[nathankaye]

So it all went wrong today.
Had four jobs in a small posh cul de sac to do and halfway through the second job and the pump stopped working, flashing the P5.
So i thought it must be an air bubble and since ive changed my van layout its a pain to fix as i need to crawl/lean under the shelving. So i release the air after about 30 mins faffing and start working. Only for it to do the same thing five minutes later. The P5 totally cuts out the pump, regardless of turning it up or re calibrating it. At this point and in the boiling heat in a nice cul de sac where im wanting to look professional and gain more work, ive totally had enough. So i whip out the trolley, load up with water only for my bissel bar to come loose due to the heat of the water etc. So now im faffing with the brush and just simply switch poles and continue untill all the work is done.
I assume its the connections allowing air to be sucked in and/or my hose from tank to pump is faulty. (as ive had this in past). So i go to the local diy and buy the reinforced anti kink hose pipe so i can cut about 2. 5 meters off and new jubilee clips.
I decide to move the pump more closer to back of the van so im not reaching underneath anymore and so I niw have to rewire.  So its been bled of air, new hose and connections and new wiring, which can also kick up the P5 and still no joy!

After all that, i didnt simply check if the pressure switch wiring had come loose and disconnected 😭😂😂.      So an afternoon of re jigging n re wiring all because one wire had been disconnected

[james peters]

great post
I have been water fed for 13 years ... and trad for 12 years before that.
what I am about  to write will get bashed , but I dont care as what I AM DOING SUITS ME!
I have many back packs ... I never have pump or battery issues . .. as I always have them at standby.
I dont use barrels . I use a deisel submersable pump which fills in seconds . (again I have more than one incase )
the type of properties i clean two back packs do 1 house .
my daughter does one side .. I do the other... 1 back pack each.
this method is faster than having hose reels .
I never get issues as we have all the spares ready .
I think many window cleaners try to over complicate things .

[C & S]

Agree.

I use hose reel with pump and controller for alot of my work.

The small terraced houses literally a 10 min job with the backpack. job done.

Depends on the house.

I have 2 gardiner backpacks in van ready to go.

12v submersible pump. I drilled a hole in tank lid so its fitted and wired in all the time. so easy.

[AuRavelling79]

Am I the only window cleaner who doesn't use a flow controller?

[james peters]

Agree.

I use hose reel with pump and controller for alot of my work.

The small terraced houses literally a 10 min job with the backpack. job done.

Depends on the house.



I have 2 gardiner backpacks in van ready to go.

12v submersible pump. I drilled a hole in tank lid so its fitted and wired in all the time. so easy.

In  the winter with the beast from the east ... I changed things ... I used barrels ... I filled them with piping hot pure water from DI
used a smaller submersable pump ... (slightly slower ) but it worked
never have all these thec faults ...
I know its not for everyone , but I never have to take days off with problems
its ironic ... I started with back packs ... went to van mount with all the gismos ... then went back to simple but trusted lol

[james peters]

Am I the only window cleaner who doesn't use a flow controller?

no you arent ... I can control the flow easily by diverting it back to the tank , and having the conrtol there .
funnily enough . it doesnt break down 

[nathankaye]

The school boy error was not checking the pressure switch first.    Lol i know you got that, but the point being if i did it would have been a quick minute to reconnect the wire and job done, back to work without  the faff of stopping to sort back packs out.

Also I could have carried on with simply using the back pack and fixed/tinkered with things later, but sadly im like a dog with a bone with these things. I have to fix it or it would drive me nuts whilst im dragging the trolley about thinking it could be easier if i just fixed it rather than use the trolley.
Its my little bug bear that i hate.


However, thats not knocking ones who have adapted their working style with back packs to suit their own set ups.  Thats what makes this great i suppose as there are various ways in which we can adapt the wfp methods to our personal way of doing things

[Tristan R Clean]

I have a backpack I use to get to a few enclosed courtyards. No way would I like to use as main system . The flow is pants compared to a van mount pump without flow controller. Why skimp on water? We are cleaning windows . Use the pumps full bore and really wash the window.

Tris

[Simon Trapani]

Our backpacks are for courtyards and/or bad access only, not as a main system lol.

[Shrek]

I have a backpack I use to get to a few enclosed courtyards. No way would I like to use as main system . The flow is pants compared to a van mount pump without flow controller. Why skimp on water? We are cleaning windows . Use the pumps full bore and really wash the window.

Tris

Same here , I use it for the odd mid terrace - even when the flow is on max , it’s not as good as my van mount. I find that I have to be careful and rinse less just in case I run out

[M & C Window Cleaning]

For me a PF trolley and a 17mtr PU hose does the work and has done for 10 years. However, even with this setup I've found keeping everything simple reduces time spent fixing things. I keep a small toolkit on the vehicle and a spare for most parts of the trolley, including the battery and pump. (I've removed the large battery and fitted a 10ah one which is more than adequate for a days work)
The battery sits in the frame without a box, which makes it more accessible. The controller is a simple PWM controller and can be bypassed should it fail.
We learn as we go along. I can still remember the time I wasted the first time a fuse blew on the trolley trying to figure it out and then having to go buy one.

[dazmond]

Am I the only window cleaner who doesn't use a flow controller?

do you run your pump on  full whack all day then malc?

at full whack its just too much water IMO....id run out of water by lunchtime!(500l tank)....

today i had some period properties to clean first thing with  high delicate georgian sash windows,they leak a bit here and there so i turned my controller down to 30 which is much better for cleaning these types of windows,i also clean other properties like these,churches etc