[paul mather]

And before anybody tries to make any rude comments, they are not welcome.

It was recommended to me to put polish on the pole. Is that something other WFPers do & if so what type of polish do you use, common or garden furniture polish?

[steve m]

I bought a couple of second hand poles a while back, and they said to use wd40

[master cleaner]

i use car wax mer is ok mainly in winter , i was told to use a silicon spray or wd40 but they get on your hands and with some poles make things worse , the best thing to do is to keep your pole clean once or twice a day wipe the muck off it with a damp cloth.

with some poles the bit that stops them coming apart is a peice of velcro stuck to the top inside the pole when this gets wet with water wd40 or oil it sticks when extending the pole , keep it clean and you should be ok

gary

[JM123]

we've never ever polished any of our poles - but apparently some use furniture polish

[master cleaner]

we've never ever polished any of our poles - but apparently some use furniture polish

hi jm123

i have used polish but it doesnt seem to last a full day in winter
if your pole is kept clean and dry you shouldnt need to use anything like you said.
 i put some wax on the pole every now and then just to protect it

gary

[EasyClean]

I occassionally rub beeswax on the poles and find it helpful for gripping the poles if they become wet whilst working through showers. I find it minimises the chance of the pole slipping out of my hands come winter time. I find you can get a really good grip on the wet poles. Try for yourself, it will cost about £3.00 for a small jar which will coat your entire WFpole 3-6 times depending on how sparingly you use it.

[JM123]

like I said GLR we've never had to polish any of our poles, spoke to a guy yesterday who said he used the hard simoniz wax that you get in the yellow tin, says its brilliant.

[Paul Coleman]

I just use a damp cloth myself and a bit of vaseline on the collars (they're Omnipoles)

[macc]

I wipe mine at the end of the day with a damp cloth.

Macc

[Alex Gardiner]

We Have never used polish ourselves, although many do. What we do is evry so often or when the pole gets gritty we extend the pole hose it down inside and outside flushing all the dirt out, works a treat and extends the life of the pole.

Most wear on the pole is due to trapped grit between the clamp and the pole, so cleaning this regularly will prevent excessive wear. This is the main reason that some peoples poles do not last as long.

The other reason for excessive wear is using a taller pole on downstairs, this causes the top of the top section to wear, because of the extra sideways pressure on the section in use on the downstairs, when actually on an upstairs pole it should be the bottom of the section that should wear out first.

We try to use a smaller pole for downstairs.

Alex

[paul mather]

Alex,

When you need to extend a 4 part pole to do normal upstairs work is it best to extend the first part (thickest section) I have been doing that as I assume this section is more able to take stress on a regular basis than the thin top section.

[Extremeclean]

We Have never used polish ourselves, although many do. What we do is evry so often or when the pole gets gritty we extend the pole hose it down inside and outside flushing all the dirt out, works a treat and extends the life of the pole.

Most wear on the pole is due to trapped grit between the clamp and the pole, so cleaning this regularly will prevent excessive wear. This is the main reason that some peoples poles do not last as long.

The other reason for excessive wear is using a taller pole on downstairs, this causes the top of the top section to wear, because of the extra sideways pressure on the section in use on the downstairs, when actually on an upstairs pole it should be the bottom of the section that should wear out first.

We try to use a smaller pole for downstairs.

Alex

Excellent advice.

Look after your equipment properly and you will reap the benefits.

It is indeed the grit getting into the clamps that causes most problems with poles. Each of my systems undergoes weekly inspection and maintenance. Part of this is to do exactly as Alex describes. Other points include checking all hoses, hose connections, RO perfomance and a number of other items.  This also includes all other equipment and of course vehicles.

Time spent doing this prevents many avoidable problems occuring whilst working which always results in loss of earnings.  If it looks loose,worn,leaky then it gets replaced.

[steve m]

if only doing a two story house, rather than extending from the bottom, you should extend from the top. Reason being that although the bottom section has a larger diamater, the wall thckness is still the same as they will be made at almost the same time, just on a differenr mandrel. If the bottom sections are together its less stress on the clamp/joint section, if that makes sense

[Alex Gardiner]

Paul,

Always extend the thinner section first as this is plenty strong enough for regular use also this will put less strain on you the user and keeps the pole better balanced.

Alex