Clean It Up

UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Simon Mason on February 17, 2008, 02:11:08 pm

Title: how long should 5mm pole hose last
Post by: Simon Mason on February 17, 2008, 02:11:08 pm
Seem to be getting holes in our pole hose all the time,using black insulating tape to hold the baby together.Is there any other hose out there,thats more manly for the job?
Title: Re: how long should 5mm pole hose last
Post by: Wayne Thomas on February 17, 2008, 02:13:09 pm
What pole hose are using?
Title: Re: how long should 5mm pole hose last
Post by: alanwilson on February 17, 2008, 02:15:19 pm
cleantech sell coplexyl on their site, much more heavy duty and still in good shape after over 4 years (used most days)

http://www.cleantech.co.uk/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=22_41&products_id=46

or you could try varitechs lite5mm pole hose.

clear pole tubing is so cheap we just replace it on the other poles when it is done anyway.
Title: Re: how long should 5mm pole hose last
Post by: Simon Mason on February 17, 2008, 02:18:05 pm
From Tuckers,its black PVC,seems to hate the cold weather and thats where we're getting our problems.
Title: Re: how long should 5mm pole hose last
Post by: Simon Mason on February 17, 2008, 02:19:22 pm
Alan,that blue hose go inside the pole?
Title: Re: how long should 5mm pole hose last
Post by: alanwilson on February 17, 2008, 02:21:49 pm
just buy the cheap clear 5mm tubing from cleantech or wintecs.

we keep a 50m roll in each van just in case.


the blue hose goes up the inside of the pole, its a bit heavier but lasts for years.

for lightness buy the clear

for long life buy the blue

jeff uses blue algarde silicon hose but I don't know how long it would last.
Title: Re: how long should 5mm pole hose last
Post by: Simon Mason on February 17, 2008, 02:25:33 pm
Been on the WFP for 4 months and have gone through two lengths of hose already.That normal?
Title: Re: how long should 5mm pole hose last
Post by: Wayne Thomas on February 17, 2008, 02:25:42 pm
cleantech sell coplexyl on their site, much more heavy duty and still in good shape after over 4 years (used most days)

http://www.cleantech.co.uk/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=22_41&products_id=46

or you could try varitechs lite5mm pole hose.

clear pole tubing is so cheap we just replace it on the other poles when it is done anyway.

I'll recommend that stuff. I use to use Tuckers black stuff, but it stiffens and cracks in the winter. I replaced mine with Varitech's superlite 5mm lite bright yellow pole hose, very supple and allows a decent flow through, doesn't crack and recoils very easily. I'd love some 8mm internal diameter of that stuff (superlite from Varitech) but don't know where I can get my hands on any. I've searched the internet for ages with no luck.
Title: Re: how long should 5mm pole hose last
Post by: Simon Mason on February 17, 2008, 02:27:28 pm
Thanks for the advice lads,bless these forums!!
Title: Re: how long should 5mm pole hose last
Post by: dai on February 17, 2008, 04:39:50 pm
Algarde silicon, the best I have used to date.
As recommended by Jeff Brimble, what more can I say Dai
Title: Re: how long should 5mm pole hose last
Post by: Wayne Thomas on February 17, 2008, 07:14:16 pm
Algarde silicon, the best I have used to date.
As recommended by Jeff Brimble, what more can I say Dai

Dai, what's the internal diameter, is it 4mm? I'm after some 6 or preferably 8mm internal hose, yellow, very similar to Varitech's superlite 5mm in yellow (very supple). The bigger the internal diameter of pole hose , the more water on the windows.....Forgot to mention, the superlite 5mmm lite is 2 core so it keeps my water hot which is why I'm looking for 6 or 8mm internal hose the same to increase my flow of water to the windows considerably more........
Title: Re: how long should 5mm pole hose last
Post by: Wayne Thomas on February 17, 2008, 07:22:51 pm
The reason I'm looking for superlite pole hose with larger diameter is because I want to keep minibore hose on my hosereel which is lighter to use than half inch normal hose, i.e. tricoflex. I won't use microbore because I can't get a decent flow of water. I've fitted 6mm 'Y' connectors instead of 4 or 2mm ones and replaced my 2mm jets with 3mm pencil jets where possible so I can get the maximum flow whilst keeping the lightest hose. I try to clean a window as physically quick as possible and am just trying to find every little thing that helps short of taking off the varistream unit and replacing the shureflow pump with a flojet one.
Title: Re: how long should 5mm pole hose last
Post by: Alex Gardiner on February 17, 2008, 07:24:14 pm
I have tried to use silicone hose in 6mm ID size and it is absolutely useless. It seems to work OK (albeit with a much restricted flow) in the Algarde size, but as a larger hose it is too supple and almost impossible to work with. It gets jammed up inside the pole (if using it in a telescopic) and it tangles easily. It is excruciatingly expensive as well!
Title: Re: how long should 5mm pole hose last
Post by: Wayne Thomas on February 17, 2008, 07:28:33 pm
I have tried to use silicone hose in 6mm ID size and it is absolutely useless. It seems to work OK (albeit with a much restricted flow) in the Algarde size, but as a larger hose it is too supple and almost impossible to work with. It gets jammed up inside the pole (if using it in a telescopic) and it tangles easily. It is excruciatingly expensive as well!

Thank-you for your experience. I hadn't considered it because the hose internal diameter was (I believe) only 4mm. When I use to use my Ionics poles I noticed I wasn't getting a decent flow of water with the pole hose they supplied with the pole, so I took it out and replaced it with larger diameter pole hose, much better. I've tried using microbore and minibore as a pole hose similar to algarde too but because it's too stiff it gets caught in the pole when raising and lowering. That's why I'm after the other stuff that varitech sells in 5mm version
Title: Re: how long should 5mm pole hose last
Post by: dai on February 17, 2008, 08:16:55 pm
I use it outside the pole, It gives me more than enough of a flow rate, mind you I could work from dawn to dusk with 250 litres. Dai
Title: Re: how long should 5mm pole hose last
Post by: alanwilson on February 17, 2008, 09:43:09 pm
try this

8mm bore, 1.5mm wall thickness, just what you are looking for except that it wont have the best heat retaining properties.

http://www.altecweb.com/home.asp?cat=Subcategory4200

although that wont matter with a high flow rate as the water is going to spend no time at all in the clear tubing.
Title: Re: how long should 5mm pole hose last
Post by: NWH on February 17, 2008, 10:06:06 pm
Algarde silicon, the best I have used to date.
As recommended by Jeff Brimble, what more can I say Dai

Dai, what's the internal diameter, is it 4mm? I'm after some 6 or preferably 8mm internal hose, yellow, very similar to Varitech's superlite 5mm in yellow (very supple). The bigger the internal diameter of pole hose , the more water on the windows.....Forgot to mention, the superlite 5mmm lite is 2 core so it keeps my water hot which is why I'm looking for 6 or 8mm internal hose the same to increase my flow of water to the windows considerably more........
Have varitech got a website.
Title: Re: how long should 5mm pole hose last
Post by: Jon-scwindows on February 17, 2008, 10:14:56 pm
does anyone else think it would be a good idea if all poles were made so that the bottom part of the pole is not flat with the hose coming out of the middle at the bottom, but slanted about 45 degrees, so the hose doesnt get squished so much when you lean it against a wall or sit it on the bottom?
Title: Re: how long should 5mm pole hose last
Post by: alanwilson on February 17, 2008, 10:26:50 pm
we drill all our poles about 6 inches above the base to run the tubing out of, means you dont damage the pole tubing so much.
Title: Re: how long should 5mm pole hose last
Post by: NWH on February 17, 2008, 10:35:51 pm
I use 5mm id pole hose and i find it by far the best,all my poles have it and have lasted well over 18 months after changing it.
Title: Re: how long should 5mm pole hose last
Post by: Mo on February 17, 2008, 10:52:07 pm
http://www.brodexbms.co.uk/shop/product_reviews_info.php?products_id=22&reviews_id=12
Very good I have used it for the past 13 month ;D
 ;D
Title: Re: how long should 5mm pole hose last
Post by: Simon Mason on February 18, 2008, 05:46:27 pm
I like the idea of drilling holes Alan, makes perfect sense.
Good tip mate ;D ;D
Title: Re: how long should 5mm pole hose last
Post by: [GQC] Tim on February 18, 2008, 08:36:03 pm
I like the idea of drilling holes Alan, makes perfect sense.
Good tip mate ;D ;D

6 Inches above the base? Must be a real pain sometimes extending the pole. Unless you would have an elliptical hole, how would that work.

Gardiners poles have it right through the bottom of the pole, much easier.
Title: Re: how long should 5mm pole hose last
Post by: NWH on February 18, 2008, 08:51:28 pm
Just buy the rubber rings that cleantech sell there so thick that your pole when resting on the ground means that the pole hose isn`t being crushed it almost suspended in mid air,there made out of old tryes and there the best thing you will put on the bottom of your pole.The base of your poles will stay as they were the day you got them.
Title: Re: how long should 5mm pole hose last
Post by: alanwilson on February 18, 2008, 11:32:40 pm
gqc - we drill the poles about 6 inches above the base cap with a 13mm drill bit, and yes it is drilled at an angle to let the hose slip more readily.

we then use  a little araldite or epoxy resin to re-seal the fibres as it were
Title: Re: how long should 5mm pole hose last
Post by: geefree on February 18, 2008, 11:45:12 pm
I bought mine from  b& q, last year..

put in in my 40ft pole, and its brill , still like new..


mind you i aint used the pole since.


 :D :D
Title: Re: how long should 5mm pole hose last
Post by: mark dew on February 18, 2008, 11:59:42 pm
Have varitech got a website.

no website just a landline. I phoned them up last month and they sent me a catalogue out which came 2 days later.
They are based in newton abbot.
Their number is 01626 830830