Van or trolley ?

Hi, I've done all the thinking and decided I'm going to go for it !! The big question is with the pole systems, do I get a trolley system or buy a 2nd hand van with a decent system in it ? All advice welcome. Thanks

Hi & welcome to the forum @Aide :thumbsup:

If budget would allow how about both?

Yeah I would say both as well, that is how I will end up eventually, just have a trolley/back pack now though.

Thanks guys. I cant really do both as I'm looking at vans fitted out around the £3500 mark, funded by selling my car. Decisions decisions !! Have you found the trolley good enough on it's own as that's obviously the cheaper option ? Also I'd need to buy a system for purifying on top of this wouldn't I as I live in a hard water area.

I started off with a pure freedom trolley and to be honest it drove me nuts having to keep filling containers, humping water about also dragging the trolley around the streets all the time. They come in handy for the odd job but not really practical if you need to get through a lot of water (get busy) whereas using a van mount I find far less hassle myself. When I say van mount all I did was use the trolley static in the van feeding from a van tank instead. Then all I do is just attach a 100m microbore hose reel to the outlet. The pure freedom trolley has the same quaility 5 lpm 100 psi pump & digi controller you would find fitted to any good van mount. The only difference is that the leisure battery is alot smaller in the trolley so best to charge it up each night.

Regarding using an ro/di you have the option of a static home system with holding tanks or if this is not practical stick a 4040 ro/di setup in the van aswell. Be warned that if using a small ro they has a very low production rate so will mean will take upto 24 hours or more to fill a van tank depending what size it is so your van could be off the road for a very long time.

Thanks Smurf, the 2 vans I'm looking at have the brodex 500l system in. Will this have ro/di inbuilt. 'novice':thumbsdown::thumbsdown::thumbsdown:

Also as someone that is useless at DIY do these systems need regular maintenance/servicing ?

Are those new or used systems you are on about?

They are very basic really so will not tax the most useless diy person like myself. If you can change a light bulb then you have no problems as even I can do that /emoticons/biggrin.png

Also as someone that is useless at DIY do these systems need regular maintenance/servicing ?

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They're 'hardly used' systems in older vans. The systems are £2500 + vat and the whole cost with the van is not much more so seems like a decent way in for me. Obviously I'm a bit green going into this hence coming on here for some much neede help/guidance. It's a great forum and I'm itching to get going but don't want to start with silly mistakes !!

The more 'ready to go' it is, the better for me. My heads spinning with this ro/di stuff, think I may have read too much :specs

The trolley does me fine, I can do a normal 3 bed house on one fill, so full it up, do the house and refill before the next. On bigger houses you do need to refill once or twice during, but for normal domestic stuff it has been perfect so far.

If you intend to do alot of wfp work then a van mount is a much better option in my opinion.

More importantly the van needs to be reliable so best not buy a bag of shite with a facy looking system in it as will be no good if the van is off the road.

As I said on another thread, I can use one barrel for three houses. I take 6 barrels in the boot of my car, and this lasts me a day.

My trolley is actually a back pack with a trolley handle, it takes maybe 12-15 litres? so doesn't take a whole 25l barrel.

Converted cheapo china backpack sprayer will get you started but are not meant to be used for everyday for wfp window cleaning. It was only some bright spark thought it would be a good idea for occasional use that is now being passed off as a wfp budget system which is wrong as they don't last.

There are loads of old posts saying how great they are and just as many saying how unreliable they are too. One old member thought they were so good he had so say six but then posted that he had installed a decent system after they all failed. I did tell him at the time but he was having none of it /emoticons/biggrin.png

yeah they aren't anything special, but at the end of the day it is a water vessel with a water pump, a battery, a simple charging circuit, a pot and a switch, it is very, very simple, as all WFP systems are, there really isn't much to go wrong, and if it does the bits are peanuts.

When I have the cash spare I will without a doubt get a van mount, but I can't see how it can be used all the time, I have quite a few larger houses, and quite a few I can't get my pick up near, so would end up using the back pack anyway.

Do you generally try and only take on new houses you know you can use your van mount on?

hi.ive been using wfp now for a few years. started off with a purefreedom trolley, but i found it to be a pain in the **** due to the weight of it. i use a back pack now all the time. they do the job for me, but agree with smurf about being cheapo. ive had two now and the setting switch on both havent lasted long.(only got two settings now.low and high) not too bad though because ive got fan jets fitted on my brush, and on the low setting i get pencil jets, and on the high, fans! personally speaking, unless youve got lots of big commercial jobs or massive houses to clean, then i dont think a van mount is necessary.only my opinion though!!

When I have the cash spare I will without a doubt get a van mount, but I can't see how it can be used all the time, I have quite a few larger houses, and quite a few I can't get my pick up near, so would end up using the back pack anyway.
Do you generally try and only take on new houses you know you can use your van mount on?

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I personally find using a van mount quite fun. Counting off the amount of pulls you need to get to the furthest window, using lamp posts as guides round corners etc. I wouldn't go back to using a trolley all the time now, no way.