[Aiden Smith]

Hi all

My first year and wanting to know when cleaning in freezing conditions what is the best way to go about preventing water from freezing on the glass before squeegeeing it off.

Thank you

[windymiller]

use screenwash, or put bottle of vodka in your bucket

[brynley]

use warm water, and if customers have heating on inside you shouldn't have a problem, I have only had problems when for example  the conservatory doesn't have heating

[8weekly]

Use wfp and then there's no need to squeegee. Do people still use them outside?

[windymiller]

Wfp freezes, there is plenty of topics on ere about wfp freezing, people trying to prevent wfp freezing etc

[combat1]

WFP also is not too good in icy weather conditions due to water spillage freezing. I know some guys take salt to lay down but my customers did not like it.
In really bad conditions I revert to my ettore reach pole and backflip.  I take out about 15 litres of hot water from the bath and have an insulated drum for this. It stays warm all day.

[windymiller]

im not wfp but heard if the hose is left long enough on the freezing floor the hoze freezes up.

[gary999]

tis true wfp hot or cold freezes on glass in unheated areas
and freezes on the ground in extreme cold...but rather face that problem
rather than sticking a ladder up in cold weather.

guys i know who trad use screenwash

[bobplum]

if its that bad....stay at home

[lal]

if its that bad....stay at home
+1

[Jon_Phelps]

As windymiller says - Hot soapy water does the job.......AND squeegee really fast.

I'm trad and wfp..........when its too cold for the hoses and poles to function  i can still earn by cleaning trad.  if its slippery on the ground then avoid going up a ladder if you don't have anyone to foot it......simples

there's always something that can be done in freezing conditions, keep working and keep that income coming in

Jon

[dazmond]

screenwash in your bucket along with your normal detergent will help.this is what i do.also i carry ice melt grit and a sweeping brush in the van and a spare flask of hot water to thaw out jets if they freeze.

i reckon with hot wfp i should be able to work down to -5.with cold wfp ive managed ok at -2 as long as i keep moving and keeping the water flowing.

where theres a will theres a way!i see working in extreme conditions a challenge and get out and do as much as i can.

sometimes though its better to just take the day off or start later and finish earlier.


regards


dazmond

[wpclean]

use screenwash, or put bottle of vodka in your bucket

Or better still just drink the vodka, and stay at home  

[Aiden Smith]

Thanks for al the tips much appreciated, I will put them into practice and learn from them

Aiden

[C o z y]

I've been in this game for over 20 years, and never thought of the tip I got from Daz and that funny looking gay bloke, (Matt Bateman). If there's ice on the ground or snow, we only clean down stairs and charge them accordingly. Custy is happy, we're happy, so it's all good. Before you realize it, you've earned a nice wad, and got a few days off as a result. Bad point is, around 33% of your turnover is missing that time around.

Works well for us. On the mainland continent, we tend to get much colder winters than UK, and dryer air, so any warm or hot on freezing glass just goes solid within a second. So WFP is a non starter in winter. Some of the Gurmuns use WFP for high work on commercial work here, so when it's minus 10 to 15, nobody works.

We can work down to about minus 6 with 50/50 mix of screenwash. No detailing though at those temps.
HTH

[Diamond standard ltd]

Use isopropanol got us though the -14 winter

[C o z y]

Too high cost, and we found that after it's been exposed to air, it quickly evaporates and we get freezing again. So scraping the ice off loses time and we just decided that minus 6 to 7 is the limit mate. Thanks for the tip though. The main thing is, using a ladder in minus temps is a no no, because you can't always see the ice or frozen patch that is under the ladder. So any ice, downstairs only for us.

[koopmaster]

Its not so bad in london, or at least in south london where it only got to -3 or -5 at the lowest.  I cleaned trad 2 years ago and just started a few hours later to stop the freezing on the glass.  last year I used WFP and just cleaned as normal, I had to stop one day after lunch because my pipe froze but that was all.