The Eco Window Cleaning Unit - Reinventing The Bucket

The Eco Window Cleaning Unit - reinventing the bucket. Click to enlarge. It is predicted that a  competitive price will be around around £65.00 + VAT. The unit is a single module.

The Eco Window Cleaning Unit  - A Window Cleaning Unit That Saves Water and Cleans Better! We all love admiring the beautiful views through our apartment and house windows but most of us are unaware of the impact which window cleaning has on the environment. With millions of windows being cleaned daily, the amount of water wastage is phenomenal – until now. With the creation of the Eco Window Cleaning Unit, we can all play a small part in reducing the amount of water used during window cleaning, reducing the impact on the environment. The Eco Window Cleaning Unit still uses the traditional window cleaning squeegee and applicator, but with clean water and a fraction of the amount used before. It really is Window cleaning done the smart way and your windows will be even cleaner than ever!

Why It’s Better Than a Bucket…  It Saves Water! Using the traditional method of cleaning windows, you ‘dip’ an Applicator into a bucket to absorb the water, and then you can either wring it out with your hand and get soaking wet hands. …Or do what most cleaners do and pull it out of the bucket with all the water on it and slop the water all over the window. Wasting about 250ml of water every time! The Eco Window Cleaning Unit uses less than a teaspoon, as the excess water is removed from the applicator before it gets anywhere near the glass.

It Saves Time! The Eco Window Cleaning Unit can hold 6.5 litres of water. You’ll be able to wash 64 glass panels of between 0.5 and 1 sq metre approximately. That’s enough for a window cleaner to last a whole day without a water change! The specially fitted pump and micro-jets mean that only the right amount of clean water is delivered to the squeegee when you need it. All you have to add is one teaspoonful (a quick squirt) of fairy liquid to break down the grease and that’s perfect!

It Cleans Better! With just an Applicator and a bucket, you end up cleaning dirty glass with dirty water because after a couple of panes the water WILL get dirty as it removes dirt from the earlier windows. In fact, it’s not just ‘dirt’, it’s called settlement and is comprised of the sand and dust that sticks to the applicator; over time it will damage the glass leaving a permanent haze and you just won’t get a clean finish. The Eco Window Cleaning unit solves this with it’s patented water flushing mechanism.

And It's Eco Friendly: The Eco Window Cleaning Unit changes the way water is being stored and used during window cleaning. The Unit reduces the amount of water wasted during window cleaning by keeping the dirty water separated from the clean water. The Unit is designed for both left and right handed users, and is light and easy to transport from job to job or around office areas and the house without worrying about spilling water. The Eco Window Cleaning Unit is really great for cleaning at heights, whether it’s used by industrial rope access or ladder work. It has lanyards which attach the cleaning applicator and squeegee to the unit and the way in which the cleaning equipment is positioned on the Eco Cleaning Unit prevents the cleaning equipment from getting tangled. And of course, it’s easy to use at ground level too!

Who Can Use The Eco Window Cleaning Unit? The Eco Window Cleaning Unit is perfect for anyone who has to clean windows, but is especially useful for window cleaners working at height, whether on ladders or using rope access. It works great inside an office with furniture and computers because you can just walk around without disturbing the occupants and with no risk to their work.

For janitors working internally on stairs, lifts and communal areas, the same benefits apply; easily transportable and no spillage. It just slips over your shoulder and you’re good to go!

There’s no need to refill the water and the pump, microjets and flushing mechanism mean that you’ll be cleaning windows with less water, clean water and getting a better finish. You can even use it at home, flush it out and store it in the cupboard easily. This really is window cleaning for the 21st Century.

About the inventor: Clyde Jordan has been a commercial abseiler for the last 10 years; these are the guys you see abseiling down the sides of tall buildings doing whatever work they have been contracted for. Commercial abseilers have to be multi-disciplined by the nature of their work and may be called upon to repair masonry and brickwork, welding, painting, installing glass panels and more, but window cleaning is a big part of the work as there really isn’t a more practical solution, particularly nowadays as building shapes and sizes are becoming more adventurous! Clyde became acutely aware of the problems facing the “rope access” technicians when it came to window cleaning, and he set out to to solve the problems.

• A standard bucket isn’t made for working at height
• It uses a lot of water
• The water gets dirty, so you end up cleaning glass with dirty water
• The equipment (applicator and squeegee) are always getting tangled up
• It’s just plain uncomfortable

Clyde decided there was a better way of doing it. From initial idea, home-made designs, concepts and prototype testing has taken 7 years.

Clyde Jordan at work in London, with 30 St Mary Axe behind aka "the Gherkin."

The Story Behind The Eco Window Cleaning Unit: I made the first prototype by hand, making my own holster, using bottles and copper tubes to see what worked and through relentless testing, I found what worked…but it was too bulky so I needed to scale it down. Once I found one that I was confident in, I sent it off to a design company who came up with some further enhancements. This company helped me through the patent process and they made the first prototype. We had to change the whole design before coming up with the current system; for instance, one of the things we’d not considered in the early stage was the ease of use whether someone was right or left handed. The final design addressed this.We still needed a few things tweaked but it gave us enough to get a price for manufacturing in bulk. The manufacturers suggested some more refinements with their experience of tooling, manufacturing and shipping and we got another prototype made. 

The whole process including prototypes, design, patent attorneys, has taken 7 years. I’ve even had to buy products so that I can use different components. For example, I bought a hoover for £80 just to experiment with a spring inside! There are so many things I bought just to get stripped down parts because I had to get a working prototype for myself before I could even look at using a professional design company. I tested it myself on a window cleaning round initially and then a few of my friends working in rope access caught up with what I was using and asked if they could try it so I made a few for them.

They came back with great feedback such as “This isn’t quite balanced” or “You’ve got a problem with this not sitting right” so I was able to change it and give it back to them, tweaked to their requirements. In fact, a few of them are still using them a year later! The best story I have is their use on the Shard in London. I’d been working offshore and I was asked to help clean the glass panels on the Shard They had problems cleaning the windows on The Shard because it was a new building and all the glass had been kept in the yard so it was pretty dirty when it was installed. The way the building is constructed, it was only possible to clean one panel at a time, and with a long transfer time between panels including changing water, one guy managed 3-4 daily, which equated to £30-40 – not a lot of window cleaning income. Then there was the problem of guys dropping their tools because the applicator and the squeegee were getting tangled.

So I spoke to the man who was in charge of the contract, and I showed him what the unit does and he asked me for some right there! I made 15 units and sold them to him and it improved the job so much that he actually won the window cleaning contract because he included details of the unit in his risk assessment. The clients were blown away by the safety aspects as you can imagine from a Health and Safety perspective, objects falling from a building can have dramatic consequences. From a efficiency point of view, the amount of window panels cleaned daily per man went up from 3 to 4 to 20! That’s a massive timesaver because there was no need to stop and change the water.

I truly believe the Unit can transform the working practices and livelihoods of those window cleaning at height.

Clyde Jordan

Inventor and Founder