Cold weather customers

We have just started getting cold here in the Midwest with lows in the lower 20's at night. I have had 3 people call asking for small cleanings (2-3 rooms), but each one insisted on early morning times. In each case I suggested we clean in the afternoons when temps will be in the low 40's, but 2 out of 3 got mad and hung up. The third one agreed to a weekend slot when it will be a little warmer.

I hate to give people a reason to speak negatively of my business, but I see no value in running the TM in below freezing temps for a truck minimum charge. I really don't understand why that is so hard to understand, but there are those who just don't get it.

I plan to keep running the TNT for as long as we still get above freezing during the day and winterize after every job. I have it down to a science and can have it winterized in about 5 minutes and $12 worth of RV antifreeze. It sucks having to unload everything at night, but I hope to get more streamlined with what I take to a job.

The Butler is home, but so far untested on the TM operation since the engine replacement. I will be setting it up and testing it on my home this weekend to make certain things are indeed repaired now.

I do hate being a cleaner in the winter and it isn't even that cold yet.

I don't worry at freezing temps until it get lower than 25°, or afew lower than that. I have it down to a system for setting up. The real pita, is hooking up to water(no fresh water tank). I do have the components:tank and on demand pump, just haven't don't it.

That is the other problem, I don't use the fresh tank on the box truck as it takes too long to drain after. My butler I use heavily since I keep a heater inside.

Tomorrow it will be about 36 when I do that 2-room job. Seems like a waste of time to me, but it is only 12 minutes away and the temps will keep climbing into the mid-40's until dark.

Trust me when I say, you don’t want to clean for those 2 anyway, the ones that don’t want to understand from the beginning, will not want to understand why you can’t get their Kool aid stains or decaf coffee stains that’s been there for 2 years and it’s right by a window where the sun keeps shining on it every single damn day.
They are a pita to work for and don’t deserve your service, I know sometimes when you’re hungry, you feel bad to lose them but I would rather be hungry than angry

I will have to remember that slogan "...rather be hungry than angry"

Once again the weather forecast wasn't even close....got down to 14 degrees last night and is only 17 degrees now at nearly 9 am.

Planned on cleaning by 10....not looking very good for that one. I also hope that one heater was enough in my van, I was expecting 24 degrees....not 14.

I am in Ohio and have been cleaning for 33 years. I see no problem in going out to clean down to single digits. I do it every year with a shivering smile on my face!

I have 2 truckmounts that sit outside. When the temps are 20º or more I use a single electric heater over-night. When it drops below 20º I use 2 electric heaters (set on high mode) in each van. I have 4 -20 amp dedicated circuits going to the outside where the vans park in front of our shop. I use 12 AWG extension cords. In all those years I have never tripped a breaker, even when we went out of town for a week with no one attending to the vans while we were gone.

I operate in a similar fashion Bob, but the truck that I have available is not a van....it is a TNT mounted in an aluminum beverage truck body, so it is not heated at all driving to / from a job.

Normally, my Butler Van does the duty and I have cleaned a ton of apartments at night in single digits, but that is easy with the doors closed up. The beverage body just doesn't work well when it is below freezing.

As for heaters, I am very cautious and run dual heaters when it gets into the teens or else just winterize.

I only have 2 dedicated circuits right now, but need to improve on that for the block heaters....something that I meant to do all Summer, but never got it done.

It became a moot point and now I am just angry.

I loaded the truck and left for the job only to receive a call en route from the customer waving me off. His wife said that it was too cold to have the door propped open for the hoses and said to wait for a warmer day or else I had to use a portable.

I knew that I wasn't going to like this customer.

By the way, if you need a really high quality extension cord, there is nobody doing it better than these guys. The nuclear power plant that I used to work at uses them exclusively and they even come with free printing on the insulation to identify it as yours.

http://www.milspecind.com/heavy-duty-extension-cords/

This might be more helpful

https://www.milspec-direct.com/extension-cord-types

milspec6 wrote:It became a moot point and now I am just angry.

I loaded the truck and left for the job only to receive a call en route from the customer waving me off.  His wife said that it was too cold to have the door propped open for the hoses and said to wait for a warmer day or else I had to use a portable.

I knew that I wasn't going to like this customer.

I use a door blanket to keep the cold air outside and still run the hoses inside. It seals up real well and is especially made for trades that need to have a door slightly open while working at the job site.

It can also be used in warmer weather to keep bugs from entering your customer's house.

Sorry, I didn't realize your other truck had your TM in an unheated section of the truck. Maybe you could super-insulate (foam panels) the inside of that unheated area where your TM is located, and purchase a 12 VDC heater to keep it warm while you are driving. The truck's alternator would continue to keep the truck battery charged up while you are driving, or as long as the truck motor was running.

link for 12 VDC heater:  https://www.amazon.com/Broan-NuTone-6201-Big-Heat-Heater/dp/B00B1SNMYG/ref=pd_sbs_236_5?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B00B1SNMYG&pd_rd_r=F7GMH07KWDQEVTGS2VDH&pd_rd_w=rMgai&pd_rd_wg=TFCRY&psc=1&refRID=F7GMH07KWDQEVTGS2VDH

Thanks for the suggestion.  I installed the biggest bus heater that I could find that is fed by the engine's coolant in hopes of finding some solution, but it doesn't have much impact and the diesel doesn't generate heat except when under load so idling was of no use.

I haven't been able to find a solution for winter operations except winterizing after every job, but that isn't much of solution and would require all the freeze damage stuff be kept in the cab.

Maybe we should all move south!

Nice looking setup.

Every year I seriously think about doing that very thing...luckily I have a short memory.

Yeah, really nice set up Bob ! I know you posted a few pictures of it sometime earlier this year but I also have a short term memory loss, seems like it’s a common issue with us carpet cleaners, must be the cleaning chemicals

set up is looking really nice!

FWIW I wrap the little giants and solution line with live reel in thermal wrap from homedepot.

but its not nearly as cold here