[mark dew]

Got a conservatory roof coming up and have ordered ionics residential kit with 18ft pole.
I live in a hard water area and am wondering:

My water company has given the local water hardness as this:

mg/l as (Ca)    mg/l as CaCO3    Degrees Clarke   Description

170 - 180              424 - 449               0 - 31         Very hard


1. What do these readings mean compared to a tds reading?

2. How much resin is in the 12" cannisters and if anyone else uses these how much can you clean before replacing?

I don't have a R/O yet and have ordered the green resin to prolong the life of the blue resin.
I read a post on here from ionics saying 3 conservatories in a hard water area before the resin needs replacing.

This will be my 1st experience of wfp and a roof would be ideal for a run out but at 30 quid a cartridge (and i have both)  and 3 cleans per cartridge i will have to account for 20 quid of each quote on resin alone. Is this right?

I have to quote for conservatory roof (outside) on monday and i need to take into account the costs of cleaning now.
Or could it be better to stick with fairy, applicator and pole (with a few acrobatics no doubt) and base the 1st quote solely on time? Speeding up next time with full wfp?
 

cheers

mark
 

[John Walker]

Hi Mark

You really need to get that RO unit asap with water that hard.  Others will give you more detailed replies but I have to pop out.

Good Luck

John

[rosskesava]

Hi

I don't know that much about these things as I'm also new to wfp but CaCO3 is undisolved calcium which usually, I think, means chalk and the Ca bit is the dissolved calcium. Basically it is how hard/soft the water is.

7 degrees Clarke is 100 part per million impurities (ppm) and that is the important bit.

Your water is roughly zero to 400 on a tds meter and more likely to be always nearer to 300 which is about the same as where I live.

I looked into the Ionics resindentual kit and decided to wait untill we could get an RO unit purely for the same cost reasons you wrote.

Also, our customers were by and large happy with us just using tap water anyway and I'd no way of knowing how much difference the resindentual kit would make apart from one thing - it would cost a lot to run.

My advice would be to wait untill you can get an RO unit although I may be completely wrong about the resindentual kit in hard water areas.

How we cleaned conservatory roofs was with a 2 gallon pressure bottle (the one with the pump handle) first with an 18ft wfp brush and good old fairy and then rinsed with tap water. They didn't come up perfect but they came up ok.

As for how long the resin lasts, only a tds meter can will tell you that after you've spent the money on resindentual kit and used it.

As for quoting, what I'd do is go a bit lower this time because you do not have a wfp system yet and explain that and also explain that when you get your wfp system, the price will go up a bit. Once someone has seen a conservatory roof done with wfp, believe me they will pay that bit more.

As a rule, when we quote for consevatory roofs it is always a bit less than for doing the house ... within reason. So a £20 house would be £18 for the conservatory roof.

This is not about w/c'ing but is worth a read anyway - http://www.modeleng.org/articles/hwater01.pdf#search='degrees%20clarke'

I hope that hepls a bit.

Cheers

[24-7 S C Services]

HI Everyone,

Ross you’re far too cheap on your conservatory roof's, my minimum charge is £45 and I never have anyone humming and harring over the price. It's a specialist job 

Mark, I think your 12" DI vessel will be depleted on the one job with the hardness of your water. You may be lucky to get two jobs from it.

Invest in an RO, or you will be out of pocket very quickly

Andrew

[kingfisher]

Hi Mark

If you are only doing the odd consevatory roof would it be worth getting a cheap RO unit.

 I brought one on ebay when I first started for about £50 came with a free TDS meter as well.

Does about 200lts a day.

Kev

[rosskesava]

Hi 24-7 S C Services

Ross you’re far too cheap on your conservatory roof's

You think so? At work we always argue over that also. The other two always want a higher price but it's always me that has to say the cost.

I've never spent longer than 20 minutes on a conservatory roof and I'd feel as if I was ripping the person off.

How much time do you spend or do you see it as cost only because it is a specialist job?

Cheers and thanks

[24-7 S C Services]

HI Ross,

I probably only spend 20 - 30 mins, cost wise, I use a lot of water, more than I would on their windows, plus, yes it is more specialist than windows and more costly if any damage is made. (I have not damaged one yet).

I have two booked in for next week @ £45 each and I am pricing another up tomorrow, I will see if I can get a pic and also tell you the price.


Andrew

[rosskesava]

Hi Andrew again

I'm interested in this.

How do you present the cost?

Do you just say it straight out or do you ummm and arghhh and spend time walking around first?

£45 each gets me really seriously interested.

I know it may a difficult question to answer - but can you give an idea of size and how arkward or easy?

Or maybe I'll wait for the picture but I'm impatient.

Hi kingfisher

I brought one on ebay when I first started for about £50 came with a free TDS meter as well.

That sounds very good value. Was it a one off or a 'buy now'?

Cheers

[mark dew]

yes it is looking like i'll need a R/O.
Kingfisher, that sounds like a good price. Was looking on ro-man site and 100gpd unit was 45 quid.
Ross, i was thinking about pricing on time and when they want it doing next year and i'm on wfp i'll get my increase by doing the job alot quicker.
Andrew, 1 job? I read a post saying 2 or 3 so i was prepared for the worst. I thought.
If i could charge 45 quid for 45 minutes work i could absorb the cost of resin into the job. But for 1 job? It seems like i'll be better off doing it manually and saving the resin until i get R/O.
Well thanks for the input guys. I've made my 1st step on the road to getting wfp. I'm going to be better off waiting til i get RO and storage tank. I see that now.

cheers

mark

[rosskesava]

Hi Mark

I think so as you said. Get the proper RO unit first. We built our own from ro-man and it was good fun doing it and all the problems were nothing really.

I didn't want to come outright and say it.

Cheers

[mark dew]

Hi Mark

I think so as you said. Get the proper RO unit first. We built our own from ro-man and it was good fun doing it and all the problems were nothing really.

I didn't want to come outright and say it.

heehee...  no, but 60 quids worth of resin for 1 or 2 jobs is like gold dust to a fairy and elbow grease man.

I shall wait.

Cheers
 

[Andrew McCann]

Hi Mark

Definately get an RO unit. 2 or 3 jobs like this one and it will pay for itself just in resin cost saving.

At this time of year the good old green slime is beginning to appear on loads of conservatories. Everywhere I go I look for this and am getting loads of great paying work. I am also picking up a lot of nicely paying window cleaning from the places I do the conservatories where I dont already do the windows. In most cases I can do the window/windows above the conservatory as well and they love that 

Andrew

[ian davison]

I just bought the residential kit and have cleaned 3 roofs upto now and still have half resin left.

I live in Nuneaton where the waters solid.
The trick is to only use the pure water for the final rinse.
Use extention pole and mop first.

 Use normal tap water with the wfp to scub and rinse.
 Use pure water for the final rinse.
                    Ewen
   

[John Walker]

I just bought the residential kit and have cleaned 3 roofs upto now and still have half resin left.

I live in Nuneaton where the waters solid.
The trick is to only use the pure water for the final rinse.
Use extention pole and mop first.

 Use normal tap water with the wfp to scub and rinse.
 Use pure water for the final rinse.
                    Ewen
   

Hi Ewen

I agree - this is how I do first cleans, cars and conservatories - tap water first - pure water for final rinse only.

I have to work like this as I have limited carrying capacity for my pure water - but it works well for me.  Not one customer complaint in 18 months - so I must be doing something right

John

[ian davison]

On the first con roof i did using this method the old man gave me a box of celebrations as a tip.
Not bad considering he moaned at the price first.

                Regards Ewen