Double your window cleaning productivity — without any chemicals.

That is the challenge proponents of purified water cleaning have made to the cleaning industry. According to 18-year industry veteran Patrick Parker of Commercial Window Cleaning, St. Louis, the industry has responded successfully.

Parker has been operating a trolley mounted, five-stage water purification-extension pole system for two years.

“The water in our area is so hard, you might as well pour milk on the windows,” said Parker. “It dries white.”

If you don’t get that water off quickly, it will stay there, build up, and eventually damage the glass.

However, the water Parker uses does not spot because it doesn’t contain:

· Calcium
· Magnesium
· Trace iron, etc.

It also is a much stronger solvent than local tap water.

Do you still need to use ammonias or other window cleaning chemicals?

“I don’t,” said Parker.

There has been some reluctance among cleaning pros to accept the method. A couple of years ago, Parker was among those with cold feet.

At a major trade show in Anaheim, CA, Parker said, he was introduced to the system.

“I was skeptical. I thought, ‘they’re demonstrating this on a piece of glass indoors that might not be very dirty’,” he said.

Parker’s now a convert. Certified in scaffold safety, he still uses traditional methods on tall buildings. For exterior windows up to 51 feet above the ground, the system, he said, has doubled productivity.

Under ideal conditions, it may be further possible to cut the time needed to clean exterior windows.

If you have access to water that is 99.99 percent pure, try this to see how effective a purification system can be:

· On a sunny day, moisten a clean paper towel with ordinary tap water and wipe a window with it.
· Now do the same thing with a paper towel moistened with purified water.

See any difference?

You should, because the ingredients that cause window streaking and spotting (especially magnesium, calcium) have been removed from the second sample.

Provided all other things are the same, the second window should also be much cleaner. The minerals in tap (and especially deep well) water also react with detergents so they are not available to react with soils — an aspect of the “hard” water problem.

This test will require highly filtered water. US tap water impurities average 250 parts per million. Spotting can occur when impurities exceed only 10 parts per million.

Technology answers the call

The van and trolley (tight spaces)-based purification cleaning systems tap both reverse osmosis and de-ionization processes.

The method appears to have met little resistance in the British Isles.

There, cleaning pros not only appear to have embraced the technology (it is known as “Reach and Wash” in England), but some of them flatter US suppliers with banners like “Technology from the USA.”

Filtering water to almost absolute purity is one component, but another key to the system’s productivity is the use of a pre-existing technology, the water-fed pipe (“pole”) system.

That eliminates ladder-based cleaning — which may account for up to 75 percent of window cleaning-related injuries, according to window washing products maker Ettore Products C., Oakland, CA.

Parker told Cleaning & Maintenance Management he was glad to be off the ladders.

The purifier units, operating at 45 psi, supply 120 gallons of water purified to contain only 5 parts per million of impurities.

You can also use purified water in routine window cleaning indoors, where air quality is very much a concern:

· Loosen soils with a brush
· If greasy stains/spots are present (rare instances), you will need to use a degreaser
· Boost cleaning “muscle” with easy-to-use microfiber cloths.

A not-so-unusual window problem

Hard-to-remove white spots or film on window exteriors may be the result of mineral deposits resulting after the lawn sprinkler or the landscaper with a garden hose overshoots the target.

These deposits harden over time. This can even pit the glass — which only polishing could “repair.”

Commercial glass cleaning solutions may not remove them.

“I run into that all the time,” said Parker. “You have to tell the customer that it will take extraordinary efforts and there will be costs … and there might not be much point because when the sprinkler hits them again, there’ll be more spotting.”

At that point building managers/owners generally end any discussion about costly window polishing.

If you run into such deposits, try this:

· Distilled white vinegar, a mild acid, slightly diluted, can be effective in attacking these deposits.

Glass polishing may be possible as an alternative to replacing windows pitted from years of mineral deposits.