Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: dd on August 10, 2010, 03:01:07 pm
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In view of several negative comments on Gardiners sl brushes, curious which brush gives better results (weight not an issue).
I have used a mark 3 sl dt mono for a few months and find it OK.
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i think gardiners has had a bad batch of sl brushes as i know they where selling a load of the flocked ones as factory seconds, but hopefully they will have it sorted soon
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i have both and find them brilliant 8)
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Superlight 100% for me. Vikan's feel like a brick after a few days with a superlight brush.
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Superlight 100% for me. Vikan's feel like a brick after a few days with a superlight brush.
The weight is not the issue, the question was about the cleaning of the brush. ;)
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My perfect brush would be the wieght of the superlight, but with the bristles of the vikan mono *drools*
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My perfect brush would be the weight of the superlight, but with the bristles of the vikan mono *drools*
Ditto
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Get the ASDA Bentley up there.... ;)
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looks like the black dual trim flocked from gardiners is the best!.i must say i didnt like it at first but its great on maintenance cleans and wooden georgian/leaded windows.
vikan brushes are very well made and robust but too heavy for long poles.great on my short pole but supalites are fantastic over 15ft due to the sheer lightness! ;) ;D ;D
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Hi Dazmond
Most of my work I reach with a 17ft xtel pole. Am suprised you need a 25ft pole as your main pole.
Not sure what 17ft xtel with vikan on end would be like (wondering about trying a sill brush which is heavier) but hard to imagine it being that bad.
I have used Vikan, Ionics Gardiner and Tucker brushes and find that none of them remove baked on bird poo, fly or pollen spots unless I scrape them with the stock of the brush.
My main priority is to do as good a job as practical.
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I see that there is still a hell of a lot of people on here that have yet to experience hot water,baked on bird poo will be a thing of the past. ;)
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dd i need a 25ft pole as my main pole due to a lot of stretching over conny roofs and flat roofs etc and im 6ft 2in!!.i was using a 20ft fibreglass for a while but even that was coming up short on a few windows here and there!
i dont have a problem mostly getting birdmuck off with the supalites.i soak,scrub,then do another window then come back to it and it usually comes off.occasionally ive had to use the stock of the brush but not very often.
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I see that there is still a hell of a lot of people on here that have yet to experience hot water,baked on bird poo will be a thing of the past. ;)
97% of it comes off with cold water in a few seconds the other 3% baked on does take longer and that alone isn’t worth the cost of a heated wfp system or even the cost of running it.
I agree with Ewan.
The little extra scrubbing involved does not warrant the price of heated water.
I would go so far to ask the question..what are the benefits of a heated system?
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I tried a vikin sill brush and now brought another 4 of them.
They are slightly heavier but i would rather deal with that as results are better when cleaning.
One customer did say to me looks better than the normal brushes.
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i have been using a superlite dual trim mono for over
a year now,first six months i couldnt stand it ,thought it
was way to stiff.
second six months after it bedded in i use it 90% of
the time and it does the job okay now but its obviously
nowhere as good a cleaner as a sill brush which due
to its size and amount of bristles is bound to clean
quicker on more difficult cleans.
but its way too heavy and ive got lazy over the last year
so will use my superlight until its no good,then will probably
switch to salmon as i keep hearing the latest superlights
are poope! :(
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Quality brushes have rigid brush stocks, cheap brush have stocks that bend. Lightweight rigid brush doesn’t exist.
I just got a Salmon 12" Double trim brush that seems pretty close to lightweight and rigid. Not sure how to vote though cos i've no idea if its flocked or non flocked, i rate it a pretty excellent brush though. Compared to the rectangle Vikans, Oval Vikans i've used and the SL i've just got.
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How much does the Salmon weigh? 12” inch Vikan are about 450g Superlite about 300g
I got it from cleaning spot. They say....
"It is 100g lighter than the vikan brush (554g)," Although to be fair they do not specify which Vikan brush is 554g, but its certainly noticabley lighter than the two vikans i have.
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Oh, the bristles on the Salmom seem to be finer and theres more of them. It appears to me to give you better scrubbing area.
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Lower weight is important mikecam so that’s a plus, what’s the stock like. Does it flex? Thinner monofilaments would be better than flagged bristles. Problem is we shouldn’t be sweeping windows most brushes are based on a broom design or vehicle cleaning brush design.
It seems stiff to me, it certainley doesn't move about and i reckon you'd have to go some to bend it. Its similar stock to a rectangle vikan but slimmer and lighter.( i realise thats an oval for comparison) Has more bristles too.Here's a pic, i posted it before..............
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v444/mike28/van/04082010322Small.jpg)(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v444/mike28/van/04082010323Small.jpg)
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I use the salmon brush the one with blue mono bristles that are slightly crinkled, I have the eighteen inch one so its a bit heavy but I believe the 12inch or there abouts is 400 ish grammes, they are good solid brushes with no flex and better than a vikan, only just though
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just checked on the weights again and it is 484grammes with an auto switch fitted or 440 without
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As for the OP, i couoldn't say which brush is best, they're just different. The SL seems to have softer bristles that will flex, and the Vikan has more rigid bristles.
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Looking at the picture on the right the splay on the Salmon looks far to narrow or the stock is far to wide, makes it difficult to clean sills with and the bristles look like they will fold under them selves when cleaning the glass to much of a sweeping broom design, I think I will give that brush a miss.
You need the bristles to spread out on the glass for quick cleaning the oval Vikan brush is good for this, they are 10mm longer than the rectangle Vikan which are 45mm, good news is the oval brush is cheaper.
Stu-mac has posted the weight, still to heavy for a window cleaning brush considering the heights we work, but so is the Vikan.
ewan that brush pictured on the right is not what I use and may be a lot lighter, it certainly looks lighter
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i use both gardiner superlite mono and flocked plus a factory second thanks to a tip from elite mike ;)
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It depends what your cleaning. On regular cleans I would say a SL mono dt as you rinse and wash as you go, however if the windows are heavily soiled the a flocked would be a good idea as you have more scrubbing power but need to take more time rinsing.
Simon.
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the best brush i have used for lightness and cleaning power
was a 11" oval mono vikan great little brush had it nicked
when my back was turned one day along with a 2-4foot pole.
dont know why i didnt replace it with another ??? :)
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I see that there is still a hell of a lot of people on here that have yet to experience hot water,baked on bird poo will be a thing of the past. ;)
97% of it comes off with cold water in a few seconds the other 3% baked on does take longer and that alone isn’t worth the cost of a heated wfp system or even the cost of running it.
No more than a few quid a day and in the winter you will keep working,how many WC`s did you hear at the start of the year saying they couldn`t work due to things being frozen etc.It will improve your working day not only in winter months believe me i use it on the hottest of days due to it being so much better to cold.
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our winters are never that bad unless you are in scotland
i lost seven days over the last winter due to freezing and
snow.
over a winter period thats nothing,i lose more to heavy rain
generally over the summer period ;D
apart from really difficult first cleans i really dont see the need
for hot water systems
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The new Salmon double trim ultra light (12") is a great brush at 380grams. mono fil. Also a great price.
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The new Salmon double trim ultra light (12") is a great brush at 380grams. mono fil. Also a great price.
is their a flocked version
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not a double trim just standard, its yellow.
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http://www.cleantech.co.uk/catalog/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=22&products_id=327
i think this is the one.
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i use both gardiner superlite mono and flocked plus a factory second thanks to a tip from elite mike ;)
why thanks terry
ive gone all shy now ;D