LADDERLESS REACH & WASH WINDOW & SIGN CLEANING SYSTEM

The Reach and Wash delivers 100% pure de-ionized water to the window or façade surface.  The system is environmentally friendly as no chemicals or detergents are used

The ladder-less system allows us to clean difficult areas from the ground using an extendable carbon/glass fibre pole. The system is completely safe, as the operator’s feet do not leave the ground

Ladder access is viewed as an area of high risk and any reduction in their use is a step to better safety practices. Legislation discourages the use of ladders over 6m that are not either fixed or footed, both processes incur extra time and so cost. The carbon/glass fiber poles used with the Reach and Wash system extend to 65 feet reducing the risk of injury and damage to the operator, public and building

The nature of de-ionised water is to strive and return to its natural state by actively absorbing all dirt, minerals, and chemicals it comes across. Providing the correct technique is applied whilst used for window cleaning the final rinse water dries to a perfect finish, leaving it not only clean but also sterile. 

Windows cleaned using the Reach & Wash system stay cleaner for longer compared to the traditional method, which leaves behind sticky soap residue that attracts dirt back to the windows.  

Advantages of the Reach & Wash System

• Fully complies with the latest Health & Safety regulations.  Up to 5 storeys (60ft) height reach from the ground removes the safety hazards that traditional cleaning methods cause.

• The Reach & Wash System reduces the risk to our operatives, the public and the likelihood of claims against the property owner.

• Proven in the market place, used by the UK’s leading commercial window cleaning companies and recognized as the future of external cleaning.

• Cleans windows, fascias, paneling, canopies, cladding and signs.
  

• Reaches inaccessible areas with ease.

• Solves many cleaning access problems.

• Sensitive ground is left undisturbed.

• Environmentally friendly.

• No damage to buildings.

• Windows stay cleaner for longer.

• Reduces disturbance to buildings and occupants, maintaining privacy.

• The equipment is virtually silent and extremely reliable.

• It offers total mobility as the system works on water pressure alone, 100% pure water can be produced on site which allows the operators unrestricted use of the system.

There is no safer or cost effective system of window cleaning on the market

 

WATER PURIFICATION - HOW IT WORKS, & WHY YOU NEED IT

Read on below if you want to know how water purification works, and then scroll back up and click on the heading for the equipment of interest to you.

This is a reprint of our article which appeared in January 2003 in "Window Talk"- the journal of the NFMWGC

This article sets out to explain as simply as possible the basic principles involved in the purification of water for use by cleaning contractors. Tap water inevitably contains some minerals, dissolved by the water as it percolates through the ground. Unless the last traces of rinse water are removed from windows and other reflective surfaces (usually with a leather or squeegee), these minerals are left behind when the water evaporates. They then show as streaks or spots, and spoil the finished appearance of the newly cleaned surface. If the water to be used is first totally purified, and ALL dissolved solids are removed, the problem of streaks and spots can be solved. Working from ladders, with its acknowledged dangers, can be almost eliminated by the use of telescopic poles, with pure water being pumped to a brush at the top of the pole.

The cleaning profession has been quick to exploit the advantages this brings, and there are now many suppliers of tanks, poles, brushes, hoses and pumps, etc., and the ancillary water purification equipment. Most are former window cleaners, who know a great deal about window cleaning, but in many cases very little about water chemistry (and it shows !) Tap water quality varies considerably. In some parts of the country, (e.g. Derbyshire & much of the South of England) with limestone strata, the water dissolves calcium and magnesium compounds as it flows underground, making the water "hard". Hard water forms hard insoluble scale when it's heated in kettles and boilers. It won't lather properly with soap, and causes unsightly curds on top of the bath water, playing havoc with sanitaryware. Some of us are fortunate, and live on top of granite (e.g. Aberdeen, Cornwall and parts of the Lake District). In this case, the water is totally "soft" (has no lime dissolved in it at all), and is often of very high purity. In such cases, very little purification may be needed to eliminate the streaking and spotting problem.

It's easy to find out what kind of water you've got. As a customer, your water supply company has a statutory duty to provide you with an analysis of your tap water - free of charge. We will do the same, probably a lot faster, if you pop a sample of your tap water in the post. The figures that are of particular interest to you will be:-

The water hardness (usually expressed in parts per million [ppm] calcium carbonate)

The total dissolved solids - abbreviated to TDS (again usually as ppm)

The dissolved chlorine (again ppm)

The mains water pressure (in pounds per square inch [psi], or bar)

Having obtained these figures, you're then faced with deciding how best to purify your tap water for use in your business. If you're just coming round to the idea of using purified water - perhaps with just one van - you won't wish to invest much money in getting started. What is vital is that any equipment purchased initially should be capable of expansion as your needs grow, as they surely will!

If your water is hard - much more than about 100 ppm hardness - you will first need a water softener. This is advisable, because the second stage of purification is normally a reverse osmosis unit, and reverse osmosis membranes can quickly be ruined by hard water. A softener swaps the calcium and magnesium which make water hard, in exchange for sodium (which it obtains from ordinary common salt.) After a period of use, the resin which does the job becomes exhausted, and is automatically "regenerated", the absorbed hardness minerals being washed away to drain. Softeners are usually fully automatic, all the user needs to do being to top them up occasionally with a 25 Kg bag of ordinary salt. If your water purification is carried out at home the installation of a softener will bring the bonus of many advantages domestically. You'll save money on soap, detergents and kettles, and gain Brownie points with your wife. She'll love the luxurious difference that softened water will make to your sanitaryware, the family laundry, and to her skin and her hair.

The second stage of water purification is normally reverse osmosis (RO). RO membranes can be damaged by the chlorine added to the water by the water company to prevent bacterial contamination during distribution. This chlorine is therefore usually removed by pre-filtration through an activated carbon cartridge (the stuff that was used in gas masks - and is now used in Brita jug filters). The water is next pumped at high pressure across a synthetic membrane, which allows pure water to pass through the membrane to storage, the impurities being carried away to drain. The higher the pressure, the more efficient the RO machine will be: the less water will run to waste, and the more impurities will be removed. Typically, the ratio of waste water to product water varies from 1:1 to 1:3, and about 90 to 95% of the impurities in your tap water are removed.

Finally, the remaining impurities are usually mopped up by passing the product water from the RO through a small polishing cartridge (or a larger column) of a mixture of two synthetic deionising or demineralising resins. It is possible to regenerate these resins on an industrial scale, but on a smaller scale they're generally discarded when spent, and new resin is used. The final purity of the water is measured in parts per million total dissolved solids (ppm TDS). This is easily checked by a small digital pocket TDS meter, or more accurately by built-in instrumentation.