Using tap water for first cleans

[Jamespf1]

Hi all,

Got a first clean on Monday with some really filthy frames. As I’m limited on pure water I was thinking to take 1 or 2 x 25L barrel of tap water (300tds) and 1 x 25L of pure water. Was going to go over the frames with Ubix give them a good scrub then rinse of with tap water and then go over to the back windows and do the same. Then go back to the fronts and then scrub the windows and rinse off glass with pure. 
how long do I have from rinsing with tap water until hard water spots form on the glass? On a sunny day.  As I would like to be able to go round at the end and just wash the glass with pure.
 

Most of the time is Ubix all I need for first cleans? 
 

james 

 

[Part Timer]

The water will leave spots but not as we'd call hard water, limescale. I'd be more worried in having enough tap water to scrub all the frames up first. Also make sure you've no tap water in pole hose or backpack before you start using your pure.

 

[Jamespf1]

The water will leave spots but not as we'd call hard water, limescale. I'd be more worried in having enough tap water to scrub all the frames up first. Also make sure you've no tap water in pole hose or backpack before you start using your pure.

It’s only I cleaned my windows with tap water through my wfp + backpack to practice my technique and then the next day limescale/hard water spots had formed. And it took more than a scrub and a rinse with pure water to get them off. So when I do this job I don’t want the same problem again. but I’m guessing I won’t be leaving it for 24hrs this time. Only 30 mins. 
 

good point ??

 

[Part Timer]

Surprised at that so just be careful if the windows are in direct sunlight.

 

[Martyn]

The hard water marks will be there as soon as the water has dried.

 

[Iron Giant]

It’s only I cleaned my windows with tap water through my wfp + backpack to practice my technique and then the next day limescale/hard water spots had formed. And it took more than a scrub and a rinse with pure water to get them off. So when I do this job I don’t want the same problem again. but I’m guessing I won’t be leaving it for 24hrs this time. Only 30 mins. 
 

good point ??

Your water in your area is the issue!!

Use pure as should be done at all times then you won't have issues to worry about, otherwise how are you going to remove hardwater staining from  custys upper level windows

 

[spruce]

I personally wouldn't use tap water. As others have said, windows in the sun in warmer weather will dry very quickly. The moment the first droplet of water drys you will have a spot.

Without an ample supply of pure water we can't do the job properly. The less pure water we have the less our earnings. 

I can understand some having a tight budget to get into wfp, but it requires more than a backpack, a pole and a couple of cups of pure water. You need to have an r/o that can supply you with at least 350 liters of water a day and storage.

Imho you need a 450gpd r/o with quality usa manufactured membranes processing water into a 1000 liter IBC tank stored in a garage or dark shed.

Using tap water is a suggestion made often by newbies. It doesn't work. It never has done and never will if you are in a hard water area.

Lacking an ample supply of pure water will stunt business growth. Gone are the days when a window cleaner could start a round with a pair of ladders, an applicator and squeegee, a bucket of soapy water, some scrims and roof racks on the family car. These days it's a much bigger investment.

You can't open a coffee shop on the high street on a shoe string budget. It's the same with window cleaning.

 

[Stevieboy]

I always do a deep clean using tap water first. Never had a problem. The key is speed. Having one pole on the customers tap and one with the pure from the van. Scrub the frames and glass as much as you need and then finish the glass with pure before anything dries. One window at a time. In James situation doing the fronts then the backs with tap water before going back to the front with pure doesn’t sound like a good idea at all.you must not let tap water dry. If he could connect to Custys tap and have his back pack ready with the pure would be a better idea. 

 

[Martyn]

I agree with what Spruce says about needing a plentiful supply of pure water, you can do a first scrub with tap water but it's not ideal.

There is something that seems to not be understood by many window cleaners and that is the fact that pure water has a cleaning power of it's own, pure is not just about the rinse.

 

[Davy G]

We use tap water on our three stage soapwashes on gfs, windows and conservatories : 1/Soapmix on first, work it in re-wetting with soapmix as we go, including windows. This is my job.

2/ Connect to customer's outside tap, scrub and rinse off. This is son's job. Then, when everything is soapwashed I also connect to customer's supply and work back towards him with tap water.
3/ Pure water wash and rinse on glass to finish. This will usually be done by only one of us while the other is putting away the equipment and securing the ladder on the van if we used it for a gutter empty.

 

[harunh]

U can clean with tap water but make sure u go over with pure water afterwards , everything within the brick , u dont want 1% tap water remaining anywhere otherwise u could get stains/Spotting

When going over with pure ater the tap water make sure therea mo excess tap water left on any of the frames or gaps or seals , basically u must make sure the window/door unit is 100% pure water left wet... 90%pure and 10% tap water is no good , hope that helps

 

[laddergarder]

Its an interesting idea. 

We have below 60ppm up here from our tap.

What your post made me think of was a guy that was on here along time ago that harvested rain water. Almost pure. Might be a better idea than 300ppm tap water. Assuming you have space in your garden for a water butt.

 

[Jamespf1]

U can clean with tap water but make sure u go over with pure water afterwards , everything within the brick , u dont want 1% tap water remaining anywhere otherwise u could get stains/Spotting

When going over with pure ater the tap water make sure therea mo excess tap water left on any of the frames or gaps or seals , basically u must make sure the window/door unit is 100% pure water left wet... 90%pure and 10% tap water is no good , hope that helps

Thanks for the tip.

are you saying straight after the tap water washing go over with pure ? 
or 

do I have a 10 minute window or so before it dries to go over it in pure? Pun intended. 

 

[HWCS]

Wash properly wash once

Wash twice earn 1/2 

Gotta bite the bullet fella and get more pure water

 

[harunh]

Thanks for the tip.

are you saying straight after the tap water washing go over with pure ? 
or 

do I have a 10 minute window or so before it dries to go over it in pure? Pun intended. 

Never clean windows with tap water as a norm, pure water is the key in a window cleaning business if u opt for a reach and wash setup.  I used a tap water on a few first cleans in my 8 years , ive done some very very dirty houses i must say, when i used the customers hose it made me get throught the clean 2x as quick and it also saved my water at the same time and was very satisfying aswell ? Once ive finished using the hose tap on a customers property .. I also understand that in every inch of the frame/window and corner of the window unit there is tap water all over it, so i know i got to get rid of it, theres about 100% tap water covered in all the window unit, so basically u got to start all over again with your pure from top to bottom and get rid of every inch of tap water, u would have to scrub up all the frames and windows again to get the tap water off the windows fully 100% , i havent done this for years though, cos i like not to use the customers water. even though they dont mind ? i mean the houses where i have used tap water on are the ones i cleaned for £9.00 and spent 2 hours at the property just to get the windows up to standard for next month so instead of taking me 2 hours, next time it will only take me 15 minutes , i used to use a full 350 litre tank on a full house sometimes, some first cleans can be very bad lol.

A lot of window cleaners would use the hose of the tap and just like go over the windows in 60-70% leaving 30% of the window unit in excess of tap water... which results in a bad finish on the glass. U need to make sure u always leave a 100% coat of pure water on the full window unit.
 

 

[Stevieboy]

Wash properly wash once

Wash twice earn 1/2 

Gotta bite the bullet fella and get more pure water

Not really mate. First wash is always priced more. Priced and sold as a deep clean. Mostly twice the regular clean wash price. You shouldn’t being working extra for nothing. That’s common sense. 

 

[dazmond]

the tap water where i work is chalky as its mixed with bore hole water..i remember last summer on a hot day one of my customers hosing his car off!it dried in mins and was a right chalky mess!

i wouldnt dream of wfpoling a first clean (or any clean for that matter) with anything but hot pure water these days.....years ago i used to use outside taps for conny roofs but i very rarely clean them nowadays and certainly wouldnt with the water being fairly hard....

it must take you guys ages to do a first clean if your faffing about with customers outside taps with separate hoses.connectors.etc

 

[Iron Giant]

Water across the UK is different what may work for one person in one part of the UK won't be ideal for someone else where there water is made up of different minerals etc @Jamespf1 you have already caused hard water staining on your own windows are really willing to risk doing the same on paying cutsys windows 

 

[Lee101]

Thanks for the tip.

are you saying straight after the tap water washing go over with pure ? 
or 

do I have a 10 minute window or so before it dries to go over it in pure? Pun intended. 

I've done this a few times over the years on truly awful first cleans, I even ask the customer if I can hook up to there garden tap if they don't mind (they never do) and have an adapter valve thingy I knocked up to go from HozeLock standard fitting to Ez Snap microbore fitting.

We've found it works well as there's 2 of us, and one can follow up straight away with the magic water, have also done this on my own, it's ok on cold cloudy days, but on hot sunny days you can make a real nightmare for yourself, but on the whole we think it works well.