Cold Weather Window Cleaning

As temperatures drop lower there are various effects or even dangers to be aware of with waterfed pole systems. Here are a few tips to help keep things flowing freely and you out working.

Pump Controllers

• As water gets colder, it also gets denser and this means it needs more energy to push it through hoses and up the pole, sometimes resulting in calibration problems with controllers. It might have been working fine in the warmer weather when the water didn't need as much effort to move it around, but now, with the cooler weather here you might start to get issues with this. Thankfully it's simple enough to rectify. Open the Controllers page for more information about setting them to run properly.

Batteries

• Cold weather has quite a large impact on batteries. Some examples are:
  1. They will not charge as well as they do in warmer weather.
  2. Battery capacity (how many amps it can hold, NOT how many volts it can hold) is reduced as temperature goes down.
  3. System current draw (usage of amps) is usually higher in cold weather.
• So in at least three ways your battery might disappoint in winter time!
• Taking these things into consideration it's advisable to increase how often you charge your battery to ensure it's always at maximum capacity in winter.
• If you'll be leaving a battery idle for a long period of time then you can help it by connecting it to an intelligent charger. This not only will ensure it's charged when you need it but should also help it to live longer overall.

Hoses

• Hoses are made from thermoplastic and they get softer when hot, and stiffer when cold. This can make them difficult to handle in the winter. They often coil up into the shape they had when they were first manufactured and this is really annoying when it's the pole tubing, or the hose is running on the floor and you can't get it to lie flat!
• This thermoplastic material also has an affect on how stretchy the hose is, which in turn has an effect on controllers and pump settings. Calibration will have to be set higher on pump controllers.
• Hot water systems can produce other problems because they heat the hosing up to the point where it goes really soft. This can make it easily damaged. Even hoses sold as 'high temperature hose' will get far softer when heated up so treat them kindly!

Freezing / Splitting

• The more pure water is the more likely it is to freeze when temperatures get a little low. Because we use pure water for cleaning with it will often freeze before ground water does, whether in tanks or filter housings, or on the ground.
• As water freezes it expands and this means that it needs more space to expand into. This causes problems when it's being trapped inside a small space. The following items are known to be vulnerable but this is not the whole list of possibilities:
  1. Hose reel inlet manifolds
  2. Filter Housings:
     • Prefilter housings
     • RO Housings
     • Resin canisters. While the actual canister will not split, riser tubes, screens and head units can get damaged

  3. Window cleaning pumps can be vulnerable. Not all ice will cause damage and not every pump will be affected either, but it's something to be aware of.
  4. Suction hose can split when the water inside freezes.

Hot Water Systems

• A very good way to keep the cold water issues at bay is to avoid getting the water cold enough to freeze in the first place!
• These hot water systems can also be configured to switch on and circulate water through the hoses and back into the tank as temperatures drop to certain levels. Please use the Live Chat or Contact Form for more information on these.
• Water that was hot and then cools to freezing temperature will often freeze more solidly than other ground water. So be aware that you might be leaving ice behind as you leave the job if you use hot water in winter!

Water on the floor

• The cold weather brings the risk of water freezing on the ground after you've done your cleaning and gone. You cannot avoid getting water on the ground, therefore it's wise to take the following precautions:
  
  
  1. Put out signs to warn pedestrians that you are there and there's a risk of ice.
  2. Put down some grit salt to try to prevent that water freezing when is gets to the ground. Putting it down before you start working might be better than sprinkling it down afterwards.
  3. If the water is definitely going to freeze despite all of this then it's wise to consider not cleaning at all until the temperature increases enough...
  4. As noted above, hot water will often freeze worse than ground water does once it cools after the cleaning.

RO Systems

• Because cold water is denser than normal it does not filter as well, Symptoms can be:
  1. Less pure water from membranes
  2. Slower filtering
  3. More waste water than usual
  4. Freezing water will also damage housings and especially the membranes themselves, usually permanently

Protecta-Kote

• Protecta-Kote paint takes a very long time to dry in any weather but even longer when it's cold. To get round this there is an accelerator that can be mixed in with it. It has to be very well mixed but once done will speed up the drying time for the paint enormously and so is recommended for cold weather painting.
• Note that accelerator is only for non UVR Protecta-Kote paints.