How Much Water is Used?

JustJesus

JustJesus

New member
I'm revisiting the mobile wash unit idea that I put on hold last year. It's a new year, after all.

Due to water restrictions here in California, I haven't been able to use a garden hose to wash cars at home. My landlady doesn't allow for that.

So I'm looking at putting together a SMALL portable unit to use mainly for my own needs, but will likely take it out from time to time to do a "customer" car.

Since water tanks come in so many sizes, I'm looking to get a smaller unit to carry around in the back of my little Yaris. I'm NOT looking for a massive set up, since detailing is something I do for fun, and a small amount on the side.

I've been looking at 20 gallon tanks. And here is the question: How much water is actually used up in a typical car wash? I want to know if 20 gallons will be enough for 1-2 cars.

And since you need more details:
- I will use a garden hose to start, until I step up to using a cheap(er) model electric pressure washer.
- The tank will be pumped via a Shurflo 12v pump, in the 3gpm range-

I really do miss the 2B wash at home. Plus I have way too much car wash soap sitting in the garage.

Thanks for reading
 
20 gallons probably won't be nearly enough for a full blown 2 bucket wash. I'd look more into the 50-75 gallon range if that's what you're hoping to do.

You may be able to make 20 gallons work, if you pressure rinse the car first then do a rinse less wash. That would be your best bet probably. 2 cars though, forget it, not with 20 gallons. Figure your average rinse less is going to take up 3 maybe 4 gallons, then you'll probably use 10+ for pressure washing. If you plan to do wheels and tires as well, you're going to run out real quick. I wouldn't feel comfortable knowing I didn't have more than enough to do the job (for a customers car that is).

npw if you were doing just rinse less, you could probably easily pull of 3-4 cars with 20 gallons. Are these maintenance washes you're doing?
 
Shane, thanks for the response.

50-75 would be way too big for me! My wee little yaris *can* handle the 400lbs of a 50 gallon. Not so sure about the 75 gallon tank. BUT, i don't want to install such a big tank in the inside, either. I plan on doing some outside unit. Not a trailer, but more of a platform on a hitch mounted carrier. I'm limited to how much weight it (or the hitch) can handle. That's about 200lbs.

Okay, so doing 2 cars is now out of the question. That alone helps! I'll just plan ahead and not book 2 jobs on the same day. At this point, it isn't a concern anyway. Not much action coming my way.

Currently, I have one semi-regular: an SUV that I do a maintenance wash on. A Kia Sportage. I've actually gotten it down to under 2 gallons for a rinseless job. The smaller cars I've done I use a gallon, give or take a bit. I haven't used 3+ gallons since when I first started.

To answer your question, it's a "yes/no." For myself, yes, they would be maintenance washes. For others, I would do whatever is needed. I'm negotiating a "contract" with a guy to do his work truck. He's only allowed so much on his budget for car washing. That amount is something I can work with, but only doing it twice a month. For his, I'd also do rinseless and wouldn't need the water tank with hose or pressure washer except maybe the first time doing it.

I do come across a car from time to time that is just plain filthy. One of those jobs where you want to pre-rinse the heck out of it, and take your time doing that. One that I wouldn't even consider rinseless on! That scenario would be about the only other time I would use the water tank with a hose or pressure washer.
 
One year later.... using the water tank set-up as listed in the OP....


For a pre rinse, chemical decon, then 2BW - Using a garden house and regular hose attachment, I used 20 (+/-) gallons on a 4 door sedan

For a heavy wheel (only the two fronts) cleaning, pre-soak, chemical decon, and 2BW - using a small pressure washer, I used less than 10 gallons for a different 4 door sedan.

And i really like using the pressure washer to clean nasty wheels. :)
 
JustJesus - Are you pre-filing/mixing your buckets before filling the tank?

Was thinking (depending on space in your Yaris):

1 bucket premixed with 3-4 gal of rinseless wash or traditional soap solution (gamma seal lid), 1 bucket with fresh water for the rinse bucket (Traditional 2BM or Rinseless wash) lid of course again, then have the 20 gal tank just for hose / powerwasher stuff.

or have Gary Dean method in your bucket for rinseless (uses a lot of towels, though).

You probably already thought of most of this, just talking out loud.

JustJesus said:
One year later.... using the water tank set-up as listed in the OP....


For a pre rinse, chemical decon, then 2BW - Using a garden house and regular hose attachment, I used 20 (+/-) gallons on a 4 door sedan

For a heavy wheel (only the two fronts) cleaning, pre-soak, chemical decon, and 2BW - using a small pressure washer, I used less than 10 gallons for a different 4 door sedan.

And i really like using the pressure washer to clean nasty wheels. :)
Click to expand...
 
nickclark08 - hehe, yeah, I have thought about all that. Thanks, though!

I ended up with a 26 gallon tank to use as needed for those pesky jobs. Otherwise, I usually use a rinseless method, ala Garry Dean style.

For the time being, I don`t anticipate doing more than one car at a time, either. So I don`t necessarily need to carry a bunch of water, or soap.

You know, I was hoping the Gamma Seal lid would solve an issue. I FINALLY gave in to buying one with the hopes of having my ONR mix last longer than the roughly 2 weeks I`m getting. I used to use a Home Depot bucket with one of their standard lids. The ONR solution, over time, gets some weird little...i don`t know if it`s like mold, bacteria, or something else. It`s not like I put mitts/towels back in my buckets. Things only come OUT of the bucket. And in between pulling towels/mitts, I cover it up.

I bought the Gamma lid just to see. Was surprised to see the rim part that attaches to the bucket has an O-ring tucked in it. That made sense over having a standard lid. BUT, I find that I`m still getting that weird stuff inside my ONR solution. :(
 
Roger that, and thanks.

Kinda bummed the gamma seal isn`t working out for you... I thought about getting one to save rinseless, maybe not so much now.

super weird about the "funky stuff" in your ONR - wonder if it`s the water itself (i guess if using distilled shouldn`t be an issue, but who knows)

JustJesus said:
nickclark08 - hehe, yeah, I have thought about all that. Thanks, though!

I ended up with a 26 gallon tank to use as needed for those pesky jobs. Otherwise, I usually use a rinseless method, ala Garry Dean style.

For the time being, I don`t anticipate doing more than one car at a time, either. So I don`t necessarily need to carry a bunch of water, or soap.

You know, I was hoping the Gamma Seal lid would solve an issue. I FINALLY gave in to buying one with the hopes of having my ONR mix last longer than the roughly 2 weeks I`m getting. I used to use a Home Depot bucket with one of their standard lids. The ONR solution, over time, gets some weird little...i don`t know if it`s like mold, bacteria, or something else. It`s not like I put mitts/towels back in my buckets. Things only come OUT of the bucket. And in between pulling towels/mitts, I cover it up.

I bought the Gamma lid just to see. Was surprised to see the rim part that attaches to the bucket has an O-ring tucked in it. That made sense over having a standard lid. BUT, I find that I`m still getting that weird stuff inside my ONR solution. :(
Click to expand...
 
nickclark08 said:
Roger that, and thanks.

Kinda bummed the gamma seal isn`t working out for you... I thought about getting one to save rinseless, maybe not so much now.

super weird about the "funky stuff" in your ONR - wonder if it`s the water itself (i guess if using distilled shouldn`t be an issue, but who knows)
Click to expand...

hehe. I guess we were on the same boat with saving the rinseless. That`s why I would only make 1 gallon at a time for a good while. It`s always enough for a quick maintenance wash :)

Ahhhh. Good point about the water. The water where I live is nasty hard. I sometimes wonder if it`s doing long term damage to my teeth! But I`ve always used store bought Distilled water for rinseless. Recently tried using the Deionized/destilled/whatever they have at the car wash detailing supplies place as well. Same thing.

Maybe I`ll have to close up the Gamma tighter?
 
I get a white bits/blobs on diluted APC bottles that I don`t use for very long stretches of time..but we`re talking like 6+ months

Distilled would help I suppose, in which I do use when mixing up Ech02.

I bought like 5 gamma seals when they 1st came out...bleh, not my cup of tea. Ended up tossing 3 of them as it I never used the lids and they were just taking up space. The o ring on them is very cheap. Small in diameter and dry rotted out on at least 2 of the 3 I had never used, just sitting on the shelf.

I don`t think those blobs are a issue....just a natural byproduct of whatever the ~city~ adds to your water. Flouride, etc ?
 
Could be the polymers within ONR that separate. I never noticed this with the ONR mix I make and keep in my gamma seal bucket for weeks. I make a 4-4.5 gallon ONR mix at a time. I will have to check. I just made a new mixture a couple days ago.
 
Interested in the ONR results with Gamma lid. Had something similar with (OMG) CG Hose Free... yep, still have some of that stuff as I have not found anything else like it to RW the SUV, not even ONR (V2 used so far and have a new gallon from end of Dec I need to try out)
 
I forgot to post these the other day. This is what my fresh ONR solution looked like after 5 days in a gamma seal lid. Looks fine to me.

I did put some in a pump sprayer and that one looks fine other than losing it`s blue color. It turned clear after a few days.

IMG_7591a.jpg


IMG_7590a.jpg
 
I only notice my RW getting "funky" if there is humidity ,so when I leave it in the garage. I usually bring the bucket inside the House and it seems to "last" longer.
 
The Guz said:
I forgot to post these the other day. This is what my fresh ONR solution looked like after 5 days in a gamma seal lid. Looks fine to me.

I did put some in a pump sprayer and that one looks fine other than losing it`s blue color. It turned clear after a few days.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the update, The Guz.

For rinseless, I would keep the solution in the gallon of distilled water, and used it as needed. If it sat for a while, the blue would go away. At that point, I wasn`t sure if it`s just discoloration, so I would feed it to the plants.

As a clay lube, the blue seems to stay about the same. Weird.


I have tightened the rim portion of the Gamma Seal, as well as the spin part of the lid as well. The solution doesn`t appear to be getting any worse, so that`s a good sign. :)
 
JustJesus said:
One year later.... using the water tank set-up as listed in the OP....


For a pre rinse, chemical decon, then 2BW - Using a garden house and regular hose attachment, I used 20 (+/-) gallons on a 4 door sedan

For a heavy wheel (only the two fronts) cleaning, pre-soak, chemical decon, and 2BW - using a small pressure washer, I used less than 10 gallons for a different 4 door sedan.

And i really like using the pressure washer to clean nasty wheels. :)
Click to expand...

Hello,
Is there a reason you`re doing rinseless wash over waterless washing for maintenance (aside from level of grime)? My typical water use for waterless runs 48 ounces or less based on grime. Even during product testing on my extended cab Silverado saturating each panel, I run less than 2 quarts. This does not include my initial pressure rinse or wheels and tires.
 
rwright said:
Hello,
Is there a reason you`re doing rinseless wash over waterless washing for maintenance (aside from level of grime)? My typical water use for waterless runs 48 ounces or less based on grime. Even during product testing on my extended cab Silverado saturating each panel, I run less than 2 quarts. This does not include my initial pressure rinse or wheels and tires.
Click to expand...

Hey!

Main reason: waterless still makes me nervous. I`ve successfully used Poorboy`s Spray & Wipe and Spray & Gloss during some "testing" - One of those cases, the hood was far dirtier than I would have wanted for waterless, but it was about to be polished out, and I wanted to, well, test! :)

I used S&G on a fairly clean, lightly dusted surface.

Aside from that, grime! By the time I get around to doing my cars, there`s more grime than I care for to do a waterless. Although, that may be changing soon. I`m planning on coating my daily driver and will be trying different "wash techniques" once that`s done. :) Oh the joys of playing with different products.

48 ounces. Sounds like some nice water savings there! How many towels get used when you do yours?
 
JustJesus said:
Hey!

Main reason: waterless still makes me nervous. I`ve successfully used Poorboy`s Spray & Wipe and Spray & Gloss during some "testing" - One of those cases, the hood was far dirtier than I would have wanted for waterless, but it was about to be polished out, and I wanted to, well, test! :)

I used S&G on a fairly clean, lightly dusted surface.

Aside from that, grime! By the time I get around to doing my cars, there`s more grime than I care for to do a waterless. Although, that may be changing soon. I`m planning on coating my daily driver and will be trying different "wash techniques" once that`s done. :) Oh the joys of playing with different products.

48 ounces. Sounds like some nice water savings there! How many towels get used when you do yours?
Click to expand...

My process is to saturate the panel and allow waterless wash to dwell a couple minutes to start breaking down grime, then I gently wipe the top layer in one direction, mist the panel again, wipe with a little more pressure, then dry. Once I finish with the wash process, I will then go back over the entire vehicle with the product diluted for spray wax. This usually uses 2 towels. I mostly use 16``x24`` towels to have a little more surface coverage for washing. On average with my truck I will use 6-8 towels depending how dirty it is. On our Regal I typically use 4-6. Also, never use a dry towel to wash or wipe with. Always spray your towel prior to placing it on the paint. If there is too much grime I will perform a pressure rinse first.
 
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