Water Fed Pole Systems| Window Cleaning|WFP Industrial Cleaning

Getting Pains in the Neck from using Poles? Some Exercises To Help.

2011-09-21T08:39:00.000-07:00

If you're new to using Water Fed Poles Systems and specifically long range poles, looking up to 2nd/3rd/4th storeys no doubt you'll soon experience some feelings of discomfort from looking up for sustained periods of time. Often the neck will begin to hurt or you may be experiencing discomfort or even pain in the neck of some kind, but most commonly is the feeling of a stiff neck. In this case, there are some simple exercises you can do to alleviate what I call, SSS (or stiff neck syndrome). For more information on the kinds of exercises you can do I'd recommend conducting a Google search for 'stiff neck exercises' and visiting a few of though free resource sites.

For me I find the front to back tilt the most effective exercise and side to side rotation. It's important to remember whilst doing these exercises to go slowly and avoid any sudden jerks in movements.

Let me know which exercises work best for you to relieve you of a stiff neck or cramp, by commenting on this post.

Good to see more and more Water Fed Pole Systems in use

2011-08-21T09:29:00.000-07:00

Having just returned from a holiday in Cornwall, it was refreshing to see window cleaners out doing mostly larger domestic and business properties using Water Fed Pole systems. In fact, dare I go so far to say that it almost seem to be the standard. It was also great to see the fantastic results water fed pole systems have on a sunny day. If only I had a camera with me at the time, I would have shown the pics of how clean those panes were to all the naysayers.

Apart from it's distinct better results WFP systems produce, they of course also offer a much safer alternative to climbing up ladders and performing a circus aerial routine. Also, sometimes there's no other option but to use WFP when it comes to cleaning conservatory roof tops and skylights especially - which IMHO can only be a good thing.

Also, if you're considering a little purchase for a new brush this Summer and Autumn, I'd recommend buying the following, it's great for 1st floor/storey and tops of conservatories/skylight work:

So Much For The British Summer

2011-07-20T07:44:00.001-07:00

Typical, just as soon as you're ready to get the shorts and t-shirts on and start cleaning those windows, the sky turns grey and it starts pi*s*ng it down. Bloody typicall. Still, this is what you get when you choose to live in the British Isles. Oh well. For us window cleaners it's not just the fact that we can't take our shirts off and try to get a bit of tan during the summer, we may also face problems for the custies, mostly new ones, not wanting to have their windows cleaned when it rains. This is a common objection, especially from customers not familiar with Water Fed Pole Systems. Once i take the time to educate them, and explain that it really doesn't make a difference if it's raining or if it's dry - the outcome will still be the same; nice clean windows.

Aside from the crappy weather and explaining to customers, I like to monitor my water consumption rates during the summer and compare with spring or winter over the same time period. Invariably I find, fairly obviously, that my water consumption rate is higher in the summer because of too things: I usually have more work on, and 2. on the rare days it is hot those first and second cleans require more water to be squirted on the glass. Id be interested to know your experience and if you do any monitoring and seasonality comparisons. Also, do you change your gear during the summer months or set-up completely?

Summer's Here

2011-06-17T04:13:00.000-07:00

So finally the sun is shinning, well a little if you glimpse hard enough, and there's plenty of windows to be a cleanin'. This summer, Ive got a new van mount set up, and hoping to cut down on my daily water consumption, by using some "recycled" water that I've collect in a large rain butt and then pump out and process through my RO. Simples.
With growing concern these days for environmentalism, and conservation of water I'd be interested to know how other WFPs are making their systems more efficient and cutting down on their water use on a daily basis. Its definitely an important issue. But, probably more important is the billions of gallons that private water companies waste as well. So, when custies start moaning about how much water WFP uses, it really gets my goat. Oh well, rant over. Let's get cleanin' dem windows.

This week's top 3 of my Playlist for washing the windows:

Come Rain or Shine we'll always be there

2011-03-18T00:04:00.000-07:00

Lately, I've been having some really good feedback from my customers regarding the Water Fed Pole Systems that I've been using for the past 3 years now. Often with the first couple of cleans, customers will complain of "spotting" or it not being as good as traditional ladder cleaning (highly dangerous and non-conforming to UK safety standards). But, I always tell them give it a few more cleans and you'll see the difference. If they're still not satisfied, I offer a full refund for the past months cleans. This usually does the job nicely. Often it's all in their head and completely psychological. We only see what we want to see, and usually when something new comes along there's always gonna be some skepticism. But I find it's really best to defend your point, show them photos, tell them the reasons and explain it to them properly, and they'll have little to object about after that. Keep on WFP'ing! :)

WoHoo Back In Business

2010-09-30T05:55:00.000-07:00

Apologies to all those of you who have been reading my blog on a regular basis, and noticed it's not been updated in a while. It's been hard to keep it updated whilst running the business at the same time, but I'll try my best from now and before the Christmas mad rush, to post some useful information.

Speaking of Christmas, I was wondering if any window cleaners have any great tips that they'd like to share for either getting some extra ££££s, by offering additional cleaning services perhaps gutter cleaning, or conservatory cleaning of roofs etc. Or perhaps people would like to share, how they're going to make sure they collect their Christmas tips and round money whilst they're off for the festive period. I'll put a poll later on in the week about Christmas cleaning and how what ways we're going to find to bring in the extra dosh.

In other news, I've upgraded my van mount system to a 400L Streamline RO system complete with all the following:

Heavy duty cage (with pre-drilled mounting holes ready for installation)
1 x 10" Carbon filter
1 x 10" Sediment filter
1 x 40" Reverse Osmosis Membrane
11L DI Vessel full of Resin
100 psi Flojet delivery pump
Variflo+ Digital pump controller
Auto shut-off (Automatically prevents overfilling the tank)
85Ah deep cycle battery. 1 X TDS meter
1 X set of spare filters ( 1 x 10" Carbon filter & 1 x 10" Sediment filter)

Whilst it wasn't on the cheap side setting me back close to the 2 grand mark, it had to be done, to satisfy the bigger more industrial jobs im getting at the moment. It suits me just fine. Pictures to follow soon!

What's your favourite bit of kit in your setup?

2010-05-03T07:37:00.000-07:00

Mine has to be my 35' tucker pole. I certainly get my use out of it, and it's not too heavy on the old arms, - certainly paid for itself in the year and a half ive been using it. I also, really love my 900-2000 gpd RO-system system. Some serious bit of Reverse Osmosis kit right there. So just a short and sweet post about you favourite bit of kit in your existing set-up. Feel free to comment and tell us what you like/ and perhaps what's on the wish list.

Cheers!

Cleaning in tropical/hot climates

2010-02-15T05:15:00.001-08:00

It can be a pain in the butt cleaning in hotter climates, and perhaps if you're using water fed poles you're faced with tougher challenges than the average joe, cleaning in somewhere like middlesborough, england. The states I know has plenty of diverse climates differing from state to state, and somewhere like Las Vegas presents more challenges for the window cleaner - even if they're using Water Fed Pole Systems.
People cleaning in hotter/tropical climates using WFP will often find themselves going through more water on a daily basis than someone perhaps in a colder climate. Often the windiws in a hot. tropical climate are a magnet for dirt and dust. And its not unheard of for window cleaners to have done a once around and only a few minutes later check backed on the panes and find there's dirt and dust that's settle on there.
So what's the solution? Well, it's often a case as with most things in water fed pole cleaning - a case of trial and error. One thing I've read about window cleaners is actually heating up the water from the van through portable convection heaters so that when it hits the window it has a better effect of removing the dirt, dust and general crap on the window. Another idea might be to try a solution/chemical to the water to make ensure that dust and dirt is repelled from the glass pane.
As it very rarely gets above 20 degrees in UK for most of the ye, us window cleaners here are blessed that we dont have to contend with this kind of problem. so i'd be interested in hearing how window cleaners elsewhere overcome this problem.
please comment and let us know your tips and tricks.

Keep checking your equipment

2010-01-26T06:24:00.000-08:00

With the new year, and many of us returning from a post christmas and new indulgence, it's important to dust off the cobwebs of your gear and get out about on your weekly rounds. Can also be a great way to lose some of that excess flab that we've all been cultivating throughout the holiday season. Similarly it's also as equally important to make sure all your gear is in working order before heading out. This includes making regular TDS readings, checking your inline filters, checking for any leaks or perhaps blocks due to the freezing weather many places has had this winter. It also means checking your poles, making sure the clamps havent rusted, and that the action is smooth. So for every windows cleaner's new years resolution, the regular checking of your equipment should feature highly on the list.

Here's to a great year ahead!

Merry Late Christmas and a Very Happy New Year

2010-01-02T02:24:00.000-08:00

To all my readers, yes all two of you, thanks very much for following through 2009
and thanks for commenting on my posts. I hope you've found the blog useful in someway and picked up something you can apply to your own work/business. If you have any ideas of what you'd like to see posted on the blog for this year then please send the ideas in.

Also in 2010, although I probably won't be able to update the blog as much as I did in 2009 due to work commitments, I'd like to add Im still continuing it, and will post still on a fairly regular basis, probably not the once a week posts I did in 2009 though. Hopefully, the content therefore will be improved, as i've more time to think about the writing of each blog post. Anyways, I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and my deepest Happy New Year sentiments go out to you all.

Have a great 2010!

Integrating technology to help you with your rounds

2009-12-07T06:41:00.000-08:00

Sometimes, you've just gotta love technology and the way it improves our lives. Nowadays, it's becoming more and more common to see people checking their emails, etc. on a hand held mobile device such as blackberry or I-Phone. If you have a mobile phone, or hand held device that enables you to integrate your excel spreadsheet with you aré device, make changes to it and view the document - then this can prove very useful when you're out and about. So with Christmas coming up, perhaps you might be getting that upgrade you wanted on your phone. With this in mind, make sure you back up all your data (good practice anyway) so you've got all your customer's details on a backup. Synchronising your work documents with mobile devices, can save you a lots of time, and certainly saves you writing on scrap pieces of paper that will get lost eventually.

Christamas rounds

2009-11-29T21:48:00.000-08:00

It's fast approaching my favorite time of the year, when window cleaners finally get to pick up an extra bit of cash on their rounds. Of course not saying all my customers tip before i do their last clean before the Christmas holidays, but the majority are more than generous when it comes to cleaning this time of year. Gotta love it, just hoping the weather doesn't get too cold this year around and my tank doesn't freeze up like last year!

I think it also depends on what part of the country you live in, as to how much tipping you can expect to receive this time of year. I've heard some parts of the country don't even bother tipping their service men and women come Christmas time. Which I think is a bit off, after these are people who don't necessarily make your mega bucks that city types do, and after all year round provide a vital service for people, it should only be fair to give them a reward come the end of year and so that their families can receive something nice for Christmas. Just my two cents worth.

Dealing with harsh weather

2009-11-24T06:51:00.000-08:00

How does the adverse weather we're experiencing in the UK affect your work? Do your custies expect you not to turn up? Do you have an agreement with your custies that if it's pissing it down not to expect you. Of course, the recent harsh weather conditions in the UK have affected many of us. With strong winds, it's virtually impossible to do your job with the pols well, just gripping them can be hard enough.

It's important therefore to have some kind of arrangement with your custies, wrtiten or otherwise, about adverse weather conditions and whether they can expect your or not.
Even if it's bad outside, it doesn't prevent you doing the inside of houses. We've most of my custies they known when to expect me and what conditions i work in, but some will think even if there's just a little bit of drizzle i won't come in. No chance love, this is my livelihood we're talking about. Tsk!

Water conservation

2009-11-11T03:52:00.000-08:00

This has been a hot topic in recent years, and with global warming on the increase, the damage we're doing to the environment is still continuing at an alarming rate. In the next 5-8 years water scarcity may be an issue we have to deal with more quickly. There has been some concern about the amount of water, water fed pole system users use on a daily basis which can be as little as 100L though to 750L. However, this is nothing compared with water wastage from the companies on a daily basis through burst pipes, leaks etc. And to think this happens on a global scale. The UK's local water companies can at times be very incompetent but at their best do an average job, so it probably doesn't bear thinking about how much water wastage goes on in other countries.

As an ethical window cleaner business operator using WFP, there's a few things you can do to conserve water usage on a daily/weekly basis. One of the main things is to collect rain water in a large butt, and then pump this through to your Reverse Osomosis system. Another way is to check for leaks, holes in your system and make sure you use PTFE tap to correct any leaky joints and connections. It might be too much effort and hassle recollecting the spill-off water from cleaning the windows/doors/conservatories etc. But, I have heard of people who have managed to collect this in container tanks and refeed it into the system, passing through the RO again. Conserving water, will not only save on your water bill, but is going to help future generations with having clean water.

Quoting prices for cleans

2009-11-02T01:19:00.000-08:00

This can be a tricky task, of course you don't want to undervalue your work and quote the client a nice cheap price they probably want just to gain a new customer. If you do this, yeah sure it's nice to have a regular customer, but you could be cursing yourself every time you go to do that clean. It's therefore essential to have a systematic way of quoting for new jobs and stick to it. Often people will charge a set amount per window, more for double windows, doors and fixed prices for conservatories. You can also add on surcharges, for awkward to reach windows, windows that are extremely dirty, fascia cleans and so on. It also depends on the area that new customer is in, do you have any other customers nearby, bear in mind these customers might know each other so you want to aim for some consistency in your pricing structure.

At the end of the day it's common sense, if you're got a new customer on a council estate that wants a few windows cleaning for £5 then you gotta work out if its gonna be worth your time and money doing it. When you could find a customer in a posh estate that wants all windows and conservatory cleaned for £35. The choice is yours as to which kind of new customers you want to target as well. Hope you've found this useful.

How to deal with late payers

2009-10-26T02:05:00.001-07:00

With any business, you are always going to have problems with late or non-payers. Whilst this is a common annoyance there's several things you can do to avoid having to keep hassling these late payers. One way many people will prevent such scenarios from happening is to enforce penalties for late payers, e.g. a late payment fee. Other people might choose to run rolling totals, so if a customer defaults one month then come the next month they have to pay twice plus interest accrued on the previous month/week. It also boils down to how you structure the payments types and methods, and how flexible you are to your custie's needs. For instance offering a multiple of choices for your customers to pay online, cheque, bank transfer etc. This might ease of your custies' payment woes, but make sure all the methods you offer via the internet are safe and secure. Failing this, if the custie still doesnt pay up have a policy of 2/3 strikes and you're out, or you can always send the boys round!

Office Cleaning Ebook

2009-10-21T06:10:00.000-07:00

Here's a great Ebook I've found recently about how to make some serious money starting your own office cleaning business. Learn about how one guy made $54,000 in one year, PART-TIME. He tells you how you the steps you need to follow in order to succeed.

If anyone's been thinking about starting up their own cleaning business part-time or full-time then they should read this book first. It explains everything:

Click Here

How Online Marketing Strategies can inprove your window cleaning business

2009-10-19T03:31:00.000-07:00

The growth and popularity of social networking sites such as twitter and facebook has meant that many people have found new and improved ways of marketing their business. Twitter, for example, has for many small-large business proved extremely effective as people can select what kinds of followers they attract and hone in their marketing to sell to these followers through tweets. For example if a company is launching a new product or service they can tweet it, invariably it will result in a small percentage of their followers clicking on the link and some of them perhaps buying the product or service. Therfore, if you're running a window cleaning business that uses a reach and wash system you're already at the forefront of the industry using the latest state of the art technology available to window cleaners. So why not push your efforts further and gain a high profile online as well, which will eventually lead to more new customers and more revenue!

It's quite simple to get started, simply inform present customers that you've got a Facebook and/or twitter account, perhaps put it down on your business card or a leaflet, and offer promotions through FB and twitter. In no time at all you'll find your fan base/followers growing, and yourself getting busier and busier.

Other applications of WFP

2009-10-13T01:47:00.001-07:00

You may have experimented already with what your water fed pole system can be used for outside of cleaning just doors and windows. Often people will leverage the fact that the telescopic poles can be used for cleaning hard to reach places and spots and this is one of the reasons why WFP systems have been used more and more for cleaning things like conservatories, caravans and guttering.
Inded it's not just the fact the long poles can be used to get to these tricky spots, it's also boils down to the fact that pure water is used which makes for a great effective cleaning agent against mould, moss and dirt. This combined with a strong brush for scraping the dirt away means that you can restore your caravans roof tops, conservatories windows and frames, gutters to a good as new condition. So it's well worth getting out there and experimenting what your system can be used for, it may be that you open yourself up to more work as you make your business more versatile. When it comes to cleaning cars, you have to be very careful about water getting into the inner workings of the car or van. Once again, the cleaning forums are also a good place to find out the further extended applications of using a water fed pole cleaning system.

How to clean windows in rainy weather

2009-10-05T06:59:00.000-07:00

With it raining lots recently it raises an important problem that window cleaners using water fed poles must face and combat, the problem of "spotting" once the windows drys. This often happens on the first couple of cleans of a new house, little white spots form once the water dries. They can easily be removed with a good scrim cloth, but if you moved away from ladders and onto WFP it kinda defeats the object of the game a little. So what should you do if customers complain of spotting on first cleans. First try giving the windows in question another rinse off, make sure you clean the frames first and then when you come to rinse, perhaps trying lifting the brush a couple of inches off the pane of glass. If this doesn't work try adding a little bit of GG4 into the tank, as this can sometimes solve the problem. (You should check your TDS readings if you're getting a lot of spotting on the windows, as chances are your TDS is too high). As a last solution you can always go back to the traditional way as a once off, cleaning with pure water and using your squeegee, T-Blade and scrim.

A good way to check what other cleaners are doing to combat the spotting problem and others is to go on the forums and ask their advice. You'll be sure to get an answer from someone on them. Here's to no more spotting!

When technology doesn't cut it.

2009-09-30T03:09:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, although we have all this great window cleaning gear it's necessary to revert back to what most of us started out with. I'm, of course talking about the trusted scrim, squeegee and T-Blade. These tools of the trade have served many of us window cleaners very well, and sometimes it's necessary to whip them out even if we're using a great WFP system. Perhaps the window isn't responding well to pure water and not all the dirt has been removed. You can either give it another rinse, but a lot of the time if it's safe to reach the window by a secured ladder or if it's withing reaching distance giving the window a quick clean with the squeegee, scrim and T-Blade. By doing this you can save on your pure water consumption, and ensure the client is left with clean windows. T-Blades and scrims come in various sizes, so it's important to have a nice range of sizes for those different window types; single panes, double glazing, leaded windows, conservatory doors etc. Usually I'll only need my trusted 12" T-blade and 12" squeegee, but I have for larger windows/doors 16" and 14" respectively and for the leaded windows I'll use a 9" T-blade and 7' squeegee. Also a good tip, is to add a few drops of GG4 to your water to make the action that much smoother and get you better results.

Telescopic Poles

2009-09-21T00:49:00.000-07:00

Telescopic poles have revolutionized the window cleaning industry and the safety standards that are associated with window cleaning. Now, it's possible with the aid of modern telescopic poles to reach 3rd/4th/5th and higher windows from the ground. All this means that ladders only need to be used where it's not possible to use poles. Sometimes we have to revert back to ladders on jobs, due to angles and positions of the windows make it very difficult or impossible to use poles. I will generally use ladders for skylights and roofs of conservatories in conjunction with a pole, with someone holding the ladder for me. The general rule that people abide by, if they're using poles is to use them as much as possible and work safely rather than risk going up a ladder again. After all that's why we've made the conversion to WFP.

It's important to choose the right kind of pole. Although, all telescopic poles available on the market today are made from lightweight materials, you still want to be aware that poles can be very heavy and you should avoid using them for extended periods of time. It's important to give your muscles a rest. Also, you don't want to carefully consider the average height of the windows on your round. Do you do mostly 2nd and 3rd storey work? If this is the case, selecting a 60ft pole to use all the time, isn't very practical and you could overstretch yourself and do some serious damage in window conditions if you loose control. There are two types of poles to choose from. Some people like to buy just one type, and then upgrade if they find themselves getting more work at a greater height. Whilst, others will start off with both pole types, to allow flexibility and ensure they're not caught out on a job:

The first type is fibre-glass/glass-fibre poles, which most people will start out on. They start from 2ft poles and go up to about 35 foot. This poles are suitable for 2nd and 3rd storey work. The clamps and fittings vary, according to what brand you buy. You should buy poles with strong sturdy clamps, preferably anodized aluminium clamps.
The second type is carbon fibre, which is used for heights above 35 foot. These poles are designed to reach higher storeys such as 4th/5th/6th etc. The ranges of carbon fibre are usually between 35' and 60'. It should be noted that once the poles are extended above 40' it can sometimes be a two-man job holding the pole and keeping it stable.

Gardiner Pole Systems do some great telescopic poles that are suitably designed for great heights as well as lower ones. Also worth checking out are Omnipoles poles (can be a bit pricey though), as well as Unger telescopic poles - where you can easily buy add-on sections and aluminium clamps to support them at very affordable prices.

Favourite customizations to systems

2009-09-14T09:18:00.000-07:00

So many people will have made tailor-made adjustments to their water fed pole systems, which perhaps will make their day to day lives easier. Perhaps the most frustrating thing about having a van mount system, is the time it takes to set up and get started, and then move bits and bobs about whilst on a job. So this is the main reason why people will customize their kit, to reduce the amount of time faffing about. Of course there's various useful bits of kit you can buy, if you're not comfortable creating something for yourself or perhaps just don't have the time to mess about tweaking the systems and make alterations. One of my favourite bits of external kit outside the system is to lay down perpendicular red plastic triangles that you can place on corners of things to stop your trailing hose getting snagged.

Other people will focus on the internal system and getting it running as best as they can. They may drill holes in the back of the van to allow their system pipe to come out so that it can be connected to a hozelock connector and trailing hose. Others will bolt down their hose reels to the van floor so that they never have to take the hoses out. However, if you're gonna do this, make sure you test some positions before actually comitting, and when you do this make sure that the hose reels won't budge. There are many ways you can tailor make your kit so that your overall system runs better, and less time is wasted. It's really a case of trial and error. But once you find something that works well, it can be very satisfying.

Preparing for colder weather

2009-09-07T08:44:00.000-07:00

So with summer over, it's time to start gearing up to the winter. Colder weather can pose many problems for your average window cleaner, whether they're using WFP or not.
But, probably for the water fed pole system user the problems are tripled with the threat of the water in the system freezing over. If this happens you could have even bigger problems with other parts of your set up such as your pump, trailing hose and connections etc. There are many ways to combat jack frost. You can keep your van nice and cosy overnight and make sure the temperature doesn't drop instead by a paraffin heater or electric heater. But a word of warning you want to seek out professional advice before installing one of these in your van overnight, as the last thing you want is to wake up to a 'fred flinstones' van burnt to 'barny rubble'.

Others include adding reflective insulation, the kind that long distance runners sometimes get wrapped in, over the tank, so that it radiates the heat in the van back in and around the tank. This is a fairly inexpensive way of insulating the van. Or add glass-fiber padding, the kind you perhaps find in an upstairs loft. Which you can wrap around your tank before installing (make sure you wear some protective gloves whilst doing this). There are many other ways you can make sure the pure water in the van stops from freezing overnight or during the day. Another one I forget to mention is by adding a special anti-freeze type liquid in the correct dose so that it doesn't affect the TDS of the pure water. A lot of other ways have been devised by the more ingenious and inventive of window cleaners, but sadly I can't claim to be a part of this subset.
Till next week. :)

Keeping a track of your rounds

2009-08-29T05:29:00.000-07:00

So once you've got either your backpack/trolley or van system up and running you'll be out on jobs putting the new equipment into practice. Of course you never know how good your kit is really until you take it for a few test drives. You may find yourself having to tweak certain parts. Perhaps the trailing hose gets caught up, snagged and tangled, disrupting your work. Or maybe you're system is leaking around the connectors. There's always adjustments and improvements you can make.

However, another important part of the business is keeping a track of the work you're doing, who's due for a clean next, and the amounts owing on your rounds. Of course there are several ways you can do this. One is to keep a diary and note down all the houses/premises/offices on your round and when they're due to be cleaned. Another way is to keep a spreadsheet with all the necessary data for you round. Or you can buy software which does this all for you, such as Round tracker. You may prefer to use a combination of these methods. Also, if you're doing canvassing it's a good idea to note down which houses you've canvassed and keep these perhaps on a database with the contact information. Make sure you update your spreadsheet weekly or fortnightly so you can put it to good use.

Van mounted systems

2009-08-19T00:02:00.000-07:00

There are several ways you can go about installing a van mount system. You may like to hire someone who has fitted many van mounts before and knows what they're doing. Of course with a van mount it all depends on the van and what bearing load it can take. This largely will be determined by your van size and how much weight it can hold. However, before you select your tank container size you need to take into consideration not only the van's maximum gross weight, but also other factors: like weight of the equipment you'll have in there, the combined weight of the people in the van etc.

The first step as already mentioned on an earlier post is to waterproof your van floor.

The next stage is to work out how you will secure the van to the floor. Here safety is the most important issue, the last thing you want is a tank full of 500L of pure water coming undone and heading straight for the front of the van if you have a collision. So don't use any unsafe straps, like baggage straps. You need 4 straps to secure the tank and they should be bolted on to the floor and through the chassis. You should use high strength tensil steel nuts and bolts.

Then once the tank is secure you need to work out how you will transfer water from the van to outside. Microbore is becoming the most popular way of connceting up to a hose pipe, so it's recommended you use microbore. From your main tank outlet there will be a fitting which allows you to connect a hose pipe to it. From this fitting you need to connect it up to an inline filtrer that will usually come with your pump. From the filter you add another bit of hosing from the oulet to the inlet side of your 12V pump. From the outlet side of the pump you will then connect it up to your hosepipe with a coupling.

However, you will go through water like nobody's business if you don't fit some sort of controller to the pump. The varistream controller is a great little control box that allows your to adjust the flow of the water output. It's dead easy to connect to the pump. Simply unplug the two wires going to the pressure switch at the back of your 12V pump. Then connect the two wires marked to pump + (red) and to pump -(black) and join the wires using suitable connectors. Make sure you connect them up right, as it could do irreparable damage to your varistream controller. If in doubt ask a qualified electrician to check it.

The last thing is to power your pump. I'd recommend getting a heavy duty battery from your local supplier at least 100amph. It depends on how many hours you're going to be working for. You can get various leisure batteries from places like halfords, SC motors etc or caravan catalogue order magazines. If you're working with a backpack, it's best to have a spare battery as well. You can wire the battery up to the vehicle electrics so that it recharges whilst you're driving. However I wouldn't do this unless you know what you're doing. Otherwise just recharge it overnight for the next day. To get your pump working, simply connect the wires up with crocodile clips and attach each wire to the appropriate terminal.

The last thing is to make sure your pole and hose reel are connected and all the taps are switched on to allow water flow. Once you're ready try out your system. The varistream's green light should come on, and in a few moments you'll hear the pump start ticking away. If the varistreams green light doesn't come on, switch the button off and try again. Check all your connections beforehand for being water tight. Use PTFE tape on all connectors and fitting. The last thing you want is a soaked van floor. Here's are the colour codes for the Varistream:

GREEN = Pump Running

GREEN Flashing = Battery Voltage Low
RED= Power is on but Pump has Stopped (for example when user disconnects hose)
OFF= Varistream Switched Off.

DIY Water Fed Pole Sytems: The Trolley System

2009-08-03T21:22:00.000-07:00

There are various ways you can go about doing it yourself, and on the cheap I might add for WFP.

First things first is that you need to collect your water, with a suitable rain water butt. Make sure its large enough to collect an adequate supply of water.

I'm going to run through a typical garage setup:

1st Stage:

Now place this water butt on an elevated position, either make a stand for it, or have it on an elevated platform outside. This is important because you will recycle the waste water produced from your RO.
Simply connect your hose pipe to your water supply, make sure you run the RO output tubing into the water butt. Depending on what output your RO is, you could find your water butt filling up in no time, so either downgrade to a lower output or make an overflow sytem by connecting up to a second water butt.
If you haven't already buy a TDS meter, to make sure your water is pure enough to clean with.

2nd Stage:

Buy your water containers for transporting the water. 4-6 containters should be enough
Buy a sack truck and get it welded for carrying the containers, so you can fit 2 containers on it.
Then you need two buy two essential components a pump box , like the one available from Cleantech, which is around $500 and a power supply, something that can last you all.
For the poles, I'd recommend either Unger extendable poles. Go for the 3X3 sections extendable for up to 31', takes you up to 3 storey work if your round has higher windows. And go for something like the Vikan Brush. Also buy the unger cranked joints (metal) for supporting the pole sections. Or you may want to consider other telescopic poles, such as the ones from Varitech, omnipole or Gardiner
Get the necessary fixtures and fittings. I'd recommend Hozelock pipes and connectors.

Of course there are different permutations and combinations you might like to try. It's up to you what you eventually go for. But as long as it's practical and enables better mobility then it's doing the job right!

The secrets of getting the first clean

2009-07-12T17:53:00.000-07:00

When I was starting out to use water fed poles, I must say a lot of my first cleans got botched up. And I would have to come back to do the cleans again. This was mainly due to me trying to conserve water, and at the time I only had a backpack and containers so I was limited to how much water I could use each day. When I upgraded to a tank system this became less of a worry.

So when you're doing your first clean it's important to do the following:
1. Give it a good clean with the brush. If there's any bird much, stubborn residues give them a blast, but then come back to them later and gradually they will shift/
2. Make sure you start on the frames first, and then work your way onto the panes.
3. When cleaning glass start at the top and work in a methodical way, so that all the glass will have received enough pure water.
4. Once you've cleaned the glass, leave to dry, and do the same windows again. So rinse and rinse, 2-3 times as a general rule for first cleans.

For conservatories:
1. Follow the same procedure. If you're doing the roof, start there first and then do the side panes.
2. Some conservatories are very large, and have loads of glass and/or extremely dirty. Make sure you price these jobs correctly and make adequate provisions for water.

Here's to your success! Let me know if this post was useful or not, by going to the contact section.

Poles providing a good workout.....

2009-07-05T21:48:00.000-07:00

I was recently talking to a mate, who swears by his Gardiner poles as producing the best cleaning results. He also said his longer sized poles, namely the carbon fibre ones 38' and 56' ones respectively give him the chance for a good workout, and to build some muscles on the old arms. Never really thought about it, until he mentioned but thinking back to when I first started out I had these really skinny arms, now my arms are bigger and the best thing is I've never had to go to the gym to achieve this. It was solely achieved by me being out and about using me poles. So my questions to you kind readers is what poles do you use? Are they lightweight or heavy ones? And have you noticed any increase in muscle mass?

The importance of water proofing your van

2009-06-22T19:02:00.000-07:00

Before you start about thinking about fitting your components for your system in your van, you should first make sure that the van is waterproofed. As the constant exposure to pure water can have very harmful corrosive effects on the internal structure of your motor. Meaning if waterproofing the van floor is not done right first time, you could be having costly visits to your local garage. There are many ways of waterproofing these include: Protecta-Kote or Hammerite, Anti-slip Floor Paint, Speedliner or even Fiber glass lining. I've used protecta-kote before and must say relatively happy with the results. Although it can stink up the van a bit, and when you're applying it make sure you wear a mask and gloves as it's nasty stuff if it gets on your hands.
I did two coats of it, and my van has ply-lining as well. You may want to consider Hammerite if you have an older van and want only 2-3 years of protection for your van floor. Anti-slip floor paint, it's best to by the polyurethane one which is about 80 quid for really good results. Or for ease and convenience speedliner comes in spray from. Some people are facouring fiber glass lining for protecting their van floor. How effective this in waterproofing I'm not entirely sure but hear reports of mixed success. However, if the jobs done correctly and no open space is left it can be as good as any other method of waterproofing. Once the water proofing of the van is done. You can concentrate on the fitting the water fed pole system. Which I'll look at next week.

The importance of getting accurate TDS readings

2009-06-17T10:35:00.000-07:00

Been a very busy week this week, with the weather picking up always sees me rushed off my feet with work. I realised Id fail to write about the importance of making regular TDS readings from your setup to ensure the water your cleaning the windows with is pure, or as close to pure as possible. Generally TDS readings of between 0 and 20 ppm is okay. Higher readings and you might find the water is not doing a very good job of removing the dirt off the windows. If you don't have a TDS meter, you can easily purchase them from any window cleaning equipment supplier. Or you can fit an inline TDS meter for getting readings from the RO when you want.

Thames Water Helps Ensure and Maintain a Safe Water Supply For The London Area With Informatica Data Integration

2009-06-09T05:26:00.000-07:00

This is an article from 2005 about Thames Water, that I found quite interesting and hopefully you will too. There has been some media exposure about how WFP users are somewhat responsible for the increase in water usage. But considering how much water companies like Thames Water waste on a daily basis, WFP users across the country are somewhat insignificant in their daily usage in real terms. Let's hope this new software they are using helps them to be more effecient in their water supply and infrastructure:

Thames Water Helps Maintain Safe Water Supply For London Area With Informatica Data Integration

UKs largest water utility uses PowerCenter and PowerExchange software to help analyze and optimize budget for infrastructure maintenance

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., May 10, 2005 Informatica Corporation (NASDAQ: INFA), a leading provider of data integration software, today announced that Thames Water Utilities, the largest water and wastewater services company in the UK, has successfully implemented the Informatica PowerCenter data integration platform and PowerExchange data access software as critical components of its data warehouse.
The solution is helping the company maintain the immense water-infrastructure system that serves 13 million customers by providing a more efficient and effective method to analyze information about its waterworks system, and determine the best ways to maximize its maintenance budget.

Thames Water Utilities is using Informatica's data integration software to help maintenance managers make the right decisions about how to continually refresh its infrastructure, much of which dates back more than a century to the original establishment of London's water and sewage systems. The maintenance program has a budget of approximately 40 million each year to sustain the company's estimated 20 billion in infrastructure assets.

"Our annual maintenance budget represents only around two percent of the total cost of the infrastructure, so we have to make smart decisions on repairs, replacements and refurbishments in order to spend that money wisely," said Jim Weir, business program support manager for Thames Water Utilities. "With Informatica PowerCenter and PowerExchange at the center of our enterprise-wide data integration strategy, we have gained a holistic view of all information relating to our water-system infrastructure - including data within our mainframe systems. This comprehensive set of data enables accurate analysis of our assets to ensure that we set the right priorities."

Added Weir, "The Informatica platform also enables significant IT cost and time savings, because it can carry out complex extractions without requiring our developers to recode every time we initiate a new data integration process. Every decision we make in the business now uses information that has been processed using PowerCenter."

Before using PowerCenter and PowerExchange to integrate data from its mainframe systems into a data warehouse, Thames Water Utilities used a time-consuming combination of maps, the knowledge of its personnel and a host of independent legacy systems to determine infrastructure maintenance priorities. The Informatica platform now provides the company with access to all of its critical enterprise data systems - including mainframes, midrange relational databases and file-based systems.

"For utilities organizations such as Thames Water, cost-effective maintenance of their physical infrastructures is mission critical," said Dave Berry, senior vice president of EMEA at Informatica. "Leveraging Informatica's data integration platform to provide its managers with a holistic view of all enterprise information - even data residing in complex mainframes - has successfully allowed Thames Water to make strategic decisions that keep its water system running smoothly, and in line with the annual maintenance budget."

Thames Water Utilities, which maintains water management and supply contracts across England, Scotland and Wales, is the largest water and wastewater services company in the UK. It serves customers in London and across the Thames Valley, from Kent and Essex in the east to the edges of Gloucestershire in the west. The company treats and supplies an average of about 2,700 million liters of water per day, and around 2,900 million liters of sewage.

Reach and Wash Systems

2009-05-23T02:01:00.000-07:00

There are a range of systems out there that you can buy. Previously mentioned have been the trolley and backpack systems, which are good for gettting in and out of places quickly. However, due to the storage capacities of holding pure water being very small, if your round consists of lots of jobs that are going to use a lot of water i.e. large houses, conservatories, big commercial jobs then it's probably wise to invest in a van mount system. For new cleans especially you find that more water is required per window perhaps as much as 10Litres. And a van WFP system has the potential, depending on your van size and how much it can hold, to take up to 1000L of water or maybe even more. How people configure their van systems vary greatly, some people may have 2x250 tanks in there with one as a back up and only getting through half the second in a day and then replenishing at night. Some may just opt for one large tank in there and rig it up to their RO system and if they are running low, connect to a water supply to top up. If this is going to be done you need an RO which has a fast pure water output something like a Reverse Osmosis with an output of 400GPD (gallons per day)..But depending on the water pressure of your area, the input of water may be running at a lower than optimum pressure, so you will have to buy a booster pump to get the pressure up so it can run through the system faster.

In terms of van systems though, you have two options: a.) to do everything yourself, that includes the protectacote van lining/upvc plastic lining, fitting all the bits and bobs, securing the tank safely with straps bolted to the floor, or secured in a metal cage, tweaking bits and pieces to reduce the amount of time spent messing about unloading and loading the poles, hose reels etc.

or b.) get a professional to do everything and buy a van water fed pole system pre-built (this can involve buying the van as well) or if you already have a van obviously get someone to install all the equipment for you.

I went for option a.) and in retrospect, it would have been much easier to get someone who knew what they were doing to install everything as my setup was far from perfect. But it did do the job and that's the main thing.

Testing the waters

2009-05-22T02:15:00.001-07:00

You may not want to committ to a full kitted out van system with the works costing around the $5000-$10000 mark depending on what you go for.

Far better then is to see how you get in with either a trolley system or backpack and go from there. You can even use this to get some practice on your own windows in. Plus the ease of use, and mobility of it makes it a very useful piece of kit still to have, even if you do decide to upgrade,

Above are some of the trolleys available that I'm aware of. I have experience of using the PureFreedom trolley, and for the price its very good value for money. I also had a backpack which held about 18L if memory serves me. The only downside i found to this kind of system was having to lug about 20-25L containers, and if you're parked a long way from the job it can be a bit of a pain.

Hello and Welcome!

2009-05-22T01:55:00.000-07:00

Hi there! Thanks for stopping by. In my blog I will be looking at the various Water Fed Pole

systems, looking at some of the suppliers and detailed reviews of various bits of kit. I encourage you to add your comments if you have experience on using any of these systems.

If you are unfamiliar with what a water fed pole system is or WFP for short, or perhaps have seen them in action but not understand how they work. Hopefully this blog will help.

Some of the uses of WFP extend to the following:

Window Cleaning: be it commercial or domestic. Due to the Health and Safety standards in the UK and other countries window cleaners are not supposed to use ladders anymore. Or if they do use ladders then certain stipulations must be abided by, e.g. a ladder must be used if there is no alternative available for cleaning the window.
Cleaning gutters, frames and other peripherals. Due to pure water being used in modern water fed pole sustems, it makes the job of cleaning difficult to reach places and awkard features such as gutters easier.
Cleaning caravans, skylights, car windows also can be done using the WFP system. Although some debate arises if prolonged use of a system on cars would actually have corrode the paintwork in the long run as it is pure water thats being used.

These are some of the main uses in today's industry. From my personal experience I've been using water fed pole systems for domestic window cleaning and getting fantastic results. Although, at first it was a big learning curve, with lots of school boy errors being made. Using a WFP system does take some perserverance, and at many times I thought about jacking it in. And going back to the trusted squeegee and T-blade.

But it does pay to stick with it, especially as you have to spend well over a grand to get set up on all the bits and bobs. It sometimes is a lot more. Ive heard of guys spending thousands upon thousands as they slowly get more commercial jobs and they reinvest it in upgrading. Ultimately it's up to you where you want to take your window cleaning/business with WFP, but it's definitely given me after a few years of use and increase in revenue stream.