Just decided to buy ettores butterfly pad kit for some interior maintenance cleaning. I thought these would make these jobs a since, but that has not been the case. Instead, I’m running into a problem I did not forsee.
I’m using distilled water that reads 00 tds on my meter, just misting one pad and scrubbing, then buffing with the dry pad. The windows are then “clean”, but also covered in thousands of tiny little fibers that are quite visible, especially from the right angle or if there is light behind. They certainly look worse that when I started as they were only slightly dusty and are now “shiny” with little fibers. I’m really unhappy. I went with ettore because I had an Unger kit with two pads but it had euro threads and couldn’t go on my trade pole. What are other people’s experiences? This was both out of the package and after one cleaning with no detergent, didn’t make a difference and maybe even made it worse. Not a happy camper.
Could be the new microfibers haven’t broken in yet…those tiny fibers take a few uses to break loose and not shed on the glass. Also, I’ve noticed that some glass itself seems almost “sticky” and will hold tiny particles of whatever (dust, microfiber, steel wool fuzz, even magic eraser dust) and only looks truly clean if just squeegee’d regularly, no other buffing or wiping. When I clean these types of windows/glass I have a small, soft horsehair brush than can be used to “dust” the window AFTER it has TOTALLY dried to get any particles off the glass w/o wiping w/ anything else. Hope this may help👍
It would be great if the problem went away, haha! That is helpful, thank you. These windows did indeed feel “sticky” when using a wet micro fiber pad, I didn’t really think about whether that was normal or not.
Is there any propane (heater, stove, gas range) or a fireplace? I’ve noticed the “sticky” glass seems to be more common around the use of these. LP gas leaves a nasty film on glass, as well as fireplace smoke ( both can leave a sticky residue over time). Maybe try a non- microfiber pad…something softer w/ a tighter weave…like a Squeegee Life towel or Unger Ninja detail cloth? Those little fuzzy remnants are a bitch and they can be seen when the light is just right & at the right angle. Still thinking a soft brush will clean it off w/ the least amount of disruptions to the sticky glass.
Just an update for anyone interested. I won’t be buying any more ettore pads. The problem continues to occur despite having put them through the wash and used them many times. They have a limited application for me now, basically any windows that won’t see direct sunlight. Might try the moerman ones next? Anybody else have recommendations?
I didn’t like the ettore pads, but did get results out of the unger cleaning pads. Full sunlight will drive you nuts but for a quick easy clean, the unger did decent when combined with invisible glass cleaner.
For anyone interested, I finally sprang for a basic Unger pole with the euro adaptor ($75 or so) so that I could use the Unger holder and pads on a pole. The Unger pads are more expensive, but they WORK.
I use 3 parts distilled/RO water with 1 part rubbing alcohol. No fibers left on the glass, no problems with streaking or hazing. You can do multiple windows with one of each pad if they are only a bit dusty (interior low traffic windows for instance). Perfect for high up interior windows that used to be a huge pain. Absolutely perfect. Unger pads all the way. I’ll be buying a lot of them so that I can do some of my larger jobs at banks and such and save time on partition glass not having to detail or worry about dripping on nice wooden details in fancy buildings. Don’t try to cheap out, the Unger pads are the real deal.
