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Are back packs really enough?

JustLiam

Member
Messages
32
Location
Aldershot
I’ve been thinking, and I wonder, back packs don’t hold much water, surely you would run out doing a whole house...how many litres does it take to do a semi detached I wonder...

 
I’ve been thinking, and I wonder, back packs don’t hold much water, surely you would run out doing a whole house...how many litres does it take to do a semi detached I wonder...
Depends what size of house an how good your technique is, you can take the tank of the backpack an reroute the orange hose from tank inlet to a barrel. 

 
backpacks are ok for emergencies (to get you out of a tight spot maybe) but your better off investing in a decent van mount system with 100m of microbore and an electric reel if you take your business seriously and plan on cleaning for many years to come....

my backpack just gets used for chemical application for plastic cleans,conny roofs,etc these days.....

 
Everything has its pros and cons. If you dont have an electric hose reel then the winding in could be pretty physcial. 
No training hoses so no worries about cars driving over or people tripping over your hose, backs of terraces aren’t a problem and you can charge well for them as you know not many van mount guys will go near them unless they also have a backpack.
hoses can be more contained rather than having to be trailed all the way up the street and around numerous obstacles. + you don’t have to leave any doors open on the van when working so any other gear you have in the back isn’t at risk of being nicked. 
The van is more freely available to hold other stuff (pressure washers/gutter vacs/lawn mowers etc etc. with a van mount it kind of restricts space inside and alternative usage. The cons are it is very physical on the body, Sack truck definitely needed. also they dont have a long life. If you get more than 12 months out of them you are doing well, 18 months being the very upper limit. in the long run more expensive than a van mount probably. But then theres no R.O.S batteries and pumps to worry about.

 
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I have 2 van mounts and a backpack on a trolley. I prefer the van mount but my lad says he’s 50/50 on both. We’ve timed it and tbh there’s not much difference once your in a routine. We have a very light trolley so no more physical than a manual reel and we use a pretty powerful submersible pump to fill out the main tank which takes as long as setting your hose and also no faffing with barrels. He will easily get 2 small semis or maybe a four bed detached with a conny out of one fill in the backpack. It’s also ideal having an option of not being tied to the van and I can send him doing the odd house here and there instead of moving the van. Also great on runs of terraces. I’ll do the fronts and send him down the backs with the back pack. Easily get 4/5 backs off one fill. Once you get your technique it’s very surprising how much work they can do. 

 
I used my first prototype trolley build for two years with a standard 25L barrels on it for two years before even thinking about building a van mounted system. 

It got me to places that I'd never thought about getting.

My first customers were 6 flats on a 8 story block. I did there front balcony windows and doors along with their back windows by leaning out of them with a short pole. All neighbours lived next door to each other 

A versatile system exactly the same as a backpack

 
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