Put the time into learning to fanning and fanning well. I started fanning pretty early but when I focused on accurately and skillfully fanning is when I started flying and down to 2-3 towels per day
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Agree on the fanning…practice, practice, practice. The more soap that @buzzlightyear’m mentioned will definitely help with extra glide. I set up an easel with a storm window in my den (with a towel underneath to catch the drips), and wore out some squeegee rubber until I got better. Start with smaller channels and work your way up from there. Im a klutz with terrible eye hand coordination…if I can learn to fan, anyone can. Good luck and don’t give up!
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How humid was it? When it humid the hucks don’t dry very quickly and you’ll use more. If you use a lot then station a few stacks around the outside of the house before you start and just toss your wet ones in their place and go pick them all up when your done. A lot fewer trips to the van that way.
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it seems to me there is a disconnect between your op and the responses or maybe i am misunderstanding.
the responses mostly suggest you need to learn to swirl or fan and i agree you should but your post says you usually carry 3 towels and for some unknown reason at this house you used 20 million towels. if this house is not the norm then you just need to see if you can why so you know for next time. maybe the frames are a little different, or your mix or temperature.
if you are always using 20 million towels than waaaaaaahhh.
if you have not learned to fan in 8 months you either don’t feel it’s required or you are not trying hard enough/practicing or you are challenged in some way.
if you are going to continue straight pulls try picking up a karcher wm50 window vacuum. because it squeegees and vacuums as long as you use it right there is no need to wipe it and there is no puddle at the bottom of the window, detailing is minor if anything. when using the the wm50 i can use 1 small terry or huck cloth for detailing and 1 for slop for multiple houses.
if you want to try 7 pulls they require less skill/technique than a full fan but only require wiping the rubber for the last pull.
to learn fanning definitely use a slippery mix as mentioned above (liquid tsp is VERY slippery with just a small amount but you must use it properly).
if you want more details just let me know.
Ok fanning is great technique to use.
Since your only to the point of straight pulling a window. Here’s a couple tips that i hope help and will greatly reduce your use of to many towels in a day.
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wet the window and with about a quarter in of the squeegee rubber run across the top edge and sides of the glass and window seal (it’s called cutting an edge). This will create a dry edge to pull from.
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Next if your pulling left to right angle your channel slightly head of the bottom of the channel, this will force the water to move down the channel to the surface. Over lap your strokes no more the an 1/2 inch.
Here’s a basic video from Unger about straight pulling.
Learn to fan a window, practice practice practice!
hope this helps solve some problems for you!
Heres another great video to check out as you get more advanced.
Steve-O got some skills!
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Go buy yourself some scrims. Use the scrims for detailing. Use the huck, or whatever else for wiping up
You will never be a great window cleaner if you don’t learn to fan. We call it carving a window here. Like zorro.
Once you learn how to carve a window properly there should be very little detailing . you should only have to use your fingers under your scrim around the perimeter, an get what you need to get .
You can stick with the straight pulling , but you will have to deal with all the idiosyncrocies of that for lack of a better word
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Yup ther is s great window cleaner for ya
His second time around is basically how I work
I know he is showing a lot of different ways
yup a skilled window cleaner for sure.
Sounds like an organization issue, which can be solved easily.
What kinda of a work belt set up to you use?
i you read my post carefully you will see that i can get away with 1 towel for detailing and one for slop for multiple houses when i use the karcher wv50 NOT a regular squeegee. as i said the wv50 can almost completely eliminate detailing and water on the sill with a very easy to learn technique that requires almost no skill at all.
if i am using a regular squeegee usually i can get away with 1 huck or small terry cloth for detailing per house, slop cloth is detail cloth from previous house so at first squeegee job i bring 3 towels. i clean window then dteail it and wipe the slop with the same towel which now is the slop towel. 2nd window i use the second cloth to detail and the slop cloth for the sill. you must do the sill first or your detail cloth will pick up too much dirty water. i always use the edge of the detail cloth for detailing leaving the middle clean and dry as long as possible. when the detail cloth has no dry spots left and the slop clothh is getting wet the setail becomes the slop and the 3rd towel becomes the detail cloth.
if you refuse to purchase a wv50 and/or to learn good technique you and your customers will continue to suffer.
as mentioned a scrim is another option as is a chamois.
both can be used, rinsed and wrung out and used damp. they must be very well wrung though almost dry.
the wv50 does involve wrist movements like fanning.
not keeping track of your cloths is just unbeleivable. you keep them in different places like slop in your belt pocket detail over left shoulder or at least some system.
First, scrims are witchcraft.
Second microfibers are for wiping sills, frames, spills, vehicles, syrup, dishes etc.
Third, you only use a fingers tip edge with a huck to detail. If you have to ball a towel up to get water, just resqueegee.
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If you are using towels for rubber clearing, I’m betting that 3 towels is light.
Dirt is grit, like sand is grit.
Try to wipe away a pile of sand with a wet towel, you get scratchy, scuff type stuff.
Pour liquid water on it, it becomes much more manageable.
- same thing, smaller scale.
Get a good sponge. Problem solved.
I know a girl that straight pulls faster than most people I know that fan. I need to see it again with skilled eyes since it’s been a while, but learned that way and stuck with it for a decade…
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