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!

Diy electric reel

HWCS

Well-known member
Messages
1,130
Location
North Norfolk
Been using a manual clabber hose reel for a few weeks now and have had a enough lol.

Anybody made one into a diy electric reel?

 
Just watched the 2 videos, dont look that hard, i think thats my next project for van.
I followed Dave's YouTube video, made a couple of tweaks to suit me (added bearings, can disconnect motor and speed controller) and they've worked great for about a year now. Well worth it ??

 
Next step is remote control reels. I thought they were a gimmick but appear not to be the case.
Not sure about that one I personally feel the hose needs to be moved across the reel with your hand when reeling in or it just goes in the middle of the reel and not evenly levelled this then causes problems  with pulling it off again if a reel had a level wind then yes I think a remote would be useful .

 
Not sure about that one I personally feel the hose needs to be moved across the reel with your hand when reeling in or it just goes in the middle of the reel and not evenly levelled this then causes problems  with pulling it off again if a reel had a level wind then yes I think a remote would be useful .
You can wind hose off if need be. I usually only wind on my 30m's of PU hose tbh and its usually in the middle of the reel. Time will tell but I still have manual buttons next to reels.

 
Not sure about that one I personally feel the hose needs to be moved across the reel with your hand when reeling in or it just goes in the middle of the reel and not evenly levelled this then causes problems  with pulling it off again if a reel had a level wind then yes I think a remote would be useful .
Yes it ok if only reeling is small amounts, but your right about spooling in the middle of the reel after one week of use I can now gauge how much to reel in by remote, some gardens it’s worth using some it not worth using. 

 
For those of us who are to lazy to make one, are they worth paying out for?
I use the Pure Freedom electric reel and wouldn't hesitate to buy another one for a second system. You'll realise how much your shoulder used to ache, winding in manually all day!

 
I use the same type of reel as in Dave's videos. I have the bits to convert one to electric as per the way he's shown but haven't yet got round to it. I'm not really in any rush as I don't find it a bother to wind in manually. It was a bit of bother in the early days but I made a tweek to the reels and another to the winding technique, which between them made a fairly significant difference towards reducing the effort needed.

I used to find that the reel sides used to push apart and create a lot of friction when pulling out and rewinding. I drilled through the hubs and put two lengths of 6mm threaded bar through with a nut on each end to clamp them together to where they should be. This reduced the friction to almost nothing.

The slight tweek to technique is very simply, to stand slightly to the handle side of the reel instead of directly in front of and in line with it. This means I can reel in with hardly any effort as I only have to swing my lower arm. I don't have to keep rocking my shoulder and torso back and forth. I now find winding hardly any effort at all. Especially as I usually angle the reel slightly as well.

I will convert a reel eventually, when I get round to it. Though I have a couple of reservations... Up to now I've never needed to bench charge a leisure battery. One is now over 6 years old and the other, about four, I think. Though they are working fine as is for a two man team with manual reels, I suspect they may struggle without mains charging if we go electric. Part of me is thinking ; it ain't broke, I don't ever need to bench charge, It's working sweetly. Why fix it?

Everyone who has gone electric raves about it. I'm sure they have good reason. I'll probably go that route and be the same, eventually. ?

 
Last edited by a moderator:
I use the same type of reel as in Dave's videos. I have the bits to convert one to electric as per the way he's shown but haven't yet got round to it. I'm not really in any rush as I don't find it a bother to wind in manually. It was a bit of bother in the early days but I made a tweek to the reels and another to the winding technique, which between them made a fairly significant difference towards reducing the effort needed.

I used to find that the reel sides used to push apart and create a lot of friction when pulling out and rewinding. I drilled through the hubs and put two lengths of 6mm threaded bar through with a nut on each end to clamp them together to where they should be. This reduced the friction to almost nothing.

The slight tweek to technique is very simply, to stand slightly to the handle side of the reel instead of directly in front of and in line with it. This means I can reel in with hardly any effort as I only have to swing my lower arm. I don't have to keep rocking my shoulder and torso back and forth. I now find winding hardly any effort at all. Especially as I usually angle the reel slightly as well.

I will convert a reel eventually, when I get round to it. Though I have a couple of reservations... Up to now I've never needed to bench charge a leisure battery. One is now over 6 years old and the other, about four, I think. Though they are working fine as is for a two man team with manual reels, I suspect they may struggle without mains charging if we go electric. Part of me is thinking ; it ain't broke, I don't ever need to bench charge, It's working sweetly. Why fix it?

Everyone who has gone electric raves about it. I'm sure they have good reason. I'll probably go that route and be the same, eventually. ?
We have those petal reels with wheels. 3 times this morning I had the reel the hose reel around to find a straight hose pull to around the back of the house I was cleaning. The last house I had the position the reel down the side of the house and pull the hose reel around a couple of brick cornered walls laying the hose down as I walked it back to the van. With the pandemic there are a lot more cars parked on the street and it isn't as easy as it was to find a convenient parking place.

How someone with a fixed hose reel manages to pull enough hose out to reach the furthest window when his van is wedged between 2 cars is beyond me. 

I can honestly say I spend more time with hose management this morning than actually cleaning windows. Apart from the old girl asking us why we have stopped drying the windows off with a chamois. We have done her windows for 8 years with the pole and never dried them off. I asked her if there was any issue regarding the quality of the clean - no but I expect you to dry them. So We could loose that one.

 
We have those petal reels with wheels. 3 times this morning I had the reel the hose reel around to find a straight hose pull to around the back of the house I was cleaning. The last house I had the position the reel down the side of the house and pull the hose reel around a couple of brick cornered walls laying the hose down as I walked it back to the van. With the pandemic there are a lot more cars parked on the street and it isn't as easy as it was to find a convenient parking place.

How someone with a fixed hose reel manages to pull enough hose out to reach the furthest window when his van is wedged between 2 cars is beyond me. 

I can honestly say I spend more time with hose management this morning than actually cleaning windows. Apart from the old girl asking us why we have stopped drying the windows off with a chamois. We have done her windows for 8 years with the pole and never dried them off. I asked her if there was any issue regarding the quality of the clean - no but I expect you to dry them. So We could loose that one.
We almost never lift the reels out. I can't remember the last time. Probably 3 years ago. We don't have wheels on them. We swivel them to suit in the van as they're not fixed in. Instead we tether them for the rare occasion we might otherwise pull them out of the van accidentally.

 
Back
Top