Hot water systems

[scottish cleaning service]

I wasn't hearing any answers as to why it was better other than "it's better" or "it's comfortable" etc.  Those are not reasons to justify the expense for me.

I was simply asking politely if there were other benefits.  I understand from the more recent posts that the hot water rinses better and potentially saves water.

I understand now what the benefits are (thank you all).  I just need to decide for myself if the benefits will justify the expense.

Thank you everyone.

Do a little experiment, wash dishes in cold water and then wash in hot water. Realise the outcome.

 

[scottish cleaning service]

Correct me I'm wrong you have multiple xtreme poles blew 10k on a 2 man system that hardly gets used as you only have around 100 jobs that make you £800 a month. 

I have ran a successful businesses for over 20 years and been wfp for over 12 years I don't need all the above that you mentioned and I clean over 430 jobs a month on my own.

I won't say anything about the 2k woodchipper you bought after chopping down a sapling in a garden that you shouldn't have ?

I'm running a maintenance company now. Why do you bother about other people, its better to focus on your own business. That's what I'm doing for last two years and I'm getting busier with good contacts. ?

 

[scottish cleaning service]

Blimey, so I cannot be a successful window cleaner because:

1) I don't use hot water

2) Don't produce my own pure water

3) Don't have a 3.5t van

4) my tank is only 500L

5) Don't use the extreme poles

6) I need to advertise

Darn! ?

I started 3 years ago with an £80 start up pack. I had the ladders and van and had me and a neighbour as a customer. Then It just went from there and I have 101 customers. Saved up and bought the hot water system which I believe is a money making system and best investment I have made. That's what a newbie should head for in the future. I'm only trying to help folk like I got helped on the forum. fwiw

 

[NewGuy]

Sorry kid but I have to say it. You're acting like a spoilt brat six year old in a tantrum. You're really not doing yourself any favours.

Can you not see we're trying to help you? And have been from day one?

I'm too old to be called a "kid" but come on, I have been quite reasonable with everyone until the Scottish fellow piped up with some nonsense.  

I was not asking anyone whether I should get a hot water system or not.  I was simply asking what the benefits were, and I was not getting clear cut answers.  A lot of people were saying that it's easier and comfortable and better.  I wanted to know why it was better and easier.  I do not take an investment of a few £000s lightly.  I have already invested nigh on £30,000 in a year and simply wanted to understand whether a few grands extra would bring any tangible benefits.

The last thing I want is someone to pipe up with "a lot of penny wise pound foolish on here at the moment"!

I do appreciate the advice given on this site this past year.  Thank you all.

 

[NewGuy]

Do a little experiment, wash dishes in cold water and then wash in hot water. Realise the outcome.

No difference in my opinion unless you're referring to the molecular level?  I clean with cold, and the windows could not get any cleaner.  However, the issues I need to consider is do I really need to be quicker and whether I really need soft hoses in the winter?  

My main consideration will be with regards to preventing the tank from freezing in the winter.  Down here in Kent, the winters have been pretty mild in recent years.  There was the extreme winter we had circa 10 years ago but I suspect in weather like that, window cleaners are not working anyway.

I started 3 years ago with an £80 start up pack. I had the ladders and van and had me and a neighbour as a customer. Then It just went from there and I have 101 customers. Saved up and bought the hot water system which I believe is a money making system and best investment I have made. That's what a newbie should head for in the future. I'm only trying to help folk like I got helped on the forum. fwiw

Well done and I appreciate your advice.  

 

[ched999uk]

There is a much cheaper way to find out if hot water is better.

Just heat some of your pure up on stove to say 50 degrees C and then wash your own window and wash another with cold. See if there is a difference.

Personally I think that a 2Kw immersion heater in an insulated tank would work almost as well as a diesel heater with much less hassle and lower costs providing you can get power to your van.

 

[Cghwindowcleaning]

I'm too old to be called a "kid" but come on, I have been quite reasonable with everyone until the Scottish fellow piped up with some nonsense.  

I was not asking anyone whether I should get a hot water system or not.  I was simply asking what the benefits were, and I was not getting clear cut answers.  A lot of people were saying that it's easier and comfortable and better.  I wanted to know why it was better and easier.  I do not take an investment of a few £000s lightly.  I have already invested nigh on £30,000 in a year and simply wanted to understand whether a few grands extra would bring any tangible benefits.

The last thing I want is someone to pipe up with "a lot of penny wise pound foolish on here at the moment"!

I do appreciate the advice given on this site this past year.  Thank you all.

I will give you an honest opinion.

I have a grippa max system(cold)in fact I've had a couple.

When I purchased my first one Oliver came out in his Demo van with a Hot system.I like yourself was in two minds on which one to get.

I only clean commercial work no residential so I had Oliver come to one of my sites so I could use it hands on with the type of work I clean.I don't do builders cleans or much in the way of first cleans most is repeat, regular maintenance cleans.

The job had been cleaned for years cold so I knew how long it takes.I tried both HOT and COLD almost side by side and hot made no difference to my work with speed or cleanliness.

It had some nice features like the self circulating thermostat which would kick in at night to keep your tank warm and stop any of it freezing but it was something I didn't need.

I can understand @Pjj having them they are right on the coast where most work even his regular maintenance stuff will have baked on salt and be much dirtier.He will also claim all the vat back on the systems and fuel to run them.

As nice as it was and I believe Oliver has one of the best systems it worked out as a very expensive pair of gloves.

 

[NewGuy]

There is a much cheaper way to find out if hot water is better.

Just heat some of your pure up on stove to say 50 degrees C and then wash your own window and wash another with cold. See if there is a difference.

Personally I think that a 2Kw immersion heater in an insulated tank would work almost as well as a diesel heater with much less hassle and lower costs providing you can get power to your van.

Thank you - I will indeed do a little experiment as suggested.  I'll wait until after Christmas as I only cleaned them yesterday.

I'll be looking at an immersion system (prob the 5kw version) as I have no space for a diesel boiler.  I would have the additional battery that is supplied to connect to the existing smart battery I already have from GrippaTank.  So I don't think I would need a power supply on a regular basis, although I appreciate this will depends on whether I'm driving enough mileage to charge the battery up and that a charge would be required periodically.

I'm just waiting on Oliver to provide a quote ?

 

[NewGuy]

I will give you an honest opinion.

I have a grippa max system(cold)in fact I've had a couple.

When I purchased my first one Oliver came out in his Demo van with a Hot system.I like yourself was in two minds on which one to get.

I only clean commercial work no residential so I had Oliver come to one of my sites so I could use it hands on with the type of work I clean.I don't do builders cleans or much in the way of first cleans most is repeat, regular maintenance cleans.

The job had been cleaned for years cold so I knew how long it takes.I tried both HOT and COLD almost side by side and hot made no difference to my work with speed or cleanliness.

It had some nice features like the self circulating thermostat which would kick in at night to keep your tank warm and stop any of it freezing but it was something I didn't need.

I can understand @Pjj having them they are right on the coast where most work even his regular maintenance stuff will have baked on salt and be much dirtier.He will also claim all the vat back on the systems and fuel to run them.

As nice as it was and I believe Oliver has one of the best systems it worked out as a very expensive pair of gloves.

Thank you - this is pretty much what I was sensing.  I have had a fair few first cleans as I'm building up my rounds, and I do not do builders clean.  But the frequency of the first cleans will diminish as I near my target of numbers of customers.  The vast majority of my work is maintenance cleans and I have only had a couple of instances of stubborn bird **** that required extra effort to remove.

I will see how I get on this winter, and see if the water freezes.  I keep my tank filled every night so it would have to get extremely cold to freeze the tank.  I will take measures to insulate the tank as much as possible.  

 

[Chris34]

I will give you an honest opinion.

I have a grippa max system(cold)in fact I've had a couple.

When I purchased my first one Oliver came out in his Demo van with a Hot system.I like yourself was in two minds on which one to get.

I only clean commercial work no residential so I had Oliver come to one of my sites so I could use it hands on with the type of work I clean.I don't do builders cleans or much in the way of first cleans most is repeat, regular maintenance cleans.

The job had been cleaned for years cold so I knew how long it takes.I tried both HOT and COLD almost side by side and hot made no difference to my work with speed or cleanliness.

It had some nice features like the self circulating thermostat which would kick in at night to keep your tank warm and stop any of it freezing but it was something I didn't need.

I can understand @Pjj having them they are right on the coast where most work even his regular maintenance stuff will have baked on salt and be much dirtier.He will also claim all the vat back on the systems and fuel to run them.

As nice as it was and I believe Oliver has one of the best systems it worked out as a very expensive pair of gloves.

Are commercial windows more likely to be cascading glass though?  If all my windows the water cascaded without beading up then the job would be a doddle, it's the beading up that slows me down and if hot water lets it flow down the glass then it would be worth it for me.  

The main points that I can see for me are

1. warm hands and soft hoses [not a deal breaker for me, but nice]

2. Easier rinse

3. Whiter pvc

4. Easier to remove stuck on dirt / snail trails [again not a deal breaker and glass not really dirty, although snail trails are annoying on a few jobs I do.]

5. Easier to do first cleans, conservatory roofs, fascias etc.

 

[Chris34]

Thank you - I will indeed do a little experiment as suggested.  I'll wait until after Christmas as I only cleaned them yesterday.

I'll be looking at an immersion system (prob the 5kw version) as I have no space for a diesel boiler.  I would have the additional battery that is supplied to connect to the existing smart battery I already have from GrippaTank.  So I don't think I would need a power supply on a regular basis, although I appreciate this will depends on whether I'm driving enough mileage to charge the battery up and that a charge would be required periodically.

I'm just waiting on Oliver to provide a quote ?

What's this immersion heater you're looking at?  Is it installed by Grippa?

 

[Cghwindowcleaning]

A lot of penny wise pound foolish on here at the moment. When I joined the forum nearly 3 years ago I studied everyone on it. I then studied all the guys running successful window cleaning businesses. I then studied the similarities they had to see if there was any common factors. I came up with these factors:- They mostly used hot water, made their own pure with an RO System, 3.5 ton van with 650l or over tank, two man system, electric reels, extreme poles, good brushes, went or were going hoseless, hardly ever used ladders, had a sealed floor, didn't go collecting money, used a pay system and didn't need to advertise. So I tried to copy them and bought a £10k two man hot water system from Grippatank for my first system. This I believe is a money making machine which gets me £800 a month without hard work. fwiw ? forgot about the underfloor rollers.

From what I believe and you say on hear your business doesn't make a profit.

Even after 3 years you still make no profit and buy stuff you don't need.

I'm not having a dig from what I understand you have a nice pension and don't really need to work but it's not good business sense to make no profit after 3 years.

To come on and comment about the above and say ''if you don't have hot,3.5 ton van etc.etc then you aren't successful is one of the most stupidest comments I have ever read on here.

I know of a guy who's window cleaning vans have pretty much none of the above which you mention and he has around 120 vans on the road.I certainly wouldn't say he wasn't successful.

 

[ched999uk]

Thank you - I will indeed do a little experiment as suggested.  I'll wait until after Christmas as I only cleaned them yesterday.

I'll be looking at an immersion system (prob the 5kw version) as I have no space for a diesel boiler.  I would have the additional battery that is supplied to connect to the existing smart battery I already have from GrippaTank.  So I don't think I would need a power supply on a regular basis, although I appreciate this will depends on whether I'm driving enough mileage to charge the battery up and that a charge would be required periodically.

I'm just waiting on Oliver to provide a quote ?

You can't power an immersion heater from a battery. We'll unless you have an electric van with a big battery. 

Just so you know Watts = amps x volts. So a 100ah leisure battery contains 100 x 12 = 1200 Watts so 1.2kw. That's assuming you extract all power which would destroy the battery. 

A 5kw immersion heater is not a normal one and would need a 21amp mains supply. So really a 32amp supply as that's standard connectors. 

Have a look for squeeky clean Dave on YouTube as he has a vid on 2kw immersion heater. 

The reason most people use 2kw is that it will be fine on an uncoiled extension lead from a standard exterior socket. 

Remember that a mains powered immersion will run overnight to heat tank. A diesel heater will provide instant hot water on demand. So different wattages are required. 

 

[CHWS]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2500W-3000W-Water-Heating-Tubs-Immersion-Water-Heater-Rod-Element-Boiler-Tool-/114536066407?_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49292
 

has anyone used the likes of this instead of cutting a hole in their tank ? 

 

[Chris34]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2500W-3000W-Water-Heating-Tubs-Immersion-Water-Heater-Rod-Element-Boiler-Tool-/114536066407?_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49292
 

has anyone used the likes of this instead of cutting a hole in their tank ? 

That looks well dodgy, I could imagine waking up to a smouldering wreck with something like that ?

 

[scottish cleaning service]

From what I believe and you say on hear your business doesn't make a profit.

Even after 3 years you still make no profit and buy stuff you don't need.

I'm not having a dig from what I understand you have a nice pension and don't really need to work but it's not good business sense to make no profit after 3 years.

To come on and comment about the above and say ''if you don't have hot,3.5 ton van etc.etc then you aren't successful is one of the most stupidest comments I have ever read on here.

I know of a guy who's window cleaning vans have pretty much none of the above which you mention and he has around 120 vans on the road.I certainly wouldn't say he wasn't successful.

That's my opinion on what I noticed were common factors. My father was a millionaire but mainly had all his eggs in one basket with his hotel. Lucky for him he sold at the right time or would probably be bankrupt. I have read that if you want to be rich, then "multi streams of income" is the answer. I have pension, solar tariff, windows and maintenance work each month. I spend my monthly earnings on equipment but I have nothing left to buy now. I still have a mortgage for 5 years. I can refuse work now and set a real price when quoting. First time in my life that I have ever been in a position when work comes to me now. All my life I have only tried to help people but now I have noticed jealousness and envy beginning to show its hand which comes from toxic people. I don't get involved with them now and all my work seems to work out well. I have a big pvc clean tomorrow which I'm looking forward to because its priced correct. No hard feelings but I must be doing something right or the work would not continue like it has. ? 

 

[Iron Giant]

Why do you bother about other people, its better to focus on your own business.

From what I believe and you say on hear your business doesn't make a profit.

Even after 3 years you still make no profit and buy stuff you don't need.

I'm not having a dig from what I understand you have a nice pension and don't really need to work but it's not good business sense to make no profit after 3 years.

To come on and comment about the above and say ''if you don't have hot,3.5 ton van etc.etc then you aren't successful is one of the most stupidest comments I have ever read on here.

Basically what he said ???

Also a bells and whistles system doesn't maketh the window cleaner, the man maketh the window cleaner and a successful business, any business person in their right mind has to see a sizeable return on an investment into their business many times over even within 12 months.

 

[Iron Giant]

That looks well dodgy, I could imagine waking up to a smouldering wreck with something like that ?

I agree, although it does look like an aquarium heater tube/? ?   

 

[NewGuy]

What's this immersion heater you're looking at?  Is it installed by Grippa?

Oops, it doesn't appear they do an immersion!  Honestly, I have no idea what kit Oliver will quote me on.  I simply asked him if one could be retrofitted given the lack of space I had remaining, and he said that he could fit something into the existing system.  I incorrectly assumed it would be an immersion system.

I'll wait for the quote in due course!

 

[NewGuy]

Are commercial windows more likely to be cascading glass though?  If all my windows the water cascaded without beading up then the job would be a doddle, it's the beading up that slows me down and if hot water lets it flow down the glass then it would be worth it for me.  

If beadings are eliminated, this would sway me for sure!

 

[CHWS]

That looks well dodgy, I could imagine waking up to a smouldering wreck with something like that ?

That’s why I never bought it , was hoping someone else had guinea pigged it ?