Unger hydropower.

Hi all. I am going to invest in wfp system for some of my bigger houses as some of the windows I simply can't do alone therefore I am paying someone just to foot the ladder. I am thinking of getting this unger hydropower set along with a backpack to get me started as funds or low to invest into a van right now. Just curious as a few of the houses I got are fairly big three storeys which takes about an hour and half each one (traditionally) would it be still work the same if I connected to their outside tap as I understand with the backpacks I would constantly need to refill.

Thanks in advance, Ash

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So first off you need to know your tap water tds if its high say 100+ a resin vessel will be totally useless as it will eat the resin before you have finished one house and second with respect from my professional point of view using clients outside tap is a no no. 

If you are paying someone to foot a ladder surely you can afford to invest in a professional set up, Just done a quick Google and can't believe they are selling kits in screwfix from £279 with a 11ft pole or £739 with a 26ft pole ?

And with respect doing the awkward houses only, will quickly turn into wanting to convert your whole round you need to consider things longterm otherwise you will just end up spending a whole load more money. Your tap tds is your first priority as you may need to spend £100's just on a RO to make pure water. Wfp can be done on a budget but it can't be done cheap. 

ashley john said:

Hi all. I am going to invest in wfp system for some of my bigger houses as some of the windows I simply can't do alone therefore I am paying someone just to foot the ladder. I am thinking of getting this unger hydropower set along with a backpack to get me started as funds or low to invest into a van right now. Just curious as a few of the houses I got are fairly big three storeys which takes about an hour and half each one (traditionally) would it be still work the same if I connected to their outside tap as I understand with the backpacks I would constantly need to refill.

Thanks in advance, Ash

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I agree with @Iron Giant. I believe its very unprofessional using a customer's water supply. It maybe the accepted norm in the States, but I don't think it is here in the UK.

In the early days before water meters a large percentage of our customers offered us the use of their outside taps. Many were confused with how wfp worked and explaining didn't help.  A few years ago, the devil in me checked some of those customers taps and very few had a supply of water to them.

Whilst being winter could have been a reason, I think that most outside taps are permanently switched off now because a water meter has been fitted. And remember, you need to clean windows in winter.

I remember opening a customers tap to wash my dirty brush off and got a rude dressing down from the customer for wasting his water. I just apologised and stated that the conservatory roof and gutters were very dirty and I didn't want any dirt on my brush to scratch his windows. It didn't really appease him though.

Last year we did need to use a customer's tap, but we confirmed if it was OK on the day. He had previously given us permission to use his tap but decided it would be better to ask again. We used his tap and our hose pipe to flush his gutters out. I even left a tap connector on his tap as his wouldn't fit the tap.

One of the 'local' lads has a small trailer that he pulls behind the family car. He processes water into a holding tank with a small r/o and the fills 10 or 12 x 25liter plastic containers with water. He has a trolley and a pole. His trolley is a Purefreedom one so is made with an good pump, controller and battery.

TBH my son works with his Gardiner's packback all day. That's been in use for over 18 months without issue so we can't complain. Its too heavy for me to lug around but he manages.

Unfortunately the step into wfp from trad is a big step and will cost, but you can't afford not to do it properly. You can't afford to keep using ladders either. I fell from my ladder and that was a wakeup call. I had a ladder slip on a separate occassion and I cracked a rib.

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@spruce, so you never use a customers tap? Not even for conny roof cleans? I always do this. I bring my own hose but it seems a waste bringing 500 litres of water to flush down a plastic conny roof. I check with the customer first of course and factor this into the quote. To be fair most people round here aren't on a water meter so they don't really care and i agree with @Iron Giant that its too much to go using it for windows, seriously unprofessional, just makes sense for conny roof cleans?

P4dstar said:

@spruce, so you never use a customers tap? Not even for conny roof cleans? I always do this. I bring my own hose but it seems a waste bringing 500 litres of water to flush down a plastic conny roof. I check with the customer first of course and factor this into the quote. To be fair most people round here aren't on a water meter so they don't really care and i agree with @Iron Giant that its too much to go using it for windows, seriously unprofessional, just makes sense for conny roof cleans?

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We haven't used a customer's tap to clean a conservatory roof for a long time. In the early days we used to and we had a rather embarrassing leak when we did once. So we felt that as we had the water to do it we would rather do it from the van's tank.

Our water isn't hard, so filtering water doesn't cost us as much per liter as someone would have to spend in a hard water area (resin and membrane costs. A 25 liter bag of Tulsion lasts me 4 years and we are nearly 6 years on the same membrane. We got 6 years from the previous membranes as well.)

We aren't on a water meter either.

If I was paying for water then I would take a difference stance and use a customer's tap where possible with permission. As I mentioned, we will use a customer's tap (with permission) to flush gutters out if we need to. We now have a gutter vac, so I haven't bothered to flush since then as we get 95% and more of the muck out with that. We visually watch the process with a gutter vac camera. Then again, someone my ask why I happily use a customer's electricity to run a gutter vac when I won't use their water tap. Its a good question and I don't feel right about it either. But I don't have a generator and I haven't the room in the van to carry one or the space to store it. If I had a long wheel base 3500kg van then I would have a gen set on board as well.

Honestly, we don't do many conservatory roof cleans, maybe 2 a month. I don't like doing them so tend not to advertise the service. (When we were short of work in the early days we were always looking for add on services, but now we have a full work schedule they are a bit of an interuption to our window cleaning routine.)

But I feel that using a customer's water to clean his own windows unprofessional. I'm not saying it is unprofessional, I'm just saying that that is how I feel.

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spruce said:

We haven't used a customer's tap to clean a conservatory roof for a long time. In the early days we used to and we had a rather embarrassing leak when we did once. So we felt that as we had the water to do it we would rather do it from the van's tank.

Our water isn't hard, so filtering water doesn't cost us as much per liter as someone would have to spend in a hard water area (resin and membrane costs. A 25 liter bag of Tulsion lasts me 4 years and we are nearly 6 years on the same membrane. We got 6 years from the previous membranes as well.)

We aren't on a water meter either.

If I was paying for water then I would take a difference stance and use a customer's tap where possible with permission. As I mentioned, we will use a customer's tap (with permission) to flush gutters out if we need to. We now have a gutter vac, so I haven't bothered to flush since then as we get 95% and more of the muck out with that. We visually watch the process with a gutter vac camera. Then again, someone my ask why I happily use a customer's electricity to run a gutter vac when I won't use their water tap. Its a good question and I don't feel right about it either. But I don't have a generator and I haven't the room in the van to carry one or the space to store it. If I had a long wheel base 3500kg van then I would have a gen set on board as well.

Honestly, we don't do many conservatory roof cleans, maybe 2 a month. I don't like doing them so tend not to advertise the service. (When we were short of work in the early days we were always looking for add on services, but now we have a full work schedule they are a bit of an interuption to our window cleaning routine.)

But I feel that using a customer's water to clean his own windows unprofessional. I'm not saying it is unprofessional, I'm just saying that that is how I feel.

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Yeah I'm with you... I am doing quite a few at the mo because i'm doing more first cleans than regulars, this will slow down as I go I guess. They're trying work too!

I'm on a 4040 RO too now with a HF5 and my tap TDS is only 150 so my costs are well down now too. Or at least they will be once I work out how to get the best out of it (I will harass you on a more appropriate thread for help with this) ?

P4dstar said:

Yeah I'm with you... I am doing quite a few at the mo because i'm doing more first cleans than regulars, this will slow down as I go I guess. They're trying work too!

I'm on a 4040 RO too now with a HF5 and my tap TDS is only 150 so my costs are well down now too. Or at least they will be once I work out how to get the best out of it (I will harass you on a more appropriate thread for help with this) ?

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With a 50/50 waste to pure you should get a pure output of 3ppm. We have 50 psi water pressure at our tap. The water then passes through a 7liter di vessel into the IBC tank.

I have an inline tds meter with 2 prongs on either side of the di vessel. That way I can monitor the output of the r/o and the output of the di vessel.

In hindsite I should have purchased a 3 prong tds meter so I could see the tap water tds as well. Our tap water tds fluctuates a fair bit depending on which dam or reservior the water is drawn from. So I start to 'panic' if the output from r/o jumps up to 3. Testing the tap water with the handheld tds meter usually shows a higher tap water tds.

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Iron Giant said:

So first off you need to know your tap water tds if its high say 100+ a resin vessel will be totally useless as it will eat the resin before you have finished one house and second with respect from my professional point of view using clients outside tap is a no no. 

If you are paying someone to foot a ladder surely you can afford to invest in a professional set up, Just done a quick Google and can't believe they are selling kits in screwfix from £279 with a 11ft pole or £739 with a 26ft pole [emoji46]

And with respect doing the awkward houses only, will quickly turn into wanting to convert your whole round you need to consider things longterm otherwise you will just end up spending a whole load more money. Your tap tds is your first priority as you may need to spend £100's just on a RO to make pure water. Wfp can be done on a budget but it can't be done cheap. 

Click to expand...

I bought the unger hydropower starter set after from wcw which cost me £489 with 30 foot pole and backpack. I thought £400.00 but Vat alone cost me 89 pound [emoji51][emoji51] its coming back today now so think I will have an experiment with it. Hopefully it will help me get more money in to get a proper set up.

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