Can I use Universal Cleaner in a robot vacuum or mop?Updated 10 days ago

It depends on the machine. Robot mops vary widely in tank construction, seal compounds, internal tubing, mop pad material and sensor coatings, and any alkaline cleaner interacts with those materials differently, so this is a machine-by-machine question rather than a cleaner-by-cleaner one. Roborock, Dreame, iRobot, Ecovacs, Eufy and Narwal all publish a line in the manual about what belongs in the tank, and several sell their own solution. Start there, because that line also governs your warranty. Where a manufacturer allows third-party solutions, start with a few drops of Koh Universal Cleaner in a full tank of water and spot-test the floor first.

Start small and build up. Put a few drops of Koh Universal Cleaner into a full tank of water rather than a measured dilution, run a short cycle on a hidden patch of floor, and watch that first cycle through: tank residue, pump sound, pad performance, streaking and any sensor errors. If it all looks right, scale up gradually and keep the tank rinsed out between fills. Universal Cleaner is a concentrate designed for spray application, so a little goes a long way in a tank of water.

Then run water in the robot and use Koh Universal Cleaner for the jobs the robot is not doing. A water-only robot pass is good at keeping dust and light soil down between proper cleans, which is most of what a robot mop is for. The film that builds on high-traffic floors, kitchen spills, and edges and corners a robot cannot reach are where a manual clean earns its place. Koh Spray Mop is designed to take Universal Cleaner directly in its refillable reservoir, so the two jobs split cleanly.

Koh Spray Mop is the pairing Koh designed and tested for floors. It is a no-bucket manual spray mop with a refillable reservoir that takes Koh Universal Cleaner directly, and mop pads that machine wash and go again. It suits the surfaces Universal Cleaner works on, including sealed timber, laminate, tile, vinyl and sealed stone. For oiled or waxed timber, fill it with plain water instead. The Spray Mop Starter Kit includes the Spray Mop with five mop pads, a dusting mop pad and a box of Universal Cleaner, so there is no compatibility question to answer.