Viper® AS5160 20" Walk-Behind Floor Scrubber, Pad-Assist, 16 Gallon

Most of the floor in a school, clinic or office building is flat. Hallways, classrooms, lobbies, break rooms. On floors like that, the Viper AS5160 gives you the same 16-gallon tanks and 20-inch path as its self-propelled sibling, for about $900 less and one less motor to service.

It's a walk-behind floor scrubber with a pad-assist drive: the turning pad helps pull the machine forward, so your operator guides it rather than shoving it. It scrubs, picks up the dirty water with a 31-inch squeegee, and leaves the floor dry in one pass. You choose how it's powered: no batteries, wet, AGM or TPPL.

Worried about operator fatigue on long corridors? That's the one job the self-propelled Viper AS5160T does better. The comparison below will tell you which one your floors need.

Viper AS5160 or AS5160T: Do You Need the Traction Drive?

The two machines share the same frame, tanks, squeegee, controls and brush motor. The only real difference is how they move.

The AS5160 fits when your floors are flat and the runs are normal length: classrooms, clinic corridors, retail sales floors, offices. It's 18 lb lighter, puts 10 lb more pressure on the pad, and has no drive motor to maintain.

The AS5160T fits when one person runs the machine for hours on long corridors, or when the loaded machine (474 lb on this model) is too much to steer all shift. If that sounds like your crew, the traction model is the better buy. You can compare every model in our walk-behind floor scrubbers collection.

Which Viper AS5160 Battery Package Fits Your Shift?

Wet batteries cost the least. With no drive motor to feed, the batteries only run the brush, vacuum and controls, so the capacity you buy goes to scrubbing and drying. Check their water regularly and charge them in a ventilated room with the tank open. If your shifts run long, the 130 Ah pack adds 24% more capacity for $143 more.

AGM and TPPL batteries are sealed, so nobody has to top them up. The 105 Ah AGM pack is the budget sealed option at $6,067. TPPL costs the most at $7,078 and charges on a separate 25 A shelf charger. Our guide to lead acid, AGM, TPPL and lithium floor scrubber batteries explains the trade-offs.

No batteries is the cheapest way in at $5,045, and it suits you if you already buy batteries for other machines. The compartment takes two 12 V batteries up to 13.8 x 13.8 x 11.8 in, and the manual lists 100 to 130 Ah. It ships set for wet batteries, so AGM or gel needs a DIP switch change before the first charge.

Not sure which one fits? Send us your square footage, floor type and cleaning schedule, or call (855) 601-5678, and we'll tell you.

The Owner's Insights on the Viper AS5160

I'd point most buyers at the plain AS5160 first. Traction is lovely on a long route, but on normal flat floors the pad-assist does most of the work, and $900 buys a lot of pads and squeegee blades.

What sells me on this machine is the tank size for the money. Sixteen gallons is about 52% more water than our Viper AS510B holds, so your operator makes fewer trips to the mop sink on a big floor. The recovery tank also tilts up for access to the batteries, which makes battery checks quick.

The honest limits. Viper rates it for smooth indoor hard floors and slopes up to 2%, so it isn't a ramp machine. At 52 inches long with a 31-inch squeegee, it's too big for single restrooms. And if the operator is steering 474 pounds of loaded machine for three hours a night, the traction drive on the Viper AS5160T is worth the extra money.

Why You'll Love the Viper AS5160

• 16-gallon solution and recovery tanks. More floor between refills, with a level indicator on the tank so you can see what's left.

• 60 lb of pad pressure. The most of the AS5160 series, for daily scrubbing of VCT, sealed concrete and tile.

• Push-button pad and brush release. Lower the deck to pick up a pad driver, press a switch to drop it. Nobody kneels on a wet floor.

• 31-inch aluminum squeegee. It picks up the dirty water in the same pass, and a balance knob sets even blade contact.

• Safety switches in both handle grips. The pad only turns while a switch is held, so it stops when the operator lets go.

• Onboard charger and hour meter. Plug it into a standard outlet after the shift, and track run hours for service.

How Much Floor Can the AS5160 Clean?

Viper rates the AS5160 series at 2,040 m² an hour, about 21,960 square feet. That assumes nonstop straight lines. Take off 30% to 50% for turns, refills and emptying, and a realistic pace is roughly 11,000 to 15,400 square feet an hour, so a 25,000 square foot floor is about a two hour job. Viper doesn't publish a runtime per charge.

Pads, Brushes and Running Costs

The AS5160 ships with a 20-inch pad driver, ready for standard 20-inch floor pads. For grout and textured tile, add the 20-inch polypropylene disk brush (Viper part VF90417). The optional splash guard kit (VS10151) cuts down on splashing. Squeegee blades are front VF90119 and rear VF90120, both gum rubber, and you can flip the rear blade once to use a fresh edge.

Daily care: charge after every shift, rinse both tanks, wipe the squeegee and pad. On a regular schedule, clean the float filter and solution filter, check the blades, and check the water in wet batteries. Without a drive motor, the AS5160 skips the drive motor carbon brush check that the traction model needs. Nilfisk treats pads, brushes, pad holders, blades and motor carbon brushes as wear items outside the warranty.

Why You Should Consider a Viper Floor Scrubber

Viper is part of the Nilfisk Group, so parts and warranty service run through Nilfisk's network of authorized service centers across the US. Viper builds simple, rugged machines at a sharper price than the premium lines. We're an authorized Viper retailer, so the Nilfisk warranty of 3 years parts, 3 years labor and 1 year travel is yours from day one.