I kind of taught m myself between working and watching vids before I came on here. Never occurred to just master one technique and poo poo everything else. 45 years, wonder if this looks ok to him? (Not my work, but an account I’d love to poach )
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the king of pole fanning [polzn blades ] told me that hes straight pulling along with the rest if the cameras not on him
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every application has its place like many have already said. what i cant understand is how some people hate on the water fed pole and claim to be squeegeeeeeee masters. i love every knew tool that comes out and love the pull down method although fanning is fun but let me tell you a sorbo pull down can get some windows done. have you seen sorbo smash that guy at a race.
Brian
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I really suck at this window cleaning thing. When I do fanning, especially when doing pole work, some with high ledges, I’ve been using the moerman excelerator, I leave these foggy marks, it really bothers me. And when I do straight pulls, usually using one of those older Unger silver squeegees, I leave lines. Used different rubbers, ettore, moerman, black diamond. With these tools, how can I stop this from happening? I will eventually get better tools, but for now, this is what I have to work with.
it’s not the tools, it:s your tecnique
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Your turning instead of sliding/slipping the squeegee. It’s almost like how you get a playing card to spin when you throw it. If you turn the squeegee, the rubber can do a little flip inside the channel and leaves a little solution behind. Next time your cleaning on a decent size window, try sliding it along it’s own path side to side. Widen the angle gradually and you’ll see where the squeegee flips instead of slides. That’s the point where you need to concentrate on the angle and keep slipping it around the turn. This is why everyone on the forum mixes soap to different degrees of “slip” You mentioned using a variety of rubbers, how about different types/quantities of soap in your solution?
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I’ve tried just dawn…dawn and gg4…gg4 and gg glide…gg4, dawn, and gg glide. Yesterday, i did dawn and simple green all purpose cleaner, which worked decent, but that simple green can be pricey. Is there any other solutions you would recommend? Also, with that moerman, it’s hard to figure out the correct angle.
is your drying before it’s squeegeed off? this can leave a patchy effect.
lines at the end of the rubber or throughout? lines at the dry side can be from a bad angle and speed combination.
lines throughout can be debris or water dragging down from the backedge of the squeegee from improper feathering, these will be worse near the top of the glass
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The lines are sometimes on the ends and sometimes throughout. I end up touching those up with my detail cloth, which I know I shouldn’t have to be doing that. And when I fan, I’m not really sure if it is dry or wet. I’ve watched a couple YouTube videos where they said the excelerator differs from other squeegees, that it should always be wet, is that a fact? I also have a hard time figuring out what angle I need to have the excelerator in.
it MUST be wet with ANY squeegee. if a patch of solution dries it will not be removed with a squeegee.
the excelarator sounds like a very fussy tool to me and many have described leaving water behind which will dry to foggy look.
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I recommend you leave that moerman stuff in the bin for now and learn how to work with normal tools first
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Sounds like sound advice.
Finding the correct angle is easier than it might seem. Just do straight pulls in a small part right in front of you and test from very steep to very shallow. You’ll end up finding a sweet spot. In my experience, the hardest issue with the Liquidator is making sure you maintain that angle, especially when turning the squeegee.
For glass that’s taller than you but not super high, windows above doors, for example, I’ve found 25° to be effective. I believe @wcs has suggested stepping a bit closer to the window when you’re poling. Since you don’t have any comparison, as far as how close to be, just try different distances. This changes your overall angle relative to the glass.
If you can, post a video of your whole process. Perhaps it will help us spot the problem.
I have a friend who’s been cleaning windows effectively for at least 15 years with a squeegee from home Depot, proof in my book that equipment is less important than we think. So, i wouldn’t run off and buy anything new necessarily. That said, the Liquidator can be tricky, so @Samuel’s suggestion to use a more classic squeegee may be a good idea for you.
I know this can be both frustrating and discouraging. Don’t worry… You’ll overcome this hurdle with time. Think about it: how do the windows look at every place that does their own? Terrible. Cleaning glass isn’t as easy as it sounds. It’s not rocket science, but there definitely is technique. Don’t give up. You got this!
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