[Dominic]

Hi
Its our first winter on the poles and this morning it is -2 degrees.

1.Do I go out now and use the poles or will the water/equipment freeze up?

2.Do I stay in and wait for temperature to rise but lose valuable time/money?

3.Do I get the ladders out again and do what I always did? I don't want to do this as I've just converted nearly all our customers and obviously i'll be more at risk. However winters have never stopped me before.

4.I've got a heated system but ironically I'm worried about using it incase the heat cracks the windows. There is no heat regulator on this system which is a bit of a joke.

Please put me straight as I really need to get out to work. What do you guys do?

cheers
Dom

[gary evans]

Dom

Same problem as yourself. weve decided not to pole early but may try during day. Will leave poling completely if water will not dispurse from ground. We do carry roadsalt just in case but thick fog over us at present.

More than likely we,ll just do internals & some externals.

Also i am interested in what hot eater system you use i.e. ionics or other. Do they clean like they say, we,ve used wfp 3 years but am interested on results of hot water.

Gary

[H h20]

It`s not too bad here today,alot milder than of late,but i insulated my tank  yesterday just incase,Gaz

[Roy Harding]

Minus six this morning still used wfp all the time no problems at all, however it did freaze on the ground. But not enough to be a problem.

Roy

[rs_cleancare]

Had the same worries this morning. Thought that my customers would not like water on the ground. But i thought i will go for it and have had no problems at all. All my customers seem happy.
rob.

[Dominic]

Thanks for feedback.
I waited till 9.30 and temperature just hit 0 so decided to give it a go and didn't have any problems. Did take salt with us for first time and stuck some on the paths. Just hope it doesn't stay below zero during day too often.

Gary the thermopure system is great but the truth is I don't use the heat that often. I'll use it on a really bad conservatory roof sometimes but that's it. It's nice having it ready for a minging job but not really getting my money out of the heat side at moment. I don't bother using it on first time cleans at moment cos it runs off diesel in van and I'm scrimping any where I can at moment.Maybe I'm just tight!

Other down side is that you can't regulate the heat which seems a bit odd. So there is no way I'm chucking 65 degrees on glass in this cold weather in case it starts cracking glass. If anyone can put me straight on this I'm listening.

Booked in for a diesel heater next week to keep equipment cosy during the day. Been using oil filled rad at night but can't see an alternative to diesel heater for during day. Shame cos it's gonna cost 800 notes. What would you use in the day to protect equipment if we get a really bad winter?

Thanks again for feedback
Dom

[Simon Carter]

No advice .... just my experience. The problem is that it looks like it's going to be a long winter. I had my water fed pole kit through the last one & have no recolection of any problems, but this one already, everything seems to be freezing. Lost my water supply over the weekend when my water meter shattered!.
Assuming the kit's working, I think it's the same rule as with a ladder &  a squueggee.. If the water freezes on the glass ..... go home.

[brett walker]

Brass monkey's spring to mind  :

My jets and pipes were freezing up this morning and that was after leaving the pole in the house all night !

Got the wooden ladders out for tomorrow - back to basics
can't stand around losing money waiting for the weather to warm up  

Still thawing out  

Brett.

[Sir Squeaky]

Don't get Gilesy started on the cold weather... :

[Stuart webster]

Brass monkey's spring to mind  :

"Freeze the balls off a brass monkey" comes from the days of cannon balls on the deck's of ships.
The brass monkey was a triangle that kept the said balls stacked together.
When it was very cold, frozen water would get between the cannon balls and force them off.

ie to "Freeze the balls off a brass monkey"

[Paul Coleman]

Brass monkey's spring to mind  :

"Freeze the balls off a brass monkey" comes from the days of cannon balls on the deck's of ships.
The brass monkey was a triangle that kept the said balls stacked together.
When it was very cold, frozen water would get between the cannon balls and force them off.

ie to "Freeze the balls off a brass monkey"

And there I was imagining all these poor castrated creeatures wandering around with high pitched grunts   

[Stuart webster]

Sorry to ruin your imagination.

[matt]

i opted for number 2

i wait till about 9.30 and then went to work, the temp was MINUS 2 when i started

the only downside was it was a new clean on 2 new houses, the biggest had TWO conserv's and the roof was frozen on the back of the house till gone 2.30, it then thawed, i cleaned it, only for it to freeze again B4 3.30  : :

are well, i earned a few quid

[neil100]

DELAYED STARTING TILL 8.30AM.

The lad complains to much if we start at 8am, Got to break him in gently.

But it was cold, had to be carelull on the ladders as ice was forming on the ally rungs.Body must be adapting to the cold because I took my gloves off by 9am, and never wore them for the rest of the day.unlike the lad who kept them on all day.

Just ordered my van wfp system at the weekend,but I dont think I will be useing it for a while if it stays like this. Never mind, its better then all the rain we were having.In fact last week was my second best week this year for earnings. So it cant be all that bad.

Put me shorts in the van now, just in case its a bit hot around lunch time.

Nel

[matt]

Never mind, its better then all the rain we were having.In fact last week was my second best week this year for earnings. So it cant be all that bad.

thats true, i was told today "your too early"

i say my round is every 6 weeks depending on the weather, of course the last 6 weeks i havent lost 1 day, thus im on the 6 week mark

they are so used to me being 7 or 8 weeks  : :

cannot win

[neil100]

Matt,

I went to Turkey for a week in june, and have been trying to catch back up ever since

So tommorw afternoon I will start on this weeks work.Its a big weeks work mind you and I'm starting to get booked up christmas week.Today I Got a inside job booked in for about £150 but she will allow me to do them when it rains.

So I am now wanting to get ahead so I dont mind if this weather stays AS I will have a fighting chance.

Nel

[Moderator David@stives]

Brass monkey's spring to mind  :

"Freeze the balls off a brass monkey" comes from the days of cannon balls on the deck's of ships.
The brass monkey was a triangle that kept the said balls stacked together.
When it was very cold, frozen water would get between the cannon balls and force them off.

ie to "Freeze the balls off a brass monkey"

I thought it was a square so you could build a pyramid of balls .
Definately not a triangle

[AuRavelling79]

Sorry boys - that's an urban myth.

Can you imagine a (relatively) small fighting ship of the sixteenth through early nineteenth centuries with pyramids of cannonballs on the decks? One small wave or blow of the wind in the sails and they'd be rolling around the deck (bit like a loose cannon ) fracturing toes, ankles and shins.

No - cannonballs were stored near the cannons but in wooden holders called garlands which were fastened securely to the inside of the hull. (This also provided a layer of metal which gave some re-inforcement to the hull against enemy fire.) Further stores were kept lower down (to aid the centre of gravity of the ship) and brought up as needed by "powder monkeys" (usually junior ratings) who brought them to the guns along with needed gunpowder.

The phrase originated in the US and was sometimes used in conjunction with the weather "freeze (or sometimes melt) the tail off a brass monkey." This became "balls" in less polite circles.

"Ooooh! Arrrrr! and Buck Ho!.....Me hearties!"  Cap'n Gold has spoken.

[Stuart webster]

Oh!