How to Set Up a Waterfed Pole System (First Clean in 9 Steps)

Before the first clean: the water check

Run your filtration and meter the output. Below 10 ppm is the pass mark; 000–005 is what fresh resin produces. Skipping this check is the number one cause of “the system left spots” — the pole was fine, the water was not. Meters are R260 (TDS meter) and the reading takes ten seconds.

The 9 steps

1. Connect the filtration inlet to the tap; open flow slowly.
2. Meter the output — proceed under 10 ppm.
3. Connect hose to pole; feed the hose through your hand as the pole extends to prevent snags.
4. Extend the pole one section at a time, clamping each before the next.
5. Start at the top window. Wet and scrub the FRAME first — it carries the most dirt.
6. Scrub the glass with overlapping strokes, jets running.
7. Lift the brush off the glass and rinse with jets only, top to bottom.
8. Do not towel, do not squeegee — walk to the next window and let it dry.
9. Close the flow between windows; resin life is bought by the litre.

First-clean expectations

A building’s first pure-water clean pulls years of residue out of frames and seals; some streaking on round one is normal and disappears by the second visit. This is standard on first cleans, not a fault — the glass is being stripped, not coated.

Common setup mistakes

Cleaning glass before frames sends frame dirt over finished panes. Rinsing with the brush still on the glass redistributes what you loosened. Extending the pole fully upright instead of walking it up wastes effort and risks cable contact — see the safety notes in aluminium vs fibreglass waterfed poles. And running unmetered water wastes the resin economics explained in the DI resin guide.