[MENTION=3471]Alex Lacey[/MENTION]
thanks for the post alternatives are great and i was thinking of a bucket heater myself.
my problems with flame out seem to be low pressure related as the wash it reduces the pressure too low for the heater to run. most seem to be running the heaters off a tank full of purified.
re presoak: i have always tried to use a presoak in my technique but on the last job i did where the hot was working i decided i wanted the heat to last so after doing the top of the window and frame i started vertical strokes and moved across with alot of overlap so the glass got a lot of sustained hot water and scrubbing.
you are filling the tank woth already purified water?
Thatās a good point about the sustained heat- the water cools very quickly on the glass. When I presoak with hot water, I do take a couple extra passes with the water flowing to get that effect.
Yes, I fill the tank with purified water, with a DI tank. The DI is nice because I get 5 gpm from it, and can fill the tank in 5 minutes. And I get 35-45 ppm from the tap at my house :).
So far Iāve worked down to 20Ā° or so. Iām sure I could go lower, if I cared to
Any loss hurts , I broke some acrylic wall ( leaned my ladder on it ) and cost $250 on a $580 job. Worst of all , I was almost finish .
But so many other business take higher losses than us . My wifeās family owns a printing shop . Big job came and mistake after mistake , they took like 2k loss on it .
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when i started and was working for someone else and they sent to this apt block with crappy aluminum sliding windows that often would not come out easily. i kept telling them i did not want those jobs anymore but they kept sending me, $25cad each. the last time i went i was pissed, the big pane wouldnāt come out, it shattered, a big piece dropped on my wrist. had to pay for carpet cleaning, new window, lost 3 days of work and still have nerve damage 3 years later. total cost about $2-3k
Alex, I might have lied a little, canāt remember exact size of cooler but I know itās big lol. Had wife find it for me on amazon and that and bucket heater were around 100 bucks. My setup is a 15 gallon tank w/ a shurflo pump. In the busy seasons I usually carry 50 gals and work back to home if I need more. I fill the cooler (back of truck) and throw on the heater for several hours and shut it off overnight. In the AM, and I usually get up early, walk the dogs ect about 2 hour before I leave . I throw heater in tank as soon as I get up. That water gets real hot by the time I leave. Iām afraid of the real hot water anyway because of cracking, but when I get going itās still pretty warm and the cooler keeps the rest real warm all day. With the water splashing out between jobs , I know I can fill tank almost 2 times. I carry a few jugs of water, fill the cooler and put in the heater to take care of any more i need.
Hereās my hot water setup as it looked at the beginning of summer. Iāve since added a reel with 100ā of 3/8". So now the flow goes Tap>DI>Heater>Reel>50ā Rhino Tube>Brush.
I also mounted the heater to the post of my ladder rack so I donāt have to set it up at each job. Just hook up to tap with an expanding hose and go. I am also using quick connects on all my garden hose connections. I use washing machine hot water supply hoses for all my component interconnects.
The hot water does such a better job cleaning than cold. It does destroy bristles of certain brushes. The latest bristle packs for the constructor brush are working well, especially the soft black bristles and boars hair.
I havenāt had any cracking issues from hot water and have used it down to about 20Ā°. I did check to make sure that the glass surface was warmer than the air temperature. The inside air of the house should keep the glass somewhat warm.
I did have a couple cracked panes on got summer days this year. The homes jag never had professional cleaning and they cracked from the edge toward the center. They turned out to be defective panes which had chipped edges hidden by the frames that gave way when cleaning pressure was applied.
Hot water heaterās on systems in the UK is pretty standard I have read several accounts of people cracking windows even know one person personally who cracked a window Iām not really sure of the technicality but from the recent post it sounds like itās not a problem and definitely does a better job.
25 gallon sprayer tank with shurflo demand pump
1000W immersion heater from amazon - the type that doesnāt have a temp shutoff, just keeps heatingā¦
immersion heater is permanently set in the tank - use a booty or shower cap to keep the steam from filling up the vehicle [/QUOTE]
Nice post Alex. I didnāt understand the bit about the bootie/shower cap to stop steam filling up the vehicle. Can you explain? Better yet, post a pic? Thanks
Well, the immersion heater finally died (probably too much cord twisting from removing and reinstalling the lid). hereās what Iāve done to update the heating system:
I drilled a hole in the side of the tank and installed a hot water heater element and thermostat. The setup is kind of āquick and dirtyā, but it should do the trick. Sure beats having a cord sticking out of the lid
The element is just a little 1500w 120v one. The thermostat is the cheapest one they had at the hardware store. I swapped the stock rubber washer for a thin O-ring. I used a 1.25" plastic pipe coupler/adapter as a nut inside the tank to hold the element tight. All told it cost $23 and some change (not counting the extension cord I already had).
Iām doing a trial run right now before reinstalling it in the vehicle. Iām curious to see where Iāll need to set the thermostat. So far itās holding water and is gradually heating up. Should be a little quicker to get up to temp, now.
We use our van-mounted Butler carpet cleaning system for our water fed pole work.
We simply lower the pressure and lower the heat.
This spring we will be doing dual pole.
My experience is that heated di water is better and worth any additional costs to us.
The Butler carpet cleaning system is a power take off so the vans motor is idling but runs our pressure, heat and of course we utilize our 110 gal fresh water tank. .
This is the most glorious example of overkill that Iāve seen in a long time. Kudos!
I have a friend who uses the Butler system for carpets. Iāve had an ongoing fantasy of reconfiguring a butler van to run a power washing rig. How many HP is the PTO good for, do you think?
Thank you Alex!
It would be an overkill if one purchased a Butler carpet cleaning system just to do windows.
However, we have been cleaning carpets and windows for over 25 years and I just did get in to the di water fed poles just last year! ā¦ I should have done it many a years ago as it really made a huge difference for us.
I almost enjoy it now ā¦ go figure.
As far as āpower washingā or āpressure washingā The Butler system will not be ideal however if you change the words to āSoftwashā it is ideal as you donāt need as much pressure and the Butler system will put out adequate gpm as well descent heat to get the job done efficiently.
Yeah, I was actually thinking I would remove the carpet cleaning pump and install a beefy pressure washing pump in its place. Use the tanks as my buffer tanks, and see about using the heat exchanger for hot water
