NaceCare TBL 1120 20" Cordless Walk-Behind Floor Scrubber, NX1K Lithium Battery

It's 10 p.m. in a grocery store that opens again at 7. Somebody has to scrub 20,000 square feet of VCT, and the old corded machine means unplugging and replugging at the end of every aisle. With the NaceCare TBL 1120 walk-behind floor scrubber, one operator scrubs, picks up the dirty water and leaves the floor dry in a single pass, with no cord to drag behind.

You get a 20-inch (508 mm) cleaning path, 11-gallon solution and recovery tanks and NaceCare's NX1K lithium iron phosphate battery. Pick the TBL 1120/50 with one battery for up to 2 hours of scrubbing, or the TBL 1120/100 with two batteries for up to 4 hours.

Charging is just as simple. The charger is built into the machine, so you plug the charging lead into a regular wall outlet and walk away. One battery is full in about 2.5 hours, two in about 5. NaceCare rates the NX1K for more than 4,000 charge cycles, which it puts at roughly 15 years of cleaning five days a week, and there's no watering, no acid and no equalizing.

The TBL 1120 has no traction motor. It's a push walk-behind, and the turning brush carries part of the load, which keeps the machine simple and the price below NaceCare's traction-drive models.

What sells me on this machine is the battery. NaceCare's own comparison puts wet lead acid at 300 to 700 charge cycles, and those packs need watering. The NX1K is sealed for life, rated for over 4,000 cycles, and you can top it up at lunch without hurting it. The brush deck also flips up and locks, so swapping a brush or pad is a standing job, and the top tank lifts off with its grab handles to give you the whole battery bay.

It fits a grocery store, a school wing, a hospital corridor or an office building in the 10,000 to 30,000 square feet a night range. Two honest limits. It weighs 273 lbs with one battery and 298 with two, so moving it between sites takes a ramp or a liftgate, not two people and a van. And with no traction drive, long ramps will make the operator work, so call us if your route has them.

• One pass, dry floor. The 20-inch brush scrubs and the squeegee picks up right behind it, so nobody walks on a wet floor at 7 a.m.

• NX1K lithium iron phosphate power. Over 4,000 charge cycles, a 5-year battery warranty and nothing to water or clean.

• On-board charger. Plug into any standard outlet and charge whenever there's a break, no matter how full the battery is.

• 11-gallon tanks. Enough water for most mid-size floors on one fill, with fewer trips to the mop sink.

• Patented flip-up, locking brush deck. Clean or change the brush or pad in seconds without laying the machine down.

• Breakaway squeegee with reversible blades. It knocks off instead of breaking if it catches a corner, and each blade has two working edges.

• Supervisor-set water flow. Set the flow once so every operator uses the right amount of water and chemical.

• No actuator motors. NaceCare left them out on purpose, so there are fewer parts that can fail.

• 67 dB(A). Normal conversation runs around 60 dB, which is why NaceCare calls it hospital quiet.

NaceCare rates the TBL 1120 at 22,000 square feet an hour. That figure assumes nonstop straight lines. After 30% to 50% for turns, refills and edges, plan on roughly 11,000 to 15,400 square feet an hour. That's about 22,000 to 30,800 square feet on one charge of the TBL 1120/50, and 44,000 to 61,600 square feet on the TBL 1120/100.

One battery or two? The TBL 1120/100 costs $1,500 more, the price of one extra NX1K battery, and doubles the runtime to 4 hours. The trade-off is charge time: two batteries take about 5 hours to fill instead of 2.5. On the one-battery model, Numatic fits a ballast weight where the second battery would sit, so brush pressure is the same either way. Pick the /100 if one machine covers a whole building in a shift, or if it runs back to back shifts with little time to charge.

Not sure this is the right size? Send us your square footage, floor type and cleaning schedule, or call (855) 601-5678, and we'll tell you which machine fits, including when the answer is a smaller one.

The TGB 817NX is the lighter machine: a 17-inch path, 8-gallon tanks, 108 lbs and two removable NX300 batteries that run up to 90 minutes and charge off the machine. It still fits in a cargo van, and it costs $700 less than the TBL 1120/50.

The TBL 1120 is the step up once runtime and tank size matter more than portability. You get 3 more inches of path, 3 more gallons of water and a battery that runs 2 to 4 hours and charges right on the machine. If your floors are mostly restrooms, tight back rooms or one small building, the 817NX will make you happier.

No walk-behind replaces edge work. You'll still sweep or dust mop first and hand-detail the corners. Compare every size in our walk-behind floor scrubbers collection.