Sport Field Facility Clean Up

Blowers and vacuums have become ubiquitous in the equipment sheds of most sports complexes today.  Often we see them in high profile events.  For example, blowers have been spotted during the US OPEN drying courts after rain delays.  Vacuums are seen cleaning celebration debris following a win for many major league teams be it MLB, NFL, or MLS.  However, they are most often seen doing the seasonal chores to productively clean up sports turf as well as the pedestrian and parking areas that surround them - to keep them looking their best.  Most commonly, we see them in use for seasonal leaf, bloom, and seed clean up in spring and fall as well as litter clean up throughout the year.  Following are some productivity tips to consider when buying blowers and vacs.

Blowers productivity and tips: When looking at blowers, consider walk behinds.  Backpack blowers often require too much labor and a walk behind can accomplish just as much work and more, with less labor.  Consider that one 18 hp walk behind blower can do as much work as up to 7 laborers with backpacks! A 13 hp blower may be the most productive for the money with the equivalent output of 6 backpacks.  In addition, push blowers are often quieter than two-cycle backpacks and require no mixed fuel.  Ergonomically, with walk-behind blowers there is no weight on the back of your crews and today's walk behind blowers offer an optional single speed self-propelled feature that eliminates the fatigue associated with pushing units on turf or in hilly conditions for even better productivity.  The self-propelled feature also comes in handy when loading a truck, as ramp loading can be done with no lifting.  Lastly, directional air discharge is available at your fingertips and allows the operator to come on and off work as is required by job for precise control.  

Vacuum productivity and tips - When looking at vacuums, key things to consider are: push vs. self-propelled; ease of bag handling; width of intake and ease of adjusting the intake; ease of installing and using an optional hose kit; and need of dust control.  For mostly hard surface and a small amount of time spent on clean-up, an entry level push model would be best.  If the crew is using vacs often, and also on turf, then a wider model is best. Self-propelled systems, easy slide out bags and simple debris loading and unloading make for the most productive models.  If the crews are frequently using the optional hose kit to clean up in hard to reach areas, then models which allow the system to easily shift between vacuum and hose kit are preferred.  Also, look for systems that have adjustable height intake doors that are adjustable from the operator station to easily handle different size debris such as larger bottles or cans.  Lastly, in the case of dusty conditions - new dust socks are available to keep the dust to a minimum.  These dust socks wrap around a standard turf bag.  Remember, however, that these bags can only be used in dry conditions.  Should they get wet, they will not work as it knocks out the static charge in the material that helps them attract the dust.

Follow some of these tips, and you'll keep your facility looking great in all seasons!