[Stoots]

I have 4 univales, 1 on each of my poles

Only one is playing up, ive had them all at least a year.

Seem to be lasting quite well

[jo5hm4n]

I dont see what all the fussing is about.  It's £30..... And generally lasts atleast 6-12 months.  Plus it's an amazing bit of kit.

Think of it this way.  If every single Univalve lasted 3+ years then Steve @ Exceed would literally go out of business eventually because he wouldn't be getting enough repeat orders to warrant keeping that part of his business going.

To me this is just the same as complaining if a Gardiners brush only lasts you 6 months instead of 18+ months.  If it takes alot of use and only costs £30 and is a big help to your business i dont see why you are being so cheap.

Even if i had to change the Univalves every 6 months on all our poles i would still replace them it works out to £5 per month.  Thats nothing really.

[Ooooooog]

I use to use them crappy taps. The teeth on those only lasted 6 months. About the same price.

[DeLuce]

Are you able to separate the components to replace the spring Rich? I've never gone that far. All I've done is lubricated the o ring and put that tiny sealing o ring on the plunger back in place.

Yeah, you can take it to bits completely. Grease and reassemble if you want.
Seems you have a mechanic background, you don’t need me to explain how to go about it Spruce. You’ve got more experience than me 

[P @ F]

All done and fixed for now , took the 2 broken bits of spring and turned them end to end in the opposite direction so that the broken bits became each end , then stretched the spring to the right length and hey presto 

[Spruce]

All done and fixed for now , took the 2 broken bits of spring and turned them end to end in the opposite direction so that the broken bits became each end , then stretched the spring to the right length and hey presto 

Are you able to separate the components to replace the spring Rich? I've never gone that far. All I've done is lubricated the o ring and put that tiny sealing o ring on the plunger back in place.

Yeah, you can take it to bits completely. Grease and reassemble if you want.
Seems you have a mechanic background, you don’t need me to explain how to go about it Spruce. You’ve got more experience than me 

It probably does come apart completely but I have never looked that far. I thought that as Rich had a failed unit he would have a go. 

I took my sons pole apart to clean it out over the weekend as he doesn't care. I noticed that the O clips holding the hose onto the Univalve on his pole were just about rusted through.
I do have o clips on the van as spares so not 100% sure if these came from Exceed as part of the kit or if they were from another supplier.

[P @ F]

Busy boy me !

[Lee GLS]

All done and fixed for now , took the 2 broken bits of spring and turned them end to end in the opposite direction so that the broken bits became each end , then stretched the spring to the right length and hey presto 

Just tried this with mine, worked perfectly 

[Ooooooog]

I do love to see a vernier calliper😀😀

[Lee GLS]

Have you got the measurement of the small oring ?

[P @ F]

Have you got the measurement of the small oring ?

You don’t want much do you 
2 mins

[Lee GLS]

Have you got the measurement of the small oring ?

You don’t want much do you 
2 mins

Seeing as you’ve your your vernier out, saves me going outside to get mine 

[P @ F]

Baby one

[Lee GLS]

Thanks.   

[Splash & dash]

I dont see what all the fussing is about.  It's £30..... And generally lasts atleast 6-12 months.  Plus it's an amazing bit of kit.

Think of it this way.  If every single Univalve lasted 3+ years then Steve @ Exceed would literally go out of business eventually because he wouldn't be getting enough repeat orders to warrant keeping that part of his business going.

To me this is just the same as complaining if a Gardiners brush only lasts you 6 months instead of 18+ months.  If it takes alot of use and only costs £30 and is a big help to your business i dont see why you are being so cheap.

Even if i had to change the Univalves every 6 months on all our poles i would still replace them it works out to £5 per month.  Thats nothing really.

Try buying 18 of them and you might think differently they arnt needed and it’s something else to go wrong or need maintaining , as for Gardiners  brushes lasting 6 months I would be highly delighted with that I find after 6 weeks they are unusable by firming a v parting in the middle and bristles going very soft and crushing easily

[Jonny 87]

I dont see what all the fussing is about.  It's £30..... And generally lasts atleast 6-12 months.  Plus it's an amazing bit of kit.

Think of it this way.  If every single Univalve lasted 3+ years then Steve @ Exceed would literally go out of business eventually because he wouldn't be getting enough repeat orders to warrant keeping that part of his business going.

To me this is just the same as complaining if a Gardiners brush only lasts you 6 months instead of 18+ months.  If it takes alot of use and only costs £30 and is a big help to your business i dont see why you are being so cheap.

Even if i had to change the Univalves every 6 months on all our poles i would still replace them it works out to £5 per month.  Thats nothing really.

Not quite sure I agree with that.

I understand it’s business, but imagine if Gardiners did this with poles. Manufacturing things to fail doesn’t sit well with me. It’s a shame.

It’s a slippery slope as if these start failing in less than 12 months it will put people off keep buying them.

Whereas it could be a solid and quality part that becomes a no Brainer for people. “Of course my pole has a univalve on it, why wouldn’t it”.

Also think of it this way......if a univalve lasted Atleast 3 years, how much would You pay for it?  Probably more than £30.

Even at £30 a pop, how many window cleaning poles are there out there in the uk alone? Enough to make a very nice profit that’s for sure.

[P @ F]

Even if the cheaper springs were used on all further Univalves I would not have an issue

What I would like to see is a service kit from Exceed that consisted of the 2 o rings and spring , do that once a year and every customer is happy and Steve still has an ongoing income
I for one would happily pay £10 plus delivery for it 

[nathankaye]

I dont see what all the fussing is about.  It's £30..... And generally lasts atleast 6-12 months.  Plus it's an amazing bit of kit.

Think of it this way.  If every single Univalve lasted 3+ years then Steve @ Exceed would literally go out of business eventually because he wouldn't be getting enough repeat orders to warrant keeping that part of his business going.

To me this is just the same as complaining if a Gardiners brush only lasts you 6 months instead of 18+ months.  If it takes alot of use and only costs £30 and is a big help to your business i dont see why you are being so cheap.

Even if i had to change the Univalves every 6 months on all our poles i would still replace them it works out to £5 per month.  Thats nothing really.

Not quite sure I agree with that.

I understand it’s business, but imagine if Gardiners did this with poles. Manufacturing things to fail doesn’t sit well with me. It’s a shame.

It’s a slippery slope as if these start failing in less than 12 months it will put people off keep buying them.

Whereas it could be a solid and quality part that becomes a no Brainer for people. “Of course my pole has a univalve on it, why wouldn’t it”.

Also think of it this way......if a univalve lasted Atleast 3 years, how much would You pay for it?  Probably more than £30.

Even at £30 a pop, how many window cleaning poles are there out there in the uk alone? Enough to make a very nice profit that’s for sure.

If they are built to last like the origional ones, people will still buy because everyone speaks highly of them on all the social media sites!
Steve will still have a steady stream of return customers, plus not all window cleaners in the UK are going to buy them in the same month. Hence he will have a steady, ongoing market for them. Especially with all the newbies wanting new equipment etc all the time.  In between that, supplying maintenance kits as well plus other little products etc He aint gonna run his business into the ground!

The price is irrelevant, reputation is key

[Spruce]

Even if the cheaper springs were used on all further Univalves I would not have an issue

What I would like to see is a service kit from Exceed that consisted of the 2 o rings and spring , do that once a year and every customer is happy and Steve still has an ongoing income
I for one would happily pay £10 plus delivery for it 

Could either of these be suitable?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Wire-Dia-1mm-Compression-Spring-Stainless-Steel-Pressure-Spring-Various-Sizes/274072673263?var=574155317537&hash=item3fd0011bef:m:mrNCwInmCRWC1j2OU2fjX4g

1 x 10 x 25
or
1 x 10 x 30.

[Pete Thompson]

If they are built to last like the origional ones, people will still buy because everyone speaks highly of them on all the social media sites!
Steve will still have a steady stream of return customers, plus not all window cleaners in the UK are going to buy them in the same month. Hence he will have a steady, ongoing market for them. Especially with all the newbies wanting new equipment etc all the time.  In between that, supplying maintenance kits as well plus other little products etc He aint gonna run his business into the ground!

The price is irrelevant, reputation is key

Well thank goodness you're here to sort out his business plan.  I mean, it's not like you have no idea what volumes or costs he has is it?  LOL!  Only he knows what is needed for him to continue production, you are simply guessing.

Also, I highly doubt this has been 'engineered to fail' - that is crazy.

More likely : They used a UK supplier with the first lot as it's much easier to deal with the UK and get answers to questions etc (such as "can this be done in this size/material etc").  UK suppliers are expensive, but they are good quality and can supply smaller quantities, and are keen to help with design tweaks.

Then, when all was well with the design and he knew it was not going to change significantly, then he found a Chinese supplier for as many of the components as possible.  It was probably less than 50% the cost of getting them in the UK, but the downside is you need to order a higher quantity.

The problem with chinese components is that the quality is variable, and you don't always get what you asked for. He may have asked for that spring in a particular material and only something similar was available. 

The point is, if you have the opportunity to reduce the manufacturing cost by 50%, you're going to do it aren't you?  And you won't know about differences in quality for months after you start selling them, and then you have 10,000 sitting waiting to be used up.

Side point - I'm amazed that there were EVER spare parts on sale for this product! I would certainly never have offered them, the product is cheap enough and small enough to simply replace the whole thing as needed.  Plus it doesn't look very user-serviceable.  I'd have made the warranty at least a year though.