Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: [GQC] Tim on December 09, 2006, 03:40:04 pm
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1 : Stop using Unger rubber, and get Ettore rubber
2 : Stop using Fairy liquid and start using a professional substance. (Ettore Squeegee off, Glass Gleam 3 or Glass Gleam 4)
- After trying out Ettore rubber after using Unger for quite some time, I can only say : Dump Unger, Ettore rubber is SO much better, it really makes a huge difference. Minimal pressure on Ettore rubber, and with Unger I always used to get a film/tiny trails, no matter what the pressure or base distance was. Maybe it was the bulk 36" packet that was a bit rubbish, but then many many more packets would be like that.
- After using Fairy liquid for a long time, I tried using Squeegee off, the difference is again remarkable, Fairy liquid just doesn't shine the windows properly, the 'leave your windows sparkling' is very true, and quite a few customers commented how shiney/sparkling their windows looked. You can get Squeegee off at any B&Q, which is only a couple of quid, and you only need 4 teasp0ons a bucket! (8ltr)
Just two things that I've picked up since I've started.
Why don't you give Ettore a go? I did and I was really amazed with the difference! I just thought it was just a load of rubbish and it didn't matter much what rubber you use (and no I'm not an Ettore salesperson haha ;D )
You got nothing to lose anyway :)
Window Cleaning Warehouse has free shipping atm, 10x 14" Rubber is £12.50
http://www.windowcleaningwarehouse.co.uk
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ive tried Squeegee off none of the lads liked it coz it didnt soap up as good as fairy,plus the were puttig a half a gallon in the bucket and at that price i carnt aford it, fairy a lot cheaper only 85p.
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ive tried Squeegee off none of the lads liked it coz it didnt soap up as good as fairy,plus the were puttig a half a gallon in the bucket and at that price i carnt aford it, fairy a lot cheaper only 85p.
Do your guys look like your avatar? (just kidding!!) ;D ;D
4 tablesp0ons gives a very good glide, and enough soap! Just gotta give your applicator a bit of a whirl in there. :)
I do understand where your coming from, because it doesn't seem to 'stick' to the window as good as fairy liquid, but if that means just doing two panes at once instead of the whole frame, so be it. In my opinion it makes all the difference in the world. Fairy is and will always be dish washing liquid.
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Apparently,gg4 leaves the windows cleaner for longer.The thing is,how does that benefit the windowcleaner?
I prefer it when after four weeks,they might actually warrent being cleaned.
I use ettore rubbers,havent tried unger
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I used to live in Blackpool-serious salt. The only blade that would come near it was Pulex. I am now rural and 2 monthly and again find that because of the extra dirt I still need Pulex. Even so yesterday after all the gales etc of the last week even the harder rubber was leaving salt/grit slide marks behind and I sometimes had to do 2 cleans.
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Just trying to help you lesser mortals. As WFPing has been so good to me I want to spread the gospel & drag you bunch of dinosaurs kicking & screaming in to the future. ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;)
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I have tried them all too. i tell you what is as good as gg3 and 4 b&q do there own version its great and cheaper.And its readilly available instead of having to order it on the net and wait. And if you dont get on with it at least you only spent £4.
Squeegy off is ok like fairy but you have to have a great rubber keeping it new nearlly all the time
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Its just called b&q concentrated window cleaning solution its blue in colour . It probablly is gg4 but with b&q's label on it.
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That's great, do you have any idea how much it costs? £4 you said, is that a litre or...? And what are your experiences with it? Already said a little a bout it I guess
Thanks! :)
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We have used ettore rubbers for about 6 montha now and seem alot better then unger!!
We also use ettore s/o and b&q liquid. Both seem good and both leave the windows looking great which is the main thing
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1. Stop using any type of rubber
2. Get yourself a WFP & join the 21st century ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
Paul. I'm sure that wfp is the best thing since sliced bread but it has it's limitations.
1. You need to be able to park outside the house.
2. If you're doing the back you need access to that as well.
3. Insides.....er!!
4. Mechanical failures/running out of "pure water"
I work and live in around Putney SW London and trad is the only option mainly cos there's zero parking to be had.
Seriously Guv I love the idea of wfp but in my neck of the woods I've never seen any wfp guys...they're all trad.
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Tosh ive always gone back to fairy and vinegar!
Simon knight i totally understand where your coming from, although i use wfp upstairs about 3 days work is totally ladders and sqeegee.
Different tools for different jobs, ie access and areas.
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Tosh ive always gone back to fairy and vinegar!
To quote a window cleaner who was on 'The Weakest Link'...
'Vinegar is for your chips'.
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i use GG3 with pure water in the bucket (only because i have it here, i used to use GG4 in my hard water, just allways forgot to fill the barrel up , so now use pure water)
the window stay clean for that little bit longer which is good for me, as my turn-around is 6 weeks
i would NEVER go back to fairy
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With regards to Unger liquid, gg3/gg4, squeegie off and the rest; don't you think we all go through a phase of trying different window cleaning detergents, and then once we're bored with that, we go back to good old Fairy 'green stuff'?
Ehrm, not for me I guess then, because you can actually see the difference yourself. One more pro is actually that fairy leaves holes in your skin and Squeegee off does not ;D ;D (I hope GG3 and GG4 are good as well in that regard)
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One more pro is actually that fairy leaves holes in your skin
GQC please elaborate
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Sorry, it was sarcasm, my skin doesn't seem to like Fairy liquid, and every night I had to use hand cream because they were cracked and bleeding, I have it way less with squeegee off. :)
*my mother has the same problem, might be allergy? or just sensitive hands I guess.
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All this, 'It makes the windows stay cleaner for longer', or, 'It leaves the windows shinier', just sounds like sales-speak to me.
How the hell do you know for definate that a product leaves the windows cleaner for longer without a controlled experiment? And I'm sure a window being 'shinier' is just in the eye of the beholder, or what angle the sun is in the sky when they're looking!
This sort of stuff sounds like what 'dodgy' customers spout.
A clean window is a ruddy clean window and no-one can argue with one of those.
Some of you sound like an old woman!
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speak 4 yourself tosh but i swear my vinegar works!! ;D ;D
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speak 4 yourself tosh but i swear my vinegar works!! ;D ;D
I'll give it a bash. How much and what sort of vinegar do you use?
Malt, red wine, white wine or balsamic?
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Dont give it a bash might, if u break windows you'll have to replace em ;D
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1 : Stop using Unger rubber, and get Ettore rubber
2 : Stop using Fairy liquid and start using a professional substance. (Ettore Squeegee off, Glass Gleam 3 or Glass Gleam 4)
- After trying out Ettore rubber after using Unger for quite some time, I can only say : Dump Unger, Ettore rubber is SO much better, it really makes a huge difference. Minimal pressure on Ettore rubber, and with Unger I always used to get a film/tiny trails, no matter what the pressure or base distance was. Maybe it was the bulk 36" packet that was a bit rubbish, but then many many more packets would be like that.
- After using Fairy liquid for a long time, I tried using Squeegee off, the difference is again remarkable, Fairy liquid just doesn't shine the windows properly, the 'leave your windows sparkling' is very true, and quite a few customers commented how shiney/sparkling their windows looked. You can get Squeegee off at any B&Q, which is only a couple of quid, and you only need 4 teasp0ons a bucket! (8ltr)
Just two things that I've picked up since I've started.
Why don't you give Ettore a go? I did and I was really amazed with the difference! I just thought it was just a load of rubbish and it didn't matter much what rubber you use (and no I'm not an Ettore salesperson haha ;D )
You got nothing to lose anyway :)
Window Cleaning Warehouse has free shipping atm, 10x 14" Rubber is £12.50
http://www.windowcleaningwarehouse.co.uk
have you got shares in etore? ???
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Just a cheapie washing up liquid and a dash of dishwasher rinse aid does the job for me. Used it for the last couple of years. Try it. Dai
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A clean window is a ruddy clean window and no-one can argue with one of those.
Hooray!
Tosh, you made un-biased sense! :D
I tried vinegar mate.
Useful for insides of nicotine stained pubs.
Useless and smelly elsewhere. :-\
You lose the glide big time. :o
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I thought Simon Knight dealt with the wfp chauvanists brilliantly. They did interupt the topic, but it was worth it to see them bladed off by a perfect S stroke.
I wondered about dishwasher rinse aid, they do big tubs at a wholesaler I go to , has anyone tried this or does any one (a graduate maybe) now anything about the science involved?
It's got something to do with reducing surface tension hasn't it?
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Sorry, it was sarcasm, my skin doesn't seem to like Fairy liquid, and every night I had to use hand cream because they were cracked and bleeding, I have it way less with squeegee off. :)
*my mother has the same problem, might be allergy? or just sensitive hands I guess.
I know what you mean, my hands dont react that badly... but, at the risk of sounding a bit girly LOL, they do dry out really quickly! I use Persil, not Fairy, but I guess the chemicals are the same?
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i use Evans neutral hard surface cleaner £4.00 for 5ltrs its just excellent
and a bit of tfr for inside pubs etc I've cleaned windows for 28 years but find Ettore rubbers good probably better than most but we highly recommend vileda professional soft rubber. its been used for the last ten or so years when it first came out they said it would last 100% longer than anything else and i thought
oh yeah heard it all before but after 1 free sample its been used ever since it does last a lot longer i agree
We do all upstairs wfp and downs trad ,bytheway clean tech sell vileda stuff
hope this helps fairy does kill our hands to whereas the Evans stuff doesnt
foam up a lot so its quicker to wipe down which means more money in the bank?
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fairy is kind on your hands :-* :-*
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i dont think making them bleed and crack is kind ??? ??? ??? ??? ???
:( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :(
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some thing wrong with your hands then
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cherubs how long have you been cleaning windows??
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9 years with no props :)
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Fairy liquid is great for cleaning the windows, collecting your money and knowing that the next visit the windows will be looking dirty and require your services again for which your customers will be grateful for.
My tip is: when you have customers who are reluctant to have their windows cleaned so frequently and are considering less frequent washes what you could do is double, tripple or quadruple the amount of fairy liquid you add to your water so that the windows attract the dirt much quicker than previously and then the customers would require your services more often! Also the more fairy in the water, the more skin it leaves on the glass and after a couple of washes you'll find that you can blade the glass faster than normal, NOT that I've ever done any of the above, (Pinnochio)
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Tosh Said
With regards to Unger liquid, gg3/gg4, squeegie off and the rest; don't you think we all go through a phase of trying different window cleaning detergents, and then once we're bored with that, we go back to good old Fairy 'green stuff
I went back to fairy a couple of weeks ago as i used to swear by it.
But after a couple of hours i went back to squeegie off which i have been using for over a year now.
I now think that squeegie off is much better than fairy loads of bubbles great slip and a nice shine.
What more could i want
Paul
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i find gg3 crap on its own, but add a wee drop of fairy into the bucket and its much easier to work with, i just cant get enough slip with gg3 on its own, so it tends to leave marks where i turn the squeegee. adding a drop of fairy makes rubber glide so much more and gives a little foam too (to see where you've been) but not too much as to make it a nightmare to mop up all the time. always used pulex standard for rubber.
anyone else do this???? :)
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Any reply with WFP in has been deleted.
Trad thread. keep it that way please.
Ian
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i find gg3 crap on its own, but add a wee drop of fairy into the bucket and its much easier to work with, i just cant get enough slip with gg3 on its own, so it tends to leave marks where i turn the squeegee. adding a drop of fairy makes rubber glide so much more and gives a little foam too (to see where you've been) but not too much as to make it a nightmare to mop up all the time. always used pulex standard for rubber.
anyone else do this???? :)
GG3, Ecover http://tinyurl.com/y76zow instead of Fairy for me, and good old Pulex.
Ecover doesn't strip the natural oils from your skin, and also doesn't leave a residue on the glass
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I use 'syr's glimmer clean, alot cheaper than gg3 and leaves them sparkling! £5 ish foe 5 litres
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I use a bit of urine on mine, about a cupfull in a bucket, and when im round a back i need a bit of water i sneak a quick leak on my pad,windows stay clean longer. about a day and a half,and if its freezing it doesnt freeze on the windows.
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Two things that I already new of but thanks for looking out for your fellow window cleaners!!
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I have tried them all too. i tell you what is as good as gg3 and 4 b&q do there own version its great and cheaper.And its readilly available instead of having to order it on the net and wait. And if you dont get on with it at least you only spent £4.
Squeegy off is ok like fairy but you have to have a great rubber keeping it new nearlly all the time
Its just called b&q concentrated window cleaning solution its blue in colour . It probablly is gg4 but with b&q's label on it.
I bought it, and it is the worst solution I have ever ever used, it doesn't have any suds to begin with, half way through the pane the squeegee just grinds to a halt because there is no slip whatsoever. It has a white label on it with Orange letters, it says B&Q Concentrated window cleaning solution, blue in colour with perfume scent. I cannot believe we are talking about the same stuff here! Did they change anything?!
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At 88p per bottle and readily available in any small store to large supermarket, you can't go wrong with good ole Fairy! ;D
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bottle of fairy add some distilled white vinegar give it a good shake and away you go works a treat