Window Cleaning, 3 reasons why we need a new designed pole

One of the most important aspects of the window cleaning arsenal is the pole. The pole like the traditional cleaners ladders, is what gets the cleaning equipment up to the glass

There has been many attempts in the last few years to revolutionise the first cumbersome telescopic window cleaning poles we used. And I must say now that the attempts have been admirable to say the least. What we have now is much lighter and much more rigid poles, which results in less fatigue. Modular poles which have been introduced recently are more costly, and more time consuming to use, but they do have the advantage of being able to fit a control valve on, if and when any of the manufacturers caught on to the fact this could be done.

Telescopic poles along with modular poles are time consuming to use, the telescopic need opened to the desired height, and then clamped in position, whereas the modular pole relies on carrying all the sections around, and the ends of the sections being joined together to reach the window. Both poles are usually in 6 foot lengths at least for reasons explained later, and the same pole used for cleaning above ground floor, is useless for when the ground floor is done.

Now back to the 3 reasons.

1/ The poles on the market are time consuming to use.

2/ The poles on the market are no use at going from second storey window to ground floor windows.

3/ The poles on the market because of there long closed length are harder to carry around, and transport in your vehicle.

The above 3 points are very important aspects, and are irrelevant of the materials used in the make up of the pole. The 3 points are usually ignored by the manufacturer for the reasons given below. Weight and rigidity are the factors most mentioned by the window cleaner and manufacturer, and although they are very important, they are not the only ones to be considered. Equally, if not more important is the other 3 factors I mentioned.

When finding out what the window cleaner wants the manufacturer ignores the 3 points illustrated because he thinks nothing can be done about them.

Point 1/ The poles on the market are time consuming to use. The fact that the sections need to be clamped or joined together, leads him to believe it can't be improved on.

Point 2/ The poles on the market are no use at going from second storey windows to ground floor windows. To improve on that each section would need to be made in a smaller size, and lead to more sections needed to reach the higher window above, which would need more clamps, lead to extra weight, and more tooling cost for the extra clamps. And after all that the pole would be even more time consuming to use.

Point 3/ The poles on the market because of there long closed length are harder to carry around, and transport in your vehicle. If they solve the problems in point 2, then the problems in point 3 will be solved as well.

But wait a minute if they ignore the points 1, 2, and 3 and make the pole lighter and stronger then perhaps no one will give a though to points 1,2, and 3? Probably spot on as the window cleaner probably believes points 1,2, and 3 is impossible to achieve as well :)

Copyright (c) 2008 Peter Fogwill

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Peter Fogwill owner of Aquatec water fed pole window cleaning systems. For ways around the problems above Peter can be contacted on 07751 964 450, or email peter@window-tools.com Or through his website www.window-tools.com

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