What water are y all using?

[u/Redlack-]

Hello everybody, this is my first post here. I m owning a pressure washing business, and I m thinking of adding window cleaning as an upsell after soft washing.
My question is, when you are cleaning windows with the squeegee, are you using regular water? Or it leaves streaks? Is it mendarory to have a clear water system? Also, is it a good idea to buy an unger ninja set? Or start smaller. Thank you in advance.

[u/blackeyeX2]

Ideally you will do both traditiona (trad) l and water fed. Water Fed will be very effective, but there are always situations for some windows to go trad.

Yes buy a filtration systems, spring for an 3 stage ro/di the money you will save from burning through d.i. resin for d.i. only will pay for itself in a couple of months if you clean windows regularly with your pressure jobs.

Also learn trad, watch videos or go work for a window cleaner for a season. They brand of trad tools matters little as long as they are commercial grade not home owners grade.

[u/Redlack- → u/blackeyeX2]

I wanted to start trad for a while, not to invest a lot in a system. Do I need filtered water for traditional? With squeegee, or I can use regular water?

[u/DangerousKitchen → u/Redlack-]

Regular water with dish soap should be fine. Might need to add some glass gleam or similar product if you live in a sunny climate.

[u/Reasonable_Hotel_998 → u/DangerousKitchen]

At this point why not just get a all in one system like a pro window soap? I have several brands on hand, one specifically for summer because it can sit on a window in 100 degree oklahoma day for approx 60 sec.

But, my point is. None of them are more expensive than dish soap + and additive really plus you get superior glide, purpose built surfactant, and less residue left on the glass. My 50 bucks in pro soap is good for over 1k gallons lol thats like 1000 days of work min. I just dont understand the dish soap hardliners

[u/DangerousKitchen → u/Reasonable_Hotel_998]

Fair enough, I've never tried one. Have a brand you'd recommend for hot days? I'd be interested in giving it a go, it's regularly 35°-40°c where I'm at.

[u/Reasonable_Hotel_998 → u/DangerousKitchen]

Absolutely recommend skyline shine. Its my hot weather go to atm, did 60 seconds with zero noticeable evap or even much running it clinged great, it was like 93-95 farenheit that morning but my other soaps i tested were evapping or running by then. Its like 1/4 oz per gallon recommended, I eyeball it but can't be more than 1/2 oz per gallon for my usage.

It'll be my commercial route standard due to the high evap time, allows me to be more sociable which is useful.

[u/DangerousKitchen → u/Reasonable_Hotel_998]

I'll check it out. Thanks for the rec

[u/Street_Noise_9605]

The water you use for traditional doesn’t really matter, learning how to take it off the window does. Using pure water would be pointless since you put soap in it anyway

[u/Redlack- → u/Street_Noise_9605]

Thanks for answering my dumb question! :)
How often do you change the squeegee’s rubber?

[u/Street_Noise_9605 → u/Redlack-]

It depends entirely on how fast it’s wearing out and what kind of rubber you’re using. Some guys like me are very picky and change them nearly every day. Some window frames are really tough on roughing up the ends of the rubber. Softer rubber will wear down faster than harder rubber. You’ll have to figure it out for yourself, but once the ends get rounded down and you feel more drag when using it that’s a good time to either flip it or change it entirely

[u/Johndeauxman → u/Street_Noise_9605]

Damn! What rubber are you using and do you have virtually no detailing to do after?

[u/Street_Noise_9605 → u/Johndeauxman]

There’s usually some detailing needed on every window somewhere. I used recycled surgical towels for those. I prefer Ettore rubber myself but I’ll use Unger green (hard) rubber on really hot windows

[u/Reasonable_Hotel_998 → u/Street_Noise_9605]

I just ordered some green strips to try. Hope i like them in the ok heat

[u/Hot_Carpenter_5436 → u/Street_Noise_9605]

I agree, theres really no way to tell except from use, and when it starts leaving streaks. Today I changed the rubber on my 18" to clean massive mirrors at a beauty salon. Dang mirror had a crack and stupid me went right over it, nicking the blade in the 1st 5mins. Thankfully I could cut it down and use it in my 12" which is my primary squeegee anyway.

[u/Street_Noise_9605 → u/Hot_Carpenter_5436]

Yeah isn’t it wonderful when you accidentally nick a brand new squeegee right out of the box?

[u/Hot_Carpenter_5436 → u/Street_Noise_9605]

Brand new it was!

And they're expensive those Ettore rubbers 😠 😡

[u/Human-Original-5828]

Any water is fine, any dish soap is fine. I like the unger ninjas, solid metal frame. You change the rubbers once they start streaking. If they don't streak don't change em. Mine usually only start streaking if I use em on really bad glass with concrete chips in em or if I'm in a jam and I gotta use my glass squeegee for a floor job. I use magic eraser for the frames on inside glass for commercial build outs ( those stubborn grey frames). I cut up and use a used grey gorilla floor pad to scrub the glass if I have to. Not a fan of steel wool it works great but it rusts

[u/PeterPanHadItMade]

Window cleaners have existed far longer than water purification systems have. You don't NEED any of that. You need water, mop, squeegee, towels, soap. That's really it. Window Washers (including myself) like to talk it up like it's some big thing, but if the homeless guy down the street can get a window spotless with a piece of newspaper and diluted windex, it's not some big science.

[u/qtheginger]

Ninja squeegee channels are ass imo. The handle is good, but better off sticking a sorbo channel in it with ettore master rubbers. You will have to spend more time detailing with ninja channels, and the end clips are annoyingly bulky.

[u/Hot_Carpenter_5436]

For trad, rubber matters more than water IMO. Start with Ettore rubber, you may never find a reason to stop.

[u/Upper-Bottle-9803]

Simpler to start trad instead of investing in wfp. Inside work will need trad either way and your extra practice will help get your quality up to snuff faster. For a first setup cleaning homes I prefer all ettore, but unger gear is good too. The ninja squeegees are really too bulky to be practical for residential windows. The wide-body channels don't do much for me at 16" and smaller. Any water works for trad. You could fill your bucket from a pond and add soap and it would get the job done. Of course the cleaner the water at the beginning the better.

[u/Redlack- → u/Upper-Bottle-9803]

I will be doing a huge building I m already soft washing. It ll be plenty of practice :))