Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Tom White on April 05, 2011, 05:28:06 pm
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I've just had my kit from Gardiner Poles turn up (thanks Gardiners; you were the first delivery from the three different companies I've used), and I've just had a massive fight trying to load the hose onto the reel - I had it wrapped all round the house:
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v737/tosh0987/Funny%20stuff%20for%20forums/Photo-0007.jpg)
I was ready for sending it all back and selling the van at one point.
So, after an epic struggle with loads of sweating and swearing, I eventually got it onto the reel.
Now with the second lot of hose and reel I realised that if I started winding in from the INSIDE of the hose, rather than the OUTSIDE, it would be a lot easier.
Now why haven't I heard anyone mention that before?
>:(
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Haha ;D Probably coz I haven't been on here since I did that myself! ;)
I completely sympathise. Except when I first did it, I had to walk 70m down the street twisting and twirling the hose round until all the kinks and knots had smoothed out, looked like a right numpty!!
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That's a posh garage Tosh - did you spill battery acid on the rug? ;)
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last time I did it, I put a brush handle through the loop and my son held onto it while I wound it on from the outside ;D
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I completely sympathise. Except when I first did it, I had to walk 70m down the street twisting and twirling the hose round until all the kinks and knots had smoothed out, looked like a right numpty!!
That's what I was going to do as a final resort! ;D
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My pole hose looks like that after every clean. Damn stuff!!
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I hate new hose, even when it's on the reel. I find it a lot better after a few weeks once it's stretched & bedded in a bit!
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I hate new hose, even when it's on the reel. I find it a lot better after a few weeks once it's stretched & bedded in a bit!
Thanks, that's good to know; things will get better!
I can see Wor Lass (whose not the most patient of women) clonking me on the 'ead with a pole and telling me I've made a massive mistake with this van mounted business when she was quite happy plodding on with an A-Frame and squeegie.
I'll show her your post later, 'cos I'm sure she reckons I make things up that I read on here (not that I believe everything I read on 'ere mind).
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had the same problem, i ended up dragging it down the street to untangle it.
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Tosh that looks bad, but you want to try loading a hose reel with thermobore...... now that takes some doing.
Its like trying to wind barbed wire, the memory in the hose just makes the job a bloody nightmare.
Dennis
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Lube the whole lot with baby oil and it'll slip onto the reel in a jiffy ;D
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I hate new hose, even when it's on the reel. I find it a lot better after a few weeks once it's stretched & bedded in a bit!
is this microbore form gardiners? i haven't bought any for about 3 years but i thought it had changed from the last stuff
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(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v737/tosh0987/Funny%20stuff%20for%20forums/Photo-0007.jpg)
;D ;D ;D
Tosh, THINK THINK THINK.
You should have walked one end down the road, fitted the other end to the reel and then reeled it in.
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Right, sorted, and since the pics were taken my aquadapter things arrived and after a bit of a kerfuffle, I've fitted those too:
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v737/tosh0987/Window%20Cleaning/Photo-0009-1.jpg)
Hopefully my protecote comes tomorrow along with my pumps and flow controllers; and then I should be about ready to get out and work, 'cos I'm getting pretty skint.
Is there any tips (apart from wearing gloves) that I should know about protectakoting the bottom of a van?
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Tosh, thought you already was wfp?
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Bloody hell, has thee won the Lotto :P
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Bloody hell, has thee won the Lotto :P
I wish and I wouldn't be cleaning windows.
To be honest, I've got a dodgy shoulder, maybe from years of lugging barrels and Harris Poles? It got quite severe last year and I had to take a few courses of Naproxen; I needed help taking off my coat it was that bad, (but at work it was fine unless I jarred myself and then the pain was crippling).
There's days when I can put 200 litres through a backpack; and that's adds upto a fair bit of lugging water around.
My shoulder is good now, but if I want to keep window cleaning, I need to work smarter instead of just using brute strength and ignorance.
And I'm sick of working from the family car. ;D
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if you think thats hard try 1/2" and not the light weight hose pipe stuff, or like Dennis said thermo bore.
I handle a fair bit of hose, not just WFP stuff, the small stuff up to 8mm bore i sit on the radiators for a while ( cats bed!) or for the larger stuff I have an old electric blanket. just warm the reel of hose up a little and it gives up the fight a bit better.
"O" and as you found out always take it from the center and never cut all the wrapping off, just a slot in the middle will do
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When i got my new reel there was no instructions, i had to dismantle it 3 times before i got it right.
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When i got my new reel there was no instructions, i had to dismantle it 3 times before i got it right.
The instructions are the pictures on the OUTSIDE OF THE BOX!
;D :P ::)
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time to re learn your round again tosh!! ;D ;D ;D
.......i can see arguments and fall outs with wor lass...slower cleaning....hoses snagging all the time and general faffing about!!
i bet you ll find out that it will be easier/faster to leave wor lass on the trad tools(GROUND FLOOR ONLY) and you doing the wfpoling! ;) ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
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time to re learn your round again tosh!! ;D ;D ;D
.......i can see arguments and fall outs with wor lass...slower cleaning....hoses snagging all the time and general faffing about!!
i bet you ll find out that it will be easier/faster to leave wor lass on the trad tools(GROUND FLOOR ONLY) and you doing the wfpoling! ;) ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
Maybe, Daz - she's a bit like 'one of us' - in that she doesn't like change, mate. She's a bit worried that she's not going to be strong enough to cope with a full days pole work, even with an SLX. I've told her if that's the case, she can just do it the way she's used to - with A Frames and a squeegy - because I know once she gets the taste of using a WFP, the squeegy will seem really slow and hard work. It'll just stop her worrying about it for now.
I plan to go out for a few days by myself, so I get the hang of the van system, before I take her out with me. Hopefully that'll reduce any potential friction and punch-ups.
The thing is, we work really well together as a team; we each know where to start and what order we work in; we're pretty much finely tuned AT WORK (only ;D).
It almost feels like starting a new job.
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good luck with it tosh im sure you ll do well with it after all the extra investment! ;D ;D ;D
regards
dazmond
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time to re learn your round again tosh!! ;D ;D ;D
.......i can see arguments and fall outs with wor lass...slower cleaning....hoses snagging all the time and general faffing about!!
i bet you ll find out that it will be easier/faster to leave wor lass on the trad tools(GROUND FLOOR ONLY) and you doing the wfpoling! ;) ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
when I had a lad working with me, on some work I found it easier to trad bottoms and wfp tops and on other work we wfp everything, it was just trial and error, and the back pack was really handy way to work on some of the jobs, the lad could have that round the back of house much quicker than I could get a hose round, in fact it has been a pain working on my own again on some work
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Hi Tosh - heres a tip mate.
get a tin of self etching primer, wipe down the floor of the van with a cloth, spray the primer on, after 10 mins spray on another coat.
Have a cup of tea because you have just prepped the floor for the protectacote in all of 30mins when most guys will have spent the best part of a day with a wire brush.
We did our Expert and Transporter this way and still good 3 years later.
One thing though............
no actually thats it.
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I'll buy you a few beers if I ever meet you, Alan.
Thanks.
Added later:
Is this it?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ETCHING-PRIMER-AEROSOL-400ml-CAN-ETCH-PRIMER-NEW-/400204452377?pt=UK_Body_Shop_Supplies_Paint&hash=item5d2e0b5219#ht_500wt_922
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When i got my new reel there was no instructions, i had to dismantle it 3 times before i got it right.
The instructions are the pictures on the OUTSIDE OF THE BOX!
;D :P ::)
Maybe it was the screaming kids charging around the kitchen table that put me off then!
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When i got my new reel there was no instructions, i had to dismantle it 3 times before i got it right.
The instructions are the pictures on the OUTSIDE OF THE BOX!
;D :P ::)
Maybe it was the screaming kids charging around the kitchen table that put me off then!
You made me smile!
Thanks.
;D
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you could probably use that but take yourself to your local motorfactors and get a tin there, theres some that are better than others and the staff there will be able to advise.
the stuff we used will stick to the paint/bare metal/any surface and it leaves a slightly rough textured finish, perfect for painting protectacote to. They will all do this but again, get a good brand, you'll only need one, possibly two tins. Plus when you consider the time and elbow grease/sore knees its well worth it.
and there's gonna be loads of guys reading this going "damm I wish I had thought of that"
anyway - Tosh you're welcome buddy.
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Bloody hell, has thee won the Lotto :P
I wish and I wouldn't be cleaning windows.
To be honest, I've got a dodgy shoulder, maybe from years of lugging barrels and Harris Poles? It got quite severe last year and I had to take a few courses of Naproxen; I needed help taking off my coat it was that bad, (but at work it was fine unless I jarred myself and then the pain was crippling).
There's days when I can put 200 litres through a backpack; and that's adds upto a fair bit of lugging water around.
My shoulder is good now, but if I want to keep window cleaning, I need to work smarter instead of just using brute strength and ignorance.
And I'm sick of working from the family car. ;D
Yep, you know it makes sense, anything to make ones life easier.
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Talking of working smarter I've been finding lately that with our regular monthly work we only need to flood each window with water as anything on the glass is only dust. Its made a real difference to water used and money made - daily take up about 30%
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Talking of working smarter I've been finding lately that with our regular monthly work we only need to flood each window with water as anything on the glass is only dust. Its made a real difference to water used and money made - daily take up about 30%
Yeeeeeeeeeeeeee Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaa (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sl2fONPgIJE)
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so have you done it yet Tosh?
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so have you done it yet Tosh?
No, I'm still waiting on my pumps, flow controllers, and protectakote to be delivered from Cleaning Warehouse.
I've phoned them; the gear should be here tomorrow. I'll do it over the weekend and stick some photos up.
And my 'new' van is in the garage tomorrow getting it's glow plugs replaced. >:(
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I meant the floor - have you sprayed and painted it yet.
protectacote needs a day or so to dry and harden up.
you'll be high as a kite for a week or two as well.
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I meant the floor - have you sprayed and painted it yet.
protectacote needs a day or so to dry and harden up.
you'll be high as a kite for a week or two as well.
I've got a can of primer spray from Motorworld today and my protectakote arrived by post today (I've had some problems with a certain company), so it's going to be tomorrows job. I'll take some pics, Alan, and you can have a giggle at me.
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nah honestly its a piece of cake - just give the floor a good wipe so its relatively clean, spray on a coat of primer, leave for 10mins, spray on another coat, wait 10 mins then start with the protectacote. Don't worry about putting it on too thick either, it'll hold.
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Cheers, mate.
I hope to be back at work on Monday, so I've got a busy weekend ahead of me.
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Cheers, mate.
I hope to be back at work on Monday, so I've got a busy weekend ahead of me.
cant wait for the stories ;D ;D ;D ;D
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Right, sorted, and since the pics were taken my aquadapter things arrived and after a bit of a kerfuffle, I've fitted those too:
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v737/tosh0987/Window%20Cleaning/Photo-0009-1.jpg)
Hopefully my protecote comes tomorrow along with my pumps and flow controllers; and then I should be about ready to get out and work, 'cos I'm getting pretty skint.
Is there any tips (apart from wearing gloves) that I should know about protectakoting the bottom of a van?
Do youself a favour mate, fit some 10mm gas taps and tape them to the pole at hand height, they are a great way of lowering your water use and fitted properly last for years.
Simon
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Pretty pointless as he has bought aqua adaptors simon, they turn the water off without having a loop of hose
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Cheers Stu, didn't read that bit. I'd still recommend them though... :)