Will Rain Dirty My Clean Windows?

Have you ever thought that window cleaning in the rain was a waste of time? Maybe even ridiculed a local window cleaner for cleaning windows before a rain storm? Shaking your head as you walk by thinking, "What is he thinking!" I can't remember how many times clients, friends and strangers have reacted badly to me at the idea of cleaning a window with rain on the horizon. Please rest assured that those thoughts are completely out of line with reality with a very limited number of exceptions. Personal experience, logic and science are on the window cleaners side.

As explained on wikipedia, "A TDS Meter indicates the Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) of a solution, i.e. the concentration of dissolved solids in it." If you measure the number of contaminates in rainwater using a TDS meter, the reading ranges from very low to zero. Tap water normally has between 30 – 200 times more solids dissolved into it. Many window cleaners buy very expensive equipment to deionize water to remove contaminates to get pure H2O and clean windows with that quality water. Rain is similarly a high quality water which is a powerful cleanser. Rain is not the glass dirtying culprit many claim it to be. It is quite the opposite.

Our 30 years of experience cleaning windows in many different locations has proven that rain is a window cleaners friend. Well, our misunderstood friend. Just a short time ago in I cleaned windows at a residence in La Jolla, CA. That very same day a heavy downpour of rain came. The homeowner called in a panic, believing that the money spent on cleaning was all a loss. I encouraged them to wait until the rain passes to check the windows. A short time later I received a text saying all was ok. The next day another unexpected downpour came followed by another panic stricken homeowner... the same homeowner... about the rain and her windows. I once again asked her to wait and see. A short time later they once again texted me to say all was ok. So goes the reaction of many with no evidence that rain dirties a clean window.