Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Ian_Giles on March 31, 2009, 10:40:21 pm
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There are of course all the usual trad methods, on internal stuff you are going to have to use some form of trad method.
I went up to the cleaning show at the NEC and saw an incredibly expensive way of using extension poles, pads and a battery powered pure water sprayer, harnessed on a belt around your waist and fed up some light hose just as in external WFP.
Very minimal water used, little different to misting with a hand sprayer and buffing with a cloth (microfibre or scrim).
Didn't matter if the glass was left damp, so long as you had cleaned the glass, due to the pure water it dried out fine.....cost?......................close on a grand, and all you got with that was a five ft pole! (£100 per extra extension(or thereabouts))
A good looking system, but incredibly expensive.
Now for myself I've often used a proprietary window cleaning spray, misted and buffed clean and dry with a - now - microfibre cloth, and that works absolutely fine, oh, and for large panes I'd simply use an applicator and squeegee (horses for courses and all that).
But as a result of seeing this system in action I decided to try out nothing more than pure water in a prayer and using a very clean cloth.
Worked just fine and the glass would dry out spotless even when left damp, providing you had of course cleaned the glass! And keeping the cloth or scrim very clean too, so it does mean going though more cloths than normal.
Back in the depths of winter I bought 25 litres of isopropanol to try and stop my hoses and brushes from freezing up, got plenty left, so I have started putting it into the sprayer, diluting it down about 20:1 (I think!)
Now using that has REALLY made a difference!!
Glass can be left damp and it is way fast!
Today I did one of my weekly jobs, a pub inside and out, also do a load of their mirrors and I would use a combination of spray & buff and applicator and squeegee where required.
But this time I used only the new spray and a very clean microfibre cloth and cut over 10 minutes off the time taken to do the job.
Normal window cleaning spray - such as Mr Muscle and so on - have dyes and other additives, you leave the glass damp and you will leave smears behind.
Isopropanol is as pure as the water we use, so mixed with pure water you can leave glass damp without fear of smears, plus the ISP helps cut through greasy marks and so on.
I have been amazed at how effective it is, you still need to know what you are doing of course, but it works, and it is the same principle as the expensive Dutch system.
Wouldn't be a big stretch of ingenuity to add a pump up sprayer, a changeable pad on an extension and away you go with a DIY system of the Dutch one.
I've got a Dr's surgery to do Tomorrow, in and out...usually squeegee all the inside stuff as the panes are very straight forward and takes me about 20 minutes, so I'm going to try it with the new spray and see if the time taken (and quality of course) is any faster than with a squeegee...oh, and I am no slouch with a squeegee, have done this place for over 20 years, so I'm VERY quick at it now...
Will be interesting to see if I'm any quicker
Ian
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Good interesting post!
How about fitting a 3kw element to a backpack & using hot water plus IPA? Talking cutting through the dirt quick & quick drying?
Kevin.
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So your basically using ISO and Pure water diluted 20:1?
Interesting, I have to give this one a go. :)
Thanks Ian.
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Interesting all right, let us know the results...
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So how did it go then?
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i have just got the indoor clean pole system that was at the nec cleaning show with a reach upto 35ft cost me £2445
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i have just got the indoor clean pole system that was at the nec cleaning show with a reach upto 35ft cost me £2445
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But as a result of seeing this system in action I decided to try out nothing more than pure water in a prayer and using a very clean cloth.
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Now using that has REALLY made a difference!!
'''
Ian
That "Holy Water" Ian? Or have you gone all religious on us? ;D
Seriously tho' - very interesting.
I did a Doctor's surgery last week with high inside windows - only up to 10ft - and some others above a stairwell above a spiral staircase. I used a 6ft section of my old Unger pole with a reversi pad and blade on the same extension - worked really well.
As long as you've got straight "line of sight" I reckon it'd work acceptably to 20ft or so.
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i have just got the indoor clean pole system that was at the nec cleaning show with a reach upto 35ft cost me £2445
Wow, you could have a similar system for less then a hundred, by simply making something like that yourself.
You've been double dutched lol.
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Did the Dr's surgery today, outside WFP as per norm, and inside just my sprayer (or prayer as Malc so kindly pointed out (god bless you my son ;D) and a microfibre cloth.
Time taken...mm, wasn't that easy to actually time as people chatted to me, but I probably knocked about 5 minutes off the time, not a lot of difference, but as said, I've done it for over 20 years and the glass really suits a squeegee.
But the method works really really well and it is most certainly faster than normal propitiatory sprayers.
Used it yesterday on a large Georgian house On the insides that is) and this place is only done twice a year, even on windows not cleaned in 6 months it worked well.
If you are trad only I'd definitely recommend it on leaded or georgian windows, on repeat work especially...although you do need pure water to mix with the isopropanol of course!!!!
I've another office I have to do the inside of tomorrow, but it is always so clean I can almost get away with a wiping over the glass with a dry microfibre!
Ian.
Oh, Malc: with god on my side I am sure it will make an even bigger difference!! ;)
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Per liter of pure, how many ml. Iso did you use? :)
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I didn't measure it precisely, i guess it was about the neck of the spray bottle from where it starts to narrow, roughly an inch ???
If you have some isopropanol, try it and experiment, you might prefer a stronger or weaker dilution...
I'm gonna try and figure out a way of attaching a microfibre cloth to a pad of some description...got a couple of insides where this method would prove better than a squeegee on a pole...unfortunately one of those is tomorrow too :'(
Ian
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i have just got the indoor clean pole system that was at the nec cleaning show with a reach upto 35ft cost me £2445
How are you getting on with it?