I surrender, winter wins

Last night I had one more apartment  to finish on my schedule left from Monday.  It was a 3 story unit and I could only get to it after 8 pm.  By the time I started to set-up, the temperature was down to -4 degrees.  Not your ideal situation, but they had a new tennant moving in next morning, so I was stuck.

I am not new to winter cleaning and have a good set-up ritual, so I just got to it while keeping the wand on bypass to keep hot water circulating.  After spraying 2 rooms, I sarted to wand and then things went bad.  I lost vacuum.  I ran down and checked my hoses, the hose cuffs a few feet from the filter (which was in the van with doors closed) were solid balls of ice.

I cleared the obstruction and ran back to the wand.  Made it about 6 passes before losing vacuum again.  Run down and realized that my filter was packed full of slush and fully blocked off.  I changed filter liner and hoped to get the job done quickly...it plugged up again in less than a minute.

Game over, I waved the white flag, packed up and went back to the heated shop before I damage my equipment...if I hadn't already.  I wish I had loaded up my portable, but hindsight has little value at the time of discovery and it was getting too late to try again.  I had to tell the property manager that I could not complete this job in time.

One of the hardest things about keeping a full-time job that requires an average of 60 hours per week, is time management.  You don't always get to schedule things for the ideal conditions and this winter has made it very difficult to even schedule things for the minumum conditions.  This was another learning experience for me, it isn't just the solution lines that are a freeze concern and to plan on keeping alternative methods available for conditions like this.

I guess it really is time to drop one of these occupations, I just can't keep everything in play on 4 hours of sleep and oatmeal each day.  I hope spring is coming soon.....

I feel for ya. But even if you had loaded your porty or encapped eith your crb you would be wondering if your truckmount was freezing up while you were working.

That's true Pro Touch I was going to recommend that he use his Orbot

I forgot that you're working two jobs Mil. You certainly gave it shot I hope your rig is OK

I'm awarding Rob the iron man award for February. Spring is on the way.

I keep the van closed up during the winter, so the inside stays warm, but I had never seen my hoses freeze up like that before. Maybe it was due to them hanging off the side of the building about 150 feet from the van?

In any event, I had one section of hose split and found some chunks of ice in the was tank. I just hope that the blower wasn't damaged in any way.

These 2 nights were great learning experiences. I came away last night with a new understanding about vac hoses freezing. Until, now I had never worried about it before...never had it happen before.

It is like good swimmers that drown. Most of the time, a good swimmer gets too confident in their abilities that they push to far thinking that they would just back-float to rest if they get tired. Then they discover that when you are winded, you don't float, you sink.

As good cleaners, we sometimes let ourselves get too confident and attempt new things ill-prepared. In my case, it was cleaning below zero, but it could also be that first time you clean a vintage heirloom sofa after cleaning hundreds of microfiber sofas only to drown from over-confidence.

That is why boards like this are so valuable, we all learn from each other to prevent mistakes. Of course, if you just lurk around, then you aren't helping much.

I learned valuable lessons this week...I hope others have as well.

i

I saw the weather report in the news last night about below zero temperature up there and I immediately thought about you Rob, wow that's scary situation, I think if you want to keep the 2 jobs, you need a helper for carpet cleaning, it makes a huge difference in speed and you need speed in cleaning below zero situation.

guys guys guys

get a webasto st2000 diesel or gas

or an equivalent from Espar


!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
set it and forget it!

I guess I am getting slow Dp, just can't find any helper willing to work nights in the cold....they are all smarter than me.  

milspec6 wrote:I guess I am getting slow Dp, just can't find any helper willing to work nights in the cold....they are all smarter than me.  

Just move to California already, I'll find you a helper in no time, I know one right on top of my head, his name is Dave Trager
Oh wait, if you move to California, you won't need a helper anymore, you'd be cleaning in shorts and under shirts, besides that Dave Trager is too expensive anyway, he won't work for minimum wage   damn liberals   

^ that's funny.   

damn milspec,

I dont use TM on apartments and try to stay away from really even doing them much. The managers tend to be cheap and its so much work to set up and tear down, I just cant really be profitable unless its VLM for anything over the 3rd floor (except for cleaning the actual building halls, etc)

some good pads and some s/o/o with peroxide should be able to make any manager somewhat happy, then if its pet damage use the TM and up the charge.

All very true AC, they are a pia and you end up working for demanding managers. This was one that is located 2 blocks from my home, so I figure that it saves me enough in fuel and transit time to make it worthwhile....maybe not this time, but normally.

These carpets should have been replaced a decade ago and are often very trashed. I don't doubt the vlm approach, but I am used to the hwe on carpets like these....I am just more comfortable.

I Understand the HWE "comfort" on these rental units, but man with the troubles like you had there, I'd say get what's needed to do VLM on those jobs and spare yourself the grief and expense, at least for sub below temp jobs like this!

I'm sure you won't regret the equip purchase cost!   

dp1 wrote:
Just move to California already, I'll find you a helper in no time, I know one right on top of my head, his name is Dave Trager
Oh wait, if you move to California, you won't need a helper anymore, you'd be cleaning in shorts and under shirts, besides that Dave Trager is too expensive anyway, he won't work for minimum wage   damn liberals   

Yea, Mr Funny Boy here.^^...............    

some time all the laws of physics and hydrodynamics thermodynamics are against you and there is not much you can do to fight them.

I had a job a few years ago cleaning out in 20 degree with wind chill I had to remove the inline filter my hot water was fine once I got the water flowing in melted below the snow level but the vacuum line I had to go out and hit the whole line with a hockey stick to keep it clear every 15 minutes.

What worked against you was the rapid heat exchange and just water going down a tube with no insulation you were doomed.

'Doomed" is correct, I was just too dumb to realize it at the time.

I have vlm equipment now as well as my olsteam in demon, but they were located in the heated shop 25 miles away. It was poor decision making as much as the temps that sunk me.

Sucks that I didn't have enough time to recover and change methods. I guess this is another example of why I plan to switch to a cube van in the near future...one less variable to deal with.

When I run into that, I just get rid of the filter and then filter the waste water as it comes out at the shop.

Was cleaning again in -26 Below today. And wouldn't you know it had to be 3rd floor cleaning, no problems thankfully.

Sometimes the cuffs can get a bit of a leak and cause this problem too. I haven't tried it yet, but someone told me about cutting up bicycle tires and slipping over the top of cuffs like big rubber bands.

When things are so cold, the cuffs can shrink a bit and maybe a small leak happen, and then it causing more of a windchill factor in the hose and builds up at restriction points. Has only happened to me once thankfully.

Don't know why I get so lucky to be honest!

Mark Saiger
www.saigers.com

We have been bringing a shovel and a small snowblower the past 2 days just to get into some of your jobs.

Just crazy!

Mark Saiger
www.saiger.com

Mark Saiger wrote:When I run into that, I just get rid of the filter and then filter the waste water as it comes out at the shop.  

Was cleaning again in -26 Below today.  And wouldn't you know  it had to be 3rd floor cleaning, no problems thankfully.

Sometimes the cuffs can get a bit of a leak and cause this problem too.  I haven't tried it yet, but someone told me about cutting up bicycle tires and slipping over the top of cuffs like big rubber bands.  

When things are so cold, the cuffs can shrink a bit and maybe a small leak happen, and then it causing more of a windchill factor in the hose and builds up at restriction points.  Has only happened to me once thankfully.

Don't know why I get so lucky to be honest!

Mark Saiger
www.saigers.com

Maybe you can try those new mytee wraps on the cuffs?

Oh my!! That scares me just looking at it. You sir get the Dumb and dumber award. Thanks for reminding me how much I love Carolina. I would be depressed!!! Make that money Mark! I love your passion!

Lol Ryan

Mark Saiger
www.saigers.com

I'm blaming you Mark, your videos made it look too easy  

snowmobile with a TM in a snowmobile trailer!

some access here in seattle is just a ridiculous so we joke about how much we would have to charge for a helicopter TM service

btw how much do you charge, if you dont mind, for a cleaning where you have to clear the driveway of snow to get in? do you just add the time it takes to the hourly charge?

ACpower1 wrote:snowmobile with a TM in a snowmobile trailer!  

some access here in seattle is just a ridiculous so we joke about how much we would have to charge for a helicopter TM service

btw how much do you charge,  if you dont mind,  for a cleaning where you have to clear the driveway of snow to get in?    do you just add the time it takes to the hourly charge?    

Nothing extra, but it sure does get people talking and I don't have to send out discount type coupons to recruit jobs

I did have a water damage couple days ago for a person with wheel chair needs. We blew out the path from the front door to the street. The adjuster told me to make sure I add a couple hours in time on the invoice for the good deed we did.

I know it is more work, but it just feels good to help others and it also makes it so we do have work.

Like I tell my guys....there aren't too many others as crazy as us doing this

Mark Saiger
www.saigers.com

Another great point on the score board for O/O v/s BNC. I did something similar today for a long time client. These small acts of kindness as Terry calls it's separates us from the ridged riggers of BNC policy manuals. It's what drive business through the roof, along with keep ya coming back to work everyday for more.