery and carpet appearance.
Runs at 68 dB(A) with a 50-foot cord.
The ES400 XLP makes the most sense where you have open carpet to cover: conference centers, ballrooms, open office floors, long hotel and school corridors. For a building full of small rooms and tight doorways, the narrower ES300 is easier to work with, and for very large floors cleaned every week, a wider walk-behind finishes faster.
Two honest notes. It weighs 118 pounds, is 22.75 inches wide and ships by freight on a pallet, so check your doorways and plan on an elevator between floors. And the Clarke EX40 18LX is its Nilfisk sibling: an 18-inch, 12-gallon extractor that also cleans in both directions. If you don't need LIFT or the built-in hand tool, it costs $1,118 less.
|
ES300 XP |
ES400 XLP |
| Price |
$5,628 |
$6,714 |
| Cleaning path |
16 in |
18 in |
| Solution / recovery tank |
9 gal / 7 gal |
12 gal / 10 gal |
| Cleaning direction |
Pull-back |
Pull-back or push-forward (flip handle) |
| Width |
19.25 in |
22.75 in |
| Weight |
106 lb |
118 lb |
| Modes, pump, vacuum, hand tool |
Same on both: LIFT, Deep Clean and Pre-Treat, 120 psi, 1.5 hp 3-stage, 120 in water lift, integrated hand tool |
Pick the ES300 for buildings full of small rooms, tight doorways and furniture. It also comes as the ST, without LIFT and the hand tool, for $4,544. Pick the ES400 XLP for conference rooms, ballrooms, long corridors and open office floors, where the wider path, bigger tanks and two-way cleaning mean fewer passes and fewer refills. The ES400 XLP costs $1,086 more than the ES300 XP.
Vacuum first, ideally with a beater-bar upright, to lift out loose soil and hair. Pre-spray traffic lanes with your carpet chemical, or use the Pre-Treat mode, and give it 10 to 15 minutes to dwell without letting it dry. Fill the solution tank with water no hotter than 130 °F, plus chemical if you like, set the handle for pull-back or push-forward and lower the brush deck.
Pick the mode on the panel: Deep for restorative cleaning, LIFT for quick interim cleans (skip the pre-spray with LIFT, and don't use it for the yearly deep clean). Move at about one foot per second and overlap each stripe by 2 to 3 inches. Drain the recovery tank every time before you refill the solution tank, and run at least two air movers per room to speed up drying.
After the job, drain both tanks, rinse the recovery tank, dome lid and float, rinse the vacuum shoe, clean hair off the brush, raise the brush deck and store the machine with the lid open. Clean the spray nozzles and solution filter weekly, and flush the solution system with a vinegar mix once a year.
Advance is Nilfisk's commercial floor care line in North America, and the ES400 XLP is built on the same AquaClean platform as the ES300. Under Nilfisk's current US warranty, it is covered for 3 years on parts, 3 years on labor and 1 year on travel. Service and parts come through Nilfisk's network of factory-trained service centers. Nilfisk now builds the ES400 under its own name, so the machine you receive may carry a Nilfisk badge instead of the Advance logo. It's the same model with the same part number. Found a lower price? Call or message us and we'll beat it.
