Are Univalves temperamental?

My new one is driving me nuts, comes on and doesn't seem to go off. Turn the shutoff valve

off and on and the univalve goes off. Works a few times and then stays on. Didn't work to

well before I fitted it, its a light blue one. Any experience welcome.

I found mine lasted around 10 months when it worked it was very good but at around £30 a go for that life span I won’t be buying any more it’s just as easy to bend the hose over and stick it up the pole for free and that doesn’t go wrong. ????

Had myn two years and not had any probs..some people don’t fit them properly with putting the hose and the o clip too far on 

I’ve had mine since they came out and it’s still going strong 

OutlaneWC said:

Had myn two years and not had any probs..some people don’t fit them properly with putting the hose and the o clip too far on 

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cheers, maybe I put it on too far up. I will adjust it and see how it goes but great invention.

Pjj said:

I found mine lasted around 10 months when it worked it was very good but at around £30 a go for that life span I won’t be buying any more it’s just as easy to bend the hose over and stick it up the pole for free and that doesn’t go wrong. ????

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Expensive for such a small valve. Need to wait till patent runs out and they will get cheaper.

I had a look at mine, seems to be fitted correctly. I'm going to send it back. thanks all

scottish cleaning service said:

Expensive for such a small valve. Need to wait till patent runs out and they will get cheaper.

Click to expand...

Its the cost of the dies used in the injection moulding process that cost a fortune to make and then maintain. The dies are made out of a special material.

These costs are factored into each Univalve sold. So even when the patent expires*, copying the valve will mean that a new set of dies will have to be made by the copier.

I expected to get a years use from ours (the warranty period) and then to have to replace them. In fact I bought a spare. Both the original valves are 2 years old now. I've took mine apart a year ago and lubricated the large internal o ring with petroleum jelly.

Perhaps the cost needs to be looked at differently. In the days previous to the Univalve, one of the local cleaners bought 2 Aquadaptors. They cost around twice the price of the Univalve in those days. They bought a round well out of their normal working area which used to take the trad cleaner about 3 days to complete and converted it to wfp. They could finish the round in a day but they ran out of water and had to go back the following day to finish off.

When they fitted the Aquadapters they saved enough water to finish the job in the same day and still came home with 1/4 of a tank of water.

So for them their Aquadapter purchases paid for themselves the first time out according to them. They have now done that round for 4 or 5 years, so for them their originals Aquadapters and now Univalves have paid for themselves over and over again with a single trip and water saving.

Occassionally mine used to stick and was the reason for lubrication the o ring. It doesn't do that now. Someone else also noted that his Univalve becomes temperamental if the pump pressures are too high. So if you are using a pump with a higher pressure than 100psi then you will have problems.

See the warning note by this Ebay supplier.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/WATER-FED-POLE-TROLLEY-WINDOW-CLEANING-SYSTEM-The-Best-Custom-Systems-On-Ebay/112905215638?hash=item1a49acde96:g:T0kAAOSwstNav0iE

(Pump) PSI: = 131psi -  **PLEASE NOTE** "Univalve"

If you intend to use this system in conjunction with a univalve please be aware The pump fitted to this system exceeds the recommended 100 PSI maximum rated pressure for a univalve.

* Can you extend the life of a patent?

Specifically, 72% of the issued patents include at least some 154(b) extended patent term. Among those with an extended term, the average extension is 392 days. A few patents from the group have very long extensions that approach five years.

How long can you keep a patent in UK?

Publication of the patent application 18 months after filing. Within six months of this, paying for a full examination (£100 for a paper request or £80 if e-filed). Grant of the full patent, which can then be maintained for up to 20 years from the initial filing date.

We could find out the terms of the patent Steve has on the Univalve but if its 20 years, I very much doubt I will be alive then. By that time the Univalve may even be redundant as we may not even use water to clean windows in the future. Maybe ultrasonic waves will be the future of cleaning, who knows?

.

scottish cleaning service said:

Expensive for such a small valve. Need to wait till patent runs out and they will get cheaper.

Click to expand...

From my understanding, Exceed Innovations have a patent on the pull mechanism to operate the valve rather than on the valve itself. So the same patent covered both the original Aquadapter and the Univalve.

We could find out the terms of the patent Steve has on the Univalve but if its 20 years, I very much doubt I will be alive then. By that time the Univalve may even be redundant as we may not even use water to clean windows in the future. Maybe ultrasonic waves will be the future of cleaning, who knows?

spruce said:

Its the cost of the dies used in the injection moulding process that cost a fortune to make and then maintain. The dies are made out of a special material.

These costs are factored into each Univalve sold. So even when the patent expires*, copying the valve will mean that a new set of dies will have to be made by the copier.

I expected to get a years use from ours (the warranty period) and then to have to replace them. In fact I bought a spare. Both the original valves are 2 years old now. I've took mine apart a year ago and lubricated the large internal o ring with petroleum jelly.

Perhaps the cost needs to be looked at differently. In the days previous to the Univalve, one of the local cleaners bought 2 Aquadaptors. They cost around twice the price of the Univalve in those days. They bought a round well out of their normal working area which used to take the trad cleaner about 3 days to complete and converted it to wfp. They could finish the round in a day but they ran out of water and had to go back the following day to finish off.

When they fitted the Aquadapters they saved enough water to finish the job in the same day and still came home with 1/4 of a tank of water.

So for them their Aquadapter purchases paid for themselves the first time out according to them. They have now done that round for 4 or 5 years, so for them their originals Aquadapters and now Univalves have paid for themselves over and over again with a single trip and water saving.

Occassionally mine used to stick and was the reason for lubrication the o ring. It doesn't do that now. Someone else also noted that his Univalve becomes temperamental if the pump pressures are too high. So if you are using a pump with a higher pressure than 100psi then you will have problems.

See the warning note by this Ebay supplier.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/WATER-FED-POLE-TROLLEY-WINDOW-CLEANING-SYSTEM-The-Best-Custom-Systems-On-Ebay/112905215638?hash=item1a49acde96:g:T0kAAOSwstNav0iE

(Pump) PSI: = 131psi -  **PLEASE NOTE** "Univalve"

If you intend to use this system in conjunction with a univalve please be aware The pump fitted to this system exceeds the recommended 100 PSI maximum rated pressure for a univalve.

* Can you extend the life of a patent?

Specifically, 72% of the issued patents include at least some 154(b) extended patent term. Among those with an extended term, the average extension is 392 days. A few patents from the group have very long extensions that approach five years.

How long can you keep a patent in UK?

Publication of the patent application 18 months after filing. Within six months of this, paying for a full examination (£100 for a paper request or £80 if e-filed). Grant of the full patent, which can then be maintained for up to 20 years from the initial filing date.

We could find out the terms of the patent Steve has on the Univalve but if its 20 years, I very much doubt I will be alive then. By that time the Univalve may even be redundant as we may not even use water to clean windows in the future. Maybe ultrasonic waves will be the future of cleaning, who knows?

.

Click to expand...

I was running it from outside tap so the pressure was too high. Thanks

spruce said:

From my understanding, Exceed Innovations have a patent on the pull mechanism to operate the valve rather than on the valve itself. So the same patent covered both the original Aquadapter and the Univalve.

We could find out the terms of the patent Steve has on the Univalve but if its 20 years, I very much doubt I will be alive then. By that time the Univalve may even be redundant as we may not even use water to clean windows in the future. Maybe ultrasonic waves will be the future of cleaning, who knows?

Click to expand...

Technology moves pretty fast now, I heard solar glass is coming for windows to produce power. Next step maybe a self cleaning translucent coating but it would be too expensive. No, window cleaning is here to stay. Woman feel better when they know their windows are getting cleaned. Men on the other hand don't seem to bother that's why I like my clients to be women.

As I've mentioned on here before, I think spruce was probably referring to it, my experience is that the Unvalve becomes temperimental when subjected to too high a flow rate and or to high a pressure. If you get he balance right and as long as you don't have a fauly one they will serve you well. Depending on the jets you use you may have to make adjustments to your flow and pressure settings for your univalve to function correctly. It certainly was the case for me.

Mine is now two years and three months old and still going strong.

This may or may not be connected but having a number of customers have issues with pump issues in not turning off and burning out. All use the univalve it may or may not be a problem but would be interested if anyone has had pumps go within 6 months of using it.

All five of mine work perfect love them. 

doug atkinson said:

This may or may not be connected but having a number of customers have issues with pump issues in not turning off and burning out. All use the univalve it may or may not be a problem but would be interested if anyone has had pumps go within 6 months of using it.

Click to expand...

I had a Grippatank system fitted and I think (but not 100%) it's a shurflo pump, anyway I fitted a univalve straightaway over a year ago and so far no probs.

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doug atkinson said:

This may or may not be connected but having a number of customers have issues with pump issues in not turning off and burning out. All use the univalve it may or may not be a problem but would be interested if anyone has had pumps go within 6 months of using it.

Click to expand...

This was a problem with Shurflo pumps before controllers with 'dead end.' In the early days we had pumps burn out the micro switch in the head due to cycling, but in all the cases we experienced the switch contacts burn off and then failed to activate the pump. I still have a pump from pre Varistream days with a burnt out pressure switch in daily use.

I always wondered why we never had an example of the contacts fusing together. If they did then the pump could have well burnt out.

The Univalve could well be adding to the symptom but I doubt it would be the result of it in the same way as having on and off taps wasn't. I would look at what controllers, if any, these failures are linked to. I seem to remember 6 months was about the time span we got out of a cycling pump. We were using 1/2" hose and 3mm jets back then and the pumps were still cycling.

Williamson pumps advised a 3.8lpm Shurflo pump, but the pump still cycled and its that same pump that is still on the van. Williamson's also advised that pump failures due to using small bore hose would negate the warranty. I then purchased my first Varistream at the same time. I chose to use minibore knowing I would take on the warranty risk. It was also much easier with minibore than with 2 reels of 1/2" garden hose. The first Varistreams solved the micro switch burn out issue so I just forgot about the problem. In fact, somewhere I still have several pressure switches packed away.

100psi is 6.8 bar or there abouts. Have a pvc cleaning job this week from the rocketpack so i'll see how the univalve behaves.

doug atkinson said:

This may or may not be connected but having a number of customers have issues with pump issues in not turning off and burning out. All use the univalve it may or may not be a problem but would be interested if anyone has had pumps go within 6 months of using it.

Click to expand...

Well its not good for a pump to work if nothing is circulating. Usually overheats and produces steam. Better if the backpacks could be controlled wirelessly and turn off water that way.

doug atkinson said:

This may or may not be connected but having a number of customers have issues with pump issues in not turning off and burning out. All use the univalve it may or may not be a problem but would be interested if anyone has had pumps go within 6 months of using it.

Click to expand...

If I inderstand you correctly, you may have problems with the mechanical pressure switches in the pumps rather than the actual pumps themselves. This is common if you are not using full electronic controllers that also have the built in CAL feature. This feature allows you to calibrate the controller to switch off your pump before the mechanical pressure switch in the pump operates and thus stops them burning out with repeated use.

If you use the cheaper PWM controllers that don’t have this feature, you can protect the mechanical pressure switches in the pumps by fitting a 40amp automotive relay into your wiring to carry the current to the pump instead of allowing it to pass through the small micro switches built into the pressure switches on the pumps.

3 1/2year old shurflo pump, been using tbe univalves for over a year, all good for me

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spruce said:

This was a problem with Shurflo pumps before controllers with 'dead end.' In the early days we had pumps burn out the micro switch in the head due to cycling, but in all the cases we experienced the switch contacts burn off and then failed to activate the pump. I still have a pump from pre Varistream days with a burnt out pressure switch in daily use.

I always wondered why we never had an example of the contacts fusing together. If they did then the pump could have well burnt out.

The Univalve could well be adding to the symptom but I doubt it would be the result of it in the same way as having on and off taps wasn't. I would look at what controllers, if any, these failures are linked to. I seem to remember 6 months was about the time span we got out of a cycling pump. We were using 1/2" hose and 3mm jets back then and the pumps were still cycling.

Williamson pumps advised a 3.8lpm Shurflo pump, but the pump still cycled and its that same pump that is still on the van. Williamson's also advised that pump failures due to using small bore hose would negate the warranty. I then purchased my first Varistream at the same time. I chose to use minibore knowing I would take on the warranty risk. It was also much easier with minibore than with 2 reels of 1/2" garden hose. The first Varistreams solved the micro switch burn out issue so I just forgot about the problem. In fact, somewhere I still have several pressure switches packed away.

Click to expand...

In Industry any valve or hose etc.. will have been tested and accredited a PSI rating. For example some John Guest fitting will only take max 150 PSI. 

Whereas the Univalve has had not had this test and a local guy has been through several of these. He likes to use high flow so maybe an issue the pressure is too much.