Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: markmontgomery on January 28, 2008, 11:20:53 pm
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Hi peeps
I have a renault kangoo (600 kg pay load) and just starting out
Would you advise a trolley system or van mount system?
I see that purefreedom do a trolley system for 1k.Could i get a van system for this amount and wont it be better dragging hose rather than dragging a trolley about.And for the jobs that i cant get my van anywhere near, get a backpack???
If i was to get a van system what would i need if i did it diy and what size tank could i fit in my van?
Many thanks
Mark
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i started out in a a estate car with my DIY trolley
i now have a van and still use the trolley, the only reason is, i park my van at the start of the day and only return to it to get a new 25 L drum of water, i dont have trailing hoses etc etc
<------------ e.mail me for a link to the DIY forum, a DIY system can cost you around 500 quid
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Hi matt
Thanks for reply, I registered the diy site yesterday im still waiting for you to activate my account.
thanks
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now activated ;)
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i also a user of the freedom trolley i use to have a van system sold the van so i bought the trolley to use out of my estate car till i sorted a van out, but since use in the freedom trolley i find it suits my round better than the van system and when new van get brought I'm still staying with the trolley.
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Cheers matt i will have a look now, if i went for the tank system what size tank would i fit in my kangoo?
Mark
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Thanks for reply smithys, is it not time consuming keep changing the tanks with the trolley system rather than getting a constant flow all day with the tank system?
Mark
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when i first started last year i used a backpack, and lots of 25l containers... what a pain that was!... i have van mount now and its so very much easier and quicker, and there are no houses i cant get to..... i mean if you can drag a trolley to it surely you can drag a hose,... simply get them safety signs out.
Gary
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Cheers gary,
were did you get your gear from? did you buy it complete or did you do it yourself?
How much am i looking at?
Mark
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i started on a trolley but found it difficult changing barrels and annoying priming the pump, i think its much easier out of a van mount, no running out of water or changing barrels, and its easier pulling out a hose and reeling it in i find. I would still use a trolley, keeping it in the back for some houses, but it does get annoying changing the barrels as they run out quick. Both would be good if you could have a trolley in the back with a van mount it would be much quicker and easier to fill up the trolley again.
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look at your round first, can you park outside most of the houses you clean?. If you have to park five hundred yards up the road then buy a trolly, if its outside, get a van mount
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Trailing hoses = litigation risk (some dumbass will trip on them and sue...)
Trolley = place in custys garden, no trailing hoses, and if someone trips on the hose, the property owner is liable :)
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got that wrong I think, check the revised H+S regs. Trailing hoses means two caution signs, trolly system means an estate full of twenty five litre continers, running out of water half way through the back garden, 3/4 hour filling 25ltr containers and a bad back lifting them in and out all the time. So thirteen pound on the signs to stop you getting taken to court or £40.00 per hour for the man to put your back into place
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true. Although I have to justify my 1500 spend somehow to my wife :D
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if you are fortunate enough to live in a soft water area like me..in glasgow.....then a backpack on a trolley and a 4.9 litre di vessel on the same trolley works a treat.....no trailing hoses (just your hose from backpack).......dont need to go back to van all the time as i have the di vessel on the trolley......just fill up at the custies house (clean a window or two while its filling)....and most of my custies have outside taps.....very fortunate.......i have a van mount for commercial work, and have two backpack systems....3 if i use the van mount pump on a trolley as well....but dont really need to....so all in all it works for me.....but i know that others have their own way of doing it, and if it works for them then thats all that counts.....cant argue with preference.
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Thanks gys for all your replys, very helpful.
I think im going to go for the tank system and maybe get a back pack for the houses that i cant get near with my van.Im going down the diy road, could you guys advise websites were to get all my gear from?? cheapest way possible ;)
Many thanks
Mark
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hiya mate i was in the same boat as you,
ive got a 250l tank in the back of my vauxhall combo and ive got a trolley system. what i do is connect my trolley up to the tank then i have it going to the hose and out. i had a trolley to start but its a pain to get it in and out all the time.
i carry couple off 25l water butts but dont use themmuch. i much prefure using it as a van system. but you get the best of both ;)
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i will post sum pics of my set up when the misses gets home. (cant find the camrea) ::)
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Thanks for reply mate, i would appreciate the pics thanks alot...Did you do it diy or get it fitted?
Many thanks
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where in the uk are you.
i started with a freedom trolley and after 15 months changed to a van mount. got sick of humping barrels
tony
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Van system is recommended and use a backpack for problem access etc. Physically easier on you and quicker - stop outside, switch pump on, drag hose to working area and off you go.
Also recommended is a varistream.
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yeah thats what we do - both vans are fitted out with tanks etc but each van has a backpack, tried the trolleys to start with but both the backpacks and van systems we find are much better although it does depend on your work.
no way I'd go for a trolley on its own though
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Im from just outside manchester tony. :)
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no worries. if you had of been more local i could of shown you my van set up.
got it all from the window cleaning warehouse.
tony
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I've done van mount,. trolley, and backpack. Let's just say that the backpack and trolley have spent the past year or so hiding in the back of my garage. Speaks for itself really I suppose. I would dig them out again if my van was off road for a while as I could get hold of a smaller van and work with barrels and trolley. I would hate doing it but the backup is there if I ever need it.
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Thanks anyway tony, Could you send me a pic if poss?
Thanks
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Cheers gary,
were did you get your gear from? did you buy it complete or did you do it yourself?
How much am i looking at?
Mark
Hi Mark, i used the pump out of a backpack, bought a second hand 250 litre tank.. £65... a decent hose reel, a 110 leisure battery... £20 ebay... connected it all up and away i went... microbore hose
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/30-Meter-Role-6mm-Reinforced-Microbore-Hose_W0QQitemZ230159581605QQihZ013QQcategoryZ112579QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQtrksidZp1638.m118.l1247QQcmdZViewItem#ebayphotohosting
two of those joined them up and job done.
Gary
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It's each to his own and his round on this one. I use a DIY trolley system with a 25 metre hose reel mounted on it. I place the trolley in the front and drag off the hose to do the backs.
My trolley carries 2 x 25 litre containers and that lasts a while. I just change containers as required and go through 8 to 10 a day. I do have a very compact round, and like Matt I don't have to keep moving the van.
Filling containers was a pain until I bought 20 of them, my Mrs fills the empty ones while I'm out working. When I come home I just replace the empties with full ones for the next day.
I do have a backpack for the few stand alone jobs I do. Dai
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as it was said earlier look at your round parking how many times you have to move the van etc, i started off with a van system and a backpack, found it used to wind me up keep reeling in an out getting hose snagged up finding have to move van to many times, so i tried the trolley don't have to move motor i suppose its a chore change in drums i don't think about it i would rather change drums than keep reeling in hose an out move in the van a few hundred feet to next jobs and in some case on some estates i do i had to park the van on grass between rows of houses get in up the curbs didn't do the van much good i even had 100m of micro bore but still moved about to much, some rounds will suit a van some suit a trolley, my advise would be to buy a trolley use it mobile and use it to power a van system so that way you have the best of both worlds, but still get back pack there handy and some points even the trolley cant get too.
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Thanks for the link gary. :)
Smithys, ive not got a round yet im a complete beginner...im just wantin opinions before i start up.
Many thanks
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get out there and do it..... i walked out on a cushy job, brand new car every 2 years.... manager on my case, deadlines to meet, percentages to uphold month in month out...
best move i ever made ;)
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if you havent got a round then look at where you want your round to be. I started trad so mine was a little different, but I ended up in a totally different town to where I wanted to be, no access to back gardens, so over the garage. Definitelr wouldnt want to do that with a trolly. I now park up and can just about do six houses without moving the van
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You can use a trolly as a vanmount. Thats more or less what I am doing at the moment. I bought my new van last week and haven't fitted it out yet so 90% of the time the trolly ( home made two years ago) stays in the van and operates from there.
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Vince, do you keep your trolley inside your van with 25l tank and keep changing them or do you run your trolley through a bigger tank in your van?
Mark
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Vince, do you keep your trolley inside your van with 25l tank and keep changing them or do you run your trolley through a bigger tank in your van?
Mark
well im not Vince but i do that and its an absolute pain changing barrels in the van....
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Thats what I am doing at the moment but its not ideal. I'm going to order a tank next week but the trouble is finding the time to fit it. I have already bought a second pump and varistream but now my mind is working along the lines of using the trolly as a base station which will stay in the van but could come out and be used on its own if the job demands. I'm not sure yet