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Van mount, turning water on and off.

Diwrnach

Well-known member
Messages
3,309
So thinking about in the future making my own van mount, and its all fairly straight forward, apart from how do you turn the flow up/down and on/off while not at the back of the van?

Had a look on ebay and found some gizmos that are the same as you lock your car with, like a key ring button, but that obviously won't change the flow, and also if you are the opposite side of the house won't work anyway.

So how do you do it?

 
So thinking about in the future making my own van mount, and its all fairly straight forward, apart from how do you turn the flow up/down and on/off while not at the back of the van?
Had a look on ebay and found some gizmos that are the same as you lock your car with, like a key ring button, but that obviously won't change the flow, and also if you are the opposite side of the house won't work anyway.

So how do you do it?
Why do you want to change flow?

 
If I am doing 3 story I will often give it a little bit more for the third story, not sure I need to though, but always do.

 
Never ever change flow rate mate. Just turn it on to around 80% as I run 6mm microbore & do the windows & turn it off again lol

 
A tap on the hose near to the pole is one way. An Aquadapter or Aquatap at the end on the pole is another way.

I haven't used an Aquatap, but the manufacturer has suggested that you can vary the flow easily. The Aquatap works on the principle of turning the pole to switch the water on and turning (rotating) the pole the other way switches it off. You could restrict the water flow by partially rotating the pole.

 
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An electronic controller + stop-end/aquadapter etc etc. Personally I just have a water stop connector on the end of my microbore, when I want to stop the flow I just disconnect the hose. The controller takes care of everything else like pressure & flow rate, it also compensates for different working heights, making micro pressure adjustments in real time so that the flow remains at a consistent pre-set rate regardless of the height you're working at. If you have no electronic flow control you will probably notice a drop in flow rate the higher your pole goes?

 
Most people just have one flow rate. Unless you have a really low pressure pump, you have no need to increase the flow on a 3 storey building. Even a 70psi pump will do 3 storeys no problem even with a 100m extension hose.

Note: pressure and flow rate are not the same. Pressure is what you need to go up multiple storeys.

There is a flow controller that has 2 buttons - on/off and boost for rinsing. That will give you extra if you want it, though remember more water can cause splashing and spotting if not managed properly.

There is another option of adding another pump inline with a remote on/off. Though it just adds more water, pressure and expense without precise control.

I have an aqua tap, and it isn't a viable option for what you want in my opinion.

 
We use Aqua dapters. My son uses a backpack and I see he has turned his water flow up a little. What he does is quickly wash over the window to wet it, switches his aqua dapter off, scrubs the window and then rinses. (Aqua dapters are just on/off taps.)

I prefer my van mount with a higher water flow. However I do find that I waste water during the scrubbing phase.

We have Varistreams on the vans. I have found that 3 is too slow when rinsing. Using 3 is a water saving device for me but the same job takes longer. 4 is better, as the same job takes slightly less time, but with a slight increase in water useage. 5 is much quicker job wise as rinsing is much quicker, but makes a noticable difference to water use through the day - I would say the increased use is around 25%. However, duing winter when time is short, the extra increase in water use balances itself out.

 
Cheers for the replys guys, thinking this aqua tap might be the one to go for.

Currently just using a back pack, and so far on normal two story work it is left as low as it will go and its perfect, but when I do three story work I sometimes turn it up just a touch, not sure that I need to it isn;t a reaction to what it is doing I just do it, have a three story house later so I will try it left on lowest and see /emoticons/smile.png

 
wireless on/off devices don't work that well when using a van mount so in my opinon are a waste of time.

 
Aqua tap simply turns it on and off you can do the same with a tap on the end of your hose and control the flow also

 
wireless on/off devices don't work that well when using a van mount so in my opinon are a waste of time.
I agree, yet to find a well made version , 2 months they seem to fail

 
The lower the flow rate you have the longer it takes to rinse properly so in effect you can use more water and slows the job down.

 
Aqua tap simply turns it on and off you can do the same with a tap on the end of your hose and control the flow also
Peter Fogwill assured us that the flow can be regulated with his unit. Never used one so can't comment personally.

Here's a comment he made on another forum a year ago

"We all work in a certain way, with different equipment, and we all have different techniques moving around the glass, cleaning rinsing etc. We all have the odd awkward window that we have to go about in a different way. What I am offering people is an alternative to what they do just now, a very simple way to control the water, on and off, and reduced flow. the only way that you don't have to stop what your doing to turn the water off going from window to window, with your hands on the pole and your eyes on the glass.

Now there may be a time when you have to adjust your technique to make something work the way it needs to. Some might have a problem with that and not willing to change, some will see the benefits and change willingly."

Here is another one of his replies with regard to overhead jets.

"Lots of options will be available, its hard to imagine until people starts to experiment.

Yes Jeff has messed around with overhead jets, and I have as well. I think the important part I am trying to get across is the overhead jets will be much more benifitial without detriment if you can fully control when the water comes out of them, with the advantage of having through the brush jets and again with control.

Overhead only would only need one Aquatap, as you can reduce or increase the flow from it very easily. The AquaTap on its own could make overhead jets much more practical and user friendly than they are just now.

With the Aquatap when your rinsing you could have it turned on half flow while working along the top of the glass, increasing the flow to full as you work your way down.

 
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Peter Fogwill assured us that the flow can be regulated with his unit. Never used one so can't comment personally.
Here's a comment he made on another forum a year ago

"We all work in a certain way, with different equipment, and we all have different techniques moving around the glass, cleaning rinsing etc. We all have the odd awkward window that we have to go about in a different way. What I am offering people is an alternative to what they do just now, a very simple way to control the water, on and off, and reduced flow. the only way that you don't have to stop what your doing to turn the water off going from window to window, with your hands on the pole and your eyes on the glass.

Now there may be a time when you have to adjust your technique to make something work the way it needs to. Some might have a problem with that and not willing to change, some will see the benefits and change willingly."

Here is another one of his replies with regard to overhead jets.

"Lots of options will be available, its hard to imagine until people starts to experiment.

Yes Jeff has messed around with overhead jets, and I have as well. I think the important part I am trying to get across is the overhead jets will be much more benifitial without detriment if you can fully control when the water comes out of them, with the advantage of having through the brush jets and again with control.

Overhead only would only need one Aquatap, as you can reduce or increase the flow from it very easily. The AquaTap on its own could make overhead jets much more practical and user friendly than they are just now.

With the Aquatap when your rinsing you could have it turned on half flow while working along the top of the glass, increasing the flow to full as you work your way down.
I have used an AquaTap constantly since Peter bought it out. I wouldnt be without one, but the control of water isnt that great. You are only turning the pole about 2 cm so there is hardly any room to play with. Also the Tap has to be fairly stiff in order to stay on/off or it would be constantly turning on and off as you are working. So you just tend to quickly twist on/off as you are working. That is all you really need.

My son uses a backpack. What he does is quickly wash over the window to wet it, switches his aqua dapter off, scrubs the window and then rinses. (Aqua dapters are just on/off taps.)
I prefer my van mount with a higher water flow. However I do find that I waste water during the scrubbing phase.
This /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\.I would like to do a thread on this but am reluctant, as this is how I always work and I have never heard anyone mention this method on the forums before. The Water saving is immense but I think there will be people who will knock this method.

 
Peter Fogwill assured us that the flow can be regulated with his unit. Never used one so can't comment personally.
Here's a comment he made on another forum a year ago

"We all work in a certain way, with different equipment, and we all have different techniques moving around the glass, cleaning rinsing etc. We all have the odd awkward window that we have to go about in a different way. What I am offering people is an alternative to what they do just now, a very simple way to control the water, on and off, and reduced flow. the only way that you don't have to stop what your doing to turn the water off going from window to window, with your hands on the pole and your eyes on the glass.

Now there may be a time when you have to adjust your technique to make something work the way it needs to. Some might have a problem with that and not willing to change, some will see the benefits and change willingly."

Here is another one of his replies with regard to overhead jets.

"Lots of options will be available, its hard to imagine until people starts to experiment.

Yes Jeff has messed around with overhead jets, and I have as well. I think the important part I am trying to get across is the overhead jets will be much more benifitial without detriment if you can fully control when the water comes out of them, with the advantage of having through the brush jets and again with control.

Overhead only would only need one Aquatap, as you can reduce or increase the flow from it very easily. The AquaTap on its own could make overhead jets much more practical and user friendly than they are just now.

With the Aquatap when your rinsing you could have it turned on half flow while working along the top of the glass, increasing the flow to full as you work your way down.
Water regulation is useless and hard to master far as I know there designed for on off (well the one I used anyway ) and who the hell regulates the water slow at the top to progressively faster as they come down the glass, what a mess about

 

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