Water Fed Pole System Buying Guide

What shape and volume tank is best for me?

This depends on how much water your going to use for your days work and the number of operators you want working from your vehicle, what room you have allocated in your vehicle for your water fed pole system and the vehicles payload.

A single operator would use on average around 350 litres of water for a full days work. Taking all this into consideration will help you choose from a flat or upright water tank. And the volume of water you require.

For best floor space utilisation inside your vehicle, we recommend upright water tanks compared to flatter tanks.

350 litres for a one man setup, 750 litres is suggested for a 2 man setup.

What filtration will I need?

Each of our water fed pole tank systems is available with three different filtration options;

Delivery:

A ‘delivery unit only’ has no means of filtration, these systems are designed to be filled through the lid of the tank with pure water, usually from a static filtration system or spotless water site.

D/I Filtration:

DI filtration is a single stage filter usually used in soft water areas or for those that use pure water from a third party, by having the DI resin gives the reassurance that the water used will be 100% pure. As the water passes through the pump and delivered to the water fed pole it will pass through an D/I vessel filled with ion exchange resin, purifying as you go.

R/O + D/I Filtration:

Reverse osmosis is 4-stage cost effective filtration process for those producing pure water in harder water areas. This process purifies the water from your water supply as it enters the tank, this process also uses the DI process as a final stage.

Do I need a booster pump and if so which one?                                      

It’s a fact that booster pumps will increase the speed in which your system will purify water, however booster pumps have a massive roll to play in water production, you only really need to consider a booster pump if you are running a Reverse Osmosis R/O filtration system. Its really important that R/O systems have optimum water pressure to perform correctly, and without this you can cause the membrane to foul and drastically reduce the life of the membranes to weeks rather than years.

Without the minimum water pressure required R/O systems wont be able to reach their optimum output of between 95% to 98% rejection in turn putting more strain on the final stage of filtration (the Deionization process), increasing your day to day running costs.

There are two different choices of booster pump, a mains 230v and a 12v version. The mains version is an 240v pump that has an optional built in pressure switch enabling the pump to shut down when the tank reaches its capacity, these pumps need to be manually switched on and off and are either placed within the vehicle or in most cases situated between the vehicle and your water supply.

The 12v version is built into the WFP tank system and is operated automatically by the system control panel, the pump will switch on when you place the system on fill and switch off when the tank is full. The onboard 12v boosters are a great asset to those that are filling from multiple sites and want to make sure they always run the optimum pressure through there system.

How many operators?

This will determine the number of people that you want working from the unit at any one time, as standard we offer single or twin operator systems however we have even built units for multiple operators. Some would take advantage of the third person working with a portable trolley system that fills from the main tank, sometimes this is a favoured option as three people working from the system with hoses can be quite cumbersome.

Hot or cold water?

Hot water systems are a bolt on unit to your system and can be added at any time. Heated systems give you the option to regulate the temperature up to around 70 to 80 degrees as the water exits the brush onto the glass.

The heater is available with built in frost stat protection, this option is designed to monitor and take control of the water temperature in the tanks preventing the system from freezing and causing damage overnight. When the frost stat probe detects the temperature drops below your desired setting in your vehicle, the boiler will fire up and cycle for approximately 13 minutes protecting and preventing the heater from freezing.

The frost stat Blower option is an additional hot air blower that is activated when the thermostat kicks in, this helps prevent additional equipment freezing inside the vehicle. This added protection gives employers peace of mind not having to rely on operatives to place heaters in the vans overnight and knowing the system is going to be free from frost for work the next day. This option is also perfect for people that don’t have driveways and are unable to place heaters in the back of the van overnight. 

What Hose & Reel?

Hose reels are used to deliver water from your vehicle to your water fed pole. The choices are either fixed or free standing or manual and electric.

All electrically operated reels only have the option of being fixed within the van, if reels are fixed into the van vehicle doors either need to be left open to let the hoses run freely, however this could cause security risk therefore some decide to have rollers fitted through the floor, allowing the hoses to exit the vehicle with the doors closed and secured.

If Free standing or wheeled reels are used, these can be lifted from the vehicle and connected to an external water connection that is fixed to the underside of the vehicles rear bumper allowing you to lock and secure the vehicle whilst cleaning.

The user has a choice of either 6mm or 8mmI/D  internal hoses and size is really just down to personal preference, we advise all electric reel users to use 6mm as the drum of the reel is slightly smaller than the other reels, which allows the hose fit better.

Do I need raised reel platforms?

Raised reel platforms are a product that is specific for the Upright 350,500 and 750ltr X-Tanks and is designed to bolt directly to the tank frame raising fixed or electric reels from the base of the vehicle to chest height. The raised reels are constructed from  steel and helps to free up floor space while reducing fatigue caused from arching your back when reeling in.

The additional floor space created underneath the reel/s can be used to store other equipment, such as a bucket.

Raised reels work well with under floor guides creating space between the reel and the floor allowing you to feed the hose onto the reel whilst reeling in.

What are hose roller guides?

Roller guides are used to exit the hoses from within the vehicle with the doors being locked and secured. A flat faced plate with rollers to each side is fitted to the floor of the vehicle and then a second roller guide is secured to the underside of the vehicle allowing the hoses to exit through the floor and then be pulled in any direction from the rear of the vehicle. Hose roller guides can help to offer increased security while working, but they can be fiddly to use. You need to consider the risks of leaving hose exposed underneath the vehicle while its being driven around, so we do advise the hose is fully retracted before driving away.

What are the benefits of an inline TDS?

A TDS meter is used to test the purity of the water. We offer two types of inline TDS meters:

TDS STOP: This is a function that is built into the system control panel giving the user reassurance that they will only ever use ultra-pure water. Not only giving the user an accurate real time reading of the total dissolved solids known as TDS produced from the system (water purity) but has an automatic cut off function meaning it has the ability to shut down the system production when it recognises that it is producing a higher TDS than required, indicating that the D/I Resin requires changing. This value can be set by the user, for example you can set the value to 2ppm, this will shut down the system and stop producing water when the system produces a TDS of 002 parts per million (PPM).

Dual Inline TDS Merer: The second is a stand alone unit that has the ability to measure the water purity at multiple stages of purification, this is a great feature as it allows you to observe the RO membranes performance continuously as well as the final D/I purification stage.

Do I need pole storage tubes?

Pole storge tubes are tubes suspended from the ceiling of the vehicle roof designed to house the water fed poles, making it quick and easier to slide the poles in and out between jobs and securing them in place when the vehicle is in motion.

Do I need to water proof my vehicle floor?

Although our machines do not leak it is inevitable that in a window cleaners vehicle there will always be water present, be it from a leaking connection or dripping from your brush.

It is advisable to have some form of waterproofing, whether it’s a paint on waterproof liner or a professional polyurethane/polyurea elastomer coating that has a higher abrasion resistance and a higher tear strength preventing damage caused by rust and wear prolonging the vehicles life.

We normally observe a hand painted on floor protector lasting around 3-4 years, whereas the professionally sprayed on liner will last over 10 years.

What is a fast fill trigger?

A fast fill trigger is a large diameter hose that is connected to the water fed pole system water tank with a filling trigger on the other end. This allows you to drain pure water from the system rapidly allowing you to fill a backpack or portable trolley system for those areas where trailing hoses aren’t permitted or where a third operator is required.