Thank you Spruce, you've been a great help.
We notice a big difference on one job we have where we unroll the whole 100 meters of hose. The water flows much better at the brush head. Half way through the job we roll about 2/3rd of the hose back onto the hose reel. The flow difference at the brush head is quite noticeable. So water is more easily able to travel down a straight hose than a coiled one. Water temperature also plays a big part in this as well.
So in theory I should have a better flow rate round the back of the house than round the front as more hose is uncoiled then? Or I need to uncoil the right amount for the back before I even start the front!
I'm answering this separately.
Most of us haven't the space in our vans to carry a variety of hose reels around to accomodate different jobs. Most of us have found that 100 meters of minibore/microbore is good for everything. If you need it longer then move the van.
I'm also inclined to over clean, but I can tell you from experience you waste time, water and money doing it. I know this is very new to you, so the 'smart money' tells us that you need 2 passes on each window pane, a quick rinse and onto the next window. Set yourself a a target time to wash and rinse an average window of 60 seconds. Count up a second at a time in your head as you do it. I will probably take you longer than a minute as you are doing first cleans, so start doing it after your second clean. If you take longer, make 60 secs your target. Once you have achieved that then reduce it to 50 seconds etc.
Son in law started wfp cleaning 2 years ago having done trad for many years. Yes he took over some of our round which was all wfp so he had no first cleans. He is so fast each window takes him less than 15 secs. But each window I've inspected after he has finished and moved on was perfect. We lost a couple of customers due to his speed. Not one of those customers convinced me that it was because the windows weren't cleaned properly.
We have a monthly commercial we do that which is done over a weekend when there isn't anyone around. Its great for experimenting on. There are a whole run of windows that are south facing so dry quickly. We have often used that run of windows to play around as we can go back over them and correct any issues. We tried one pass and rinse, a slower one pass and no rinse and scrubbed and rinsed like made. Once they had dried you couldn't tell the difference. But for us 2 passes and a good rinse is what we do.
Have a look at this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=re2CdgRbSsE
I've watched a few of his videos recently, like this one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuRIBzupHuM which has windows similar in size to those I deal with, but hadn't happened across the one you mention.
Because of previous health issues and an overly long transition period between trad and wfp, my customers' windows and frames will probably all be filthy so I'd rather spend a little extra time getting it clean first time and lower the chances of me losing customers or getting complaints and then on my return clean, I can concentrate on speeding up a lot.
2 passes is good advice, though I'm aggressively scrubbing my panes, possibly too much, I just imagine the windows must be really dirty and I need to scrub them clean, but then the water running down from the frame scrubbing and rinsing will have already softened it up somewhat.
Yes, you are right with regard to first cleans. Take your time and go back and check your work when the windows have dried a bit. Spending time getting the first clean will cost you in reduced income, but doing a good job first clean will pay dividends later on. You can start to speed up a little later once the windows are 'sterile.'
You won't have a difference in flow between the backs and fronts. We pull enough hose off the reel to start at the furthest window and work back. So you will have the same amount of hose off the reel no matter where you are.
My hose reel is on wheels and for those difficult access backs gardens with lots of corners I pull the hose reel to the furthest window, sometimes lock the hose around something and walk the hose reel back to the van - works out much quicker and you end up with the right amount of hose.
