Nightly hard-floor vacuuming in offices, schools and clinics is where the 15-inch scalloped felt Sidewinder earns its place. It is the narrower of Sandia's two scalloped felt heads, which makes it the one to reach for when the route is full of desk clusters, exam rooms, cubicle aisles and other tight floor rather than wide-open corridor. The felt face slides over sealed hardwood, VCT, luxury vinyl plank and polished tile without scuffing the finish, and the scalloped edge lets air in along the sides so the head does not suction-lock to a smooth floor the way a flat felt skirt can.
Built for
- Sealed hardwood, VCT, LVT, laminate and polished tile on a nightly janitorial route
- Offices, classrooms, clinics and guest rooms where furniture legs and doorways break up the floor
- Facilities that want a fine-dust pickup tool that will not mark a finished floor
- Crews already running Sandia Raven backpacks on a Sidewinder wand
How the Sidewinder design works
A Sidewinder head mounts on a flexible neck and swings through a full circle, so the face of the tool stays flat on the floor no matter what angle the wand is held at. Instead of pushing a vacuum head forward and back, the operator sweeps it side to side the way you would run a dust mop, standing upright rather than bent over the wand. Crews that vacuum long corridors and open floor for hours at a time generally report that the sweeping motion is easier on the lower back than push-pull vacuuming and covers a run of floor in fewer passes.
Choosing between the 15-inch and the 18-inch scalloped felt head comes down to the route, not the machine. The 18-inch covers more floor per pass and suits lobbies, gyms and long corridors. The 15-inch is easier to work between desk legs, around fixtures and through doorways, and it is the more forgiving of the two for a route that is mostly rooms rather than open floor.
Felt is the gentlest of the hard-floor faces in the Sidewinder group. Where a nylon brush is meant to agitate grit out of textured tile and grout, felt is meant to glide, which is what you want on a finish you are trying to protect between burnishing cycles.
Specifications
- Manufacturer: Sandia Products
- Part number: 10-0185-15-FS
- Tool width: 15 inches
- Cleaning surface: Scalloped felt
- Attaches to: Sandia Sidewinder wands (1-1/2 inch)
- Cleaning motion: side-to-side sweeping
- Machine family: Sandia Raven backpack and shoulder vacuums
Fitment
This head is part of Sandia's Sidewinder accessory group and attaches to Sandia Sidewinder wands, including the 59-inch one-piece and two-piece wands. It is an accessory head, not a complete wand assembly, so you will need a Sidewinder wand on the machine to use it. If you are not sure which wand is on your backpack, call us with the machine model and we will check it against Sandia's parts list.
Frequently asked questions
Will the felt scratch a finished hardwood or luxury vinyl floor?
Felt is the softest face Sandia offers on the Sidewinder heads and is the one specified for finished hard floors like sealed wood, vinyl and polished tile. As with any floor tool, keep the felt clean; embedded grit picked up from a dirty floor is what causes marking, not the felt itself.
What is the difference between the felt and the scalloped felt version?
The scalloped version has a notched felt edge rather than a continuous one. The notches let air pass along the sides of the head, which reduces the tendency of the tool to seal itself to a very smooth floor and makes it easier to push.
Does this fit my backpack vacuum directly?
No. It is a Sidewinder head and mounts to a Sandia Sidewinder wand, which in turn connects to the backpack. It does not fit a standard straight vacuum wand.
Can I use it on carpet?
It is a hard-floor tool. Sandia makes a separate Sidewinder carpet tool for carpeted areas; using the felt head on carpet will not damage it but it will not pick up effectively.
Discount Cleaning Products is an authorized Sandia dealer. We stock the full Sandia Raven backpack and Sidewinder accessory line, so replacement heads, wands and brushes come from the same catalog as the machine they attach to. Our US-based staff works with commercial cleaning contractors and in-house facility crews every day and can confirm fitment against your machine and wand before you order.
