Fanning a window in the professional window cleaning world is not only the best looking way to clean windows for everyone around you, but it’s also a great way to speed up your cleaning.  

When you’re fanning a window, as appears to straight pulls, there are a few things happening.

First is of course speed

Credit: Jamie Hallman

Fanning allows you to squeegee a whole window with out pulling it off the glass. This means no cutting in, and no drying your channel.   

The second thing that it helps with is detailing

If you think about it detailing a pane of glass takes just as long as the squeegeeing part. Cutting that time in HALF or more can speed things WAY up. As your channel is angled it’s just the corner that tucks into the frame. That shrinks the amount of water left behind. If you are fanning with a channel that has a 45 degree cut that can make there be even less to detail. 

And finally you eliminate the runners

Or the lines from the channel. Think of fanning like a plow truck. When you angle the channel to be open to the wet part of the glass you push the water off to that side. Another thing that happens is that if you aren’t 100% perfect you will actually leave a wedge of water. Not a streak. A wedge is easier to see and shorter to detail that a runner across the whole window. 

Now I know learning to fan takes some time, but it is so worth it.

You can speed up your time by 50% once you are proficient. If you are new to fanning start working on it by every job trying it on a window or 2. After a week you will be doing it on a few windows a job. It gets easier as you get comfortable with it!

If you have a facility, make a training section for new hires. I go to habitat restore and buy old windows and mount them up. When new hires come on board I can have them sit on glass for an hour just to learn a stronger technique. It really helps them build confidence to try it out in the field. 

You’ll get it down pat in no time. 

-Jersey

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