[Lee.]

My first day with wfp, yipeee.
I have been waiting nearly a year for this, I took my wife as I usually do and she did downstairs trad. I got to my first house, unwound loads of pipe but my hosereel had warpped so just doing that was tough. I go around the back of the house and discover that I was a foot short of pipe, I put everything down went back to the van to unreel another foot of hose, Knocked over a plant pot and looked up at her windows only to discover all her windows are open so I tried closing them with my pole then the house alarm goes off, all eyes on me! my wife then comes around the corner and says " ive finished the backs " and I haven't even started.

Im confident that it will work out happily ever after, but what a struggle it was, it took me 1hr 30m to do 2 houses, with my wife helping me. Having said that I am using a 22ft universal pole to do first storey, my idea was get the largest pole that I can do everything with and then I can get a smaller one later.

moral of the story; don't buy cheap by the best that you can afford.

My customers where happy with the job though, to me that is what counts.

Any suggestions on making wfp life easier will be really gratefully excepted

Lee

[pt]

I started wfp on Monday. I have bought what I consider good Quality gear and spent three months putting it togrther and a few days making sure  it all runs smoothly- which it has.The last three days have been hard work, and on the whole I have had excellent results. I do check the work over and have redone windows which came up sub standard.

Many Thanks,

Paul.

[windows_chepstow]

Any suggestions on making wfp life easier will be really gratefully excepted

Lee

Lee,

Experience will make your WFP life easier, but unfortunately, when you need it the most, you haven't got it.

Are you using a van-mounted system for doing 'tops only'?

[Londoner]

Lee man.   I have been there and so has everyone else. You are only going to get better believe me.

There is a lot of things to remember when you first start and like tosh says when you need it most you haven't got the experience.

If you don't mind me saying so, this is not the best week of the year to be starting WFP. But GOOD LUCK

[windows_chepstow]

Lee, my advice would be the following:

If you're doing 'tops only' with a WFP; use a backpack or trolley system.  A van-mounted system; even a small one would be like cracking a wallnut with a sledgehammer.  The time-saving you'll make on not having to refill or change barrels will be lost on moving your vehicle.

Backpacks also have the ability to actually go anywhere where your body can go.

Also, the pole you're using is far to big; therefore heavy and this will rapidly tire you.

Use a pole suitable for the work you're doing.  As I tell Wor Lass, bigger isn't always better.

For a quality budget pole, I recommend Unger poles; you just add sections according the height you're cleaning.  I've used an Ionics 18" residential pole (fibre glass) and thought it was great; until I started using the unger one.

It's so light, it's magic.

Stick at it, it's on second and third cleans that you speed up, and for me it took several months before I realised I could 'go for it' without any lowering of standards on the clean.

[Lee.]

Thanks guys for your help.
You are right Tosh I am using a van mount, I will do the lower level when my wife gets a pole too, I'll make sure her's is a mono pole or something very lite and get myself another pole for first story. Are you refering to the new unger pole? It's very expensive me thinks I was thinking of a 12ft universal, Do you think that is big enough?
Thanks for your help

Lee

[neil100]

Lee,

Nothing wrong with a van mount system, it just takes time. I dont know what your round is like so I cant advise weather you should have a trolley system or not.

I do know of chaps around my area, who started off with trolley systems but they have all upgraded to van mounts and they are glad they did,wishing they had done it in the first place.

My son is helping me at the momment but is in the process of building his own w/c round up and I will be helping him out to get a van mount system when he gets enough work.

Recommendations. 100mtr m/bore hose. Use a mini pole for downstairs. Get an 18' pole from gardiner systems and buy a salmon brush from Gaz about £12.00 plus p&p. and put that on your 18' pole. Its a lightweight monofilimant brush and you will not beleive how much lighter your pole will feel, plus you dont have to pull of the glass to rinse.

If you need a bigger pole for higher windows buy another pole.

Nel.

[JM123]

don't buy cheap buy the best you can afford - good quote.

Look at it this way, if you buy the best (best for yourself) of what you use all day it makes life easier, the hose we use retails at £65/50m, but its absolutely superb.  The hose reels are all metal floorstanding reels, not the cheapest but really good quality and handy for us, all our poles are excel or brodex (25+ are all ecolites), it makes life easier, and as such means we can earn more for less effort for less time.  very rarely is there a problem with any parts so again this makes it easier.

Stick at it, one of the biggest things is just getting used to working with a pole, knowing exactly where to park etc also makes it easier, you know you've got the hang of it when you start making more money than normal for less work.

[macc]

Recommendations. 100mtr m/bore hose. Use a mini pole for downstairs. Get an 18' pole from gardiner systems and buy a salmon brush from Gaz about £12.00 plus p&p. and put that on your 18' pole. Its a lightweight monofilimant brush and you will not beleive how much lighter your pole will feel, plus you dont have to pull of the glass to rinse.

If you need a bigger pole for higher windows buy another pole.

Nel.

Spot on. Microbore is a must, poles etc. 

Macc

[Londoner]

Lee-man     Any update for us after the first week?

[pylofm]

Another question....your numpty alert should now be tingling....

Why is microbore such a boon?, is it because of flow rates or saving water?

Sorry to just be plain thick...

Have a good weekend
Dave

[JohnL]

Tosh

which Unger poles are you reffering to?

JohnL

[WavieDavie]

Why is microbore such a boon?, is it because of flow rates or saving water?

If you have 50m of hozelock hose on your reel, you'll get 100m of microbore on it instead, holding roughly the same weight of water still in the hose. I haven't looked for a portable reel which will hold 100m of hozelock, but I'm positive I couldn't lift it back into the van! 

I upgraded to 100psi pumps to get a useful flow, but I think 100psi is now the standard anyway.

The real benefit is that it seems to be made of Teflon (it's not, before anyone asks!) but where you're continually going back and forward because the soddin hose has caught on the least wee obstacle, this is now a thing of the past with microbore.

I've heard of some pressure issues, where the inner and outer layers separate and bulge but that's never affected me. Cleantech were talking about getting an improved microbore to counteract this, but I don't know if they're selling it yet or not.

[Alex Gardiner]

We have been selling an improved microbore now for nearly a year and it really is the business. Much more durable than other 'off the shelf' microbores (which did often have 'delamination' problems). We have it manufactured in 3 lengths exclusively for us and it will change your life!

Better flow rate, improved water usage, easier handling, double the length, and smaller connectors.

As you can gather we really believe in microbore, we have been using it for about 3 1/2 years now and is fantastic.

[pylofm]

Thanks for clearing that up for me....like they say, it's all very simple when you know.

Thanks
Dave 

[Lee.]

I bought most of my kit from Gardiner poles and am very happy, I feel I must mention that the reels that I bought, and have now busted, were not from Gardiner poles. I will certainly continue to use Gardiner as they have been so helpful. But I also must say that I was warned against using 100psi pump as the pressure may just be too much for a one man system, They were right friday I was using my pole, telling all my customers how great this new system is and out popped a pipe from the flow control tap. had too go back to using ladders for the rest of the afternoon. Two days I have used it and both days things didn't go according to plan. Oh well, roll on august - september.

Lee

[Alex Gardiner]

Hi Lee Man,

we have started using a simple solution to the 100psi situation, we have fitted a 60psi pressure switch to the pump, this keeps the higher flow rate of the 100psi pump but with a lower cut-off pressure hence less strain on the joints.

Give us a ring and we can supply you with one if you like.

Alex

[Londoner]

Lee man, are you using a varistream?

[Lee.]

Hi vince,
No I am not using varistream although I will get it soon, I was under the impression that varistream only reduced the flow rate and not the pressure. Please correct me if I am wrong though.

Lee