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16<br />
contents<br />
Here Comes the Sun<br />
A new report finding solar panel cleaning boosts efficiency<br />
represents an opportunity for exterior cleaners.<br />
Taking the Leap<br />
Dealt a heavy blow by the pandemic, one Florida couple<br />
turns desperation into entrepreneurial success.<br />
24<br />
EDITOR’S<br />
NOTE<br />
Room<br />
to Grow<br />
4<br />
High-Rise Robot<br />
New York-based Skyline Robotics melds robotics,<br />
software engineering, artificial intelligence, and<br />
mechatronics to modernize the archaic industry of<br />
window cleaning.<br />
Vol. 6, No. 1, Summer <strong>2024</strong><br />
Publisher: Jackson Vahaly<br />
Editor: Drew Ruble<br />
Design: Katy Barrett-Alley<br />
Pressure Wash News is published 4 times per year and is independently owned by Jackson Vahaly.<br />
All inquiries should be directed to: Pressure Wash News, 110 Childs Ln. Franklin, TN 37067 |<br />
jacksonv@pressurewashnews.com<br />
Copyright © 2023 2 Dollar Media / Pressure Wash News. All Rights Reserved.<br />
DEPARTMENTS<br />
3 Editor’s Letter:<br />
Room to grow<br />
Is your self-view holding you back from<br />
becoming a successful salesperson?<br />
8 Industry Dirt<br />
A look around the exterior cleaning world<br />
for news and notes of interest.<br />
Sales do not come naturally to<br />
many entrepreneurs and business<br />
owners. They may be really good at the<br />
technical aspects of their trade, which<br />
is what got them in to the business<br />
in the first place. But sales require a<br />
whole different skill set that many<br />
never learned.<br />
Savana Pitts, co-owner of P&P<br />
Exterior Wash in Polk County, Florida,<br />
who is profiled in a feature story in this<br />
edition, describes herself as an introvert<br />
who has had to force herself to do sales.<br />
“I don't like talking to strangers,”<br />
she said. “You can ask my husband.<br />
When we’re in public, half the time,<br />
I'm wearing sunglasses because I don't<br />
want people to make eye contact with<br />
me. I'm just a ‘leave me in my little<br />
bubble’ type of person.”<br />
All that changes, though, when Pitts<br />
is selling her business. It has to.<br />
“I cannot be that person if we want<br />
to continue to grow our business,” she<br />
said. “I have to really step out of my<br />
comfort zone…I’ve learned to kind of<br />
step into this almost extroverted, very<br />
self-confident role, even though sometimes<br />
it just scares me half to death.”<br />
Pitts credits her training in Japanese<br />
martial arts ju-jitsu for helping her<br />
make the transformation.<br />
“One of the things it teaches<br />
you…is you need to get comfortable<br />
being uncomfortable,” she said. “That<br />
mindset, for us, now, is non-negotiable.<br />
I don't want to answer the phone or<br />
return this phone call. But I have to.<br />
That's applicable not only in our business<br />
but just in life in general.”<br />
As Pitts’ personal testimony shows,<br />
salesmanship isn’t so much a skill<br />
as it is a mindset. That said, a little<br />
training never hurt anyone. There are<br />
gobs of video training courses online,<br />
many of which are free, to uncork the<br />
salesperson inside of you. Udemy and<br />
HubSpot Academy have free video<br />
courses on sales. Paid sales training<br />
courses like Sandler Training and Dale<br />
Carnegie Training are also available<br />
online. Free online books like Intro To<br />
B2B Sales For Startup Founders, SPIN<br />
Selling, or The Psychology of Selling can<br />
help too.<br />
Chances are your employees<br />
aren’t trained sales people either. And<br />
yet they are the ones on the job sites<br />
interacting daily with the clients who<br />
form the foundation of your future<br />
sales! Teach them to simply ask your<br />
clients questions about their homes,<br />
to recognize additional needs on job<br />
sites (and point them out), and to<br />
recommend products and services you<br />
provide. Teach them to become problem-solving<br />
experts for your clients<br />
and you will have your clients’ eternal<br />
trust.<br />
Perhaps you try all this and find<br />
you still can’t sell. Know that there<br />
are companies out there that can do<br />
the legwork for you. Revity Consulting<br />
out of Wayne, Pennsylvania has been<br />
working hard over the past few years to<br />
network with pressure wash businesses<br />
nationwide to help them sell and grow.<br />
Clients include AEC Arizona Exterior<br />
Cleaning, Interstate Power Washing,<br />
Power Green Pressure Washing, and<br />
Westside Rounds, to name a few.<br />
Companies like Revity use big data<br />
to compile and target high-value<br />
prospects through personalized email<br />
campaigns that provide qualified leads.<br />
Regardless of the path you choose,<br />
the best advice is to get over your negative<br />
self-view that is holding you back<br />
from becoming a successful salesperson.<br />
Just do it! Experience will be your best<br />
teacher. Learn by trial and error. Fail<br />
fast and fail often. After all, failure is the<br />
only proven road to success.<br />
Drew Ruble<br />
drewruble@gmail.com<br />
Editor | PW News<br />
2 | PRESSURE WASH NEWS | VOL. 6, NO. 1 | SUMMER <strong>2024</strong><br />
VOL. 6, NO. 1 | SUMMER <strong>2024</strong> | PRESSURE WASH NEWS | 3
High-rise<br />
Robot<br />
Shop our Huge Selection of<br />
Power Wash Supplies<br />
New York-based Skyline Robotics melds robotics, software engineering,<br />
artificial intelligence, and mechatronics to modernize the archaic<br />
industry of window cleaning<br />
BY DREW RUBLE<br />
For the last Century, despite the<br />
fact that buildings have continuously<br />
gotten taller and taller, and their<br />
exterior surface areas are comprised<br />
more and more of glass, the process<br />
used to clean buildings hasn’t really<br />
changed.<br />
Suspended on platforms high in<br />
the air, humans have risked their lives<br />
to clean windows.<br />
New York-based Skyline Robotics<br />
aims to change all that.<br />
And in doing so, the company is<br />
disrupting the $40 billion window<br />
cleaning industry in the process.<br />
Meet Ozmo, a smart robot that<br />
combines artificial intelligence,<br />
machine learning, and computer<br />
vision with advanced robotics and<br />
sensors to offer what it describes<br />
as a smarter, faster, safer, and more<br />
economical alternative to human<br />
window washers.<br />
Importantly, Ozmo isn’t after<br />
any one’s job. Quite to the contrary,<br />
Ozmo needs human guidance. The<br />
robot’s development and deployment<br />
is rooted in its developer’s mission to<br />
keep its human operators safe, not<br />
replace them.<br />
Make no mistake -- humans<br />
operators are still needed. But those<br />
humans can control Ozmo from a<br />
safe distance, out of harm’s way.<br />
All that said, Ozmo can think<br />
quite well for himself, thank you very<br />
much.<br />
For instance, he has a<br />
powerful sense of touch. He<br />
knows how fragile glass is, and<br />
its force sensor informs it about<br />
the exact amount of pressure needed<br />
to clean windows superbly.<br />
He also has a wonderful sense of<br />
sight. While Ozmo is a robot without<br />
actual eyes, it can determine its exact<br />
location and direction at all times.<br />
Guided by its Lidar - Light Detection<br />
and Ranging - a precise remote<br />
sensing system, Ozmo can scan<br />
building surfaces, memorizing curves<br />
and edges as it moves along.<br />
No wonder, then, that the robot<br />
knows its cleaning path quite well.<br />
Ozmo continually recalculates its<br />
cleaning path hundreds of times<br />
per second, ensuring it is always on<br />
the right track - and taking the best<br />
possible cleaning path.<br />
Ozmo is also fast. Real fast. About<br />
three times faster than traditional<br />
cleaning methods. Ozmo can analyze<br />
and adapt to new settings while<br />
doing the work, creating additional<br />
efficiency.<br />
Ozmo also has incredible balance.<br />
Even in high winds. Artificial intelligence<br />
helps Ozmo remain stable<br />
at all times. A gust of wind poses no<br />
threat to the robot, and its algorithms<br />
keep it working efficiently through<br />
multi-variable conditions.<br />
That’s not always the case with<br />
human workers. And that highlights<br />
Ozmo’s greatest feature: safety. Not<br />
only does Ozmo keep human operators<br />
off of tall buildings, but he also<br />
can be stopped at any time by the<br />
human operator.<br />
Ozmo’s profile has been growing<br />
steadily since he was first unveiled in<br />
2022. New Yorkers have already been<br />
marveling at the robots at work on<br />
Manhattan towers such as 10 Hudson<br />
Yards and 7 World Trade Center.<br />
Reinventing the<br />
Workforce<br />
According to Fortune magazine,<br />
Skyline robots are doing more than<br />
revolutionizing skyscraper cleaning<br />
and enhancing worker safety; they<br />
are also helping to solve the labor<br />
shortage problem in the windowwashing<br />
industry.<br />
Make no bones about it, cleaning<br />
skyscrapers is a risky job. Hanging<br />
hundreds of feet in the air and wiping<br />
down glass is not for the faint of heart.<br />
Finding laborers willing to do the<br />
work can be an obvious challenge.<br />
According to Skyline, 75% of all<br />
window cleaners in the U.S. are over<br />
the age of 40 and only 9% of window<br />
washers are between 20 and 30 years<br />
old. The vast majority are over 40<br />
years old and likely to retire sooner<br />
than later.<br />
“The reality is that the work isn’t<br />
incredible, and the next generation<br />
isn’t showing up,” Skyline president<br />
Ross Blum told Fortune. By comparison,<br />
Blum argued, robotics offer<br />
younger workers a different incentive:<br />
and so<br />
much more!<br />
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4 | PRESSURE WASH NEWS | VOL. 6, NO. 1 | SUMMER <strong>2024</strong>
to learn about new technologies and<br />
gain a transferable skill set.<br />
Training and certification is available<br />
through the company.<br />
A recent BusinessResearchInsights.<br />
com report on the robotic cleaning<br />
sector confirmed the need for robots<br />
is growing as a result of a lack of<br />
skilled workers.<br />
“The use of service robots for<br />
professional purposes, rising robot<br />
sales, and rising spending on robotic<br />
device research and development are<br />
all contributing significantly to the<br />
development of automated facade<br />
cleaning system,” the report stated.<br />
“Additional concerns about the rise in<br />
workplace accidents are also growing.<br />
The advancement of the product is<br />
helping the market to grow.”<br />
A Growing<br />
Market<br />
How big is the opportunity here?<br />
The global market for windowcleaning<br />
robots could experience<br />
a compound annual growth rate<br />
(CAGR) of 15.2%, reaching $264.18<br />
billion, according to Contrive Datum<br />
Insights Pvt. Ltd.<br />
That’s in part due to the fact that<br />
buildings higher than 200 meters<br />
have increased by 176% in recent<br />
years, according to Skyline.<br />
ReliableBusinessInsights.<br />
com stated in its <strong>2024</strong> report that<br />
the unmanned, high-rise facade<br />
cleaning robot market “is experiencing<br />
significant growth due to the<br />
increasing demand for efficient and<br />
safe cleaning solutions for high-rise<br />
buildings. The market is driven by<br />
the growing number of tall buildings<br />
and skyscrapers in urban areas,<br />
which require regular and thorough<br />
cleaning to maintain their aesthetics<br />
and structural integrity.”<br />
According to that report, one key<br />
trend in the market “is the adoption<br />
of advanced technologies such as<br />
artificial intelligence and machine<br />
learning to improve the performance<br />
and efficiency of cleaning robots.<br />
These technologies enable the robots<br />
to navigate complex building facades,<br />
identify areas that require cleaning,<br />
and optimize their cleaning processes<br />
to deliver superior results.”<br />
The global automated facade<br />
cleaning system market size was<br />
$32.12 million in 2022, the <strong>web</strong>site<br />
reported, and is expected to reach<br />
$888.05 million in 2031, at a CAGR of<br />
30% during the forecast period.<br />
Betting on<br />
Success<br />
No wonder private equity and<br />
venture capital is flooding in to the<br />
robotic building facade cleaning<br />
market.<br />
In October 2023, Skyline won an<br />
investment of an unannounced size<br />
from the venture branch of the Durst<br />
Organization, the owner of some of<br />
New York City’s more recognized<br />
skyscrapers.<br />
In December 2023 the company<br />
announced that it had closed a $9.8<br />
million pre-Series A-2 funding round,<br />
bringing the total it has raised to date<br />
to $19.4 million.<br />
Skyline previously announced the<br />
successful completion of a $6.5M<br />
pre-Series A funding round. Skyline<br />
Standard Holdings led that round<br />
with contributions from Karcher New<br />
Venture GmbH, Gefen Capital and<br />
others.<br />
“Ozmo has arrived to play a<br />
vital role in the future of window<br />
cleaning,” said Michael Brown, CEO<br />
& chairman of Skyline Robotics.<br />
“This successful funding round and<br />
first Ozmo deployment shows that<br />
the demand for our product and<br />
services are not just tangible and<br />
felt by investors, but that there’s a<br />
major business opportunity ahead of<br />
Skyline. The conviction of our team<br />
is being matched by the investment<br />
community.”<br />
“Karcher is pleased to continue<br />
to support Skyline Robotics on its<br />
mission to create a more efficient and<br />
safer work environment for window<br />
cleaning on a global scale,” said<br />
Patrick Nennewitz, of Karcher New<br />
Venture GmbH. “Skyline’s ability to<br />
transform an industry with robots<br />
while still creating jobs is a model<br />
that other robotics companies should<br />
replicate. With buildings getting<br />
taller and the workforce shrinking,<br />
Skyline’s arrival is as timely as it is<br />
necessary.”<br />
Just Rewards<br />
Working towards such a timely and<br />
needed solution to a modern problem<br />
has drawn a lot of attention to Skyline<br />
(and Ozmo) over the past year.<br />
The company has been recognized<br />
with a 2023 RBR50 Robotics<br />
Innovation Award. The annual awards<br />
from Robotics Business Review recognizes<br />
“the most creative and influential<br />
innovations from around the<br />
world that have advanced the state of<br />
robotics.”<br />
Skyline Robotics was recognized in<br />
the Technology, Products and Services<br />
category for its launch of Ozmo.<br />
“This year’s RBR50 Robotics<br />
Innovation Awards highlight the critical<br />
innovations, and organizations<br />
responsible for them, that will spur<br />
the development of new robotics<br />
solutions and drive robotics adoption<br />
forward around the world,” said Steve<br />
Crowe, Executive Editor, Robotics,<br />
WTWH Media.<br />
Skyline was also awarded Fast<br />
Company magazine’s 2023 “Next Big<br />
Things in Tech” Award.<br />
A panel of 18 Fast Company editors<br />
and writers selected 119 winners<br />
across 29 categories.<br />
The magazine wrote that in its<br />
evaluations, it looked “beyond just<br />
immediate triumphs (though nearterm<br />
impact is certainly a factor) to<br />
consider whether the innovations<br />
contain enough latent power to<br />
burgeon into even greater significance<br />
in the years ahead.”<br />
About Skyline, it specifically wrote<br />
“if that robot comes optimized for<br />
use cases that other firms have yet<br />
to tackle—especially those that are<br />
especially inefficient or hazardous for<br />
humans—then it’s earned some extra<br />
attention,” adding “cleaning the<br />
windows of high-rises is among the<br />
most obvious examples of the dirty,<br />
dull, and dangerous work that robots<br />
should take over from humans when<br />
possible.”<br />
Other recent accolades for Skyline<br />
came from PropTech, which awarded<br />
the company a “Breakthrough<br />
Award” for what it described as the<br />
“Construction Robotics Solution of<br />
the Year,” and from BuiltWorld, which<br />
named Skyline to its 2023 Robotics 50<br />
List.<br />
Only the<br />
Beginning<br />
Utilizing its knowledge in robotics,<br />
software engineering, artificial<br />
intelligence, and mechatronics, the<br />
company is taking an archaic industry<br />
such as window cleaning - which has<br />
remained the same since its inception<br />
more than a century ago - and giving<br />
it the breakthrough modernization<br />
it needs.<br />
Though it has started with window<br />
cleaning at heights, the company<br />
purports to have plans to revolutionize<br />
all types of facade maintenance<br />
work.<br />
Skyline envisions a future in which<br />
robots assist humans in work and<br />
everyday activities.<br />
“Being part of a company that<br />
continues to challenge antiquated<br />
operational strategies motivates us,<br />
drives us, and enhances our focus of<br />
the value we can provide to an entire<br />
industry,” said Blum. “The windowcleaning<br />
industry has remained<br />
unchanged as buildings have gotten<br />
taller and the risks to human lives<br />
have increased significantly. We’re<br />
offering a breakthrough solution that<br />
will save lives, improve efficiency and<br />
create 21st century jobs.”<br />
Editor’s note: Information from the Skyline<br />
<strong>web</strong>site was used extensively in this report.<br />
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6 | PRESSURE WASH NEWS | VOL. 6, NO. 1 | SUMMER <strong>2024</strong>
INDUSTRY<br />
DIRT<br />
A look around the cleaning equipment<br />
world for news and notes of interest<br />
Send your company news and press releases to drewruble@gmail.com<br />
Pulling the Trigger<br />
Mooresville, North Carolina<br />
company DeBerti began manufacturing<br />
AR-15 pressure washers, which<br />
are made to match the size, weight,<br />
and feel of the actual rifles.<br />
The gadgets can even include an<br />
authentic “red dot” sight. Red dots are<br />
electronic sights that project a small<br />
dot, crosshairs, or other configuration<br />
onto an optic, which the shooter uses<br />
for shot placement.<br />
The Woodlands, Texas-based The<br />
Valcourt Group, a leading provider<br />
of waterproofing, window cleaning,<br />
and facade restoration services for<br />
commercial properties, announced in<br />
February its acquisition of American<br />
Cleaning Systems (ACS), based in<br />
Phoenix, Arizona. The partnership<br />
marks the Valcourt Group's entry into<br />
the Phoenix metropolitan market, as<br />
the company continues to broaden its<br />
geographic footprint to new regions.<br />
Founded by Barry Frankel more<br />
than 40 years ago, ACS, and its divisions,<br />
Western Window Cleaning<br />
and Arizona Sweeping & Pressure<br />
Washing, have provided commercial<br />
cleaning services, including construction<br />
clean-up, data center cleaning,<br />
Water is supplied through a hose<br />
adapter in the faux weapon’s pistol<br />
grip handle and can sprayed at a<br />
high velocity by pulling the trigger.<br />
Some models include an adapter for<br />
mounting a bottle of foaming car<br />
wash formula near the front of the<br />
weapon. Each gun is different in terms<br />
of colors, style, and scopes. They're<br />
part numbered and are a collectible,<br />
as well as hand built and designed.<br />
Growing the Group<br />
window cleaning, power sweeping,<br />
and pressure washing throughout<br />
the state of Arizona. Continuing this<br />
legacy, Jonathan Frankel will keep<br />
managing day-to-day operations for<br />
ACS while Shelley Frankel and Jamie<br />
Finn will uphold their responsibilities<br />
managing sales and back office.<br />
The Valcourt Group, founded<br />
in 1986 as a small window cleaning<br />
company in Washington, DC, is now<br />
one of the largest building services<br />
companies in the country. For more<br />
information, visit valcourt.group<br />
Solving SORE<br />
Fort Worth, Texasbased<br />
PowerWash.com,<br />
an industry leader in<br />
commercial pressure<br />
washing solutions for<br />
half a century, celebrated<br />
Earth Day in April <strong>2024</strong> by<br />
unveiling its latest innovation:<br />
a high-performance, commercial<br />
grade, fully electric hot water pressure<br />
and soft washing integrated system<br />
that is compliant with California's<br />
recently enacted small off-road engine<br />
(SORE) regulations.<br />
Effective January 1, <strong>2024</strong>,<br />
California's Air Resource Board<br />
began enforcing a prohibition on<br />
the sale of off-road spark-ignition<br />
engines capable of generating 19<br />
kilowatts (25 horsepower) or less.<br />
This new mandate impacts a range of<br />
equipment, including lawn mowers,<br />
blowers, edgers, and other handheld<br />
devices such as commercial pressure<br />
washing systems.<br />
PowerWash.com's innovative<br />
"California Skid" is a fully electric<br />
pressure and soft washing system<br />
that meets these stringent SORE<br />
regulations without sacrificing<br />
performance. Designed for easy<br />
installation on trailers or pickup flatbeds,<br />
the system can operate for up<br />
to 35 hours when powered by the<br />
Ford F150's built-in inverter.<br />
“PowerWash.com has built<br />
hundreds of fully integrated power<br />
and soft washing trucks, trailers,<br />
and skids over the last 50 years,”<br />
explained Christopher Blann, CEO<br />
of PowerWash.com. “Traditionally,<br />
gas engines have powered most of<br />
the commercial pressure washing<br />
systems while soft washing systems<br />
have evolved to use electric power<br />
as an alternative efficiently. We are<br />
extending this trend with our first ever<br />
fully electric skid, called ‘The California<br />
Skid’ specifically designed<br />
to address Californian’s<br />
SORE requirements in<br />
an all-in-one, commercial-grade<br />
system. It<br />
delivers high-performance<br />
hot water pressure and cold<br />
soft wash capabilities, enabling<br />
commercial operators to tackle even<br />
the most difficult challenges, including<br />
cleaning graffiti, oil, and gum.”<br />
As a result of the SORE law, organizations<br />
across California – including<br />
companies, municipalities, and universities<br />
-- are looking for alternative pressure<br />
washing approaches. California<br />
Skid is built within an aluminum<br />
tube frame that protects the pump<br />
and provides a stable base for securing<br />
the system to a flatbed of a truck. It<br />
also includes a state-of-the-art electric<br />
pressure washer capable of delivering<br />
hot water up to 220 degrees and<br />
four gallons per minute, enhancing<br />
cleaning efficiency. Additionally, a 12v<br />
soft wash unit is seamlessly integrated<br />
into a durable powder-coated steel<br />
box, featuring a deluxe 7 gpm 150psi<br />
soft wash pump with a Flojet accumulator<br />
tank for consistent chemical<br />
application performance. This setup<br />
is complemented by the Maverick<br />
Delux Proportioner, which allows<br />
precise adjustments of mix ratios<br />
through expertly scaled metering<br />
valves. A 200-gallon water tank with a<br />
Hudson float valve, chemical-resistant<br />
stainless steel hose reels, 100 feet of<br />
high pressure hose, 100 feet of freshwater<br />
fill house, and 200 feet of soft<br />
wash ag house ensures a complete and<br />
ready-to-use system for all professional<br />
cleaning needs.<br />
For more information, go to www.<br />
powerwash.com/marketing/california-skid.<br />
PowerWash.com is a subsidiary<br />
of Delux Cleaning Supply, Inc.<br />
8 | PRESSURE WASH NEWS | VOL. 6, NO. 1 | SUMMER <strong>2024</strong>
INDUSTRY DIRT<br />
To the Dump<br />
Law360 reported in January<br />
<strong>2024</strong> that the U.S. International<br />
Trade Commission unanimously<br />
found that domestic manufacturers<br />
were in fact being injured by subsidized<br />
Chinese gas-powered pressure<br />
washers that are being sold in<br />
the U.S. at unfairly low prices.<br />
The commission’s vote cleared<br />
the way for the U.S. Department of<br />
Commerce to enact high tariffs –<br />
some of which more than quadruple<br />
the products’ value – on pressure<br />
washers from China.<br />
“Commerce will issue antidumping<br />
duty and countervailing<br />
orders on imports of this product,”<br />
the commission said in a statement<br />
announcing the affirmative vote.<br />
The commission and Commerce’s<br />
International Trade Administration<br />
had both been investigating<br />
gas-powered pressure washers at<br />
the request of the Wisconsin-based<br />
FNA Group Inc., as previously<br />
reported by PW News. FNA Group,<br />
which describes itself as the largest<br />
gas-powered pressure washer<br />
manufacturer in the U.S., claimed<br />
to be facing a “low-priced, highvolume<br />
assault” from Chinese and<br />
Vietnamese imports, according to<br />
Law360. U.S. trade officials largely<br />
corroborated FNA Group’s claims,<br />
the report found, with Commerce<br />
finding that Beijing unfairly subsidized<br />
its pressure washer industry<br />
and that imports from both countries<br />
were being sold in the U.S. at<br />
unfairly low prices.<br />
To counteract those trade practices,<br />
Commerce finalized a 225.65%<br />
antidumping tariff on Vietnamese<br />
pressure washers, as well as antidumping<br />
duties between 189.52%<br />
and 274.37% on Chinese pressure<br />
washers (Law360). Pressure washers<br />
produced by 16 Chinese companies<br />
were also hit with a 206.57%<br />
countervailing duty, with only<br />
one company receiving the more<br />
subdued 11.19% countervailing duty<br />
rate, according to a December fact<br />
sheet from Commerce.<br />
Top Honors<br />
To recognize members who exemplify<br />
the best of the industry, CETA<br />
(the Cleaning Equipment Trade<br />
Association), annually presents<br />
awards. The 2023 awardees were:<br />
William (Bill) Sommers – Lifetime<br />
Achievement Award: Sommers,<br />
founder of Pressure Systems Inc. in<br />
Phoenix, AZ, joined the industry<br />
in 1958. Serving in the U.S. Army<br />
from 1963 to 1965, Sommers has<br />
otherwise been industry-engaged in<br />
product development (misting and<br />
cooling systems) and service.<br />
Jim O’Connell – Lifetime Achievement<br />
Award: O’Connell, president of Pacific<br />
Bay Equipment Sales and Service in<br />
Modesto, CA, originally established<br />
under the name Hotsy Pacific, has<br />
with his wife Karen well maintained<br />
their mission of merging the best in<br />
industry innovation and technology<br />
with “old-fashioned” customer service<br />
and expert repair.<br />
Melvin Farley – Distinguished Service<br />
Award: Farley, owner of Coils-R-Us<br />
in Siloam Springs, AR, touts “over<br />
150,000 Coils of Experience (Almost<br />
a Lifetime).” He launched the business<br />
in 2010.<br />
Brenda Purswell and John Purswell<br />
– Lifetime Membership Award: In<br />
2013, Brenda and John were the<br />
recipients of lifetime achievement<br />
awards. In 2022, the former owners<br />
of Alklean Industries, Inc. in Pasadena,<br />
TX received lifetime membership in<br />
CETA. The Purswells’ participation in<br />
industry organizations antedates the<br />
formation of CETA in which they are<br />
among the charter members.<br />
Opening the Gates<br />
Denver, Colorado-based<br />
Gates (NYSE: GTES), a global<br />
manufacturer of highly engineered<br />
power transmission and fluid power<br />
solutions, announced the launch of the<br />
Clean Master Plus hose platform, the<br />
newest addition to Gates' industrial<br />
hose lineup, built for high pressure<br />
applications in demanding industrial<br />
environments.<br />
Clean Master Plus leverages innovation<br />
in advanced materials and wire<br />
reinforcement technology to operate<br />
at extremely high pressures of up to<br />
6,000 psi, three times more than the<br />
average pressure washer hose. This<br />
next generation hose construction<br />
also stands out for being 22% lighter<br />
and 50% more flexible on average<br />
compared to existing 6,000 psi hoses,<br />
improving ergonomics and safety and<br />
reducing worker fatigue while also<br />
increasing productivity.<br />
Features and benefits of Clean<br />
Master Plus include: REACH<br />
compliant; ozone and abrasion resistant<br />
cover for lasting performance in<br />
tough environments; smooth cover<br />
for exceptional maneuverability on<br />
rough surfaces; higher operating<br />
temperature (up to 300ºF) compared<br />
to existing version; flexible and lightweight<br />
construction for easy handling;<br />
compact design reduces space requirements<br />
for storage; compatibility with<br />
Megacrimp couplings, stainless steel<br />
couplings, and Gates Crimpers.<br />
"We know industrial cleaning is a<br />
tough job and designed Clean Master<br />
Plus to last longer, operate at higher<br />
pressures, and be easier to use. This<br />
hose platform leverages the latest in<br />
our advanced materials and wire reinforcement<br />
technology to withstand the<br />
toughest conditions in construction,<br />
marine, general manufacturing, public<br />
works, mining, and commercial property<br />
maintenance applications, to name<br />
a few," said Tom Pitstick, President<br />
APAC and Global Strategy. "Gates has<br />
a long history of innovating and pushing<br />
boundaries to engineer products that<br />
exceed our customers' expectations."<br />
Clean Master Plus is a result of<br />
Gates' Eco-Innovation product<br />
development system. This process<br />
leverages the company's capabilities<br />
across materials science development,<br />
process engineering, and product design<br />
to develop high-quality, high-performance<br />
products that exceed customer<br />
expectations, while also helping to<br />
reduce environmental impacts of<br />
the products through the life cycle,<br />
including how they are manufactured.<br />
For more than a century, Gates has<br />
pushed the boundaries of materials<br />
science to engineer products that<br />
exceed expectations in many sectors of<br />
the industrial and consumer markets.<br />
Its products play essential roles in a<br />
diverse range of applications across a<br />
wide variety of end markets including<br />
industrial on-highway, industrial<br />
off-highway, mobility, and recreation,<br />
automotive, energy, and resources as<br />
well as diversified industrial. Products<br />
are sold in more than 130 countries<br />
across our four commercial regions:<br />
the Americas; Europe, Middle<br />
East & Africa; Greater China; and East<br />
Asia & India.<br />
To learn more about Gates and its<br />
products, visit Gates.com.<br />
Like Father,<br />
Like Daughter<br />
Terry 'Turbo' Burrows is known<br />
as the fastest window cleaner in the<br />
world. A Guiness World Record<br />
Holder for the last 29 years, he broke<br />
the record for the first time back in<br />
1995. He has gone on to break his<br />
own record nine times since, bringing<br />
the record time down to 9.14 seconds.<br />
He’s done so by cleaning three<br />
windows (45 x 45 inches each) and<br />
wiping the sills in less than 10 seconds.<br />
The BBC recently reported that<br />
Burrows’ daughter has joined her father<br />
at the top of the profession by clocking<br />
her own record-breaking time. Joining<br />
him at Manchester's Cleaning Show,<br />
Aliscia Burrows posted a time of 16.13<br />
seconds, beating the previous women's<br />
record by 0.15 seconds. Terry said he<br />
was not surprised, saying his daughter<br />
was "a natural" with a squeegee. He<br />
said the pair were at the show to take<br />
on challengers and see if anyone could<br />
beat his longstanding Guinness World<br />
Record.<br />
Aliscia, who won the 2023<br />
Women's Window Cleaning World<br />
Cup with a time of 17.08 seconds,<br />
said she wanted to beat the women's<br />
world record so they could have a<br />
father-daughter record. Her father<br />
said he was "elated" and "almost broke<br />
into tears" when he heard her result.<br />
"It's like I'm almost watching<br />
myself," he said. "She's really looking<br />
like me when she cleans the windows."<br />
1000<br />
SERIES<br />
GET YOURS<br />
HANNAY.COM | 877.467.3357<br />
10 | PRESSURE WASH NEWS | VOL. 6, NO. 1 | SUMMER <strong>2024</strong><br />
VOL. 6, NO. 1 | SUMMER <strong>2024</strong> | PRESSURE WASH NEWS | 11
Taking the Leap<br />
Dealt a heavy blow by the pandemic, one Florida<br />
couple turns desperation into entrepreneurial success<br />
BY DREW RUBLE<br />
The future Mister and Missus<br />
Andrew and Savana Pitts first met<br />
when she was 4 years old and he was<br />
6 – at a wedding, no less.<br />
“We were ring bearer and flower girl<br />
in a wedding together when we were<br />
kids,” Andrew says. “We’ve always been<br />
friends. And this June was 18 years that<br />
we've been married.”<br />
Originally from Florida, the couple<br />
headed west after getting married,<br />
where Andrew partook in a laundry list<br />
of jobs – painter, auto body mechanic,<br />
you name it - across multiple states.<br />
At the auto body shop, the Pitts’<br />
worked together for the first time.<br />
“Andrew did a lot of the welding,”<br />
Savana says. “He did body work. We did<br />
a lot of restorations for car shows, but<br />
also just, you know, your regular insurance<br />
claims damage, and I worked in<br />
the office. I pretty much ran the office,<br />
and then I did some sand blasting and<br />
some of the interior work and social<br />
media for the business.”<br />
Working together sparked a dream<br />
to one day own a business together.<br />
“I mean, it was always a dream,<br />
you know?” Andrew says. “We’d watch<br />
Shark Tank or The Profit on TV, and it<br />
kind of made you want to be an entrepreneur.<br />
But you have no idea how or<br />
where, or the avenue to get there…In<br />
my head, at the time, I was like ‘what<br />
the heck are we going to invent that's<br />
not already invented?’ That's the only<br />
thing I could think of.”<br />
Nowhere to<br />
Go but Up<br />
Ironically, it was all those random<br />
jobs that the couple had held down<br />
over the years that best equipped them<br />
for what was about to happen.<br />
It was 2019 and the couple had at<br />
long last moved back to Florida. Andrew<br />
was working for a paint company, travelling<br />
to roughly 25 states on about 200<br />
days a year while Savana (now with kids<br />
at home) held their lives together. Then<br />
the pandemic hit. It took Andrew off<br />
the road as the travel business quickly<br />
dried up. With just local work available<br />
to him, he wasn’t making enough<br />
money to support the family.<br />
They were renting a house and had<br />
lots of bills to pay while also trying to<br />
get out of debt. But they weren’t really<br />
making a lot of progress. In April of<br />
2020, right in the middle of Covid, they<br />
moved into a camper behind Andrew’s<br />
parents’ house.<br />
“So me and Savana lived in a<br />
camper, and our three daughters all<br />
lived in the house with my mom and<br />
dad,” Andrew says.<br />
The pandemic and resulting lifestyle<br />
forced their entrepreneurial hand.<br />
“It gave us the chance to start our<br />
business because we thought ‘what do<br />
we have to lose at this point?’ Because<br />
in the past it was always a fear of ‘how<br />
are we going to pay our bills? If we try<br />
to start a business, you have no fallback.’<br />
But at that point we had no reason to<br />
not try,” Andrew says.<br />
From the 24-foot camper and a<br />
4-foot by 3-foot desk inside of it, the<br />
Pitts’ launched P&P Exterior.<br />
“Savana had worked in insurance.<br />
She'd worked in admin and accounting<br />
for multiple different offices, and<br />
the hospital for patient registration,<br />
that sort of stuff,” Andrew says. “I did<br />
construction, garage doors, auto body<br />
work -- all these little things that you<br />
don’t think are going to amount to<br />
anything worthwhile. But in fact it<br />
all just kind of plugged in perfectly to<br />
starting our own business.<br />
“We built our own rigs for our business,<br />
our own trailers and stuff like that.<br />
It's neat how everything kind of fell in<br />
place. The tendency is to be frustrated<br />
working for someone else. But in reality<br />
it's the perfect training that you need<br />
to eventually go out on your own and<br />
handle all the many facets of actually<br />
running a business.”<br />
The original plan was to start a<br />
painting business. After all, that’s<br />
what Andrew knew best. But while<br />
searching YouTube videos on starting a<br />
paint business, he came across a video<br />
on how to best prep a house for paint<br />
– namely, soft washing.<br />
“Soft washing was foreign to me,”<br />
Andrew says. “We were the painters<br />
out there just putting a lot of pressure<br />
on a house. So, in our efforts to figure<br />
out how to become more efficient as<br />
a painting company, we ran across soft<br />
wash. and I was like, ‘we’ve got to do<br />
this.’ I literally went back to the store,<br />
returned all our paint equipment just<br />
to get what little money we had, and<br />
used a credit card to buy everything<br />
else we needed to start soft washing.<br />
That's how it went. And in first month,<br />
not even 30 days, we made more<br />
money soft washing than I ever made<br />
in a month working on the road full<br />
time as a painter.”<br />
Sticking<br />
to Their Guns<br />
To what did they attribute such<br />
early success?<br />
“So, in the beginning, I would say the<br />
thing that really pushed us to achieve<br />
what I guess other people are calling<br />
success is that we just simply never<br />
gave up,” Savana says. “We tried literally<br />
everything. I would see someone<br />
online say they went door knocking and<br />
it worked. So, I'm like, ‘okay, well, I'm<br />
going to go try that.’ Then I would see<br />
someone else say they put out signs.<br />
‘Okay, let's get some signs. Let's go try<br />
that.’ So, we literally tried everything<br />
and did not give up. It's not a huge<br />
mathematical equation or a secret. It's<br />
just tenacity.”<br />
Andrew agrees it was desperation –<br />
necessity, even - that was the primary<br />
driver for their success.<br />
“How did we find that much work<br />
in our first month?” he says. “We had to,<br />
otherwise you're going to fail.”<br />
UPCOMING EVENT<br />
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Register Early and Save!<br />
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Come for the Experience,<br />
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THURSDAY, OCT 12TH<br />
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FRIDAY, OCT 13TH<br />
Technical, Business, and Sales & Marketing Classes<br />
Trade Show - Manufacturers & Distributors<br />
<strong>PWN</strong>A Reception<br />
SATURDAY, OCT 14TH<br />
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SUNDAY, OCT 15TH<br />
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12 | PRESSURE WASH NEWS | VOL. 6, NO. 1 | SUMMER <strong>2024</strong>
TURNING CLIENTS<br />
INTO SALES PEOPLE<br />
Business coach Troy Howard, who<br />
worked with P&P Exterior to help them<br />
grow their business, founded SoTellUs,<br />
the world’s only review platform that<br />
lets businesses instantly collect video,<br />
audio, and written reviews from their<br />
customers using an app on a smartphone<br />
or tablet.<br />
Every review is phone-verified in<br />
seconds by SoTellUs and automatically<br />
marketed online for the businesses<br />
through their <strong>web</strong>site, social media<br />
sites, and the first page of Google.<br />
You can learn more about this<br />
combination of video reviews, 100%<br />
phone verification, and automated<br />
review marketing at sotellus.com .<br />
Howard, who has spoken at past<br />
PowerClean conferences, recently<br />
published an article in The Six-Figure<br />
Coach Magazine on how to integrate<br />
social proof of the quality of your business<br />
into your marketing. The following<br />
are some excerpts from that article.<br />
Stop Selling<br />
Yourself<br />
Stop focusing so much on selling<br />
yourself and your services through<br />
marketing and instead let others sell<br />
for you. Create a group of clients that<br />
are “fanatical super fans” and leverage<br />
their stories to create marketing that<br />
will close sales every time. “People<br />
will believe your fans more than they<br />
will ever believe you when it comes<br />
to talking about what you can do for<br />
them, so stop selling yourself and let<br />
your super fans do it for you.”<br />
WEBSITE<br />
Your 24/7<br />
Salesperson<br />
Populate your <strong>web</strong>site with social<br />
proof…Most people will fill their <strong>web</strong>site<br />
with pages and pages of photos,<br />
quotes, and tons of sales content. Then<br />
as an afterthought, they squeeze a few<br />
testimonials onto the bottom of their<br />
homepage and bury a testimonials<br />
page somewhere on their <strong>web</strong>site that<br />
no one will ever see. Does that make<br />
any sense? …Place your raving reviews<br />
or testimonials on your homepage in<br />
the top half of your <strong>web</strong>site. They need<br />
to be instantly visible so they immediately<br />
stand out. Website visitors will<br />
skim your content but they will stop<br />
and check out social proof, especially<br />
reviews because they are third-party<br />
verified and therefore much more<br />
believable and trustworthy… Have a<br />
page dedicated just for reviews. Don’t<br />
label it testimonials because people are<br />
now trained to bypass testimonials in<br />
favor of reviews. People will watch a<br />
video review before they will read testimonials.<br />
Strategically place your social<br />
proof throughout your <strong>web</strong>site – right<br />
before any calls to action…Your social<br />
proof is there to remind and assure<br />
them that they’re making the right decision<br />
and to take action now.<br />
EMAIL<br />
Your perfect<br />
messenger<br />
Never send out an email without<br />
some form of social proof…Use<br />
wording like ‘Click Here to check out<br />
our 5 Star Reviews!’ Even if the person<br />
does not click on the link you have<br />
subconsciously planted in their mind<br />
that you provide 5 Star Service and<br />
Results.<br />
PRINT<br />
Let them touch<br />
and feel your<br />
proof!<br />
Just like you should never send out<br />
an email without including social proof,<br />
you should never send out printed<br />
materials without it…Choose a piece<br />
of social proof that’s aligned with the<br />
message of the marketing piece and<br />
make sure it stands out. Use a photo<br />
of the person giving the testimonial or<br />
review because peoples’ attention is<br />
naturally drawn to faces.<br />
It’s all the more impressive that the<br />
couple built a book of business so fast<br />
given that Florida is the most saturated<br />
market in the country for soft wash.<br />
Savana says ignorance is bliss.<br />
“We didn't know that at the time,”<br />
Savana says. “We did not know that was<br />
a hill that we had to climb. And we did<br />
not know that it would be a constant<br />
battle even to this day.<br />
“It's something that's always at the<br />
back of your mind but you can't dwell<br />
on it.<br />
“I say, ‘watch your own bobber.’<br />
Don't worry about what everyone else<br />
around you is doing. Don't worry about<br />
what the competitors are doing. Don't<br />
worry about what services they're<br />
adding or how they're hiring or the size<br />
jobs they're getting. You need to focus<br />
on yourself, and growth in your goals.”<br />
P&P also got a boost from an old<br />
friend: the painting business.<br />
“The first year was primarily<br />
washing,” Andrew says. “And then<br />
we had customers that knew we had<br />
painted previously. And they're like,<br />
‘can you paint?’”<br />
The Pitts’ didn't want to, but they<br />
did it. Then one day a customer with an<br />
apartment complex asked if they could<br />
handle a big painting project. The job<br />
was close to 800,000 square feet.<br />
“I didn't even think about my<br />
response,” Savana says. “I just said, ‘yes.’”<br />
P&P quickly hired help. A month<br />
later, they had a crew of eight employees<br />
painting nine different buildings.<br />
“It's like a wave,” Andrew says. “That<br />
year was chaos because we had so much<br />
going on. You have this huge job that<br />
takes five or six months to complete.<br />
But your phone still ringing. You can't<br />
stop answering calls and doing estimates<br />
for other people's work.<br />
“One of our business mentors told<br />
us ‘you're kind of like a rocket ship held<br />
together with duct tape,’” Andrew says.<br />
“And he was right. We’ve downsized<br />
since then. I'd say that now, we usually<br />
have two people in addition to us<br />
working full time. So it's about trying to<br />
find that balance, and that's something<br />
that's still in progress. Trying to find<br />
that sweet spot of where we want to be<br />
as a company. But we're also trying to<br />
define our definition of success.”<br />
Savana says she often has to remind<br />
herself of her original definition<br />
of success since first launching the<br />
company.<br />
“In the beginning, we had mentors<br />
setting goals for us, like ‘you can hit<br />
a million dollars this year, or you can<br />
have X amount of trucks,” she says. “I<br />
was on board for that because I'm the<br />
type of person who loves a challenge.<br />
I like to prove people wrong. I like to<br />
prove myself wrong.<br />
“But I think we got lost in that. I've<br />
had to sit back and remember why we<br />
started our business in the first place.<br />
It was because Andrew had spent so<br />
much time on the road away from the<br />
family.<br />
“When I take away all of the dollar<br />
signs, to me, my definition of success, is<br />
time with my kids.<br />
“I want to spend time with my kids.<br />
Our oldest -- she's got one summer left<br />
with us before she's out of the house.<br />
“It kind of hits me like I'll never get<br />
that back. That's everything to us.”<br />
Ears Wide Open<br />
The Pitts’ commonly also cite business<br />
mentors as key to their successes.<br />
“The old saying is, ‘you don't know<br />
what you don't know,’ right?” Savana<br />
says. “And I think at some point you<br />
have to swallow your pride and accept<br />
that you cannot grow without the<br />
knowledge of others.”<br />
One key piece of advice a mentor<br />
gave Savana was ‘don't expect what<br />
you don't inspect.’<br />
“If we are leaving a crew unattended<br />
at a site, I can't just assume that they<br />
have dotted all the I’s and crossed all<br />
the t's,” she says. “It's on me as a leader<br />
to make sure that it's done.<br />
“I genuinely crave their wisdom,<br />
and I crave their experience. What<br />
better way to learn about success than<br />
to follow in the direct footsteps of<br />
someone who's been there?”<br />
Another mentor was Troy Howard,<br />
founder of the only video customer<br />
review system on the planet – SoTellUs.<br />
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Howard’s influence led the Pitts’ to<br />
conduct video customer reviews after<br />
jobs were completed. They simply ask<br />
their customers to stand in front of a<br />
camera for 30 seconds and give a video<br />
testimonial as opposed to asking them<br />
to take the time after you leave the job<br />
site to sit down and write one for your<br />
<strong>web</strong>site or social media, which many<br />
of them say they will do but never<br />
get around to. (Or because writing for<br />
many people is not a strength.)<br />
“The thing that we found with the<br />
video reviews, especially with older<br />
people, is that they don't have to worry<br />
about trying to navigate the Internet<br />
because a lot of them, if I ask them if they<br />
can leave a review, they say, ‘oh, honey,<br />
I don't know how to do that,’” Andrew<br />
says. “So it's just so easy for them.”<br />
Andrew recalls one video review<br />
he had that required some on-the-spot<br />
creativity to bring to life.<br />
“It was a lady, a real sweetheart, and<br />
she just did not want to be on camera,”<br />
he says. “It did not matter what I said.<br />
She wanted nothing to do with her<br />
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face being on camera. And so, we were<br />
like, well, how about if we give you the<br />
phone and you just walk around and<br />
show us the job site?<br />
“And it was probably the best review<br />
we got. Because all she did was take<br />
my phone, I hit record, and she walked<br />
around, pointing out every little detail<br />
that we did on her property, and she<br />
never had to be on camera one time,<br />
and you could just hear the excitement<br />
in her voice and hear her personality. I<br />
didn't have to do anything. I just gave<br />
her the phone and let her go, and she<br />
was completely happy to do it.”<br />
Andrew says it’s not uncommon<br />
for people to share their review from<br />
the P&P site to their own social media<br />
– meaning the company reaches thousands<br />
of people they couldn’t otherwise<br />
contact by doing the videos.<br />
“Just by sending them a link, they<br />
can post it on their own social media<br />
and reach a crowd that we cannot<br />
reach, because I don't have access to<br />
post on their personal social media<br />
sites,” Andrew says. “Essentially, you've<br />
just created personal content for them.<br />
I mean, they're proud of their home and<br />
the way that it looks, and maybe even<br />
proud of their performance in front of<br />
the camera once they see it, and they<br />
want their friends to see it. And so now<br />
you just got access to 1,500 people you<br />
didn't previously get access to.”<br />
Motivational<br />
Mindset<br />
The Pitts’ aren’t resting on their<br />
laurels.<br />
“We're still learning ourselves,”<br />
Savana says. “I think we'll always be<br />
learning, forever, as long as we're in the<br />
business, and life keeps changing. But<br />
it's a fun ride. It’s wild.”<br />
It's also weird, she says. Specifically,<br />
the fact that they haven't had a boss in<br />
years.<br />
“I don't think I want to remember<br />
what that's like,” Savana says. “So we're<br />
just going to keep hustling.”<br />
14 | PRESSURE WASH NEWS | VOL. 6, NO. 1 | SUMMER <strong>2024</strong><br />
VOL. 6, NO. 1 | SUMMER <strong>2024</strong> | PRESSURE WASH NEWS | 15
Here Comes the Sun<br />
A new report finding<br />
solar panel cleaning<br />
boosts efficiency<br />
represents an<br />
opportunity<br />
for exterior<br />
cleaners<br />
BY DREW RUBLE<br />
A December 2023 study from the<br />
U.S. Department of Energy’s National<br />
Renewable Energy Laboratory<br />
(NREL) has changed the narrative on<br />
the value of solar panel cleaning.<br />
In the study, NREL analyzed five<br />
utility-scale solar plants in North<br />
Carolina. Panels studied had been<br />
in operation for seven years without<br />
being cleaned.<br />
During peak pollen season, energy<br />
output nosedived by up to 15% due<br />
to pollen barricades blocking sunlight.<br />
Rainfall can wash away many things,<br />
but even a steady downpour may not<br />
be enough to clean pollen from solar<br />
panels, the researchers also found.<br />
“There is still much work to do to<br />
fully understand the risks and implications<br />
of pollen and bio-soiling in the<br />
southeast U.S., but this work has made<br />
clear that regular rainfall is not sufficient<br />
to assume that solar plants are<br />
fully cleaned in certain environments,”<br />
said Matthew Muller, a research<br />
engineer within the PV Performance<br />
and Reliability group at NREL and<br />
co-author of a new paper describing<br />
the problem with pollen.<br />
The paper, “An Investigation on<br />
the Pollen-Induced Soiling Losses in<br />
Utility-Scale PV Plants,” appeared in<br />
the IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics.<br />
Other co-authors include Joao Gabriel<br />
Bessa, who visited NREL from the<br />
University of Jaen in Spain; Michael<br />
Valerino, who co-founded Solar<br />
Unsoiled; and researchers from the<br />
University of Jaen, Duke University,<br />
and Sapienza University of Rome.<br />
The Now-<br />
Scientific Facts<br />
Soiling, which occurs when dust,<br />
pollen, or other elements hinder light<br />
from reaching solar cells, has emerged<br />
as an ongoing problem, both in terms<br />
of PV performance and realized<br />
revenue for solar plant operators.<br />
Exactly how big a problem soiling<br />
presents depends on local conditions<br />
and climate.<br />
Previous research has estimated<br />
soiling losses in arid and semi-arid<br />
locations but not in rainier locations<br />
where pollen is a problem, such as in<br />
the southeastern United States.<br />
Muller, who has extensively studied<br />
the soiling problem, and his colleagues,<br />
answered that lingering question with<br />
their measurements of the effects of<br />
the utility-scale solar plants located in<br />
four counties in North Carolina.<br />
Their findings ran counter to a<br />
common assumption that frequent<br />
rainfall would result in negligible<br />
soiling impacts.<br />
The researchers noted in their<br />
paper that they had expected soiling<br />
losses would be minimal because of<br />
a relatively high average rainfall and<br />
short dry periods, but the losses were<br />
higher than expected.<br />
Even after the end of the pollen<br />
season, the performance of solar<br />
panels did not return to their previous<br />
“cleaned” levels despite frequent rains.<br />
Because PV panels cool down at<br />
night and attract morning dew, the<br />
dust can also go through a process<br />
called cementation where the soiling<br />
is literally cemented onto the panel.<br />
The findings confirmed that soiling<br />
potential must be carefully examined<br />
in regions with frequent rainfall and<br />
that planned cleaning may be necessary<br />
to avoid large financial losses and<br />
system underperformance.<br />
Solar Unsoiled, working in<br />
conjunction with the North Carolina<br />
system owner, measured performance<br />
increases from 5% to 11%, following<br />
mechanical wet brush cleaning.<br />
As a result of all this work, NREL<br />
and Solar Unsoiled are designing a<br />
study to further investigate the mechanisms<br />
and risks associated with pollen<br />
and bio-soiling in the southeastern<br />
United States.<br />
As NREL has written, “since solar<br />
power first became widely accepted<br />
decades ago, scientists have toiled to<br />
improve the efficiency of PV panels and<br />
16 | PRESSURE WASH NEWS | VOL. 6, NO. 1 | SUMMER <strong>2024</strong>
to bring down the cost of producing<br />
electricity from the sun. Those were<br />
the big tasks. Now, with solar providing<br />
an increasing percentage of the nation’s<br />
power needs at a low cost, researchers<br />
have turned to secondary problems<br />
with the technology.”<br />
“We made it,” said Muller, in<br />
explaining the relevance of all this<br />
study. “Solar’s getting deployed, but<br />
we’re losing energy because solar’s<br />
getting deployed in dusty locations.”<br />
According to NREL, the energy<br />
lost annually from soiling amounts to<br />
as much as 7% in parts of the United<br />
States to as high as 50% in the Middle<br />
East.<br />
A Ripe<br />
Opportunity<br />
The Power Washers of North America<br />
(<strong>PWN</strong>A) industry organization has<br />
been hard at work adding courses that<br />
address industry issues, now including<br />
solar cleaning.<br />
With studies like the one published<br />
by NREL, more pressure washing<br />
companies are likely to seize the<br />
opportunity to become qualified solar<br />
panel cleaners.<br />
<strong>PWN</strong>A recently added solar safety<br />
and application courses, including<br />
solar safety in Spanish.<br />
Michael Draper, <strong>PWN</strong>A Safety<br />
and Compliance Director, has written<br />
extensively about solar cleaning safe<br />
practices.<br />
“Solar Energy is becoming<br />
commonplace in the United States<br />
and its further expansion is expected,”<br />
Draper said. “In fact, most of U.S. Solar<br />
is forthcoming and yet to be built.”<br />
In 2021, residential solar installation<br />
rose by 30% over the previous<br />
year, according to the Solar Energy<br />
Industries Association. Rapid<br />
growth amongst homeowners maintaining<br />
home solar systems has only<br />
increased since. Solar panels require<br />
at least annual cleaning, though twice<br />
annually in some areas is recommended.<br />
In addition to pollen, tree<br />
sap, pitch and bird droppings, dust,<br />
smog and other pollution can wreak<br />
havoc on efficiency.<br />
With the onset of both solar panel<br />
and PV surfaces becoming more abundant,<br />
so will the need for cleaning such<br />
substrates, according to Draper.<br />
“Solar cleaning, unlike other surfaces,<br />
is not cosmetic and most panels will<br />
need to be cleaned at some interval<br />
to maintain proper wattage output,”<br />
he said. “While initially systems were<br />
sold to consumers with a mindset that<br />
rain will do the cleaning current data is<br />
proving that notion false.”<br />
Nuts<br />
and Bolts<br />
So, how do you clean solar properly?<br />
“Many service contractors have<br />
begun to offer solar cleaning, and while<br />
job sites and cleanings may have some<br />
of the same safety concerns, solar does<br />
present contractors with unique safety<br />
challenges that need to be addressed,”<br />
Draper said.<br />
The <strong>PWN</strong>A Solar Safe Practices<br />
addresses all safety concerns in residential,<br />
commercial/industrial, and<br />
solar farms/utility-scale operations.<br />
High pressure is not used to clean<br />
solar surfaces. The methods to clean<br />
solar involve the same equipment<br />
many contractors currently have. For<br />
instance, often a low GPM pressure<br />
washer is utilized on power brushes<br />
used on extension poles to clean<br />
surfaces. Also, water-fed poles are<br />
utilized, as well as utility-scale projects<br />
often need water carried to the job site<br />
(and pressure washers are no stranger<br />
to that aspect).<br />
Solar systems should be turned<br />
off prior to cleaning to prevent electrical<br />
hazards. Contractors generally<br />
opt to clean during evening or night<br />
hours when surfaces are not as hot.<br />
A low-pressure setting with a wide<br />
nozzle for gentle cleaning is crucial<br />
as high pressure could damage panels.<br />
No residue can be left on the panel lest<br />
it have the same deleterious effect as<br />
pollen or grime.<br />
“The pressure washing industry<br />
is…best poised to handle the tasks at<br />
hand,” Draper said.<br />
In addition to safe practices, the<br />
<strong>PWN</strong>A has partnered with Carla<br />
Dawson and Solair and Expert<br />
Safety Services to offer its members<br />
a complete certification in the solar<br />
arena. The classes have the North<br />
American Board of Certified Energy<br />
Practitioners® (NABCEP®) accreditation<br />
for continuing education and<br />
can be found on the <strong>PWN</strong>A <strong>web</strong>site.<br />
Windows<br />
to the World<br />
The window cleaning market could<br />
get an extra boost in the solar arena<br />
as well since windows that double<br />
as solar panels are increasingly being<br />
introduced to the market.<br />
Solar windows made of solar glass<br />
mimic solar panels in converting solar<br />
energy into usable electricity. But<br />
they also let light to pass through like<br />
a normal window. Though they look<br />
like conventional windows, they have<br />
photovoltaic glazing that capture solar<br />
energy and converts it into electricity.<br />
According to a recent CNET<br />
article, researchers at the University<br />
of Michigan have also developed a<br />
means of capturing solar in windows<br />
by using plastic, semi-transparent light<br />
absorbers sandwiched between the<br />
panes of glass.<br />
The commercial sector is the real<br />
market for solar windows. Ubiquitous<br />
Energy CEO Susan Stone told<br />
CNET, “You see tall office buildings,<br />
we see vertical solar farms…Our<br />
vision is for every piece of glass to be<br />
energy-producing."<br />
Many companies are already ahead<br />
of that curve. In 2023, outdoor apparel<br />
company Patagonia installed solar<br />
windows at its corporate headquarters<br />
in Ventura, California. A coating<br />
was integrated into 22 windows on<br />
the south-facing façade of Patagonia’s<br />
campus, and the power is being used<br />
to charge phones and other devices in<br />
the employee community spaces.<br />
“We’ve been using solar power<br />
at our headquarters in Ventura since<br />
2005 and at our Reno Distribution<br />
Center since 1996,” said Corley Kenna,<br />
head of Communications and Public<br />
Policy at Patagonia. “We rely on 100%<br />
renewable electricity for our owned<br />
and operated facilities in the United<br />
States and 76% globally, achieved<br />
through on-site and off-site installations.<br />
We have funded more than<br />
1,000 solar arrays on homes across the<br />
U.S. and have helped install more than<br />
600 kilowatts of solar power globally<br />
to support agriculture. Finding better<br />
ways of doing business is something<br />
we always strive to do.”<br />
No wonder pressure wash, soft<br />
wash, and window cleaning business<br />
owners alike are coming to a similar<br />
conclusion: entering the solar panel<br />
cleaning business makes good dollars<br />
and good sense.<br />
Editor’s note: Information from the NERL<br />
<strong>web</strong>site was used extensively in this report.<br />
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18 | PRESSURE WASH NEWS | VOL. 6, NO. 1 | SUMMER <strong>2024</strong>
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