DIY pure water fed kit

Hi. I'm just want to start own window cleaning business. Currently my budget £1000 for the system. I bought Peugeot Partner van all ready. I thinking 350L tank with DI system. Anyone have any good idea where can i find. I not stick for brand new I'm happy with 2nd hand stuff is well.

Sabi said:

Hi. I'm just want to start own window cleaning business. Currently my budget £1000 for the system. I bought Peugeot Partner van all ready. I thinking 350L tank with DI system. Anyone have any good idea where can i find. I not stick for brand new I'm happy with 2nd hand stuff is well.

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First question to ask yourself is? What is the tds of my water?

If you are serious about window cleaning then this figure will point you in the right direction with regard to purifying water. If you are in a hard water area then di will cost a fortune in resin. It may be an option to begin with, but for a very short period of time.

Tds meter from Daqua.

spruce said:

First question to ask yourself is? What is the tds of my water?

If you are serious about window cleaning then this figure will point you in the right direction with regard to purifying water. If you are in a hard water area then di will cost a fortune in resin. It may be an option to begin with, but for a very short period of time.

Tds meter from Daqua.

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Thanks for the good idea

Sabi said:

Thanks for the good idea

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If you are careful Ebay can be a good source of used equipment.

Here is an example.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/304115222541

The tank has a good frame which must be properly secured to the floor/van's chassis.

You will need a hose reel, hose and a new Gardiner SLX27 pole. I would purchase these new as second hand ones will be well used.

I process water into a 1000 litre IBC tank in my garage using a 4040 r/o on a float switch.

Then you will either need an r/o or di vessel depending on what the tds of your water is. IMHO a 300gpd r/o is the smallest r/o a single operator needs if he is going to process water this way. I have a transfer pump and hose to transfer water from my IBC tank to either van. (My son and I each have a van.) Buy the r/o new from a reputable dealer such as Daqua. They are more expensive than buying from Ebay but @doug atkinsonuses quality components.

This whole lot will cost you a little more than your budget at an estimate. Investing in wfp equipment isn't cheap.

Some people who haven't storage space have an r/o in the van. One thing you have to remember is than the r/o must be protected against frost. I have my r/o setup in my garage in a heated cabinet. When the temperature drops to below 8 degrees a tube heater kicks in and keeps the inside of the cabinet at between 8 and 10 degrees.

spruce said:

Here is an example.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/304115222541

The tank has a good frame which must be properly secured to the floor/van's chassis.

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Looks like a PureFreedom frame, to buy those components from PF is in excess of £800 although not sure of the controller listed on this item

Here is another example.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/313664172022?hash=item4907d76ff6:g:I~MAAOSw8K1hNlgv

If I was considering this I would need to ensure the mounting clamps and under body spreader plates are also included. They would be expensive parts from Ionics if not.

The blue hose reel looks ok. Replacement bushes are available from some suppliers.

We have used those petal hose reels with wheels since 2005 and still have the original 2. The only thing I have done on one of them is replaced bushes, a mod to hold the reel together using threaded rod (an issue using hot water,) and weld feet to the front support that wears on the road/pavement.

Iron Giant said:

Looks like a PureFreedom frame, to buy those components from PF is in excess of £800 although not sure of the controller listed on this item

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If it's working, it should be ok. It's an old Spring V11 controller. He says it's brand new along with the pump.

There are a couple of holes in the tank which may need to be sealed up. It looks as though it could have had an r/o mounted on it at one time.

I'm not sure what the blue 'rope' around the frame is for. If its what's holding the tank in place in the van then I'm shaking my head. I see the same seller also has a Brodex 250 litre tank to sell as well. I wonder why he is selling both tanks.

I wouldn't touch the Brodex one @Sabi

We also have a pair of step ladders in each van @Sabi. Mine is a four step ladder similar to these;

https://www.ladders.co.uk/tb-davies-en131-4-3-section-telescopic-little-giant-revolution-ladder/

The ones I have came from Screwfix and were a sell-out line. They were a third of this price. These open out to form a short ladder, but I still have a pair of ladders on the van's roof but they don't get used much, possibly 3 or 4 times a year.

We use them on average a couple of times a day to get over locked side gates. Then you will need a couple of squeegees, an applicator and a scraper. We use towels to wipe the downstairs window sills and dry the front door. We also use facecloth size cloths to clean the hose of dirt when winding it in. We also have various household cleans such as The Pink Stuff, Jif and some dish washing liquid such as Fairy.

I have used George the window cleaning program since 2005. I now run it on a Microsoft Surface Go tablet. The more modern window cleaning round software programs are cloud based and have a monthly subscription. We carry around a float. Although most now pay on the internet we still have die hard cash customers.

Starting a window cleaning round requires commitment.

@ched999ukhas recently started using very basic equipment to begin with. He just has a backpack, a few water barrels and pole in the back of his family car. He has a few posts on this forum. He has started small a couple of months back with the intention of growing his business customer and equipment wise in the future.

spruce said:

Here is another example.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/313664172022?hash=item4907d76ff6:g:I~MAAOSw8K1hNlgv

If I was considering this I would need to ensure the mounting clamps and under body spreader plates are also included. They would be expensive parts from Ionics if not.

The blue hose reel looks ok. Replacement bushes are available from some suppliers.

We have used those petal hose reels with wheels since 2005 and still have the original 2. The only thing I have done on one of them is replaced bushes, a mod to hold the reel together using threaded rod (an issue using hot water,) and weld feet to the front support that wears on the road/pavement.

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The clamps are the important bit but if you know of an ionics approved fitting center rather than ionics themselves they arnt expensive I paid around £180 for a compleat set of clamps and custom made spreader plates and nuts and bolts and around a further £70- 100 for  fitting if I remember correctly , I have a few spare clamps in the garage fir my next project ????

Pjj said:

The clamps are the important bit but if you know of an ionics approved fitting center rather than ionics themselves they arnt expensive I paid around £180 for a compleat set of clamps and custom made spreader plates and nuts and bolts and around a further £70- 100 for  fitting if I remember correctly , I have a few spare clamps in the garage fir my next project ????

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Yeah! But its £180.00 on top of the asking price of the tank for components only.

spruce said:

Yeah! But its £180.00 on top of the asking price of the tank for components only.

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Yes I agree but still a lot cheaper than paying thousands for a new system from ionics there kit is excellent but way over priced but buying second hand there are bargains to be had and you can end up with a branded system for  diy money 

spruce said:

@ched999ukhas recently started using very basic equipment to begin with. He just has a backpack, a few water barrels and pole in the back of his family car. He has a few posts on this forum. He has started small a couple of months back with the intention of growing his business customer and equipment wise in the future.

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Cheers. Although I started out with the basics it was still a fair investment. With RO, booster pump, workwear, rugged phone, sim contract, squeegee, insurance, backpacks (2 so I have a spare as they were in short supply), water barrel, transfer pumps, 8 barrels, slx27, clx18, 3 brushes, extension hose, trolley, card reader, leaflets, business cards, website, chemicals, trad kit etc....

My setup isn't the minimum by any stretch but I wanted to have reasonable kit that would last and allow me to do the job with minimal lifting. I am progressing slowly and stopped leafletting when covid levels peaked, I have now restated and picked up about 5 custy last week, I'm not getting all I quote which I think is right as don't want to be too cheap nor 2 expensive. I think you do need to look presentable and professional. I don't hide the fact that I work out of a car but I don't broadcast it. It does take me a long time to clean the windows but I try to make 100% sure I do a good job and always walk round the job when finished to check it.

ched999uk said:

Cheers. Although I started out with the basics it was still a fair investment. With RO, booster pump, workwear, rugged phone, sim contract, squeegee, insurance, backpacks (2 so I have a spare as they were in short supply), water barrel, transfer pumps, 8 barrels, slx27, clx18, 3 brushes, extension hose, trolley, card reader, leaflets, business cards, website, chemicals, trad kit etc....

My setup isn't the minimum by any stretch but I wanted to have reasonable kit that would last and allow me to do the job with minimal lifting. I am progressing slowly and stopped leafletting when covid levels peaked, I have now restated and picked up about 5 custy last week, I'm not getting all I quote which I think is right as don't want to be too cheap nor 2 expensive. I think you do need to look presentable and professional. I don't hide the fact that I work out of a car but I don't broadcast it. It does take me a long time to clean the windows but I try to make 100% sure I do a good job and always walk round the job when finished to check it.

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These are the little add-ons that no one consider when budgeting for equipment for a window cleaning business.

Thanks for your input.

The other thing is that without customers you haven't got a business. It's the chicken and the egg scenario. We found that if we were canvassing we needed to clean those new customers asap, the same time the quote is accepted preferably.

Iron Giant said:

Looks like a PureFreedom frame, to buy those components from PF is in excess of £800 although not sure of the controller listed on this item

Click to expand...

spruce said:

First question to ask yourself is? What is the tds of my water?

If you are serious about window cleaning then this figure will point you in the right direction with regard to purifying water. If you are in a hard water area then di will cost a fortune in resin. It may be an option to begin with, but for a very short period of time.

Tds meter from Daqua.

Click to expand...

I bought Tds meter from Amazon, not the cheapest one ,that was £30. I was measure our water and that was 252 tds.

Sabi said:

I bought Tds meter from Amazon, not the cheapest one ,that was £30. I was measure our water and that was 252 tds.

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Shame, because Daqua has them for £19 including VAT and delivery. The one I purchased from him was the original quality product from HM with TDS and water temperature.

252 ppm is too high for resin only - you need an r/o.

Sabi said:

I bought Tds meter from Amazon, not the cheapest one ,that was £30. I was measure our water and that was 252 tds.

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What brand of tds did you buy? We recommend suppliers solely on the grounds that we know they sell trade standard calibrated reputable brands such as HM digital.

Many ebay amazon listings are inferior cheap non calibrated units which can deliver incorrect values and a false sense of security with your water parts per million reading. 

Good advice from all that gave it I’d read it carefully and follow it strictly! I think you will need a little more than £1000. £1500 should just about cover it- don’t worry about chemicals or extra bits to start with you can add them in time just focus on window cleaning to start. As spruce says if quote is accepted you need to do it there and then preferably, only wasting your time and fuel going back again 

I didn’t have this forum when I started so ended up buying **** and using techniques that were significantly slower! If you take your time to read a lot of the posts on here you’ll learn a fair bit 

Jamesmarshall said:

Good advice from all that gave it I’d read it carefully and follow it strictly! I think you will need a little more than £1000. £1500 should just about cover it- don’t worry about chemicals or extra bits to start with you can add them in time just focus on window cleaning to start. As spruce says if quote is accepted you need to do it there and then preferably, only wasting your time and fuel going back again 

I didn’t have this forum when I started so ended up buying **** and using techniques that were significantly slower! If you take your time to read a lot of the posts on here you’ll learn a fair bit 

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Going into window cleaning needs a strong commitment these days, as the financial investment is much higher than it was trad. In those days a diy ladder, bucket, squeegee, applicator, roof rack and clamps, scraper, scrims and other bits and bobs might set you back £300.

spruce said:

Going into window cleaning needs a strong commitment these days, as the financial investment is much higher than it was trad. In those days a diy ladder, bucket, squeegee, applicator, roof rack and clamps, scraper, scrims and other bits and bobs might set you back £300.

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Aye, when I started up I bought an £80 beginners kit from internet. Already had the ladders so I begun right away. Then I went for the full Monty on the van and that's when the big money was needed, insurance, licence, service, charger, poles, brushes, pole hose, univalves and fittings. I must have spent well over £20k and I already had the van. But now the real money is flowing in with a ton every 3hrs or so. What I have found in life, you need big money to make big money, I don't even use the Backpack now because I just go through the close with the help of two wedges and I find it quicker. Working for myself and a single operator seems to take all the stress away than having to rely on others.

Dont be afraid to buy bits and self assembly, its reqlly not as difficult as youd think. 

£1000 may well be very tight and you may have to buy a few bits cheap to get you going and then replace in 3-6 months once the money starts coming in, dont be afraid to reinvest everything in the first year, it will be very worth it.

Thanks for everyone how try to help my. I bought my system less them £1000. It's all working fine,but one of the pumps has a problem because is doesn’t want to pick up the water. Everyone have any good Idea for that? "Battery is full of charge,,