So I have job in two weeks and there is one window with light mineral deposits. So I am testing now to find a good remover. Here is how it went.
A-1: I tested it on a mirror at home and it left fine scratches. I applied it as directed; with a white pad. Did I do something wrong, too much pressure? Was it the mirror?
Then I tried Sheer Glass & Stainless Steel. No scratching. Ok, great. But, will it remove light mineral deposits? Anyone use this stuff?
What about Glass Stove Top Cleaner? Anyone use that and if so, is it good, does it scratch?
I like Diamond Magic and One-Restore. Diamond Magic is cool because you can just rub it on and buff it off and not only are the stains gone, the glass is actually polished. I just mop and squeegee it afterwards to remove the swirly, hazy marks of the leftover residue. Diamond Magic is nice in that it can take off all kinds of stuff i.e. rust, silicone, basically anything that adheres to the glass.
I like one-restore when working with the WFP. Just apply it and the hard water stains instantly melt. Rinse with plenty of pure water. You need to rinse one-restore a lot, but it works instantly.
I am so done with steel wool and elbow grease. I have no elbow grease left. And when you consider that labor /time is the biggest expense, effective chemicals that greatly reduce the time and labor are a no-brainer IMO.
I wish all the glass and stains out here in my area responded like that. I have never come across a hard water stained glass in my area that diamond magic/one restore/cc550 has been able to remove. Every thing has required the machine and cerium to remove, but when i give a quote the customer backs down so you can see that i am lucky to do one water stain removal job a year. dont matter though because id rather just squeegie windows at a higher hourly rate then water stain removal.
Where are you located, [MENTION=4830]Dream[/MENTION]? Both locations I have worked have had very low TDS water, so I guess that makes a big difference with the degree of hard water stains. They are a very profitable add-on service for me.
I can sympathize with not doling work that’s profitable, though. Who usually does hard-water stain removal in your area, other window cleaning companies or janitorial companies?
tds out here is from 200-400, window cleaners are the ones that do water stain removal for building glass, auto detailers do water stain removal for car glass.
the water stains are usually left on the glass for years/ decades before a new owner or property manager decides that “maybe we should get those stains out”, and when they find out what it will cost they say forget it and dont get it cleaned.
believe me, i had mr hardwater himself on the phone with me guiding me on a job after i purchased his steel wool pad system, he told me what to do and i did exactly what he said, instead of the stains in a little 5 inch area coming off in 5 minutes it took 20. he said “it shouldnt be that hard!”
I then got another forum member in here who said “mr hardwater stuff is crap, try getting a foam pad and using cerium oxide”, I went out and did that and had the person on the phone with me too, same result, and he said the same thing “it shouldnt be that hard!”
Mr hard water has a great system buy the complete system its a great tool to have in your tool box. I use a dewalt right angle drill 18 volt so I don’t have to mess with chords
I’ve used A-1 for years every way imaginable, never scratched a piece of glass. Diamond Magic I like…use that now occasionally…cerium too…One restore too…If its bad, and I can do it…I will One Restore first, maybe 2-4 applications depending upon if its still working…then move to the other creams polishes etc with a polisher. If you have water with a high silicate content, that stuff binds like no other, and I have had to sand glass to get the silicate off…it does not happen often, has to be the right well water, and I only have a few accounts that are in the 500-1000 tds range, most are 3-400.
Good call. You are right about the silicates. And Dream. I get you completely. Hard water spots are SO different. It is not just the TDS. It is not just the chemistry. And it is not just the type of surface (pyrolytic, clear, or dark). I can show you stains that look like they should come off in seconds but are unbelievable bears. Then I can show you real tuff looking bears that are a breeze. The only way is to test. And no one can tell you from the phone or computer how long it should take with any system or product. Even if you have pictures to show.
I can only guess. I have always believed A-1 to be a safe product. Yet I always test on brand new clean mirrors too. And use battery acid to bring out any scratches. Which I look for in a totally dark room with a bright flashlight. Looking straight down the beam. I should look at the A-1 MSDS. The CAS # under Ingredients should tell me if it is based on silicates. Even the Diamond Magic product is based mostly on silicates. They are cheap. DM only has a very little bit of a sub micron diamond powder. I have a gallon of a nano diamond slurry in my car I test with. No silicates in that. No action either. Of course a three micron diamond compound is quite another matter.
Anyhow. Back to the A-1. You very likely did everything correct. What you don’t know is that the manufacturer might have sourced another silica/silicate powder. Some are more crude then others. That is why I always use an optical grade cerium. Or even an optical grade silica. My first product is called Scrub. It is just for cleaning windows. Works along with every soap on the market. And I didn’t scrimp on it. I have used a pure optical grade silica. There are no silicates. If the A-1 is now using crude abrasives that scratch you will be able to determine this with a clean brand new blue huck towel on a brand new clean mirror. I just buy one by one foot squares. You can get them cheap from Walmart. There is no need to use a white pad when testing a cream based hard water spot removal product for scratching.
Derryll, are you located in NYC or another part of NY?
These scratches are very obvious from an angle. Like I said, I used a wet white pad on an Unger hand held pad holder. Put two thin lines of the A-1 on the pad and applied to the glass in a circular fashion. One minute later I had achieved Scratchdom. I think I just coined a term for window cleaners.
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[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Trebuchet]Any mined material which is composed primarily of the fossilized exoskeletons of diatoms can be defined as a diatomaceous earth. This material can come from a fresh or salt water deposit. [/FONT][/COLOR][COLOR=#000000][FONT=Trebuchet]Each deposit is different, not only in the species, shape and age of the diatoms it contains but also in the wide range of other elements present in the material. [/FONT][/COLOR][COLOR=#000000][FONT=Trebuchet]It is often believed that the silicon dioxide (SiO2 or amorphous silica) content of a diatomaceous earth product is a measure of its purity however, this is not the case. [/FONT][/COLOR][COLOR=#000000][FONT=Trebuchet]Silicon dioxide (Si02 or amorphous silica) is the main element in diatomaceous earth however all diatomaceous earth products, in their natural (raw) state, typically contain 20-35% additional elements other than silica.
Do you see here where it says, “[/FONT][/COLOR][COLOR=#000000][FONT=Trebuchet]all diatomaceous earth products, in their natural (raw) state, typically contain 20-35% additional elements other than silica”? That is the cheap stuff! Any manufacturer can change which abrasive they use without any of us knowing. I just checked the CAS# of A-1 and they do use a diatomaceous earth. I completely trust your judgement. You have done what I would have all of us do. Simply test the products we intend on using before we use them. This is also true for the liquid based products too. Most of these are based on acids that etch glass.
Also by the way. Stone Scrub is based on isopropyl alcohol and oxalic acid. Most interesting.
