Troubleshooting Spotty Windows
You’ve watched the videos, you got the gear, you cleaned the windows, and they’re …spotty? It can get the best of us, so let me break down the root causes of spotty windows so you can nail it next time.
WHAT CAUSES SPOTS ON WINDOWS?
When cleaning windows with water fed equipment, the expectation is that you’ll have perfectly clear glass after you rinse. When that doesn’t happen, it can be frustrating, but usually an easy fix. There are a few culprits as to why your windows didn’t dry spot-free. It could be because:
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Your TDS was too high
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There was too much overspray
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You didn’t agitate for long enough
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You didn’t rinse for long enough
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Your technique was off
Let’s dive into each of these potential issues to make sure you aren’t leaving spots or runs and your customers are completely satisfied.
PROPER TECHNIQUE
The first thing to check if there are spots left behind is your technique. Are you cleaning the windows properly? With water fed, it’s important to take your time and fully rinse frames, scrub the glass, and rinse the window to achieve that spotless shine.
VISUALIZE SMALL SECTIONS
When I’m working on a client’s house, I’ll mentally break it up into sections that don’t require me to move too much. You want to group windows that are easy to reach from the same spot and are close in height to one another. Within the first section, I’ll rinse down all the frames first, then get the glass, and then move on to the next section. This way I’m not moving my equipment more than I need to, but I have ample drip time between phases. By keeping the groupings at the same height, I don’t have to raise and lower my pole constantly and I can work faster.
PRO TIP: Window cleaning is definitely a case of slow and steady wins the race. If you try to rush through either the Agitation or Rinsing steps, you are just setting yourself up for failure.
STEP 1: RINSING THE FRAMES
I start with rinsing down the top of the frame, then working the sides, and finally getting the bottom sill. I repeat this until I hit every window in my designated section. You don’t have to scrub the frames as hard as you would the glass, but you do need to make sure they get some scrubbing so when you rinse you don’t introduce dirt back onto the glass.
STEP 2: AGITATION
Next, I go in to scrub the glass. I recommend boxing it out, especially as a beginner cleaner, to ensure you don’t miss any section of glass. It’s as easy as it sounds. Think of the window pane as one large box. You want to scrub the entire perimeter, and then work your way through the middle section. Make sure to get into the corners and scrub any rubber seals. It’s also important to keep your brush flush to the glass. You don’t want to introduce a tilt to the brush because then you aren’t making full use of the bristles and only part of them will be doing their job. If a window is particularly dirty, I’ll be sure to give it a couple extra passes to make sure I get everything.
If you are working on windows up high, and struggling with the box method, it’s okay to just go up and down, as long as you pay attention to get the whole pane. Then give it a final sideways shimmy all the way down to ensure nothing was missed.
PRO TIP: Boxing Out is a great technique for beginners as you find your rhythm to make sure you don’t miss any spots.
STEP 3: FINAL RINSE
For rinsing, again, it’s important to start at the top. If you start at the bottom, you’ll just be allowing for the potential dirty runoff from the top to sit on the bottom half of the glass and it will leave spots. If you start at the top, you’ll be rinsing away the runoff ensuring everything is clear.
If you notice spotting or runs as the window starts to dry, it’s usually because it wasn’t fully clean. Go back and give it another scrub, then next time, try to pay attention that you’re getting the whole window and spending enough time rinsing. If you scrub the frames well enough in the first step, it won’t matter if you hit them while rinsing, but you can try to do your best to avoid them to not have to worry about introducing more dirt to the rinsing process.
EQUIPMENT
Choosing the right equipment can be part of the battle for getting spotless windows. I explain this in detail in this article, but for today’s purpose, let’s keep it simple.
BRUSHES OR SCRUBBERS?
Which is better, a brush or a scrubber? I say it’s all personal preference. They each have their merits, however, I love working with a good traditional brush. I know the bristles can splay out, and they’re malleable so they can get into corners and edges well.
BRUSHES - Which brush is best? It depends, but a quick rule of thumb is that for a maintenance clean, I use nylon. I keep a hybrid handy as a good all-around option if I can’t bring a ton of gear with me. I find that boar’s hair is best for really dirty windows. I suggest using an 18” for more stabilization when you’re working over 3 stories or when you’re working on commercial glass. When working at heights, it gives you better pressure on the glass.
SCRUBBERS - For paint, silicone, and other stuck-on debris that isn’t coming off with a brush and pole, you can try scrub pads. There are options so you can keep a walnut pad on the opposite side of your angle adapter or just swap out for a scrubber instead of a brush. Walnut pads or scrubbers are good for dealing with bird droppings.
RINSE BARS OR JETS?
RINSE BARS - When working with a rinse bar, be sure to get to the corners and edges of the glass. They’re great for hydrophobic glass because they get more water on the glass over a larger area than just two jets. You can try to rinse with your brush on the glass with a rinse bar, but I don’t recommend it. You have to be mindful if the bristles are in the way of the spray and then would leave spots. Also pay attention to your flow rate; if there’s not enough pressure, your rinse bar won’t spray over the brush bristles, so it becomes ineffective. Lastly, keep in mind, with double hung windows, a rinse bar can get in the way, and jets would be the better option.
PENCIL JETS - Pencil jets are a straight flow of water from between the brush bristles. When working with these, each pass needs to get to each side of the window and each pass should be close to the last. When working on hydrophobic windows, really make sure you’re getting every part of the glass, or it can get spotty. You have to pay attention to where your jets are spraying to make sure you adequately get all of the glass.
SPECIAL SITUATIONS
FRENCH PANES - Cleaning French Panes is where water fed really excels. With traditional, you never get perfect results as there’s always some directional or rainbow streaks left behind. You just have to be sure to really thoroughly scrub the frames. As long as you really work the frames, you’ll get good results. Rinse all the frames in one set of windows, if there’s more nearby, do those while the first set drips, then go back to the first set. Scrub the top left pane, side to side, then up and down. Be sure to get in the corners. Then start working your way across the window, then down. Really take your time with rinsing these.
COMMERCIAL FRAMES - If you’re working on commercial glass, you’ll find that the frames are usually deeper. These can be a pain because they are more prone to leaking dirty water from the seals if you don’t rinse thoroughly enough. Just take your time and scrub the frames good, top to bottom, and be sure to get the seals. Try to do as many frames as you can in one section, top row first, and work down. Let those drip while you work on other windows, and then come back to clean the glass. That should hopefully help you avoid any runs.
OXIDATION - If you’re working on residential windows with vinyl frames and you notice a milky white runoff, you’re probably dealing with Oxidation. It just means it’s going to take a little longer to get perfectly clean windows. The less frequent the cleaning of these windows, the more oxidation you’ll see. You want to spend a good amount of time rinsing the frames until the water is running clear. Then you can continue cleaning as normal. If you start to see any of that white runoff while doing the final rinse, hit the frames again and be sure to really rinse the glass well. Keep in mind that if you’re using boar’s hair bristles on oxidized white vinyl frames, they can hold onto the oxidation. It’s good practice to rinse your brush down halfway through the job. You can just collapse your pole and remove the hose that’s going to your brush or rinse bar and use it to rinse off your brush.
OTHER CAUSES
OVERSPRAY
If you’re sure your rinsing and agitating is spot on and you’re spending enough time on each step, then the next issue to consider might be overspray. Overspray can happen for a number of reasons like the jets spraying too wide, too much flow causing splash-back, or even the wind carrying water away from your brush. The issue with overspray is that you get water on surfaces you haven’t scrubbed down. As the water drips down off the siding, stucco, landscaping, signage, etc, it can bring with it dirt and grime. That is what is causing the spots on your freshly cleaned windows.
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SPLASH-BACK - If the pressure out your brush is too much, reduce the flow going through your system or pull your pole back a bit as you work. You really only need about ½ gpm for most residential jobs so if your system is producing a lot more than that, you’re just wasting water and giving yourself a harder time.
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TECHNIQUE - Are your jets or rinse bar hitting beyond the intended glass? Try keep the brush flat, not tilted, to keep the water off surrounding surfaces and don’t go past the frames when rinsing.
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WIND - If you’re fighting the wind, try repositioning to another side of the building for a while and go back to those windows after the wind dies down.
HIGH TDS
Next up is to check is your TDS. How can you tell if your TDS was the reason behind your spots? Test the water coming out of your pure water system. Use your TDS meter to see if your results are under 10 ppm. If it is, then this likely isn’t your issue. If it is reading over 10 ppm, then that might be what is causing your spotting. Usually, a reading over 10 ppm indicates it’s time to change your resin and pre-filter(s). If you just changed your filters and your reading is high, there could be a different issue going on with your system. I recommend checking out our troubleshooting guides for each system.
QUICK TIPS:
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You only need about ½ gallon per minute for a good rinse.
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When you’re working with your pole, you need to keep a decent pressure on your brush while scrubbing. This helps the bristles splay out so they can stir up the dirt and grime coating the glass.
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If you encounter Hydrophobic glass, you’ll notice that the water isn’t really cascading down, it’s more like little beads running down. This type of glass needs an extra rinsing time to make sure it’s clean. I recommend going slowly, side to side in close passes to really allow for ample water on the glass.
TAKE IT OUT INTO THE FIELD
I hope that helps give you a good idea on how to troubleshoot spotty windows. The most important thing is not to give up. Stick with trying to learn the proper technique, and you’ll see how water fed can transform your window cleaning game.
Meet the Author: SteveO is loved by his fans on YouTube where he demonstrates new tools and how to clean windows. He's continuing to share his wealth of knowledge for both aspiring and seasoned water fed window cleaning professionals.
