Last fall I test applied Invisible Shield (wiped on concentrated with a dry towel) on several basement windows. It was a pain to apply but the customer was so impressed with the results through the winter that he asked me to seal all of his glass.
So, as it seems many window cleaning guys use a product called 3 Star Barrier I bought some excited also that it is easier to apply. It is much easier to apply I found. However, when cleaning the same windows that I’d applied Invisible Shield to last fall the water beaded very nicely. I was impressed. So I applied 3 Star Barrier to the remaining glass as I had agreed to.
I applied it twice to the last 2 panes and rubbed it very much. I then of course squeegeed it off then simulated the cleaning process with the exact process and chemical that I’d seen the nice beeding with the Invisible Shield. It didn’t bead at all.
What is going on? I paid over $50.00 for this product!!! Does it require a cure time.
It is easier to apply but if it doesn’t work near as well as Invisible shield I don’t see much point in applying it.
I do plan some long term tests of both products at a Pizza Hut that gets lots of dust on the glass but any help in advance of those results will be appreciated.
I’m not sure if beading is good proof of success or not. Good question.
I did notice that the glass under the Invisible Shield is very, very smooth when you wipe a dry towel across it. It was incredibly easy to clean also. No streaking whatsoever. That after 6 months.
The glass wasn’t quite as smooth when I wiped my towel across the 3 Star Barrier.
I use Ready Seal on 100% of the decks that I seal, it never beads up. It makes the water fan out over the entire surface of the deck. If you check it out against say, Thompson’s water seal, you’ll find it is a way better seal, but it never beads up. Why am I talking about Decks? Just to answer your question about beading up.
I use 3 star barrier, and it is a very good sealer, easy to apply, and it will hold a good 6 months.
I’ve incorporated 3 star barrier into all my window cleaning the customer rave on all the time about how great the windows look and don’t dirty as fast as not using it weather i smild here in Az and also in So. Calif wheere I came from
Thanks for your input and welcome to the WCR Forum!! Yeah, I have a 1 1/2 day WC job that I’ll probably use it on next season. Invisible shield would be out of the question.
At first I used as the directions stated applying after the wash but decided that was an extra step so tried on my own windows by going a different way that saved a step diluted it to one bottle per 2 gallons of water and used 1 cup per bucket better shine and smoother than just with gg4 in bucket.
can do maybe 25 homes or even more depends on size per bottle no extra steps and a year later windows look great just dusty or water spots that need no scrubbing just wash & squeegee.
I don’t use on inside just the outer windows inside is always easy anyway
just giving you idea how I do it.
The other day Kelly calls me and says ‘I want you to go look at 4 of the windows at my mother’s house with me’. I agreed and on the way she tells me these windows are trashed. That coming from Little Ms. I Can Clean Anything, I’m thinking “great”. We get there and turns out she’s right. The windows had a factory ‘gold’ colored tint (exterior) with horrid water stains and the previous owners had taped the windows with wide tape (probably just prior to a hurricane) and some was still on the window. I said let’s take a shot at them (her mother told me if we couldn’t fix them, she was having them replaced). A quarter bottle of A-1 and a couple hours of scrubbing later they were like freakin new - thought her mother was gonna cry. Now to the subject of this thread…
I’d like to seal them and have done some homework. Both the 3 Star and Invisible Shield products seem to be good, but I have 2 Qs:
The 3 Star product offers this disclaimer: Not to be aplied to glass with an existing protective or low-e coating on the exterior surface.
The low-e coating part of that is where my ignorance shows. How does one determine if it exists?
And since these products are a bit pricey, I’m pretty sure you guys (and gals) are not giving it away. How much extra do ya charge for sealing with these products? And isn’t it counter to frequent repeat business?
In my opinion I found it was an add-on not worth applying. It’s expensive and long term it didn’t make any difference. There are a lot of threads about Low-E on the forum if you do the search.
Beading water on glass is not what you want from this sort of product. Ideally a barrier-type coating will make water slide off the glass completely, not just bead up.
i’ve used this product on shower enclosures with great success. it’s amazing, after application you can spray down the glass and watch the water just cascade down. the glass is literally dry to the touch within a minute or two. lasts a long time too. not sure about how it would hold up in an outdoor application, but imho, this is how a product like this should work.
i’ve never used 3-star barrier but i’ve used products like it (sani-shield comes to mind) and they seem to me like nothing more than a glorified rain-x. the nano-ultra is a completely different animal.
Some really good thinking on this thread. 3 Star should not stick to metal first surface low e coatings because it was developed to react with the free oxygens of a glass surface. Invisible Shield is Rain X. Based not on an organo silane but rather a PDMS or a polydimethylsiloxane. Which also can be made to form covalent bonds to glass. But not in this case. As for the beading effect it is true that this is not a demonstration of whether the product has formed a chemical bond with the elements of the glass. Simply because it is possible to build an organo silane which reacts and creates a hydrophylic surface. It should also be mentioned here that just because a sealant provides excellent beading (hydrophobicity) it might not stand up to the alkali attack of hard water. Or the UVC from the sun. I will be getting into some real interesting stuff in my newsletter The Product Development Review. I have written the first one in June on Removing Light Stains. It provides the formula for SKRUB and sources the ingredients along with a good quality cerium powder. Totally orange. The July issue is on Making Soap and Seal. Clean and seal at the same time. I am not selling these products. Just the letter. There will be many addendum emails between the monthly issues which are 35 each. Any questions just send me an email at henrygroverjr@gmail.com
