Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: billozz on March 21, 2006, 07:47:55 pm
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help please guys,
2 of us are managing to work just 6hrs with a full 650 ltr tank, is this about rihgt or are we using too much water,
is so, how the heck do you reduce the ammount that you use
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12 hours (single man usage) ...from 650 litres is fine...that is about 50 litres an hour at continuous use.
Thats 2 x 6 hour days for a single user ;)
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Turn the volume down or add a bypass. :) Tried an Autobrush ?
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i worked from 10 till 4 today and used 100 L's
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i worked from 10 till 4 today and used 100 L's
matt i just dont know how you can keep the usage that low
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Turn the volume down or add a bypass. :) Tried an Autobrush ?
whats a bypass
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I use a bypass loop and an auto brush and in a six hour day will use about 200 litres if I wfp all my domestic work. I need to restrict water use as I work out of my estate car.
A bypass is a system by which the pump has a valve connected to it by a bypass loop of hose. By moving the lever of the valve more or less water is sent to the pole and the excess loops back to the pump. (This allows the pump to not run dry and get damaged)
I think Ian Giles showed piccies of his which is the same as mine and which we both got from www.window-tools.co.uk (Peter Fogwill).
An auto-brush comes from the same supplier and lets you switch the water flow on and off at the brush head by tapping it against the side of the window or sill. (So you can move from window to window with no spray in between) You can see it at the above site.
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I use a bypass loop and an auto brush and in a six hour day will use about 200 litres if I wfp all my domestic work. I need to restrict water use as I work out of my estate car.
A bypass is a system by which the pump has a valve connected to it by a bypass loop of hose. By moving the lever of the valve more or less water is sent to the pole and the excess loops back to the pump. (This allows the pump to not run dry and get damaged)
I think Ian Giles showed piccies of his which is the same as mine and which we both got from www.window-tools.co.uk (Peter Fogwill).
An auto-brush comes from the same supplier and lets you switch the water flow on and off at the brush head by tapping it against the side of the window or sill. (So you can move from window to window with no spray in between) You can see it at the above site.
we have a valve fitted to the end of the pole that we can turn on and off, does this do the same thing
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from Malc(G)old . . (This allows the pump to not run dry and get damaged)
I dont know anything about WFP systems but why cant the pump have an on off switch to control water flow?
JohnL
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we have a valve fitted to the end of the pole that we can turn on and off, does this do the same thing
I guess so - it's just that you don't need to rest the pole to switch the autobrush on and off - and my hose runs up the outside of the pole - from my trolley - and so the hose is rarely within arms length of the base of the pole for me!
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No...a bypass allows the build up of water pressure between the pump and the hose on/off valve (when the valve is closed) to be redirected into the tank..stops the pump being under pressure every few minutes or so when you keep switching the control valve off.
Your usage seems fine...I mentioned 2 x 6 hour days at CONTINOUS use using 600-650 litres. Of course, in practice you will use less due to not actually cleaning glass all the time...unless you have an almighty huge piece of glass to clean :D ;)
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i worked from 10 till 4 today and used 100 L's
matt i just dont know how you can keep the usage that low
I worked from 9.30 till 4 today and used 225 Ltrs
Chris
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i worked from 10 till 4 today and used 100 L's
matt i just dont know how you can keep the usage that low
i just do upstairs with WFP though, downstairs the trad way ;)
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The other way of course is to use a Variflo, with this in place you can adjust the flow of water to whatever you feel is optimum for what you do.
The Variflo protects the pump and stops it continually cycling and bruning out the pump.
You will get a real reduction in your water usage.
The bypass works fine too, but I've abused mine and some of the joints have been drawing in air :-\
So now I have had to go straight through :-[
My water flowrate has shot up as a result :o
I'm probably going to go the Variflo route, more expensive but probably the best way of all to protect your pump and also to regulate your flowrate.
Ian
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Hi Billozz,
Your water usage is about right for 2 beginners, using it on all windows for 6 hours.
On a large commercial job my partner and I can get through 650litres in 5 hours, but that is continous use no stopping. On the other hand we use about 400litres on a 6 hour domestic day with 2 of us working on the poles.
Your flow valves will allow you plenty of control, where you will be using more than you need is on each and every window, too much to scrub and too much to rinse...but that's what we all had to do when we started! as the months go by you will use less and less until you hit a standard level.
Bill I still haven't got a vid of me cleaning a window for you, blame the new baby.
Alex
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no probs alex the vid will do when you can do it.
the other problem i am having is that the tank does not fill right to the top even after being on for 14 hrs, having bought the pump to boost the production i thought i would get a tank full to the brim every day but it only manages to get up to about 4-5 " from the top, not much i know but maybe 30-40 ltrs, its not being stopped by the float it just doesnt seem to be going through quickly enough.
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Have you got the 300gpd ro unit?
We have these units working at a production rate of 43.75 litres per hour which when used for 14 hours = 612.50 litres. You could always add another membrane to your system, if you are interested we could rig up a membrane to be added on, (not quite as straight forward as copying the previous three, but still not dificult to do) this would give you another 15 litres per hour.
Alex
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ref the bypass system
(http://img79.i.us/img79/2979/box4oy.jpg)
left big so you can see the details
the red numpty thing is the bypass controller