Tucker UK: Poles, carts and the new hybrid brush

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Rutland Pumps is a little known company right in the middle of England. Originally a business selling items such as pressure washers, water pumps and surface cleaners. When RP found themselves diving into selling soft washing chemicals and equipment this invariable brought them into the window cleaning world.

We see Rutland Pumps as a fledgling, a new kid on the block with intent on bringing quality exclusive products to the market.

Tucker CF pole range

Already stocking the very popular X-Line range, RP now add’s Tucker Pole Systems to its list of products as they become the UK distributors. Stocking the Tucker CF range, a high quality pole with a 3K finish and a 2 year warranty, this pole features hot water resistant inner tubing and lateral clamps made of lightweight anodised aluminum – get this, ‘with lifetime warranty’.

The end pole section to the CF range can be used as a short handle section for those tight areas that you might struggle with if you were using the entire pole. Of course this is made a lot easier if you run the inner tubing along the outside of the pole. But you can pretty much set this pole up how you want it.

There is a nice hidden feature inside the pole with the aluminum end protection on each pole section. This demonstrates thoughtfulness to the the poles longevity and is to protect the carbon fibre for when removing sections. The Tucker CF range is a quality pole for those window cleaners wanting to treat themselves to a top of the range item.

Also supplied in the UK by RP is the Tucker EZ Pure water fed pole. This range comes in full carbon with the exception of the 15 which is a carbon hybrid.

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Tuckers cart surprise

The biggest surprise to see is RP selling the Tucker RO/DI cart. Very popular with the US market and as with everything concerned with Tucker, top quality too. Now before you jump out of your seat and say carts do not work in the UK, let me educate you on why you think that and how exactly there IS a place for US style carts in the UK.

In the US the average window cleaner using water fed poles would not even think of carrying pure water to the job like the UK do with van mounted systems. No – the US window cleaner would take an RO/DI cart to the work site instead and plug that into the customers outside water tap. For those of you that do not know what a cart is, in simple terms it is like carrying around all of your filtration cartridges including RO of which you can just connect to any tap for water source and ‘hey presto’ instant 000 TDS water!

Now there is a big cultural difference between the US and UK on home water usage. It is acceptable for the US window cleaner to utilize the home water supply in order to carry out any work. In the UK, however, homeowners moan and think it ‘disrespectful’ that not only are they being charged for cleaning windows, that they have to provide the water flow for it too.

A UK residential customer would probably expect a discount, even if you managed to convince them. Mostly it is the old timers that are likely to voice their opinion the loudest. Considering that the minimum price for cleaning windows is around 100 dollars in America ( approx 75 pounds) and in the UK the 15 to 20 minute maintenance clean for a minimum cost of – wait for it America: 10.00 pounds!! Yup that’s about 7 dollars, that makes Brit’s look real tight.

Lol – I can hear US window cleaners screaming,’ I would not even start the ignition in my truck for that’, and the UK saying, ‘well at least we dont have to hustle every year, we get our cleans every 4 weeks all year round’ – frankly, I’d rather hustle. Pound for pound, dollar for dollar our cousins are smashing it, and their culture of spring cleaning drives that.

But not all is lost, there is a place for the Tucker cart in the UK. The cart sports a 40″ RO membrane and has two further filters, carbon and resin. It stands sturdy and and is maneuvered around on chunky multi terrain style wheels.

Despite the Brits penny pinching ways on home water usage, the Tucker RO/DI can be still used on any residential job, more susceptible customers would be the high end residential properties or McDuck Mansions that expect a level of quality and professionalism. And let’s face it when water fed poles were first introduced to British homes a certain amount of ground work had to be done in order for the market to accept it.

Other Tucker RO/DI uses

A cart is also another option considering any site risk assessments that may flag up trailing hose as a trip hazard. With the Tucker RO/DI you have an option to satisfy that safety requirement and localise and easily control any hosing to the operative. Of course there is the UK trolley system that can be utilized, but unlike the Tucker RO/DI where you can control the TDS easier. A less considered benefit is the weight of water carried in vehicles. With a Tucker cart there would be no requirement to carry water, saving vehicle maintenance repairs over a given year.

If none of that floats your boat or fits in with your business operations then most obvious and instant use for the Tucker RO/DI would be for complex sites such as Universities or hospitals that have interconnecting buildings, dead ends and court yards. No returning to the van to top up a trolley with pure water or carrying heavy 25litre drums lined up to replenish a trolley, as the Tucker can be left generating pure water straight from the tap. Tucker units have already found their way into campuses in the UK and I can see that trend increasing if marketed right, to the right people.

Now, you may recall earlier on in the year when Unger announced the HydroPower RO/DI unit with SMART technology. An excellent well designed, aesthetically pleasing, fully automated pure water maker that could service multi users on site running from the same machine. The HydroPower just like the Tucker RO/DI  is designed to plug straight into a local water supply.

We identified its additional use as a stand alone water making machine for a static tank setup. But the machine isn’t cheap and despite the wants and desires of some window cleaners, for some it was far above what is affordable and for others they simply could not justify the cost against their business usage. The Tucker RO/DI is ideally placed as another option. A fraction of the cost of the HydroPower, and ok, no fancy tech for system maintenance but still a very valid and affordable option should you wish to set up a static system.

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Tucker hybrid brush is here

The Tucker brush has been a successful design for decades. It is probably one of the most copied brush designs by Tucker’s competition and so you have to ask yourself what would be the motive of copying? Is it becuase its a respected brush? Is it because it has lasted the test of time? If Tucker’s competitors have gone to the trouble of copying the design then surely you know buying Tucker is the right choice. Just saying 🙂

The much awaited Tucker Hybrid brush (14″) has been selling in the UK for the past 3 weeks, with the 18″ set to be released in the New Year (2018). There is much excitement regards the Hybrid. The version coming into the UK today has had a minor upgrade with the walls of the Euro plate and thread thickened for additional strength. This is a good sign from manufacturers, it shows them self improving and listening to window cleaners feedback. As a result from the desire for perfection Tucker are constantly innovating and improving.

The hybrid brush is great for less frequent cleans such as schools, universities, hospitals and the inner boars hair surrounded by quality nylon bristles is designed for cracking the toughest jobs you can throw at it. Users purchasing earlier brushes imported from the US reported excellent cleaning power that is able to cut through grime and bird poop with ease, making first cleans and infrequent cleans easier with minimal effort. Glass re-cleans would no longer be necessary for heavily soiled windows.

Tucker have announced a full boars hair brush only a few days ago. Boars hair is very aggressive on heavily soiled windows, and some ‘getting used’ to how the bristles work on the glass compared to what UK window cleaners are used to shouldn’t be too much of a problem and will improve infrequent cleans immensely. We look forward to this arriving into the UK.

Rutland Pump is currently putting their new website together ( at time of writing) but the hope is that this will be live in a few weeks.

Want to buy Tucker products from inside the UK click here.( website address to come)

Contact Rutland Pumps here https://www.rutlandpumps.com

Watch real window cleaners review the Tucker nylon and hybrid brush. Play the video here: http://www.windowcleaningmagazine.co.uk/ultimate-tucker-guide/

You might like to read an earlier review on the standard Tucker dual trim brush  http://www.windowcleaningmagazine.co.uk/tucker-brush-review/

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