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Help with boiler

See how long it takes to get warm water when the temperature starts to get colder in the dead of winter.

The guys with diesel heater can start theirs on the way to the first job. If they connect their hose reel to the tank they can circulate warm water through the hose and get a head start with hot water already in the hose. You can't do that with gas. But you might be able to do something similar before you start off for your first job and put a blanket over the hose reel to reduce heat loss on the way to your first job.

What hose are you using and what is your flow rate?

 
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Thanks I’m useing the yellow hose 8 mm and I’ve not done my first clean yet just my own so not sure what flow rate to go yet advice there would be helpful thanks as I’m not sure how people have the pressure coming out


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If you are referring to 8mm id hose (minibore) then you could well find that it isn't suitable for hot water. I found my current hose became too stretchy at 35 degrees C to use.

Some say Gardiners microbore is better but there is purposed designed hose available from some suppliers.

Here is an example

https://www.grippatank.co.uk/thermobore-100m-reinforced-hose-6mm-id

Unfortunately most don't realise that it isn't a small hop into heated water, its more like a gaint leap and there are so many issues you need to contend with.

'I'm not sure how people have the pressure coming out.'

There is a distinct difference between water flow and water pressure. If you are using a Spring controller the first screen that comes up when you switch the pump on is flow. Unfortunately Spring break the amount of flow their controller regulates into 100 segments. It has nothing to do with water pressure. It confusing as most pumps are 100psi pump these days. But there are pumps that are 130psi pumps and we used to have Shurflo 65psi pumps in window cleaning at one time. They still use the same controller. A Shurflo 65psi pump didn't suddenly produce 80psi as the controller was set at that.

You adjust pressure when you set your calibration. Basically, the higher the pressure you want your pump to run at the more current your pump will draw. So when you manually calibrate your pump and controller, you are telling your controller at what ampere draw to cut power to the pump. This is what translates into pressure. (If my pump requires 8 amps to pump to 100 psi and 6 amps to pump to 75psi, I'm calibrating or telling the controller to stop the flow of current to the pump when it starts to draw more that 6 amps.)

How long it takes for warm water to come through to your brush depends on how fast your flow is. I have Varistreams and our controller's flow is in 10 segments. I use cold water.  I haven't measured it but the volumetric formula tells me I have approx 5+ liters of water in 100meters of minibore hose. I prefer my flow on around 2lpm of water to the brush head. At that setting of 4 on our Varistreams it will take about 2 and a 1/2 minutes for the hot water to get through to the brush head. This is about right as I'm a bit lazy and never bleed the connector hose from my van port to my hose reel. I can wash and rinse 2 upstairs windows and wash a third before the jets start spluttering air on the rinse of the third window. So if we transfer that info and the fact that the cold hose is zapping heat from the water traveling through it, it will take a while before you are getting hot water at the brush head. It could even be a whole house. If your round isn't compact, then you will partially have to start again when you get to your next house, especially when the weather outside is freezing cold.

The only good thing is that the colder the temps the less heat is recommended you clean with, so this could well work in your favour.

The other thing is that as water gets warmer its viscosity changes and it flows better. So a setting of 3 on my Varistream controller actually saw a marked increase in water flow through the jets. I used pencil jets so don't know how fan jets would work. The faster water is flowing through the heat exchanger of the boiler the less heat it will absorb, so reducing that flow could improve the heat of your water at the brush head when it finally gets there.

I still have a length of the first minbore hose we bought about 12 years ago. Its lovely hose in the summer but when the temperature drops in winter it is like dealing with steel wire and extrememly difficult to manage. So my early vision along with many other windies of adding warm water was to make the hoses more supple and manageable in winter. It had very little to do with its better cleaning ability. Over the years we have better hoses and winter working with cold isn't as hard as it used to be. (In the very early days all we had was 1/2" garden hose and that was the worst for working out in the cold.)

I only ever used to use a full length of 100 meters of hose on one council job. I lost that about 6 months ago after 10 years as they are now doing it themselves. I think in our round I only every pull out about 40 meters. It might be different for you. It might be any idea to have a separate hose reel for hot with less hose on it. That will make for less time for heat to reach your brush head and less hose to heat up.

You will also have to change most of your fitting to brass and double clip/clamp them as they blow off more easily when hot.

 
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The heater I have just needs to be vented. I’ve not started yet but I’ve ordered a roof vent hopefully that will work if not I’ll leave a door open


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Vented means the same as a flue. If you’ve got a roof vent then you will need to put some flexible pipe from the heater into the vent. Making sure it’s totally sealed. 

Keep yourself safe and and get a carbon monoxide alarm in the cab of the van. 

 
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