I really want this thing to work but no matter how much I rinse, I still see a line of dried water spots on half the windows. My customers call me because I don’t cut corners, not sure what to do. I am using a WFP because 25 years of ladder work has taken it’s toll.
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Are these window that you have traditionally cleaned before and no spots were present? If that is the case, there really are two things that can be happening:
- Water runs from top of the frame due to overspray at the top of the frame (commonly putting the brush too high)
- Water quality, TDS readings, not pure enough.
There is a third that can sometimes happen when the winds are high and there is a lot of dust around (dirty roads, dry areas, etc). but not sure if that is what you have near you. Are the water issues just spots or runs from the top of the frame down?
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Yeah, usually just hand cleaned but I’m not getting any younger.
TDS out of my pole is zero, using a DI tank.
For example, I had a multi-pane atrium to do and thought I’d give the waterfed a try. It actually came out pretty nice, but there’s the occasional dried water run mark that drives me nuts.
Same with an Andersen with transoms, no matter how much I scrub and rinse it still had a line of dried water.
Now I watched a ton of videos, they mostly start with scrubbing the top frame. Should I nix that idea?
I have that problem occasionally with vinyl windows that get beat up by the sun or painted frames. Seems like the residue won’t stop running. I try to aim my rinse bar in the space between the pane and the frame to flush it the best I can. I Unfortunately have to return after drying for a traditional touch up. I often wonder if there s something in the water that still bypasses the purification process.
Good to know I’m not the only one. Thought I was losing my mind.
It bypasses the purification process wirelessly through the dihydrogen monoxide process…
… by way of the muffler bearing… 
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Without seeing what the “dried spots” look like it is hard to guess.
Is it sort of white in color? Could be oxidation runoff from the frames. (If the frames are white, or brown if brown frames).
Be sure to do a very thorough job of scrubbing the frames and rinsing well, then moving on to clean the glass. While you have moved on to clean the glass be careful to not touch the frames again as there still may be loose oxidation that will drip off if you do.
I tried to get a picture but it won’t focus on the glass so I get a pretty one of the trees.
We used zep or barkeepers friend in that situation https://www.homedepot.com/p/ZEP-32-oz-Power-Foam-Tub-and-Tile-Cleaner-ZUPFTT32/204812087
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Water in hanging up at the top of the frame somewhere and as everything dries, that little bit is leaking out and bringing some dirt along with it. Either A) try not to shoot much/any water in those areas, B) give a little extra time from scrubbing frames to cleaning glass, or C) just clean as you are then every so often check behind yourself and if you see a spot, give a quick glass-only scrub and rinse
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No you aren’t losing your mind, this does happen occasionally. It could be a rogue frame run off with dirty water. If you are getting 0TDS, the only other thing I can think of are environmental factors. Were you in direct sunlight? What was the wind blowing? I find WFP is a lot easier on a cool, dry window.
When I first started using my WFP I was having a similar issue and wasn’t really impressed. But as I have gotten better at learning which frames hold water in which ways, the issue has resolved.
Be hyper vigilant to clean the frame at the top the give ample time for dripping to occur, when you return to clean or quick clean / rinse the window, make sure your brush keep an inch from the top, as I get better, with a hybrid brush, I can let the vinyl bristles just tickle the top frame. Then when rinsing, watch the splash, that can hose you if you have too much splash, also it can hose you if you spray too close to the top frame, which pushes water back up into it and then it drips out leaving marks.
Keep at it, I am now really loving my WFP (for everything except first cleans, where I get ok results, but think I just need some new toys, scrubber pads and a new brush, to improve that first clean results).
Thoughts from any old dog WFP guys?
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Sometimes you just cant win!
Try getting some Spray Way from Holmes Depot and wrap a dry rag around a pole that will reach your runner, spray a quick one on the tip of the pole/rag and erase that sucker off.
No streaks.
I might be wrong, but I suspect the rinse bar might be the culprit.
Popular opinion aside, I despise rinse bars. I dislike getting water into places I haven’t used my brush on, I just don’t like the lack of water control.
Give me 4 jets in a hybrid brush and hydrophobic or hydrophilic, I don’t have any issues.
Also, as others have said, it might be oxidation runoff. When rinsing, do not agitate the frames any more, pull away and rinse until it is clear, if the water looks even slightly cloudy, rinse more.
This is another reason I dislike rinse bars, there are times that it’s better to stay on the glass and leave the frames undisturbed. You can’t do that if you are going to the top of the glass and soaking the top frame.
The way around that with the rinse bar is to scrub the top of the frame and top 4 or 5 inches of the glass real well and rinse real well, then clean the rest of the window - not needing for your rinse bar to hit the top frame again.
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I took the rinse bar off and added two jets to the brush as it came with two.
If it keeps happening on different windows at different houses, I know one time Luke @lukethewindowcleaner was having issues in one of his videos with the type of brush he was using. Remember they couldn’t figure out why they kept leaving spots but they switched out their brush and the windows were perfect. For me are use a boars hair tucker brush and that thing works wonders on the windows. Just an idea. I highly recommend that brush.
I was using the full hair brush but switched to the hybrid, I’ll try to not soak down the frames so much.
