Dyson dabbled in wet floor cleaning with the Dyson Submarine, but the company has now introduced its first dedicated wet floor cleaner in the Dyson WashG1.
Update: Full Dyson WashG1 review
Engineered to tackle both wet and dry debris simultaneously, the WashG1 uses a combination of hydration, absorption and extraction technologies to get that coffee stain plus the biscuit crumbs off your tiles or hardwood floors, without you having to vacuum and then get on your knees to scrub.
This is everything you need to know about the Dyson WashG1, including how it works and thanks to trying it out at Dyson’s Malmesbury HQ, what it’s like in action.
What is the Dyson WashG1 and how does it work?
The Dyson WashG1 is the company’s first wet floor cleaner, designed for hardwood floors and tiles. Offering a premium design with a metal wand, display at the top of the wand and a handle at the back for manoeuvring, the WashG1 looks very much like you would expect a Dyson product to look and not too dissimilar from the Submarine at the base.
At the bottom of the WashG1, there are two individually-powered absorbent microfibre filament rollers with a density of 64,800 filaments per cm². They counter-rotate to remove spills, debris, and stains in one fell swoop. A pulse-modulated hydration pump precisely controls the water delivery to the rollers through 26 hydration points in order to deliver what Dyson considers to be optimal cleaning performance, whilst dry dirt, debris, and hair is enveloped by the filaments.
With the rollers at the front and back of the machine, Dyson has said the WashG1 offers longer dwell time on stains and therefore should remove them quicker than some other solutions. They are also full-width, designed to offer edge-to-edge cleaning.
In between the rollers, there is a removable debris tray with a 500-micron mesh that separates dirty water from large debris, designed to offer hygienic no-touch disposal. Extraction plates remove the dirty water from the rollers, while nylon-bristled inner brush bars are responsible for separating out the cheerios into the debris tray.
Further up the wand, there’s a 1-liter clean water tank, which Dyson claims allows the WashG1 to cover flooring areas of up to 290 square meters – which to put into some context is about the same size as a tennis court. Beneath that water tank is a 0.8-litre dirty water tank that collects the dirty water from the floor via an extraction pump – no sucking required. Both tanks can be removed easily with large openings that can be emptied and refilled quickly.
There are three hydration modes – low, medium and high – selected via the LCD display at the top of the wand. They will run continuously when selected, with a battery indicator on the screen showing how long you have left before it needs a recharge – similar to the Dyson Gen5detect. Each mode also has three sensitivity settings so you can adjust according to what you see fit, and there’s a separate boost mode too. This mode will purge each roller with the maximum amount of hydration for the removal of the tougher stains.
Last thing to mention, the Dyson WashG1 has a self-cleaning mode that runs for around 2 minutes, washing the rollers so it’s ready for the next time you want to clean your floors.
What’s the Dyson WashG1 like in use?
I had a demo of the Dyson WashG1 during a recent visit to the company’s Malmesbury headquarters, where I also tried out the CleanTrace software for the Dyson Gen5detect. In terms of a premium floor cleaning, the WashG1 is it.
It’s worlds away from the Flash mops some might have on the sub bench, ready to be called upon when you spill your morning coffee, with a much less throwaway look about it.
The first thing I noticed when I tried out the Dyson WashG1 was how lightweight and easy it was to move around. Hold your foot on the top of the base and pull the wand down and everything is then in your line of sight, from the LCD display telling you how much battery you have left, to the water tank and how close that is to requiring a refill.
Having no suction is a little disconcerting at first, especially for a Dyson product, but you get used to it in a few seconds. I think it’s important to note that the Dyson WashG1 isn’t a vacuum cleaner replacement. You’re still going to need a vacuum cleaner to do the general cleaning, but if you spill your breakfast bowl with milk and a few cheerios, the WashG1 is the product you would call upon to sort it out, because vacuum cleaners and liquids are very much not friends.
When it comes to ease of use, the Dyson WashG1 is simple, sophisticated and as with most Dyson products, there are red markers helping you distinguish where you might press to remove elements for cleaning or emptying. At the bottom, a red button shows where you press to remove the rollers, while a red strip indicates where to pull out the dirt tray. For the water tanks, there’s a red button at the top, with the water tanks removing as one unit initially.
Both tanks have screen caps, allowing for easy refilling or easy emptying, and it’s not possible to put them back into the WashG1 wrong so your clean tank won’t be able to be the dirty water tank and vice versa.
One button turns the WashG1 on, while another just below the screen allows you to select between the three hydration modes and their three sensitivity levels. The boost mode is indicated by a blue button for when you need that extra power – like dried baby food.
Based on my experience, the Dyson WashG1 had decent performance. It had no issues removing spills and debris from the tiled floor as you can see in the video below, and it did so pretty quickly too. I did have a slight concern that it wouldn’t be able to tackle the grout between tiles, but I believe that was somewhat to do with the demo area not being a properly grouted surface. It is something I will test when it comes to review, however.
It will also be interesting to see how quickly the debris tray fills up on a full clean. This will of course depend on what is on your floor and it’s not going to struggle with the odd cheerio here and there – but drop a whole bowl on the floor and I think the debris tray will fill up pretty quickly, hence why I think you still need a vacuum cleaner for general day-to-day cleaning.
When it comes to the edges, the WashG1 looks like it will have no problem getting up against a kitchen base board, cleaning as close to the edge as you would hope as the base is completely flush. You will have less control in the corners than a traditional mop might offer however, so that’s something to keep in mind.
On the whole, the Dyson WashG1 was simple to use, and from my brief experience effective at cleaning. I will be testing the Dyson WashG1 properly, but for now, seeing how much the dirty water tank filled up from just a few spills have very much made me realised how much more I need to be cleaning my floors.
When is the Dyson WashG1 available and how much does it cost?
The Dyson WashG1 wet floor cleaner is set to be available soon, but Dyson hasn’t announced an exact date as yet. It will cost $699.99/£599.99.
You can register on Dyson’s official website for more information as and when it arrives.
