How many gals. water to detail?

[LeMarque]

I'm going to bite the bullet, take some training and open a shop.

Since there are no shops with in floor drains in my neck of the woods, I'm going to need some sort of water containment system and I'm wondering just how many gallons of water are used to wash and detail the 'average' car. It'd be a bummer to invest in something that couldn't hold the water used.

[Mike Phillips]

Have you considered just using a Rinseless Wash or a Waterless Wash and this will make it so you don't have to use a reclaim system?


:)

[LeMarque]

Hi Mike.

I'm definitely going to get up to speed on waterless. Still being a NooB, and especially about waterless, my perception is/was that you just can't get it done without a traditional wash. But I'll for certain give it a try.

As for how many gallons ... I've come to learn that these containment systems can hold hundreds of gallons; so that's no longer an issue.

Still am curious tho to get a feel for how much water a two bucket detail averages out to be.

[Rav777]

I fill each bucket to about 3 gallons each so that is 6 gallons total for the buckets. I use an electric pressure washer that averages out at 1.6 gallons per minute. I got pretty fast with the pressure washer and it usually takes 3+ gallons to spray down, soap and rinse. This can all add up if there is caked on mud and dirty wheels. So maybe a little over 9 gallons for a wash at least for me. I also use Deionized and Reverse Osmosis water to make life easier.

It all depends on the system you decide to get. I started out doing rinseless washes with ONR, but I have always liked using a pressure washer the most.

[ScubaCougr]

I've done some nasty cars via rinseless this year and not used more than 15 gallons of water. Normal wash on normal dirt is 5 gallons split between wash and rinse bucket.

[Flip]

I probably use 6 gallons between the two buckets, and probably use another gallon or two soaking the car before and rinsing the bugs and stuff off the front bumper.

-So about 7-8 gallons for my car.

[LeMarque]

Thought I'd follow-up after thinking about this a bit. A 'water containment system' of some sort is going to be a requirement from the landlord.

Since I'm going to be doing details/washes that require a fair amount of water - from the replies, anywhere from 5- 20 gals. -. I was thinking about how to avoid sloshing around in the runoff. So somehow I'll have the mat on a very slight incline so that the water pools to the back. As well, protecting the mat somehow, I'll drive it onto four wood(?) blocks to keep the tires out of the runoff.

I've come to realize this is going to be more work (dealing with a mat and the runoff), but again, since there are no facilities available with floor drains, I'm stuck.

[Mike Phillips]

Thanks for chiming back in...



I've come to realize this is going to be more work (dealing with a mat and the runoff), but again, since there are no facilities available with floor drains, I'm stuck.


Once a trend starts it's hard to stop... the trend is for water reclaiming systems for both mobile and fixed location detail shops but when there's a will there's a way.

Have you already purchased a water reclaim mat?



:)

[LeMarque]

Thanks for chiming back in...



Once a trend starts it's hard to stop... the trend is for water reclaiming systems for both mobile and fixed location detail shops but when there's a will there's a way.

Have you already purchased a water reclaim mat?



:)

Sorry for the delay in responding. I had to re-install my OS and ALL pgms, etc. :(

I plan on making my own mat. Since it wont need to be moved, I'll find a supplier of 22mil (maybe 40mil) vinyl or something called XR5 and build a box out of 2x6's with the drive on side removable; and just drape the mat over it. I'll use something like carpet underlayment to protect it from underneath and something similar like tracks to drive the vehicle on so if there's a nail in the tire it work tear the mat.