It's the first week of summer break, and 60,000 square feet of school hallway needs the old finish off before the recoat. The usual way takes a crew most of a week: stripper, a floor machine, a wet vac, and a lot of mopping. The ICE RS28-OB is a 28-inch orbital ride-on floor scrubber that does that job with water and a stripping pad, with the operator sitting down. Then it goes back to nightly scrubbing.
Its 14 x 28-inch rectangular pad oscillates at 2,200 rpm with up to 160 lb of pad pressure, which is what lets it lift finish without chemicals and reach into corners a round pad skips. ICE rates it at 49,500 square feet an hour. Take off 30 to 50% for turns, refills and dumping and you still clear 25,000 to 35,000 square feet an hour, with 29-gallon tanks and 3.5 to 4 hours of runtime per charge.
One programmable button lowers the head and squeegee and starts everything, so a new operator is scrubbing on day one. ICE backs the machine with a 5-year parts and labor warranty, 3 years of travel, and a lifetime parts warranty on the orbital deck isolators. You pick the batteries: flooded lead acid, sealed AGM, or none if you already own a set.
A disc rider like the ICE RS26+ spins two round pads at 210 rpm. An orbital head moves one flat rectangular pad in tiny, fast circles instead. The pad stays flat on the floor, so the pressure spreads evenly across the whole 28-inch path, there's far less splash, and the square corners of the pad clean right up to the base of a wall or a rack leg. With a stripping pad and plain water, that same motion takes off floor finish, which is the job most people buy an orbital for. Our guide to disc, cylindrical and orbital scrubber heads goes through the tradeoffs.
The honest exception: if you never strip floors and your VCT or sealed concrete is smooth, a disc rider does the nightly scrub for about the same money. The RS28-OB earns its keep on floors you strip, on grouted tile, and on textured or greasy concrete that a round pad glides over.
For a rider, it's compact. The body is 31.5 inches wide and turns around in a 75-inch aisle. It scrubs slopes of up to 7% and drives up 17.5% ramps with empty tanks. Not sure a rider is right for your floor at all? Our guide to walk-behind vs ride-on floor scrubbers walks through the math.
Every RS28-OB runs on four 6-volt batteries (24 volts) with a 25-amp charger built in, and you choose how it ships:
Flooded lead acid. The lowest price with batteries. Someone has to check the water level and top up with distilled water, and the seat stays propped open while it charges.
AGM (sealed). No watering and no acid spills. The safer pick if nobody on your crew will look after batteries every week.
Machine only. For fleets that already stock batteries. ICE's brochure lists four 6-volt, 305 Ah batteries. Talk to us before you buy them so they fit the tray (the manual allows 300 x 180 x 290 mm per battery) and suit the on-board charger, which an ICE service center has to reset for a different battery type.
Our guide to lead acid, AGM and lithium floor scrubber batteries compares the options.
|
ICE RS28-OB |
ICE RS26+ |
ICE RS26L |
Tornado BR 28/27 |
| Price |
From $19,628 |
From $19,626 |
$31,784 |
From $17,799 |
| Cleaning path |
28 in |
26 in |
26 in |
28 in |
| Scrub head |
One 14 x 28 in orbital pad |
Two 13 in disc pads |
Two disc pads |
Cylindrical brushes |
| Pad pressure |
Up to 160 lb |
Up to 165 lb |
Up to 165 lb |
Not published |
| Tanks (solution / recovery) |
29 / 29 gal |
29 / 29 gal |
29 / 29 gal |
27 / 28 gal |
| Batteries |
Lead acid, AGM or none |
Lead acid, AGM or none |
Lithium |
Lead acid, AGM or none |
| Rated coverage |
49,500 sq ft/hr |
46,300 sq ft/hr |
50,697 sq ft/hr |
37,673 sq ft/hr |
| Runtime |
3.5 to 4 hr |
3 to 3.5 hr |
3.5 to 4 hr |
3 hr |
| Strips finish without chemicals |
Yes, with a stripping pad |
No |
No |
No |
| Warranty |
5 yr parts, 5 yr labor |
5 yr parts, 5 yr labor |
5 yr parts, 5 yr labor, lithium battery for life |
2 yr parts, 1 yr labor |
Figures from each manufacturer's brochure or manual, as listed on our product pages. Rated coverage is the manufacturer's theoretical figure; plan on 30 to 50% less.
Still deciding? Send us your square footage, floor type, whether you strip finish, and your narrowest doorway, or call (855) 601-5678, and we'll tell you which rider makes sense, including when the answer is the cheaper disc machine.
I'll be straight with you: at the machine-only price, the RS28-OB costs within two dollars of the disc RS26+. What you're paying for is the head, not the rider. If your floors get stripped every year or two, that head pays for itself the first summer, because you skip the stripper chemical, the rinse passes and most of the labor. If they don't, the RS26+ or the wider RS32L will do the nightly scrub just as well.
Two practical notes. With batteries it weighs about 900 lb, so plan a loading dock or a liftgate truck before you order. And the orbital head runs on rubber isolators that soak up the vibration; ICE covers them for life, so if the seat ever starts to buzz, that's a warranty call, not a bill. Start every new floor on the lowest of the three pressure settings and step up only where the floor needs it. That saves pads and battery.
Chemical-free stripping. A 14 x 28-inch pad at 2,200 rpm and up to 160 lb of pressure lifts finish with water, so no stripper, no fumes and no neutralizing rinse.
28-inch path at up to 4 mph. Big floors get done in one sitting instead of taking a whole shift on foot.
29-gallon tanks. Fewer trips to the drain and the faucet, which is where a lot of a rider's time really goes.
One-button start. The 1-Step switch lowers the head and squeegee and starts the brush, vacuum and solution, so training takes minutes.
On-board detergent mixing from 0% to 5%. The machine doses chemical from its own 6-liter bottle, so your crew stops guessing at dilution, and you can run plain water for stripping.
Tool-free squeegee blades and built-in safety. Blades change by hand, and you get automatic braking and parking, a red emergency stop, a horn and a flashing safety light.
Your RS28-OB arrives with the orbital pad driver, the squeegee assembly and its 25-amp on-board charger. It runs 14 x 28-inch rectangular pads, which aren't included, so order a case for your floor with it: a red or blue pad for nightly scrubbing, a black or stripping pad for finish removal. Tell us your floor and we'll suggest one.
ICE's current parts list prices a spare orbital pad driver (part 8340502) at $329.02, the rear Linatex squeegee blade (8310531) at $102.14, the front blade (8310534) at $76.72 and the deck isolators (8146116 and 8146107) at $18.42 each. Pads, pad drivers, squeegee blades, hoses, the charger and lead acid or AGM batteries are wear items, so the warranty doesn't cover them. The isolators are the exception: ICE covers those for life.
After every shift, raise the head and squeegee, drain and rinse both tanks, rinse the vacuum filter, wipe the squeegee and turn the blade if the edge is worn, then plug it in with the seat propped open. With flooded batteries, check the water level often and top up with distilled water. Once a month, clean the battery tops, check the cables, inspect the recovery tank lid seal, grease the pivot points and look for loose bolts or leaks. The motor brushes get checked every 250 hours. The video shows the routine on ICE's RS26 and RS32 riders, which share this chassis and tanks.
ICE USA, a division of ICE Cobotics in Holland, Michigan, builds walk-behind and ride-on scrubbers and the Cobi 18 robotic scrubber. Its scrubbers carry 5 years parts, 5 years labor and 3 years travel, longer than the Tornado riders we sell, and we're an authorized ICE retailer, so that warranty is yours from day one. See all our orbital floor scrubbers, every ride-on floor scrubber we carry, or the full ICE Cobotics range.
| ICE® RS28-OB Orbital Ride-On Floor Scrubber Specifications |
|---|
| Brand |
ICE |
| Manufacturer |
ICE USA, a division of ICE Cobotics |
| Model |
RS28-OB (ICE part numbers RS28-OB, RS28-OB-LA, RS28-OB-AGM) |
| Cleaning Path |
28 in (710 mm) |
| Scrub Head |
Orbital, one 14 x 28 in (356 x 710 mm) rectangular pad |
| Head Speed |
2,200 rpm |
| Pad Pressure |
3 settings: 80, 120 and 160 lb (35, 55 and 75 kg) |
| Squeegee Width |
41 in (per ICE's brochure), curved, tool-free blades |
| Solution Tank |
29 gal (110 L) |
| Recovery Tank |
29 gal (110 L) |
| Solution Flow |
0 to 0.7 gal/min (0 to 2.7 L/min) |
| Detergent Mixing |
On-board, 0% to 5%, 6 L bottle |
| Rated Productivity |
49,500 sq ft/hr (4,600 m²/hr) |
| Travel Speed |
Up to 4 mph (6.5 km/h), forward and reverse |
| Gradeability |
7% scrubbing, 17.5% transport with empty tanks |
| Minimum Aisle Turn |
75 in (1,900 mm) |
| Head Motor |
0.75 hp (550 W) |
| Vacuum Motor |
0.6 hp (450 W), 3-stage, 70 in water lift |
| Drive Motor |
1.1 hp (800 W), front wheel |
| System Voltage |
24 V DC |
| Batteries |
4 x 6 V flooded lead acid (305 Ah) or AGM, or machine only |
| Runtime |
3.5 to 4 hours per charge |
| Charger |
25 A, on-board |
| Sound Level |
68 dB(A) at the operator's ear |
| Vibration at Seat |
Under 2.5 m/s² |
| Wheels |
10 in rear, polyurethane; front drive wheel |
| Dimensions (L x W x H) |
61.6 x 31.5 x 56.7 in (1,565 x 800 x 1,440 mm) |
| Weight |
640 lb (290 kg) without batteries, 900 lb (410 kg) with batteries |
| In the Box |
Scrubber, orbital pad driver, squeegee assembly, on-board charger; pads sold separately |
| Warranty |
5 years parts
5 years labor
3 years travel
Lifetime on orbital deck isolators
Wear items and batteries excluded |
Found a lower price? Call or message us and we'll beat it. Returns follow our return policy.
Ready when you are: pick your batteries and add the RS28-OB to your cart, or message us first for help planning delivery to your dock.
