[Perfect Windows]

To anyone who's moved to hot water. 

Do you have any feel for how much time (if any) you save in a day through using hot water rather than cold?

Is it the same in summer as winter?  I can see that nice flexible hoses would speed you up in winter but I'm more interested in the actual cleaning part, so does it speed you up on gutters, slug trails, spiders webs, etc, and by how much?

Thanks,

Vin

[Smurf]

I use hot all year round. Not so much for speed as just makes my job easier to do on the likes of awkward filthy cleans.
You also get better cleaning results using hot on white plastics etc than just using cold.

[JandS]

How hot is it when it's travelled along 100m of hose laid on cold ground.
Does it need to be kept running all the time to maintain the heat at the brush head.

[Smurf]

Hot enough to look like your using steam in cold weather which sometimes bemuses custards and passers by.
Those chepo 16 kw fastar 8l lpg heaters I use can reach over 60 c at the brush head when cranked up. Is that hot enough for you? lol

The thermal safety cut out on the heater will kick in when it reaches about 70c.
It also has a summer/winter mode. Which is just a switch to set the heater to fire up  either the single or double burner.

Depends on the job in hand but I normally have mine set to either one or two notches on the temp dial, flow dial set to min and the other dial set to summer mode.  Worth also mentioning when using a 12 volt standard wfp pump the flow dial must be set on min otherwise the heater will not fire up. Also the lcd display only comes on when the heater is fired up and goes off again when the heater is not running.

That fastar 8l lpg is a brilliant chepo water heater and well worth the money if you ask me.

Hope this helps?

[johnwillan]

To anyone who's moved to hot water. 

Do you have any feel for how much time (if any) you save in a day through using hot water rather than cold?

Is it the same in summer as winter?  I can see that nice flexible hoses would speed you up in winter but I'm more interested in the actual cleaning part, so does it speed you up on gutters, slug trails, spiders webs, etc, and by how much?

Thanks,

Vin

Hi Vin

We found it saved around 1-1.5 hours per working day, this is of course very subjective i.e. speed of work etc, etc.

 We definitely find it reduces time throughout the year, in winter for obvious reasons whilst during the summer it helps with removal of spider poo, snail trails and bird mess, algae and general grime too.

We use Grippa (diesel) systems, we particularly like the overnight frost stat recirculation.

HTH

John

[Smurf]

To anyone who's moved to hot water. 

Do you have any feel for how much time (if any) you save in a day through using hot water rather than cold?

Is it the same in summer as winter?  I can see that nice flexible hoses would speed you up in winter but I'm more interested in the actual cleaning part, so does it speed you up on gutters, slug trails, spiders webs, etc, and by how much?

Thanks,

Vin

Hi Vin

We found it saved around 1-1.5 hours per working day, this is of course very subjective i.e. speed of work etc, etc.

 We definitely find it reduces time throughout the year, in winter for obvious reasons whilst during the summer it helps with removal of spider poo, snail trails and bird mess, algae and general grime too.

We use Grippa (diesel) systems, we particularly like the overnight frost stat recirculation.

HTH

John

You may not like them so much when they start to go wrong as parts and servicing can work out very expensive. That 's unless you have the expertise, diagnostic  software etc to repair/service them in-house. Unlike a throw away lpg water heater when it finally dies you just replace it at a fraction of the cost and be up and running in a blink of an eye.

[nathankaye]

I was peffectly happy using cold and didnt feel need for warm or hot water. However i got new pole hoses which when cold are kinking and stiffening and causing problems. So initially didnt want to go down route of immersion heater or carrying gas in van. So i went down route of using a couple of fish tank warmers 500w. Which has heated my insulated 500ltr tank water to 32/34 degree C. Which is great and warms my pole hose lovely. Now at brush head, its slightly warmer than cold. Now all my work is mostly 4wkly so just maintenance cleans now.
However ive had over a mnth of work (illness) and many windows have been hit by bird mess. Even though it isnt HOT at brush head and a little warmer than cold, i have noticed an improvement. So much so im now going down route of a 27inch immersion heater going in tank to heat it higher than 32 degrees.
(hope this waffle helps lol)

[Splash & dash]

It's difficult to estimate how much quicker it is to be honest , but it is quicker at removing sea gull poo snail trails , salt , etc on glass , on regular 4/8 weekly maintenance cleans , on really dirty first cleans it's a lot quicker, plastic cleans especially in the summer when the Algi , lichen is dry and crispy it's half the time to do the job , however I think if you were to pre spray it with virosol/tfr type of chemical it would soften it up as well . Temperature at the end of 100 of hose on a frosty morning I wouldn't describe it as extremely hot but it still makes a considerable difrance , well worth the cost in my opinion,

[NWH]

If it reads 55-60 degrees on the controller that's what I get at the brush head with a hand held meter,i use it
Winter and summer everyday it cleans quicker dries quicker cleans frames quicker. Hot is a no brainer for me the only reason they sell cold systems coz they haven't used hot because they are new to WFP,put it this way the water does most of the work for you being hot and if you clean any jobs near the sea it's needed.

[JandS]

Not knocking it just wondered....I use 60c water for carpet cleaning and over a say 25m run it takes a good 2 minutes first thing at 400psi to get it warm at the wand and that's hose laid indoors.
Every time you halt the flow it soon cools down.

[M & C Window Cleaning]

As I work with a trolley I heat my to 45° as I transfer it to my barrels with an L5 lpg heater. Once in my car it stays warm until I'm ready to use it. I don't try to got faster, I just find I get through about an hour to an hour and a half more work in the day.

[NWH]

Once it's hot and your using it the water stays hot or within 10-15 degrees,if the water is reading 35-40 degrees in cold weather it
Will steam at the brush. On very cold days that's way hot enough you don't want it hotter it'll crack the glass.

[NWH]

Anyone I know that's gone hot is more than pleased they did.

[dazmond]

in winter using hot water will not speed you up as its warm not hot at brush end.the hose is easier to manage and its nicer to use though.

in spring/summer  when your working with hot water at around the 50-60 degree mark its easier to clean birdmuck,pollen,snail trails etc off.so yes its slightly quicker.its good for add ons too.you can also "splash and dash" with a bit more confidence with hot water.

[Richard Stevenson]

I have a hot system and a cold , i dont believe the hot is any faster, by the time it comes out the brush it not hot just warm. Its only a helps when its to cold to use cold.

[robert mitchell]

I have a hot system and a cold , i dont believe the hot is any faster, by the time it comes out the brush it not hot just warm. Its only a helps when its to cold to use cold.

Mine comes out nice and hot so im not sure what you are doing wrong with yours?

What heater have you got ?


I have found that the water cooling as it travels along the hose on the really cold days its actually a bonus , almost self regulating rather than having to turn the boiler down but even on those days its still coming out around 35-40 degrees.

[NWH]

Complete rubbish it comes out warm as said your heater must be dodgy,at the brush I can't keep my hand over it to long as it's hot you wouldn't want to bath in it that hot put it that way. The over all clean is better and spring and summer is when it comes into its own with bee spots and hard dried on birds mess,I would advise any newbie to go hot from the start.

[bobplum]

When we moved to hot, we also changed the way we cleaned, i will use the term "one pass"........For a hot water system to be of any benefit they do need to be working at around a min of 50c at the heater anything less and its only marginally better than cold (also Ionics view i believe) because of this hot water systems are actually more beneficial  in the warmer months as you can crank it up with less fear of breakage to the glass and they dissolve the dirt a lot faster so speeding up the cleaning process, this allowed us to clean a lot of our monthly maintenance cleans with one pass, not all but a majority and i would say we get an extra 2 houses a day cleaned (minimum) and it just feels nicer on my soft hands......Just my opinion

[NWH]

I wouldn't advise cleaning at 60 degrees to often as over time it will weaken the glass,even in the summer with water to hot you can damage the glass,big patio glass doors have been known to go bang and shatter when the temp drops later in the year all of a sudden. I've known this happen to other cleaners and they use very hot water, to clean with. In my experience you are safe with 45-50 degrees I've never had one to bang on me on or off the job.

[NWH]

That's the other thing a couple of scrubs and your done on each window,I've done a test a few times on houses when all out. With a flocked brush it's laughable how quick you can be with hot water with a good flow of water,i checked after t he results were the same as if I'd scrubbed like a fool for twice as long.