Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: concept on November 02, 2020, 04:57:35 pm
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Where is the go to place for hot water systems these days?
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I got mine from Grippa imo they are the most knowledgeable about these diesel heaters,the same name as your business Concept20 do a gas 1 or they used too.
I would go for the Grippa diesel heater you won’t regret it if you do go for the 2 man it has the Pro90 unit it produces very hot water.
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We have 3 Grippa hot systems at the moment, biggest concern with them is footprint, they take up a lot of the van floor.
Xline look good, has anyone had any experience with them?
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just last week had a two man grippa system fitted and happy so far
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I have a Grippa 2 man system and it takes up no space at all actually I have it bolted to a tank frame along the back of it,it extends the length of the frame by about 5” so it takes up an extra as I say 5”.
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The best one to go for imo is the landscape version the upright looks the same as the streamline or the Pure freedom version.
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We have Grippatank ones in all our vans and they are brilliant they are a very small footprint , I would thoroughly recommend the two man 9 kw one s
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I have the grippatank 9kw too....hardly takes up any room...I have the upright one bolted to the end of my tank....
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I have the grippatank 9kw too....hardly takes up any room...I have the upright one bolted to the end of my tank....
hey dazmond!
could i ask the reason you have the 9kw version? dont you work on your own and isn't that the 2 man setup?
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It is because the 5kw (1 man version) does not get the water hot enough to make enough difference.
NWH and other sole traders also go for the 9kw version.
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Yeah it’s more powerful and hotter you have the option for 2 reels or 2 working with hot for not a lot more money,if you buy one buy the best.
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It is because the 5kw (1 man version) does not get the water hot enough to make enough difference.
NWH and other sole traders also go for the 9kw version.
how hot do you have the water then? i cracked a window years back when we used an LPG hot system
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I have the grippatank 9kw too....hardly takes up any room...I have the upright one bolted to the end of my tank....
hey dazmond!
could i ask the reason you have the 9kw version? dont you work on your own and isn't that the 2 man setup?
apparently the 5kw doesnt get the water hot enough so i went with the thermo pro 90.....its a one man set up........
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It is because the 5kw (1 man version) does not get the water hot enough to make enough difference.
NWH and other sole traders also go for the 9kw version.
how hot do you have the water then? i cracked a window years back when we used an LPG hot system
ive cracked a few......its always because there was a defect/little crack in the glass......little openers both times......water wasnt even that hot...both customers were fine with it and knew there was a defect in the window anyway.......
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the water temperature varies depending on ambient air temperature,how much hose is off my reel and the starting temperature of the water in my tank.....in summer it can get up to 65-70c at brush end....on a freezing cold day in winter its more like 35c at brush end with 100m off the reel which is fine as you dont want it too hot...still plenty of steam off my brush! ;D
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It is because the 5kw (1 man version) does not get the water hot enough to make enough difference.
NWH and other sole traders also go for the 9kw version.
how hot do you have the water then? i cracked a window years back when we used an LPG hot system
I had a 5kw heater from PF years ago which was crap. I use cold water now.
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You won’t think the 90kw is crap the single operator units are good mine would have been if I’d ad changed the van battery but the 2 man is way hotter.
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If I was to get one now I would go for the 9kw. Part of the problem I had with the 5kw from PF is the batteries they supplied were not up to the job, though I still think it was underwhelming anyway.
I would not go near Pure Freedom for a hot system again.
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If I was to get one now I would go for the 9kw. Part of the problem I had with the 5kw from PF is the batteries they supplied were not up to the job, though I still think it was underwhelming anyway.
I would not go near Pure Freedom for a hot system again.
A Thermo Top C diesel heater is rated at 5.2kw. Unfortunately about half of that goes as waste heat out of the exhaust and heat loss through the casing, pipe work and heat exchangers.
I tested a 5.2kw many years ago and was only able to raise the water temp from 9 degrees C to 35 degrees C at a flow rate of 1.5lpm. To raise that temperature of my water took about 2.65kw.
So a Thermo Top C isn't going to do anything more than raise the temperature to make the hose supple.
We have seen a cleaner in the south who has fitted his Thermo Top C to rather heat the water in the vans tank. It will work better than a 2kw electrical immersion heater element but not a good as a 3kw element.
Heating on demand is the most efficient way but a Thermo Top C just isn't man enough. It is brilliant for the job it was designed for - an engine preheater in very cold climates.
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If I was to get one now I would go for the 9kw. Part of the problem I had with the 5kw from PF is the batteries they supplied were not up to the job, though I still think it was underwhelming anyway.
I would not go near Pure Freedom for a hot system again.
grippatank fit a battery bank (ive got 2 x 105ah numax starter/leisure batteries in tandem) and a smart split charge relay(depending on your model of van)...they also fit a frost stat feature to stop your system freezing overnight on very cold nights as well as fuel integration into your van tank rather than a separate tank for convenience......i also charge the batteries every night with a numax "connect and forget" 20amp battery charger....
my heater is nearly 3 years old now and works as good as the day i had it installed.....ive never even had it serviced.......
little niggles that ive had in 3 years are a
1.slight leak on a fuel line....my local garage sorted it
2.a fuse holder corroded......replaced fuse and holder myself
thats it.......
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If I was to get one now I would go for the 9kw. Part of the problem I had with the 5kw from PF is the batteries they supplied were not up to the job, though I still think it was underwhelming anyway.
I would not go near Pure Freedom for a hot system again.
A Thermo Top C diesel heater is rated at 5.2kw. Unfortunately about half of that goes as waste heat out of the exhaust and heat loss through the casing, pipe work and heat exchangers.
I tested a 5.2kw many years ago and was only able to raise the water temp from 9 degrees C to 35 degrees C at a flow rate of 1.5lpm. To raise that temperature of my water took about 2.65kw.
So a Thermo Top C isn't going to do anything more than raise the temperature to make the hose supple.
We have seen a cleaner in the south who has fitted his Thermo Top C to rather heat the water in the vans tank. It will work better than a 2kw electrical immersion heater element but not a good as a 3kw element.
Heating on demand is the most efficient way but a Thermo Top C just isn't man enough. It is brilliant for the job it was designed for - an engine preheater is very cold climates.
I can tell you that this is not right spruce my 5kw heater when working and it would work well for weeks at a time before it played up due to the battery problems,the water is still proper hot but it cycles gets hot then cools until it does another cycle. The 9kw heater gives consistency with heat once it’s hot stays hot throughout the time you are running it,as for saying the 5kw is only enough to make the hose supple is just not true.
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If I was to get one now I would go for the 9kw. Part of the problem I had with the 5kw from PF is the batteries they supplied were not up to the job, though I still think it was underwhelming anyway.
I would not go near Pure Freedom for a hot system again.
A Thermo Top C diesel heater is rated at 5.2kw. Unfortunately about half of that goes as waste heat out of the exhaust and heat loss through the casing, pipe work and heat exchangers.
I tested a 5.2kw many years ago and was only able to raise the water temp from 9 degrees C to 35 degrees C at a flow rate of 1.5lpm. To raise that temperature of my water took about 2.65kw.
So a Thermo Top C isn't going to do anything more than raise the temperature to make the hose supple.
We have seen a cleaner in the south who has fitted his Thermo Top C to rather heat the water in the vans tank. It will work better than a 2kw electrical immersion heater element but not a good as a 3kw element.
Heating on demand is the most efficient way but a Thermo Top C just isn't man enough. It is brilliant for the job it was designed for - an engine preheater is very cold climates.
I can tell you that this is not right spruce my 5kw heater when working and it would work well for weeks at a time before it played up due to the battery problems,the water is still proper hot but it cycles gets hot then cools until it does another cycle. The 9kw heater gives consistency with heat once it’s hot stays hot throughout the time you are running it,as for saying the 5kw is only enough to make the hose supple is just not true.
That was just my findings which seemed to support the number of cleaners who complained the 5kw Webasto heater didn't put out enough heat.
I didn't spend hours experimenting - such as preheating the internal water circuit before I started. I did it long enough to see that it wouldn't work for me as a heat on demand for both of us working off my van. (In my calculations I didn't account for the heat lost through the exhaust etc. I felt the heater would support both of us at the same time.)
If I remember those early days you were the only one who seemed to get a higher heat output from your heater. There was always the question of whether we were just hearing complaints from those whose heaters weren't working and not from any cleaners whose heaters were working.
I used a second hand Thermo Top C. It could well be that the heater has a lot of carbon buildup inside the heat exchanger which was reducing efficiency. It could well be as it came from a narrow boat. In those days red diesel sold on the canals seemed to create a lot of problems for these heaters as the quality of the diesel was rather poor.
The experiment I did was good enough to tell me that the 9.1kw Webasto series was a better heater to use in our application, even as a single operator.
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I used to always go back to tank in a low flow say 25 after each job that provided. me with very hot water adequate for 1 person using hot on the system,I had a lot of trouble with batteries as you know and sometimes it would turn off due to this daily.
I’m sure I didn’t get as much heat as I could have done due to carbon build up with the heater shutting off prematurely,when you turn off it should go through a shut down process to burn off the carbon within the chamber but mine didn’t achieve this often in later years due to battery dying and just going off.
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I have the 9kw Grippatank unit. I’m very happy with it .
One of the reasons I went to Grippatank is that the unit is on a crash tested sled base. It is quite a compact unit. I feel much safer now compared with my old upright tank I had previously. Although in a crash things could get messy, but it’s certainly more firmly fixed than my last one.
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Compared to the other units available with other suppliers it’s minimal weight,the cabinets the uprights normally come in weigh an absolute ton.