Welcome to the UK Window Cleaning Forums

Starting or own a window cleaning business? We're a network of window cleaners sharing advice, tips & experience. Rounds for sale & more. Join us today!

Am I the only one that runs my controller at 80?

Baldmonkey

Well-known member
Messages
709
Location
Uk
I see people saying I run my controller at 25 or 35 and I'm like mines at 80!!!

I don't have an excessive flow but it's not weak as **** either, don't use loads of water so I guess I'm asking why? 

I've calibrated it with my biggest pole fully extended slx35 and fully closed but still only get the same flow rate when calibrated, am I missing something? 

 
Everyone is different with flow rates we run ours at 64 most of the time, some higher some much lower , if you are happy with the flow there is no right or wrong .

 
I used to run mine at 38 but it seemed very slow when rinsing nowadays I run it at 72 and find it much faster when rinsing ?

 
Dont have a clue what mines running at. Its analogue spring controller and the dial seems to be not in right place, so what looks like 40 could be 50 or something. But I go by what it sounds like, and the amount of water coming out the jets. Seems about maybe 3/4 of its power? maybe a bit less? Not critical in my view.

 
I was told 2l a minute is ideal. Think it was greenpro. So get a measuring jug and spray into it. After 1 minute see how full it is. Mine is set to 65 and that gets me the 2l a minute, but I also use 4 jets. Do seem to blast through water, mind. Maybe I should recheck it...

...

 
Last edited by a moderator:
I was told 2l a minute is ideal. Think it was greenpro. So get a measuring jug and spray into it. After 1 minute see how full it is. Mine is set to 65 and that gets me the 2l a minute, but I also use 4 jets. Do seem to blast through water, mind. Maybe I should recheck it...

...
Yeh true, glad you reminded me, I did mean to do that little test, just put brush head in wide bucket and time a minute.

 
Yeh true, glad you reminded me, I did mean to do that little test, just put brush head in wide bucket and time a minute.
Disconnect the brush and just use the microbore into a 2 litre bottle, much easier and accurate. It is also a good way to calculate how much more / less water you use by upping or lowering the flow rate.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Disconnect the brush and just use the microbore into a 2 litre bottle, much easier and accurate. It is also a good way to calculate how much more / less water you use by upping or lowering the flow rate.
Think that will give a false reading microbore is 6mm internal the hose going to the jets on a Gardiner brush is much smaller , not exactly shore what size it is ?.

 
Disconnect the brush and just use the microbore into a 2 litre bottle, much easier and accurate. It is also a good way to calculate how much more / less water you use by upping or lowering the flow rate.
minibore with me. Ive read before, but I cant remember if minibore uses water quicker than microbore? you'd think so.

 
minibore with me. Ive read before, but I cant remember if minibore uses water quicker than microbore? you'd think so.
Mini bore will give more  flow and volume of water for the same controller setting than microbore , I have had both the mini bore is heavy you can see a difference in the volume of water though , we now use microbore for windows but minibore for  soft washing . 

Why? Surely no matter what you pump it through the same amount of water will come out, just at different pressure?
No you are trying to force the water out of a smaller orafice so pressure will increase but volume will decrease 

 
Mini bore will give more  flow and volume of water for the same controller setting than microbore , I have had both the mini bore is heavy you can see a difference in the volume of water though , we now use microbore for windows but minibore for  soft washing . 

No you are trying to force the water out of a smaller orafice so pressure will increase but volume will decrease 
Yep.

The problem is @Part Timer that as you try to force water through a smaller pipe the water will have to move quicker. This is when it becomes turbulent and the flow rate actually decreases at this point. (I copied and pasted my response from the other forum on this topic.)

A poster on one of the forums couldn't understand why a difference of 2mm hose size (8mm minibore to 6mm microbore) should make a difference in flow. Doug Atkinson from Daqua posted this in reply

It does -------, makes at least 30% reduction in flow
 

Take a look at this;

http://www.flourmilling.co.uk/water.html
Unfortunately this link is no longer working.

The link was referring to water flow rates through straight steel pipes. It stated that the flow rate difference between 6mm and 8mm bore steel pipe is considerable. At 4 bar the flow through 6mm pipe is 0.022 liters per second. The 8mm pipe its  0.056 liters per sec at the same pressure. So a 6mm tube will only allow fractionally less than 1/2 the volume of water at 4 bar. Our hose coiled up around a hose reel will probably reduce those figures a bit more.

Hot water will have a higher (or is it lower) viscosity (less dense) so will flow better through a smaller diamt hose. So most hot water users happily use microbore hose.


http://www.frca.co.uk/Documents/100308 Physics of flowLR.pdf

Interesting read these 7 pages.

Look at the difference between Laminar flow and Turbulent flow. Once fluid in a tube reaches a certain speed it become turbulent. Once it becomes turbulent it requires 4 times the amount of pressure to double the flow rate. Fluid through hose coiled on hose reels won't be laminar in flow but turbulent.

To calculate the area of a circle the formula is

A = π r2

A 6mm id hose is fractionally more than half the size of an 8mm hose.
A 3mm jet is a little more than twice the size of a 2mm jet.
A 1mm jet is about 1/4 of the size of a 2mm jet.

 
Yep.

The problem is @Part Timer that as you try to force water through a smaller pipe the water will have to move quicker. This is when it becomes turbulent and the flow rate actually decreases at this point. (I copied and pasted my response from the other forum on this topic.)

A poster on one of the forums couldn't understand why a difference of 2mm hose size (8mm minibore to 6mm microbore) should make a difference in flow. Doug Atkinson from Daqua posted this in reply

It does -------, makes at least 30% reduction in flow
 

Take a look at this;

http://www.flourmilling.co.uk/water.html
Unfortunately this link is no longer working.

The link was referring to water flow rates through straight steel pipes. It stated that the flow rate difference between 6mm and 8mm bore steel pipe is considerable. At 4 bar the flow through 6mm pipe is 0.022 liters per second. The 8mm pipe its  0.056 liters per sec at the same pressure. So a 6mm tube will only allow fractionally less than 1/2 the volume of water at 4 bar. Our hose coiled up around a hose reel will probably reduce those figures a bit more.

Hot water will have a higher (or is it lower) viscosity (less dense) so will flow better through a smaller diamt hose. So most hot water users happily use microbore hose.


http://www.frca.co.uk/Documents/100308 Physics of flowLR.pdf

Interesting read these 7 pages.

Look at the difference between Laminar flow and Turbulent flow. Once fluid in a tube reaches a certain speed it become turbulent. Once it becomes turbulent it requires 4 times the amount of pressure to double the flow rate. Fluid through hose coiled on hose reels won't be laminar in flow but turbulent.

To calculate the area of a circle the formula is

A = π r2

A 6mm id hose is fractionally more than half the size of an 8mm hose.
A 3mm jet is a little more than twice the size of a 2mm jet.
A 1mm jet is about 1/4 of the size of a 2mm jet.
You could have just said I was wrong ?

 
I'm also at 80. I first started out at 35 2 years ago, slowly but surely I've increased to the point I'm at now. Higher flow = work faster = more money ?

 
Why? Surely no matter what you pump it through the same amount of water will come out, just at different pressure?
No. If it were true there would be no such thing as a bottle neck surely.

But I have the feeling that this is getting into the territory of Bernoulli's principle which states: Within a horizontal flow of fluid, points of higher fluid speed will have less pressure than points of slower fluid speed. (I had to look this up. ? School days were a very long time ago.)

The next question is about what the difference of pressure (force) acting on the water flow in the hose is compared to the pressure of the same water leaving the jets of the brush.

 
Flat out for me, 100%, full flow. with 100m 6mm microbore and 50degree fan jets. 
I wouldn't be surprised if you found very little difference in water leaving the jets between 50 on the controller and full flow.

Ian Sheppard from Spring pointed this out recently in and experiment they conducted.

 
Yep.

The problem is @Part Timer that as you try to force water through a smaller pipe the water will have to move quicker. This is when it becomes turbulent and the flow rate actually decreases at this point. (I copied and pasted my response from the other forum on this topic.)

A poster on one of the forums couldn't understand why a difference of 2mm hose size (8mm minibore to 6mm microbore) should make a difference in flow. Doug Atkinson from Daqua posted this in reply

It does -------, makes at least 30% reduction in flow
 

Take a look at this;

http://www.flourmilling.co.uk/water.html
Unfortunately this link is no longer working.

The link was referring to water flow rates through straight steel pipes. It stated that the flow rate difference between 6mm and 8mm bore steel pipe is considerable. At 4 bar the flow through 6mm pipe is 0.022 liters per second. The 8mm pipe its  0.056 liters per sec at the same pressure. So a 6mm tube will only allow fractionally less than 1/2 the volume of water at 4 bar. Our hose coiled up around a hose reel will probably reduce those figures a bit more.

Hot water will have a higher (or is it lower) viscosity (less dense) so will flow better through a smaller diamt hose. So most hot water users happily use microbore hose.


http://www.frca.co.uk/Documents/100308 Physics of flowLR.pdf

Interesting read these 7 pages.

Look at the difference between Laminar flow and Turbulent flow. Once fluid in a tube reaches a certain speed it become turbulent. Once it becomes turbulent it requires 4 times the amount of pressure to double the flow rate. Fluid through hose coiled on hose reels won't be laminar in flow but turbulent.

To calculate the area of a circle the formula is

A = π r2

A 6mm id hose is fractionally more than half the size of an 8mm hose.
A 3mm jet is a little more than twice the size of a 2mm jet.
A 1mm jet is about 1/4 of the size of a 2mm jet.
We do this all the time on big shouts when running low on water we usualy use a main jet with 3/4 inch jet , but when low on water change the jet to half inch and keep the pressure the same at 6 bars but it uses a lot less water , 

 
Funny this thread should come up. I was supposed to be in a two man team today but he was ill (Not covid) so was on my own. I decided to double my flow to 80 and worked all day like it. I felt I did get through the work quicker but the extra flow was pretty much pointless beyond about 50/60 as the water was just bouncing off the glass.

I've been training now for around 5 to 6 months so pretty much been using the universal brushes but my fav combo is a Extreme sill brush with low flow rinse bar and 2x 1.4mm jets. Controller is flat out. 

 
Funny this thread should come up. I was supposed to be in a two man team today but he was ill (Not covid) so was on my own. I decided to double my flow to 80 and worked all day like it. I felt I did get through the work quicker but the extra flow was pretty much pointless beyond about 50/60 as the water was just bouncing off the glass.

I've been training now for around 5 to 6 months so pretty much been using the universal brushes but my fav combo is a Extreme sill brush with low flow rinse bar and 2x 1.4mm jets. Controller is flat out. 
With 1:4 mm jets it will be like a pressure washer with 2 mm it will work fine and very little splash back , we have the controllers set on 64 and find this the sweet spot for amount of water used and speed of work 

 
Last edited by a moderator:
With 1:4 mm jets it will be like a pressure washer with 2 mm it will work fine and very little splash back 
You've misread my post i think. My fav combo is a extreme brush with a rinse bar and then 2 1.4mm jets. You're looking at around 17 tiny jets coming out. So it's not like a pressure washer it's a really good flow. 

 
Back
Top