[Cookie]

Up to now I have been using a Pure Freedom trolley and 25L barrels. I have now fixed a 50m hose reel in the van and placed the trolley so it can reach 9 out of my 10 barrels - the reason behind this is that I am thinking of investing in a van mount sometime in the future and want to get used to using the hose (rather than just the trolley). Does anyone have any tips/advice re: using hose reels from the van? I am thinking for example:

1. When I start a clean should I reel the hose out to the farthest window and gradually work my way back to the van?
2. What's the best way to avoid snagging around garden obstacles, avoiding running the hose through flower beds etc...?
3. I guess I need to clean the hose when I reel it back in. I'm going to just use a cloth to start off with - is there a smarter/ more efficient way?

Any advice would be much appreciated!

[Matt.]

Hello mate,
I tend to take the hose out to the furthest window and work back towards the van, as far as items on the floor and snagging on them it's one of them things.
My reel is fixed so when I reel in with my left hand I have a cloth in the other and run hose through cloth as reeling in leaving the hose clean
You prob only need a tank pump controller and you would have a van mount as you must already be purifing

[DeLuce]

Yeah, fixed reel is much easier imo.
Reel hose out to furthest window  then work your way back, it saves you having to pull more hose out later and you can navigate passed awkward obstacles easier on the initial roll out. Then you can follow the path of hose back to nearest window.  ( There will always be a day when the hose gets totally on your nerves, coiling up, stuck on things  . Ride it out, it'll pass )
I have a cloth by the reel, I hold cloth in one hand wrapped loosely round the hose, while winding in with the other.  Have a few spares on a wet day!
As for initial hose outlay, just go for the easiest uncluttered route.  But bear in mind respect for other people's property and flowers.
Good luck fella.

[SeanK]

Don't jump about cursing and damming while foaming at the mouth like somebody with rabies when the hose has snagged
on everything possible over the day.
Its not a professional look and very bad for the blood pressure.

[jwplasterers]

Van Mount is the way forward
1-Always check for gas/water pipes running around the walls of house as hose could damage them if caught up
2-move them bins out of way of hose, always get caught up on them wheels
3-When whinding in make sure no public are walking over hose
4-when your on a dirty drive full of sand or building sites your hose will get all sanded up so clean with virosol on a rag
5-watch for dog mess and I always wear gloves as this keeps my hand nice imagine in 20 years if you dont
6-dont buy a electric reel as this will cause damage if caught up on old ladies, bins, vehicles, gas pipes, flowers, trees, dogs, greenhouses,  hedge hogs, snakes, guttering,  lamp posts,  drunk people coming from pub,
Hope this helps mate

[DeLuce]

Sean, have you been spying on me?? 😀. Very true that mate.

Point 5, I'm proud to say has not yet caught me out. It's a miracle at times coz there's so much of it knocking about even on the pavement areas, it does my head -in!!
I hope I've not tempted fate 

[Smurf]

Yes use trad gear instead  maybe

You will soon figure out the best way on each job how to  manage your hose so to speak.
Big no no in my book is to run a hose accross a road apart from that hose management is up to the individule to reduce the risk of a slip/trip hazzard formost.

[dazmond]

Yes use trad gear instead  maybe

You will soon figure out the best way on each job how to  manage your hose so to speak.
Big no no in my book is to run a hose accross a road apart from that hose management is up to the individule to reduce the risk of a slip/trip hazzard formost.

i always run hoses across side roads and have done for years.

the best way to get used to  your hose is experience.it will get caught up on wheelie bins,plant pots,edges of paving,anything really even after a few years experience.you ll just do more of it when your a newbie.

over time you adapt to minimize snagging etc.i very rarely get annoyed these days when it snags again for the 20th time that day.

[Mike #1]

I reel out to the closet house/window first as pulling the hose back towards the truck causes tangles and snagging  at times more so with over 50mtrs of hose .

[Spruce]

Both hose reels are on wheels.

We pull the whole hose reel to the start point furthest away and walk the reel back to the van laying down hose as we go. This is the easiest way to get around all the obstacles and corners of walls and outbuildings.

We do it several times a day. The rest we just reel out with the hose reel outside of the van. A fixed hose reel would be difficult to manage on our round.

[Smudger]

Spruce, I have to admire that a very logical approach, but that's just not for me, all that wasted time 😬

I changed from  8mm bore to 6mm with an 11mm outside diameter and found snagging reduced dramatically with the smaller diameter hose.

Where there are obstacles particularly near the van I unreel the length required just off the back so it's on the road then walk to the furthest point this way rarely seems to snag unlike pulling off the reel as you go.
Same applies for corners I pull off reel in a straight line until I get to the corner then pull off the rest required so I have a pile of hose at the corner then walk to the furthest point.

Hose only seems to get tangled on those jobs where you travel back and forth several times

Darran

[Cookie]

Thanks all for the advice.  Some interesting tips here .....

I'm hoping in the long term this will not only save me time but also save all the heavy lifting.

[dazmond]

Spruce, I have to admire that a very logical approach, but that's just not for me, all that wasted time 😬

I changed from  8mm bore to 6mm with an 11mm outside diameter and found snagging reduced dramatically with the smaller diameter hose.

Where there are obstacles particularly near the van I unreel the length required just off the back so it's on the road then walk to the furthest point this way rarely seems to snag unlike pulling off the reel as you go.
Same applies for corners I pull off reel in a straight line until I get to the corner then pull off the rest required so I have a pile of hose at the corner then walk to the furthest point.

Hose only seems to get tangled on those jobs where you travel back and forth several times

Darran

yep thats how i do it most of the time.

i have my reel fixed in the van all the time too.much easier than lugging it in and out during your working day for sure.

[David Beecroft]

I find it useful to use street "furniture", (lampposts Etc) as aids against snagging on car tyres and the like. Just having a quick look at the route your hose is going to lay and working out how to avoid obvious hazards. Lamposts and street signs are usually rounded and the hose will travel around them far easier than say the brick corner of a house. It also saves damage to your hose.

[SeanK]

Both hose reels are on wheels.

We pull the hole hose reel to the start point furthest away and walk the reel back to the van laying down hose as we go. This is the easiest way to get around all the obstacles and corners of walls and outbuildings.

We do it several times a day. The rest we just reel out with the hose reel outside of the van. A fixed hose reel would be difficult to manage on our round.

I'm in the same boat a fixed hose reel didn't  work for me  even though the majority of the properties I clean are detached.
I found it impossible to get the van parked in just the right spot that your not going to be pulling the hose around vehicles and so on, I wheel it to the best position which usually isn't that far from the van and unwind it from there.
The same goes with winding the hose back in sometimes moving the reel a little can make all the difference in what it snags on.
The down side is lifting the reel in and out of the van but no difference time wise.

[dazmond]

one van move all day today(22 houses to clean)i only have to reel in twice.

[Smudger]

Nothing on earth would get me going back to lifting a reel in and out, used to kill me by the end of the day

Darran

[Spruce]

Spruce, I have to admire that a very logical approach, but that's just not for me, all that wasted time 😬

I changed from  8mm bore to 6mm with an 11mm outside diameter and found snagging reduced dramatically with the smaller diameter hose.

Where there are obstacles particularly near the van I unreel the length required just off the back so it's on the road then walk to the furthest point this way rarely seems to snag unlike pulling off the reel as you go.
Same applies for corners I pull off reel in a straight line until I get to the corner then pull off the rest required so I have a pile of hose at the corner then walk to the furthest point.

Hose only seems to get tangled on those jobs where you travel back and forth several times

Darran

Hi Darran.

I think the difference is that you need to find the fastest way to do each job as time means money. When you have young lads working with/for you you have to keep pushing or their Facebook page gets priority.

For me I need to pace myself. If I rush at it too quickly I'll be exhausted by the time I get to the second house. So I do what's easiest for me rather than what's quickest. I will replace my 8mm Minibore hose with 6mm Microbore, a suggestion you made about a year ago. But as I've swapped ends around on my current hose, it still has a bit more life left in it.

I occasionally take out one of those slip and slide units if I need to pull the hose around an object such as a car tyre, but I'm always paranoid someone gets in the car an drives off when I'm around the back out of view and destroys it.

I have really looked at those hose guides on numerous occasions to see it I could adapt a fixed electric hose reel into the van. As my son is working with me most days now he takes it on himself to lift my reel in and out of the van and wind the hose in. This is a great help to me.

Guys - don't get old, it isn't much fun.

[SeanK]

Nothing on earth would get me going back to lifting a reel in and out, used to kill me by the end of the day

Darran

I suppose if you have one off properties then I could see it being an issue but my reel rarely gets lifted in and out of the van
more than two to three times a day.

[Spruce]

.....

Nothing on earth would get me going back to lifting a reel in and out, used to kill me by the end of the day

Darran

I suppose if you have one off properties then I could see it being an issue but my reel rarely gets lifted in and out of the van
more than two to three times a day.

.......... and this is why some things work for some of us and not others. No 2 rounds are the same.  A compact round is certainly great when you don't have to move the van much.

The compact section of our round is done my son in law. For him its quick, and as he was only working part-time, we gave him the section where he could maximize his weekly earnings. Most of the other rounds are 'patchy', a couple of houses together here and there, so the hose reel comes out lots of times a day.