0ppm Distilled Water - Window Cleaning Issues

Window Cleaning Issues - Canvassing, pole systems, pricing, problems, etc.

0ppm Distilled Water

Posted by Cov_Cleaner (Cov_Cleaner), 21 December 2003

Anyone know if 0ppm Distilled Water is available in the shops?

Posted by Cov_Cleaner (Cov_Cleaner), 22 December 2003

I've ordered 5 litres from my local chemist. He said it was what doctors use, 100% pure and 0ppm. Only £2.60. Will let you know how it goes tomorrow night.

Posted by pdhanson (Silly Philly), 22 December 2003

yes please do, I'm interested to know.

(The problem I've found is that unless you have a TDS meter, you never really know if its any good until you use it)

Try on your own windows first to avoid customer complaints

silly

Posted by CK2003 (CK2003), 22 December 2003

I'm pretty new to this so could someone please tell me the benefits of using 0ppm distilled water? thanks ppl.

-CK

Posted by easycleanwindows (easycleanwindows), 22 December 2003

The only really good use for 0ppm water is if your using high reach water poles as the pure water cleans at high windows and evaporates without drying if your using it in a bucket no difference to normal water as your taking all its impurities away as soon as you add cleaning solution.

Posted by Cov_Cleaner (Cov_Cleaner), 22 December 2003

on 12/22/03 at 20:18:17, CK2003 wrote:

I'm pretty new to this so could someone please tell me the benefits of using 0ppm distilled water? thanks ppl.

-CK

My intentions are: To put my 'T'Bar sleeve through the washing machine (without soap) to get rid of any remaining fairy liquid. Dry it. Attach the 'T' bar to a pole along with a garden spray lance, an extended tube and a pressure pump bottle!

Sounds far too easy I know! BUT it's me who has to test the water!!! If it's NHS Approved, I can't see any reason for failure!! Wink

Thanks to the gardening section of index for help with spelling & ammendments! Sorry, only gardeners need to know those words (usually) !!!

Posted by sean_rimmer (Dom Matrix aka BRODEX), 23 December 2003

COV Cleaner
Buying pure water from a chemist for approx. 50p per litre seems very expensive if you intended to do it on a regular basis. for example if you presumed 10 litres were needed to do a domestic house with PVC frames, thats £5 for the water alone.! Making pure water will always be the cheapest method, apart from buying it off a mate who already has a system and will sell it to you for £10-£15 per Tonne (ie.1000Litres) which works out about 1p per litre. Hope this points you in the right direction.

Posted by pdhanson (Silly Philly), 23 December 2003

Cov Cleaner,

I am engaged in a similar project myself.

I already have a pole, brush and hose, which I have connected to a pressure sprayer. (The pressure generated is well adequate to pump the water up 30-40 feet)

I have decided after much faffing around to get a little DI cartridge to make the water to put in it. The problem I have found with pre-bottled water is that, no matter how good it is at source, the process of shipping etc alows time for algae and stuff to grow and its then not pure enough.

If you just need 5 litres or so to test your idea, I dont mind doing you some when I get my cartridge and sending it to you.

I know how frustrating it is not to have anything to even experiment with!

Silly

Posted by Cov_Cleaner (Cov_Cleaner), 24 December 2003

Thanks Silly, that's good of you. I think the delivery would be a bit costly. I've just posted an Upholstery lance/pipes with parcel force which cost nearly a fiver! It would be good If we could meet up in the new year for a bit of a demo. My partner is a serious sceptic!

That water from the chemist was about the best I've tried. My partner had to look really hard to find the spots!

Posted by sean_rimmer (Dom Matrix aka BRODEX), 24 December 2003

Cov-Cleaner
If you purchase a TDS meter (Total dissolved solids) this will enable you to check how pure the water is. If a simple hand held meter (cost approx £30) tells you the water is zero TDS, that is as good as you'll get for window cleaning. To measure to a higher standard, for instance on my professional conductivity meter-Cost approx £450, is unnecessary for window cleaning application. Any one claiming to produce "ultra pure" or even "super dooper pure" with their window cleaning equipment, is deliberately or possibly unitentionally giving you wrong information. "Ultra Pure " water is encountered in Industrial water treatment and its uses I wont go into on this forum. Basic equipment will give you zero tds water. Hope this helps point you in the right direction.

Posted by pdhanson (Silly Philly), 27 December 2003

Hey Cov Cleaner, I came across this and thought of you!

http://www.machinemart.co.uk/product.asp?p=051712215

Apparently will hold 15-20 litres. Electrically powered ones are also available, though they are costly (~£109)

Silly

Posted by Cov_Cleaner (Cov_Cleaner), 27 December 2003

Thanks for that silly. That should do the trick. I may buy a filter soon and make up my own water.

Can anyone tell me how the pressure of a garden sprayer compares with that of a pole system?

Posted by peterf (peterf), 27 December 2003

They are not too bad, it takes a little longer to clean the window as you are hanging around waiting on enough water to rinse the window, but it is an ideal cheap way to get the water up the hose to the window, especially in awkward places where a tap is not available.

At least it let's you try pure water cleaning at a very minimal cost.

Peter

Posted by pdhanson (Silly Philly), 4 January 2004

I couldnt resist the temtation to open up a brita filter cartridge the other day, and guess what I found?

You guessed it - RESIN
(I'm sure Reuban/Peter will put us right as to whether its the same resin as they use)

Also some activated charcoal. If you wanted to make a small amount of DI water, you could bey a few cartridges and fill up a coke bottle with the resin.

Hey presto, a cheapish resin filter. Feed a pipe to the very bottom for the feed water, and let the filtered water overflow out the top and collect it in a bowl.

Each cartridge contains 150ml of resin

Argos, 6 Cartridges for £12.99 = almost a litre of resin. Should make 100 litres of pure water in soft areas, maybe 50 in hard water areas.

Will try this idea tomorrow

Silly

Posted by peterf (peterf), 4 January 2004

on 01/04/04 at 22:44:14, Silly Philly wrote:

Silly, I have never heard of a brita filter, maybe something to do with me being in a soft water area. Is it one of them things for under your sink?

If so is the water not purified coming out of the filter without taking the resin out?

I don't know if the coke bottle thing would work, for one thing the resin would come out the overflow along with the water, unless you had a filter of some sort on it.

At £12.99 it seems like an expensive way to get 1L of resin.

Peter

Posted by karlosdaze (karlosdaze), 5 January 2004

I've seen those Brita filters here, in Mallorca. Basically its a jug thats fitted with a filter for drinking water purposes. I tested water that had been passed through it, it removed 200ppm and left the water at 800ppm Shocked

It says that it takes out the impurities in water, and thats it. Not the calcium or other properties you need excluded for wf systems. The difference is notably calcium and other trace elements are good for your body, thats why people in hard water areas have a higher life expectancy than those in soft water areas.

Posted by pdhanson (Silly Philly), 5 January 2004

Brita system is a jug that has a fitting for a small cartridge, which you put your water in, and it flows through the cartidge. The idea is that you then use it for drinking and the kettle etc where you dont want lime scale. Have a look here:

http://www.brita.co.uk/action/products/

Since brita, other companies have come up with their own versions, Kenwood, Morphy Richards etc. Bit cheaper. It was Kenwood cartidges I used.

The water through one filter isnt pure enough, as there is only a small amount of resin in 1 cartridge. (I tried it before)

I put all that resin in the coke bottle, (good point about the resin spilling out too- an old, but clean sock came to the rescue as a filter) I ended up dribbling it in the top, and syphoning it from the bottom. Was slow but okay. Have just done my windows with it, waiting for it to dry now.

I'm wondering if it is the proper type of resin needed, "strong acid" instead of "weak acid" resin that will only remove some dissolved solids.

Silly

[expensive, yes. But alternative is 25litres at ~£70 and is only to test my idea)

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