Window Cleaning

How to Choose the Right Window Cleaning Equipment

A pure water window cleaning setup is three things: a pole, a water source, and a brush. Pick a pole that's too short and you can't reach the job. Use water that still has minerals in it and you'll leave streaks when it dries. Mismatch the brush to the glass and you'll fight the surface instead of cleaning it.

Pole reach

Match the pole to the tallest buildings you actually work on, not the tallest ones you might someday. Longer poles flex more and wear you out faster, so don't oversize unless you need the reach. Tucker® poles run from 26 ft up to 70 ft with the high-reach extension kits, all built from carbon fiber so they stay light at full extension. The HM-50 and high-reach kits use high modulus carbon fiber for less flex at the top of the pole, which matters once you're past about 40 ft.

Pure water source

Tap water leaves spots when it dries because of dissolved minerals (measured as TDS). To get spot-free, streak-free windows, you need water with the TDS stripped out. That means either running tap water through an RO/DI system on-site or hauling pre-filtered water in a delivery system. Skid-mounted RO/DI carts work when the customer has decent water pressure and you've got time to fill. Delivery systems make sense when you're cleaning where water access is poor or you need to park, plug in, and start spraying immediately.

Brush selection

The Tucker® GLIDE brush is the workhorse. Dual-trim nylon bristles lay flat on glass while the inner bristles scrub, with four pencil jets for rinsing. It's included with every Tucker® pole and handles most residential and commercial work. The Alpha Glide steps up to a hybrid boar-and-nylon bristle layout for heavier scrubbing on commercial glass, and ships with an over-the-top rinse bar already built in. The Plastic Rinse Bar is an add-on accessory that snaps onto a standard Glide Brush to give it that same full-width water coverage. It's a cheap upgrade if you don't need the Alpha's bristles but want faster, more even rinsing.

Water Fed Pole Sizing by Building Height

You'll be holding the pole at roughly vertical, so the listed pole length is close to your effective reach. Add or subtract a few feet based on your own height and arm position.

Related Categories

• Cleaners & Surfactants (including Window Mauler window cleaning soap)
• Soft Washing
• Pressure Washing
• Pressure Washer Accessories
• All Accessories

Frequently Asked Questions

What is water fed pole window cleaning?

Water fed pole cleaning uses a long telescoping pole with a brush head fed by pure (de-ionized) water. You scrub the window with the brush, then rinse with the same pure water. Because the water has zero dissolved minerals, it dries spot-free without a squeegee. It's how pros clean tall windows safely from the ground instead of working off ladders, and it's faster than traditional squeegee work once you're past a single story.

Do I need an RO/DI system, or can I just use tap water?

You need treated water. Tap water has dissolved solids (calcium, magnesium, salts) that leave white spots when they dry on glass. An RO/DI system strips them out so the water rinses clean. Without one, you'll get the same streaks and spots you would with a garden hose, only worse, because you're applying more water with a pole.

What's the difference between an RO/DI cart and a delivery system?

An RO/DI cart filters tap water on-site at the customer's hose bib. There's no tank to refill, but you depend on their water pressure and you may wait to fill up. A delivery system carries pre-filtered water in a tank on your truck, so you can park and start working immediately, even at locations with bad water pressure or no spigot. Most full-time pros eventually run both: the cart for residential, the delivery tank for commercial routes and rural work.

How tall a building can I clean with a water fed pole?

Standard Tucker® poles cover up to 46 ft (about a 4-story building). High-reach extension kits push that to 70 ft. Above 70 ft you're into rope access and lift work. Pole becomes impractical because of flex. Use the sizing chart above to match pole length to your job mix and add your own reach on top.

Can these systems clean solar panels too?

Yes. Water fed poles with pure water are the standard method for solar panel cleaning. Soap and squeegees can leave residue or scratch panels, but pure water rinses clean, and it's the method most panel manufacturers approve. The H2Pro Kit for Solar Panel Cleaning in this collection is built specifically for that work. It pairs the H2Pro RO/DI cart with a Solar Boost pole and the Alpha Solar brush, which is weighted to apply the downward pressure panels need (a regular window-cleaning brush doesn't do that). A standard Tucker® pole and Glide brush can handle occasional solar work, but a dedicated solar setup is faster on a real solar route.

How often do I replace the filters on an RO/DI system?

It depends on your incoming water quality and how much you run the system. As a rough guide, sediment and carbon pre-filters get changed every 3-6 months of regular use, and DI resin gets replaced when the TDS reading at the outlet creeps above 10 ppm. Watch your inline TDS meter. It's the only honest indicator. Every Tucker® RO/DI system in this collection ships with your first replacement set of pre- and post-filters at no extra cost.