Building confidence

Waterfed Poles
1

I’ve used my wfp about 8 times now, and I need some help with a number of wfp topics.

First, I stopped using the pole directly on low level work, especially small commercial, because of the cost of running the system. Also, if I’m carrying DI purified water in a jug, I can get small jobs done faster without the wfp system. Problem is, my squeegee behaves differently with purified water. Any thoughts on using solutions with purified water, or does this defeat the purpose? Is there a ‘best rubber’ for working with only purified water?

Second topic is a wfp case study. Used the system with a residential customer this past week. House is a log home. Large, difficult to access windows facing west, centerpiece of the home. Used the pole system. Wash, wash, wash. Rinse, rinse, rinse. Washed all the logs, sills, frames, etc., above, beside and below (there’s a lower set of windows) the windows, then the glass. Using a hogs hair brush. Came out nice, but not good enough. Second time, washed just the glass, and the windows came out worse. Third time, just the glass and they got worse still. At this point I pulled out the 30 foot ladder (the reason I wanted a wfp) and got up close on the glass. The windows were actually sticky. Using GG4 and tap water, I cleaned them by hand. They cleaned easily and quickly. Funny thing is, this time by hand they came out better than the three previous services I performed for this customer using only hand tools.

What might be making the glass get worse with each pass of the wfp and why would the glass get sticky like this? Could it be that I pulled something down off the logs on first pass that needed a solution to clean? I know the customer had the exterminator in two weeks before I arrived. I don’t know if the exterminator works this high up on the home. How about a finish on the logs? What should I try if this happens again?

TDS meter, assuming it’s working properly, read 120 - 140 between first and second tank. Out put at second tank never went above 0.

Got to get some answers here so I can better utilize, and know when to use or not use, my DI wfp system.

Eric

2

Sounds like a good job for the RHG Reach Around scrubber. If you are dealing w/ an unknown substance on the window the scrubber gives that nose to the glass scrub that can get it off the window.

3

Sometimes there are jobs you simply cannot use the wfp. I did a building last year the more I used wfp the worse they looked. It seemed as if the RO/DI water was pulling dirt out of frames and draining it on the glass. Or maybe it was washing paint onto the windows. We did it the conventional way, with wands and squeegees, and it came out fine. To this day I still can’t figure out why wfp didn’t work.

4

I had the SAME problem at the New Childrens Museum in downtown san diego, problem was the job was so big, one of the factors was the time involved and the time saved by using the WFP. I am getting that backpack next week…that thing is gonna save me alot of money and time. I can test out a window first before to see if its all good.

Anyhow, back to the post, there are some houses and buildings that are just a pain in the butt to do without the di water, so I just have a helper use a scrubber on a pole (bottom floor) and wet the windows and I come behind him and rinse the glass. Go’s by super fast and the job gets done just as good.

Same principle as the reach around, untill you get one you can use a telescoping pole with a scrubber at the end and rinse.

5

Any recomendations on a scrubber holder and scrubber pads?

Eric

6

Here’s the Reach Around http://shop.windowcleaner.com/product.sc?categoryId=93&productId=792
and the pads http://shop.reachhigherground.com/product.sc?categoryId=18&productId=162