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Two questions and advice wanted

Ana

Active member
Messages
233
Location
Stoke on Trent
I'm just finishing off my very week water fed pole window cleaning round tomorrow. Everything has gone seamlessly, the work I've brought has been top notch, lovely customers, great payers etc so I'm really happy with what I've inherited from the former owner. He's also been very attentive, advised me well on technique.

Two things have sprung to mind after such a short time I'd like advice on:

1) is there a hose type that doesn't kink or is that just a pipe dream (forgive the pun)? I use a gardiner backpack and clx27 pole, first few days I had zero problem now it seems to kink at will.

2) any recommendations on a small pole? I seem to have a fair few large and very high end bungalows on my routes, these are ideal and I'm over the moon with them as they all have conservatories and are well priced. My issue is cleaning them with such a large and heavy pole when it's not needed.

 
1) It kinks if it is rotated/twisted. Try not rotating your pole when working, and disconnect the pole when reeling in, holding a cloth on the hose to untwist it as it reels in. If you have a long trailing hose on your pole, pick it up starting from the pole end, not the connector end, and untwist it as you go. Watch a few videos on how to roll up microphone cable on YouTube, and you get the idea.

Going hoseless mostly eliminated the kinking for me 

2) Many people agree a 22 or 25 feet pole is an optimal length for a daily driver. I personally use a Xtreme 25 and love it. But you won't save much weight going from clx27 to clx25.

If you want something lighter you can try a slx18, it's short and neat but doesn't reach very far. I almost never use mine after I got the 25.

Others use even shorter poles than the 18 foot, but I never found them any useful really.

Another option is to take off the bottom section (s) of your pole to shave off some weight. Just remember to get a few new pole endcaps to avoid damaging your carbon pole.

 
I will try untwisting it tomorrow and see if that helps, it's only happened the past two day so I must have twisted it while doing the daily work, easy done.

would have to look into going hose less, I know such poles exists but never tried one.

as for the pole I would want something much shorter and lighter than a 14/18 foot pole, literally need 8-10 foot for that bungalow work. It's the bulk I'm trying to avoid, both the weight and the length.

 
2) any recommendations on a small pole? I seem to have a fair few large and very high end bungalows on my routes, these are ideal and I'm over the moon with them as they all have conservatories and are well priced. My issue is cleaning them with such a large and heavy pole when it's not needed.
Agree with Nudel on point number 1.

I would suggest a CLX4 or a CLX10. Cheap as chips. I use a CLX4 for bungalows, cracking piece of kit for £40!

 
Well done on your first week of wfp Ana.

I've come to realise that every twist in the hose is put in by the user (me). This can be be caused a few ways, for example : taking the hose off a winding sideways such as if it's wound round the handles of a trolley (each wind is one twist), rather than unreeling it from a reel. If you use a reel there are two ways I've found that cause twists : twisting the pole is one, but I've found the main one is turning the body too many times in the same direction. If I turn my body to the right for instance to return to the van, that will put one clockwise twist on the hose. The remedy I've found is to look back along the hose when I'm almost back to the van, I count the twists and see whether they are clockwise or anti-clockwise. Then simply spin the pole the same number in the opposite direction. This sounds way more complicated than it is. I do it as a matter of course every time I return to the van almost automatically, it takes just a few seconds and I never need to disconnect to sort twists. Kinks, are generally caused by too many twists. 

The pole I would suggest is the gardiner SLX 22. This will be light in weight, short when collapsed, but long enough to reach Velux roof windows and it will allow you to reach windows on the two storey houses you will recruit as time goes on. 

Good luck ?

 
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I switched from an slx25 to an slx18 last year as most of my work is 2 storey residential. I noticed the difference in weight and found the slightly shorter pole easier to manoeuvre on downstairs work

 
I think from memory that the SLX 22 is the same collapsed length as the 18. It isn't much heavier but the extra four feet reach comes in very handy several times a day for me. 

 
A CLX-27 is going to feel heavy and awkward to use on lower windows and generally isn't need for most residential properties, take the base section off your pole and use it as a 22ft you will notice an immediate difference you could take 2 sections off whilst doing the bungalows if this would help further and just see how you get on it's an instant change to see how you manage with the weight difference and working the jobs on your rounds with a different size pole without spending any money. 

As for pole hose as above you need to untwist as soon as it starts twisting when coiling the hose do so in big loops when moving from job to job or back to your vehicle also store the hose in big loops overnight etc. 

 
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Cheers guys for all the advice. Thanks @Davy G for the best wishes, yeah ive really enjoyed being out and about in the fresh air and earning my own money once more. An office life was getting me down and need to get back out there, WFP has delivered. A little more work on for tomorrow morning then I'm off for the weekend.

ive started to uncoil the hose now slowly as I've been working today, it's getting less but I'm going to get it all out straight tomorrow after noon. I do feel the clx more cumbersome than it need be in my experience (although extremely limited experience). I don't find the clx overly trouble some other wise to work with but I'd be keen on the slx for that added weight reduction.

Can always reduce the pole numbers @Iron Giant that will certainly help. 

 
well done on your first week,  unkinking hose yep bit of a pipe dream but you can get good stuff, i use rhino hose  its much lighter than any of gardiners hose and kinks much less and its easy to unkink,   we use gardiner backpacks on a lot of jobs and one thing that helps is to have a good length of hose  so you can plonk the backpack and do most of the house without moving it , as said above take 2 or 3 sections off your pole find what  suits you best and buy an end cap for that section 

 
If you learn how to use a CLX well then you will find, in my experience, the SLX is less flexible. Obviously stiffer but I mean you will get windows, above flat roofs, where the extra bounce from the CLX will allow you to do them easier. 

On the majority of jobs it is better but on some not as good. Each to their own, all I know is that the next pole for both me my son is a CLX 27, by choice not financial constraints. 

 
I will try untwisting it tomorrow and see if that helps, it's only happened the past two day so I must have twisted it while doing the daily work, easy done.

would have to look into going hose less, I know such poles exists but never tried one.

as for the pole I would want something much shorter and lighter than a 14/18 foot pole, literally need 8-10 foot for that bungalow work. It's the bulk I'm trying to avoid, both the weight and the length.


Going hoseless or tubeless refers not to the pole itself but rather to how you connect your hose and can be done with any pole. It means putting in a connection at the base of the pole so that when you stow your pole away there is no bundle of hose attached to your pole, only a short tail if you use a John Guest type connector or no tail at all if you use something like the Exceed Innovations kit. If using a JG connector, it's easy to do. Just collapse your pole to it's shortest length and cut the hose 3 to 4 inches from the base of the pole and fit a straight JG connector. If you are only using PU pole hose this can be done in seconds. It can take a bit of getting used to as the connector goes through the end cap when you extend the pole but once it's in the pole there's no problems. As another post says it makes it easy to untwist the hose as you just disconnect at the bottom of the pole, untwist it and reconnect.

 

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