Washing with collected rain water?

[rdorman]

My garage is a long distance from the closest water source. I was wondering it anyone has tried or is aware of ways to use collected rain water for car washing? I would assume some sort of filtration at least would be required. This area is not known for acid rain but I have not tested the local rain water. Out of the box I am sure and am curious if it has been done with success.
Thanks!

[Dan]

I`ve toyed with the idea. Home Depot even has some nice options for water collection, with Rain barrels that blend in with your house. The other thing that has intrigued me is catching my A/C runoff water. It is cleaner and is essentially distilled water.

[rdorman]

330 gallon food safe containers with fill cap on top and float tap on the bottom are readily available locally for $75 used. A 1.6HP, 845GPH, 66 PSI, 115 volt pump can be had for under $100 new. A large particle filter at the tank inlet fed from the gutters on the garage and a finer one just prior to the pump seems like it would work fine. Add small tank heater (like in an electric hot water heater) for less then $25 to keep the water in the tank from freezing in the winter. Some fittings, hose, etc. Seems to me that for about $300 or so I could have a 330 gallon system running. In the winter I generally just use ONR so that conserves water in those months. $75 more with a few bits and pieces and I have 660 gallons. Probably will never need that much though.

If one really wanted to get crazy a small propane or electric on demand water heater could be had at a reasonable cost. Propane is what is used to heat the garage in the winter so the storage will be already in place. Yes, I have thought about this )

Looking for some experience/advise in setting up and using such a system.

Hate to break it to the inner tree huggers in all of us (including me to a point), this is simply so the car is close to the supplies OR don`t have to drag out 175ft of hose, I can wash in the heated garage in the winter and perhaps other uses such as a utility sink. Running pipe from the house would be ideal but we have a 32" frost line and the pipe would have to go under roughly 50 linear feet of concrete and asphalt.

[Poorboy]

this is simply so the car is close to the supplies OR don`t have to drag out 175ft of hose, I can wash in the heated garage in the winter and perhaps other uses such as a utility sink. Running pipe from the house would be ideal but we have a 32" frost line and the pipe would have to go under roughly 50 linear feet of concrete and asphalt.

i would move with a plan in hand

[rdorman]

i would move with a plan in hand

`a plan in hand` or `the plan in hand`?

[Poorboy]

`a plan in hand` or `the plan in hand`?

either way .. your next garage needs to be closer to either your house or utilities

[rdorman]

either way .. your next garage needs to be closer to either your house or utilities

Another good thought except there will not be a next garage! We have lived there for 26 years. Our children can not recall ever living elsewhere until they where off to college. House goes to them in the will and then they can make the choice

[Poorboy]

Another good thought except there will not be a next garage! We have lived there for 26 years. Our children can not recall ever living elsewhere until they where off to college. House goes to them in the will and then they can make the choice

if that`s the case then you need to run the pipes around the structures and make it right for your kids

[rdorman]

LOL! Forget them! Or not so little bundles of joy have already accounted for enough of my money

[Poorboy]

LOL! Forget them! Or not so little bundles of joy have already accounted for enough of my money

better to put the money into it now so you can enjoy it for a while, rather than just leaving them the funds to do what they want in the future and you get no benefit nor get to see it in use

[rdorman]

Oh I am going to. I am just not going to run the water lines from the house to the garage.

Now, does anyone have any experience with collecting and using rainwater?

[Accumulator]

rdorman- I`d start by checking the ph of your local rainwater (while noting that it might not be consistent), just to see how it is.

How would you get the water from the collection vessel onto the car? If you have air power, might look into the (siphon-feed) Cleaning Gun that Lonn sells. I got one from Christmas but *still* haven`t found time to play with it but I think it`d be good for what you`re considering.

[rdorman]

rdorman- I`d start by checking the ph of your local rainwater (while noting that it might not be consistent), just to see how it is.

How would you get the water from the collection vessel onto the car? If you have air power, might look into the (siphon-feed) Cleaning Gun that Lonn sells. I got one from Christmas but *still* haven`t found time to play with it but I think it`d be good for what you`re considering.

PH I was definitely going to test to see what I may need to do even before I start the project. As for `moving` the water "A 1.6HP, 845GPH, 66 PSI, 115 volt pump can be had for under $100 new". something along these lines https://www.amazon.com/Meditool-Stai...ess+water+pump

drawing water from the tap on a container such as this 330 Gallon Caged Plastic Tank / IBC Tote

[Accumulator]

rdorman- Ah, yeah...that could work all right. I`d probably still want some kind of sprayer/pressure washer setup with it, but that`s just me and I`m spoiled to where 66psi just wouldn`t do it for me. But hey, you`d be doing this without the whole normal water supply approach!

While this is about as far from my approach as possible, I do find it interesting. I wonder about the water quality (besides just the ph) since IME rainwater isn`t always as "nice and pure!" as some people say it oughta be, but I bet there are ways to deal with that too.

[rdorman]

The local EPA and University will both test water for free. If the PH isn`t too far out of wack that would probably be my next step. I will have a standard spigot/hose connection after the pump that my pressure water could hook up to and not just my hose.