eco wash???

G Luxel

John Gormley stated on the news one evening this week that if we should conserve water, we should be washing our cars with second water, ie if u have washed ur clothes then u can then wash ur car with the same water later.

So does anyone here carry out this practice and what is the end result??

mickdw

Thats nuts.

TomMc

What with dirty water and daz blue whitener or radox. He should join the monster raving looney party - may be he already has!

Bee

G Luxel wrote: »

John Gormley stated on the news one evening this week that if we should conserve water, we should be washing our cars with second water, ie if u have washed ur clothes then u can then wash ur car with the same water later.

So does anyone here carry out this practice and what is the end result??

The end result is that the idiots that voted in the hypocritical parsites that the Greens are will be screwed for extra taxes for using anything that they decree to be a limited resource e.g for crying out loud! Water!!! in Ireland !!!what a shower of parasites

Now if you really want to use the water from your washing machine that has the following components to strip the paint from your car please be my guest, but remember John Gormless is a clueless idiot that will happily tax you to the hilt to pay for his ministerial mercedes and his fat ar$e salary.

Try this typical washing powder mixture of many different components that are shared by the majority of such powders.

Surfactant.

The surfactant (short for surface active agent) is a key ingredient of any washing powder, improving the wetting ability of water as it loosens and removes dirt.

The surfactant emulsifies and helps suspends soil in the water, preventing re-deposition.

Surfactant molecules contain a hydrophilic (water soluble) and a hydrophobic (water resistant) part.

The hydrophobic end attaches to oil and grease surrounding these particles to form micelles which dissolve in the water due to the attraction between the hydrophilic ends and the surrounding water.

A particular detergent may contain more than one surface active agent and they are often classified by their ionic character in water.

Anionic detergents are typified by alkyl aryl sulphonates, which ionise in water to produce a large anion.

Cationic surface active agents produce a large cation, but in reality are used less in detergents.

Often they are quaternary ammonium compounds or fatty acid amide derivatives.

Non ionic detergents generally consist of condensation products of alcohols or phenols with ethylene oxide.

The builder in washing powders enhances the effect of the surfactant by deactivating calcium and magnesium ions which would otherwise use up the surfactant molecules.

Builders are water softeners and work by complexation (eg, sodium tripolyphosphate or nitriloacetic acid), precipitation (eg, sodium carbonate) or ion exchange (eg, zeolites); most of them produce alkaline solutions which aids the cleaning as most detergents work effectively around pH10-11.

The most common builders used today are synthetic zeolites, which are solid ion exchangers that trap the divalent ions inside the solid particles.

Fillers are materials added to washing powders to alter their physical properties - like making the powder more free flowing (as is the case of sodium sulphate), or to lower the freezing point (as for alcohols and liquid detergents).

Bleaches (often sodium perborate) are added to bleach coloured stains that are not easily removed by washing, but these work effectively only at temperatures above 60C - so activator compounds such as tetra acetyl ethylenediamine are added, which lower the temperature at which the bleach operates.


The above is all you need to eat away at your car's paintwork.

milltown

I'd sooner wash my clothes in the water I used to wash my car. Maybe that's why I frequent this forum more than most others.

Scratched clothes wouldn't annoy me nearly as much!

highlandseoghan

;)I work in a hand car wash, and if I used recycled water we would never be able to get any car clean.

We did have a solution towards using less water tho.
the average car wash or garden hose can use up to 250+ litres to wash a car.

We are a hand car wash and we use only 8litres of fresh water per car. We use a 2 bucket system and its perfect.

If anyone is interested we are based in Artane Castle / ClareHall and Bray.

TomMc

highlandseoghan wrote: »

;)I work in a hand car wash, and if I used recycled water we would never be able to get any car clean.

We are a hand car wash and we use only 8litres of fresh water per car. We use a 2 bucket system and its perfect.

8 Litres is about as much as one watering can full and no more. It would barely half fill 2 buckets. What do you rinse off the whole car with???:eek:

LOL.

Gegerty

highlandseoghan wrote: »

;)I work in a hand car wash, and if I used recycled water we would never be able to get any car clean.

We did have a solution towards using less water tho.
the average car wash or garden hose can use up to 250+ litres to wash a car.

We are a hand car wash and we use only 8litres of fresh water per car. We use a 2 bucket system and its perfect.

If anyone is interested we are based in Artane Castle / ClareHall and Bray.

Dirty gritty water = scratched car. There's no way you can use that little water without scratching the car.

I have a better idea Mr. Gormless, how about fixing all the leaking pipes and resevoirs? conserving water in a country that is drowning is absolutely ridiculous. I must use hundreds of litres cleaning my car with my power washer....guilt free.

washwell

it isn't water used thats the problem, its where the waste water goes that's the problem. If you wash your car on your drive, all the oil and pollutants end up in storm drains and in the local water system (streams and rivers). This has a very harmful effect as it is untreated and contaminated. You should really use the local car wash who treat the waste water before it hits the sewers. It goes through an interceptor to filter out most of the crap. They are also regulated by the local authority so they have to use biodegradable chemicals.
In addition many are now using water wells with their own water supply so they are not drawing of our drinking water supplies!

blackbox

G Luxel wrote: »

John Gormley stated on the news one evening this week that if we should conserve water, we should be washing our cars with second water, ie if u have washed ur clothes then u can then wash ur car with the same water later.

So does anyone here carry out this practice and what is the end result??

Better to do it the other way around - people see more of your car than your clothes. Also, the car is worth a lot more so deserves first shot at the water.

Just be sure to buy brown or grey clothes.:D

Gregor Samsa

Gegerty wrote: »

I have a better idea Mr. Gormless, how about fixing all the leaking pipes and resevoirs?

Like this?

http://www.greenparty.ie/news/latest_news/dublin_s_water_mains_to_get_overhaul

TomMc

washwell wrote: »

it isn't water used thats the problem, its where the waste water goes that's the problem. If you wash your car on your drive, all the oil and pollutants end up in storm drains and in the local water system (streams and rivers). This has a very harmful effect as it is untreated and contaminated. You should really use the local car wash who treat the waste water before it hits the sewers. It goes through an interceptor to filter out most of the crap. They are also regulated by the local authority so they have to use biodegradable chemicals.
In addition many are now using water wells with their own water supply so they are not drawing of our drinking water supplies!

You would say that in your line of business;)

Seriously though, do you want to wash your car with recycled water, strong chemicals and a floor mop or brushes? I don't think so. When filling stations have proper touchless car washes, then may be on a quiet day if first in line.

I'll stick with my gilmour foamaster, lambswool mitts, 2 buckets, and a pH balanced biodegradable shampoo.

bazz26

You would think in a country where it rains nearly all year round that we would have water management off to a fine art.

Maybe we should start looking at the real issue here, our infrastructure, you can conserve all the water in the world but if it is leaking from pipes put down in the darkages then using second hand water will prove worthless.

Prevention is better than cure, Mr Gormley!

Seperate

Its simply not fesible to wash a car with second-hand water. Not if you like your paint anyway. As said above, the washing powerds/solutions would destroy the paint.

We only wash one car a day, and i honestly couldn't say how much water we use...probably 30 litres ish including the two buckets - at a guess. Power washers themselves (the karchers you buy in shops) don't use alot of water.

highlandseoghan

Hi TomMc

When you use top quality chemicals all biodegradeable and make sure your staff are fully trained to the highest standards it is possible to wash a car with two buskets of water, without causing a single mark to a car, because we use lambs wool and all top of the range microfibre cloths we guarentee that your car will get the best wash it ever has. On the other hand if you want to take it to a Brush wash, Jet wash, or any other automatic wash where the brushes can hold onto dirt from previous cars and use recycled water thats your desision.

If your still in doubt feel free to come out and look at our operation.:rolleyes:

Seperate

highlandseoghan wrote: »

Hi TomMc

When you use top quality chemicals all biodegradeable and make sure your staff are fully trained to the highest standards it is possible to wash a car with two buskets of water, without causing a single mark to a car, because we use lambs wool and all top of the range microfibre cloths we guarentee that your car will get the best wash it ever has. On the other hand if you want to take it to a Brush wash, Jet wash, or any other automatic wash where the brushes can hold onto dirt from previous cars and use recycled water thats your desision.

If your still in doubt feel free to come out and look at our operation.:rolleyes:

You would need at least 16 litres for the buckets alone though. And change them after every car.

You still need to rinse before and after too with the powerhose.

Its good to see someone offering a proper car wash though. How much do you charge for a normal saloon car?

TomMc

HS, I agree with you on your washing routine, if you actually read my posts, but not with using only 8 litres of water. Get real. No matter how careful you are and how many lambswool wash mitts you use or premium microfibre cloths you have, you are naive if you think you are 100% not marking paint when using such tiny volumes of water. Get some halogen lights and you might just be in for a surprise.

highlandseoghan

Hi,

I still have to say that it only takes us 8 litres to wash a car.

As for the price I have to admit its a bit more expensive, Its €12 for a large saloon car. That will get you hand washed, Polished, Leather dry, windows cleaned with glass cleaner, wheels cleaned and tyres dressed with tyre dressing to give a nice black shine.

the reason we use glass cleaner on windows it may seem obvious but do people realise that in brush washes that claim they put polish onto cars that the polish is going onto windows which could be very dangerous.

highlandseoghan

Hi TomMc,

I understand that this concept is new and a lot of people find it very hard to believe. This system has been tested with car manufactures in London and we are now in the process of getting a cert from a major car dealer who have also tested this system.

Feel free to come out do all the tests on your car, then let us wash your car and do all the tests again, I can guarentee this system is 100% safe the only problem I am going to have is that i feel over the coming years people are going to try and copy this system but not use the proper chemicals and cloths and this will be very bad for the whole car wash industry.

HJL

ive thought about putting something in the garden for collecting rain water, would thi sbe ok to use, say for the first part of the wash for removing the heavy dirt?

i agree with whoever pointed out the amount it rains here. it rains in ireland on average 8 days a week , yet two dry days is enough for people to be crying on Highland radio or Joe Duffy etc saying we have to stop washing our cars and taking baths because we are about to run out of water!

its a joke, i use as much water as i see fit, if some suit wants to come up to my house and tell me to use less, ill turn the hose on him!

Seperate

I don't believe for a minute that you can (safely) wash a car with 8 litres of water. I use two buckets when washing clients' cars, each bucket is more then 8 litres filled.


That's after the wash! They're 30 litre buckets.

It takes a good 30/45 for just the wash stage (if done properly) so i don't know how you can make any money only charging €12. Regardless, it is good to see somebody trying to do the wash with some sense.

highlandseoghan

Hi HJL,

If you want you can go to Argos and purchase a barrel that is designed to attach properly to your drain pipe to collect water. If you were to go with this id suggest you would be best to clean your gutters and then put up a mesh net to block any leaves etc... from getting into your gutter.