Hi Rich,
It's honestly nice to see you back and posting. You haven't had a good time health wise lately have you?
We have also used the petal side hose reels successfully for many years now. The first one I bought is now over nine years old and used everyday (I work). It runs freely as I lubricate the shaft and bushes periodically.
The only time I had problems was with a bad batch of hose I fitted that swelled under pressure. Once I ditched that hose and replaced it from another supplier - no more issues.
I recommended a wheeled hose reel due to the number of times a day I take the hose reel out to the furthest point of my clean and then wheel it back, laying hose down as I go. I find it the easiest and quickest way to get round obstacles in customer's gardens. So Dazmond in my experience this has been a benefit to me
on my round. Hence it's my opinion based on my experience.
I always park in the street and only occasionally reverse into a customer's driveway. So pulling hose from a fixed hose reel round the back of a customer's property already has 2 x 90 degreed bends to negotiate.
I would love to have a motorised fixed hose reel in the van but I don't leave the van doors open from a security point of view. I also haven't found a truly satisfactory way or routing the hose through the van floor and out under the bumper. Its a desire that I regularly revisit. I like Jordan King's under floor roller guide system but his under floor components are just too expensive and I can't afford them.
Since I bought my first hose reel I decided to go with minibore. The reasoning behind it was the Williamson pumps advised that they wouldn't honour warranties on Shurflo pumps used on hose less than 1/2".
With 6mm microbore internal bore size being just over half the bore size of minibore, I opted for minibore as I felt the pump wouldn't have to work as hard. (Baring in mind that minibore is less than 1/2 the size of 1/2" hose. So taken to its extreme microbore is about 1/5 the bore size of 1/2" hose).
I don't have the financial ability to experiment with different hose reels and hose and bin them at random like you do Dazmond.
A search through past posts on this forum under hose and hose reels by poster Dazmond will highlight how you highly recommend something one day and then change your mind the next. No offense Daz but:
Thermobore is just one example.
To start off with you recommend it in a number of posts that it is the best thing since sliced bread and then you announce you've binned it.
Anyone following your first advise and purchased 100 meters of Thermobore would feel very let down.
http://www.cleanitup.co.uk/smf/index.php?topic=182803.msg1557743#msg1557743Claber hose reels is another.
I have to make an equipment decision based on a calculated judgement and stick with that decision. I struggle to get through 8 only 3 bed semi's a day due to health issues, so I can't just bang out another couple of houses to recoup a bad purchase.
I would love to buy an Extreme pole and looked at it on several occasions but I can't justify the price for what I do. Far enough, I may be able to clean a couple more houses a day and justify the expense; I used the same reasoning when changing from Aluminum poles to CLX and then SLX. I was fitter in those days and was able to justify the expense.
One day maybe I will have no other option if I want to keep going.