Spring cleaner

The spring cleaner is a drop cleaner that can be won on Treasure Hunter, as a rare item in the useful items category. When held in the inventory or pocket slot, it can either break down certain drops into the components that make it, or convert them into bonus experience. When successful, the spring cleaner will use one of its charges and provide an extensive game message about what it did. It comes with 100 charges initially, and can hold a maximum of 250,000 charges. It can be recharged with springs, another prize from Treasure Hunter, giving one charge per spring.

The cleaner received a significant update on 27 April 2015, giving it several unlockable upgrade tiers and new abilities. Other changes include: the spring cleaner works on several other drops, notably several types of ranged ammunition; spring capacity was increased from 500 to 250,000; items that the cleaner fails to dismantle drop to the floor instead of being consumed; and base bonus experience awarded by metal armour, metal weapons, metal bars, bows and amulets was significantly reduced.

Upon upgrading via usage, you will get the notification

Mechanics
Items are only affected if they are a monster drop. Items from other sources are never spring cleaned, including (but not limited to): implings, the crystal chest, reward chests (such as the Queen Black Dragon and Araxxi), and player-versus-player drops. Items are only cleaned if the player is close enough to the drop location of the item - killing a monster then running away during the death animation (possibly utilising Surge or Escape) may mean the item is unaffected by the cleaner, and will drop to the ground as normal. Like all other drop cleaners, the cleaner is completely ineffective while lootshare is active.

All game messages generated by the cleaner are filterable, except when the action results in the remaining springs reducing to 10 or less, where the messages are not filtered (messages that do not use a spring are still filtered). The Springs left part of the message also changes colour, to red instead of the normal yellow.

Unlike other drop cleaners, the spring cleaner cannot be worn in the pocket slot until it has been upgraded.

Research mode
In research mode, the spring cleaner breaks down specifically chosen items into bonus experience. The bonus experience awarded is given to the primary skill used in creating the item, and in an amount equal to either 75% or 150% of the experience received when creating the item, depending on the category (see the configuration section for details). The amount of bonus experience granted is increased with the spring cleaner 2000, 3000 and 9000 upgrades.

Researching an item gives the following game message:

Research mode is always 100% successful. Researching the same item will always award the same amounts of bonus experience (e.g. a bronze longsword will always give 37.5 Smithing bonus experience). While the bonus experience amounts awarded are integers, the fractional parts of the value are considered when multiple of the same item are dropped simultaneously by the same monster: for example, iron bars normally award 18 bonus experience each, however the 5 dropped by an iron dragon award 93 bonus experience, rather than 90 (because iron bars award 18.75 bonus experience each, which is rounded down at the end of the calculation).

Ammo drops, if enabled, will only activate if more than the crafted-at-once amount is dropped at once (i.e. 10 for darts and bolts, 15 for arrows). When it does, the cleaner will consume all of the ammo, using one spring per crafted amount each and granting a scaled amount of bonus experience. Excess ammo is not accounted for and is consumed anyway. For example, a 40 bronze arrow drop will consume all 40 arrows, using 2 springs and granting 1 bonus experience in Fletching.

If multiple of the same items are dropped at once, the cleaner will group all of them into one message, using a relevant number of springs. There is no limit to the number of springs used per item dropped in research mode.

Dismantle mode
In dismantle mode, items dropped are dismantled to their base component parts, and the resulting materials are automatically sent to the bank. Unlike research, dismantling is not always successful, and can partially or completely fail to break down an item. If the item completely fails to be dismantled, the item is dropped to the floor. If the item is partially failed to be dismantled, some or all of its component parts will be destroyed - the failed parts are not dropped to the floor. The success chance of dismantle mode is increased with the spring cleaner 3000, 5000 and 9000 upgrades.

Dismantling an item successfully yields the following game message:

Failing to break down an item would instead give the following message:

A partial success gives a report combining parts of both the success and failure report:

In event of a partial success, the cleaner will destroy any number of the component materials: at least one, but less than all items (as destroying all items is a failure, not a partial success). Items that the spring cleaner fails to break down are dropped to the floor. The remaining materials are sent to the bank as normal. Some categories of items have core materials, which are materials that are never destroyed in a partial success - they are only destroyed in full failures. Equally, some items do not have a core material, so any of their items can be destroyed in a partial success. When a material is destroyed, all of it is destroyed; the cleaner will never give partial quantities of a material (i.e. it always gives all 8 coal or no coal from a rune dagger, never anything between). If multiple of the same items are dropped at once, the cleaner will group all of them into one message, using a relevant number of springs.

For example, if the cleaner partially succeeds at dismantling a rune dagger, 1 runite ore will be sent to the bank, but the 8 coal will be destroyed - always, as the runite ore is the core material. Similarly, a water battlestaff drop being dismantled will always give a battlestaff, and any or all of its other materials.

In the case of multiple of the same item in one drop, each item is individually evaluated - it is possible for one item to be a full success and one item a full or partial failure, or any other combination. If all items are full successes, the full success report is given; if all items are full failures, the failure report is given; in all other cases, the partial success report is given.

Like in research mode, ammo drops, if enabled, will only activate if more than the crafted-at-once amount is dropped at once (i.e. 10 for darts and bolts, 15 for arrows). When it does, the cleaner will consume all of the ammo, using one spring per craftable amount and attempts to break it down to the materials as normal. All of the ammo drop is calculated at once - you'll either get all of the coal or none of the coal; the same as a multi-bar item. Excess ammo is consumed and doesn't count toward the breakdown: for example, a 25 runite bolt drop will use 2 springs and break down into 2 runite ore and 16 coal in a success - the materials from the extra 5 are ignored and those 5 are consumed. The exception to this is when less than the trigger amount is dropped, where the ammo is completely ignored and drops to the ground as normal.

If there is no space in the bank for the dismantled materials, the item is dropped to the floor (using no springs) and the following game message is displayed:

Upgrades
When obtained, the spring cleaner is in its base version. This has the most basic set of abilities: access to research and dismantle mode. It can be upgraded to the next tier in two ways:
 * Use up a number of springs via normal use (dismantle or research)
 * Consume that number of springs directly from inventory to instantly upgrade, but get no charges for the springs, using the Quick Upgrade button in the spring cleaner interface. The button allows entry of a custom number of springs, so the two methods can be used together

The tiers and costs are given below:

The upgrades given to each tier of the cleaner are as follows:

Configuration

 * For a full list of all spring cleaned items, their exact materials, bonus experience awarded, and cost-analysis, see Calculator:Spring cleaner.

All bonus experience values listed here apply to the basic version of the cleaner. The spring cleaner 2000 gives double the listed values, the 3000 gives triple and the 9000 gives quadruple.

Notes

Unaffected items
All of the following items are never spring cleaned (with notable items bolded):
 * Many stackable items: throwing knives, throwing axes, javelins
 * Including incomplete versions: arrowheads, headless arrows, arrow shafts, unfinished bolts, unfinished darts, nails, flighted ogre arrows, ogre arrow shafts
 * This also includes noted versions of items that are normally affected, before the spring cleaner 9001 upgrade is obtained
 * Most craftable ammo is affected (arrows, bolts, darts), but only if enough of the ammo is dropped at once (a minimum of 15 arrows or 10 bolts/darts).
 * Most unfinished/'midway' items: unstrung bows, crossbow stocks, unstrung crossbows, crossbow string, bowstring, molten glass, unpowered orbs, charged orbs, tanned leather
 * An exception is crossbow limbs, which are cleaned
 * Hastae (no discernible reason why - especially since spears are affected)
 * Enchanted jewellery
 * Basic staves (i.e. staff of air), mystic staves, combination staves
 * Items that cannot be crafted, such as halberds, black items, white items, dragon items, etc
 * Items that are not covered by a category in the interface, such as carapace armour, onyx items, etc.

Analysis
The spring cleaner is the widest ranging and most complex drop cleaner, and the only one that can produce profit, as it is the only one that can produce a product instead of just destroying it (when set to dismantle mode). It is also the only drop cleaner to award bonus experience instead of giving normal experience (when in research mode). It runs on charges like the attuned ectoplasmator.

Research mode is generally unfavourable, due to the low amount of bonus experience awarded, the high opportunity cost for this experience, and the lack of choice. Consider a rune dagger drop:
 * When researched this awards 56 bonus Smithing experience, and consumes a spring (cost ). This makes the bonus experience cost per point.
 * However, not researching that rune dagger and instead selling it gives, invoking an opportunity cost. This makes the bonus experience effectively cost per point.
 * Instead of researching, the dagger could be dismantled into 1 runite ore and 8 coal, at the cost of a spring (profit ); another opportunity cost. This makes the bonus experience effectively cost per point.
 * These values pale in comparison to other training methods, for example iron ingot i from the Artisan's Workshop, which cost at most per point. In fact, this is also much more than the most expensive experience in the workshop, rune ingot iii, at  per point.
 * If the rune dagger was dismantled instead, there is a failure chance. However, for rune weapons, the partial failure always saves the runite ore, so there is a good chance the runite ore will still be banked, even if the coal is lost. In this case, the profit is.
 * When the dagger is dismantled, this allows extra options on what to do:
 * Remake the dagger for 125 Smithing experience (50 for smelting the ore into a bar, 75 for smithing the bar into a dagger) [note: more than research experience!]
 * Make a different rune item (possibly with more ores saved from multiple dismantles - 5 successful rune dagger dismantles can be used to make a rune platebody instead)
 * Sell the ore to fund cheaper Smithing experience - or another skill entirely.

With research, less experience is awarded, the experience awarded is extremely expensive due to opportunity costs, the experience is locked to a predetermined skill and work still needs to be done to gain that experience, as it is given as bonus experience instead of actual experience. Dismantling gives more options and is generally a better deal in terms of experience or monetary gain.

However, with the research mode upgrades available, the research experience is dramatically increased. With the spring cleaner 9000 upgrade, this changes the above analysis to:
 * Basic bonus experience cost is per point
 * Effective bonus experience cost against the value of the dagger is per point
 * Effective bonus experience cost against the value of the dismantled materials is per point

This does improve the viability of using research mode, however the cost is still fairly high in comparison to normal training methods.

Rule of thumb
In dismantle mode, as a rule of thumb, it is usually profitable to dismantle the following (but be aware of the price of springs):
 * Rune and adamant armour and weapons
 * Mithril and steel are profitable to dismantle, but sometimes have an opportunity cost compared to GE/alch; iron is only really worth dismantling for 3+ bar items
 * All dragonhide
 * Snakeskin may seem to have very high profit margins, but the actual trading price of snake hide is often far lower than the GE price
 * Rune, adamant, mithril and steel crossbows
 * But be wary of the possibilities of destroying the most valuable part, due to no core material
 * All gemmed jewellery (i.e. not plain gold items)

Bars (rune, adamant, mithril, steel, gold) are rarely profitable to dismantle (compared to picking up and selling on GE), however they are always successful, and they usually have raw profit which can be considered in instances where the bars may not be normally gathered (for example: steel dragons drop 5 steel bars every kill, which are often left; dismantling these (while giving less profit than picking them up) is profitable).