Dyson debuts first wet floor cleaner WashG1

Dyson Floorcare Intelligence Engineer Haydn Brown presents Dyson WashG1, the company's latest wet floor cleaner, in Seoul on April 24. (Dyson Korea)

UK home appliance giant Dyson on Tuesday released WashG1, its first wet floor cleaner designed to pick up wet and dry debris in one go without a vacuum motor.

The wet floor cleaner, equipped with a 1-liter clean-water tank, uses a combination of hydration, absorption and extraction technologies to remove wet and dry debris -- automatically separating them -- according to Dyson.

"Cleaning floors can be very unhygienic, leaving smears and dirty marks and you usually have to vacuum first, so it takes twice as long," James Dyson, the founder of the home appliance company, said during an online pre-briefing last month.

"The WashG1 hygienically washes hard floors. It has two counter-rotating felt-covered rollers which pick up the debris and wash the floor and any spills at the same time, and they leave the floor sparkling, shiny and clean."

Two individually powered rollers, made of highly absorbent microfiber, counter-rotate while a pulse-modulated pump distributes water evenly across 26 precisely positioned hydration points.

This combination of high-density microfiber and consistent application of clean water ensures liquid spills are absorbed, whilst dry dirt, debris and hair are enveloped by millions of filaments. By positioning two rollers at the front and back of the machine, the cleaner secures longer dwell time on stains with each pass, for powerful and fast stain removal, the company said.

"The unique separation technology that divides debris and dirty water at the source, for hygienic, no-touch disposal," the home appliance giant said.

According to the company, dirty water is extracted from the rollers by durable extraction plates, while secondary nylon-bristled inner brush bars remove dirt and debris from the microfiber rollers. The separated dirt goes straight into a removable debris tray, designed with a 500-micron mesh.

Among the new features introduced is the self-cleaning mode, which saturates both rollers with clean water on the highest boost setting, flushing the entire system in preparation for the next clean.

In Korea, the Dyson WashG1 is priced at 899,000 won ($656). The dual roller which needs to be replaced every six months is priced at 69,000 won.

The cleaner covers flooring up to 290 square meters and weighs 4.8 kilograms. It charges fully in four hours and runs for 35 minutes on a single charge.

“Wet cleaning is considered a necessary chore globally and the perceived burden has been the target of a vast array of wet floor cleaning formats. Despite this, users’ expectations are often left unfulfilled when it comes to stain removal, pick-up performance and floor finish," Charlie Park, Vice President of Dyson Home Engineering, said.

"Dyson engineers solve the problems others ignore, and we thrive on the challenge of creating better technology. The Dyson WashG1 is the result of this -- our first dedicated wet machine to wash hard floors, properly and hygienically."

By Jo He-rim(herim@heraldcorp.com)