Ultimate fast home wash setup

[bosshog]

So last year I built a house in the middle of no where. It’s great but I have a lot of single track roads to get down until I get to the main roads and oct to April they are covered in mud from either tractors pulling mud on the road or vehicles that are too wide and squish mud from the banks into the road.

So I’m having to clean my pride and joys a LOT. I’m sick of constantly having to unlock the shed, get the jet washer out , plug in, get 2 buckets fill one up , suds in the other etc

I’m wanting to streamline this a lot and looking for a setup I can just rock up to grab the stuff and get washing- bit like the self sever setups you get on some forecourt’s.

Any ideas or suggestions welcome
Cheers!!

[Smint]

If you have a garage shed outhouse coalhouse whatever with water and electric which is close enough to park the car beside and warm/insulated enough the washer and its connection and water supply won't freeze.
Then simply set the pressure washer up with a longer than usual pipe on a reel already plugged and plumbed in, so all you need to do is rock up open the door flick the water and electric on and blast away.
Washer with soap dispenser you can leave the pick up pipe in the detergent, won't need two buckets, but you might need something a bit better than the typical domestic pressure washer, something like a Kranzle that puts out around 10litres per minute or more, and along handled soft propoer vehicle washing brush, high pressure not needed or desirable.
I'm suggesting a longer than usual pipe because it's better to have the washer in the depths of the garage away from the door so less chance of frost getting to it in those few extreme cold spells we get.

I have similar myself, though stand the washer up when not in use so takes me about 1 minute to set up and 10 minutes to properly wash both cars.
You could box it in so its a semi permanent fixture, lag it for better insulation etc.

Edited by Smint on Thursday 3rd March 21:52

Edited by Smint on Thursday 3rd March 21:54

[bosshog]

Thanks. I was thinking about trying to setup a rainwater catchment so I could use that then I wouldn’t need to dry the cars. Not sure how I could keep it clean though from algae and leaves etc as the area I’ve got to wash is under trees.
Also I want to avoid walking up to the house to get hot wate, boots off etc . Any ideas for the suds? I’ve been just using (very) cold tap water and wearing a marigold so my hand doesn’t drop off mid winter but I’d rather hot suds tbh

[stevemcs]

I've never seen the point of two buckets, you wash, put it in clean water, then in the soap bucket then in the bucket that had clean water but now has dirty water in it and then repeat.

I'd go with something like Bilt Hamber touchless or Sufax HD through a snow foam lance, or pressure sprayer, then auto foam through a lance, wipe with noodle mitt then jet wash.

[Belle427]

Ive seen some people eliminating the buckets and using the chosen shampoo in a foam type lance to coat the car.
Pressure washed first, bilt hamber touchless to get rid of the worst crud and then the shampoo applied.
Mitt rinsed carefully with stubby type pressure washer gun.
It should be easy enough to set up the pressure washer for fast use and have a longer hose through the wall ready to go.

Edited by Belle427 on Friday 4th March 07:23

[Smint]

bosshog said:

Thanks. I was thinking about trying to setup a rainwater catchment so I could use that then I wouldn’t need to dry the cars. Not sure how I could keep it clean though from algae and leaves etc as the area I’ve got to wash is under trees.
Also I want to avoid walking up to the house to get hot wate, boots off etc . Any ideas for the suds? I’ve been just using (very) cold tap water and wearing a marigold so my hand doesn’t drop off mid winter but I’d rather hot suds tbh

OK, divert one of your house gutters into a 45 gallon drum, have 2 or more tubs in rotation and a barrel barrow to shift it when loaded.
Obviously this depends on whether your existing pressure washer will suck water from a barrel, you might need a better washer that can.

For warm water if there's hot and cold water near where you would set the wash up, you could fit a small temperature contolled mixer valve as you would find in showers or shattaffs, cannibalising a cheap Mira shower valve bought in a sale would work, would more than handle the volume and flow needed.
Need to make sure your washer can handle hot water, if my memory serves Kranzles will, no doubt others too.
If no hot water you are into professional steam cleaner world and these machines are serious money, though can be bought used and refurbed.
Obviously such machines will need serious frost protection if going to be left in situ, and you then have the added complication of fumes and heat/fire risk from the steamer burner.

However, if you use the washer and a long handled soft washing brush, and a separate short wheel brush for your alloys, you shouldn't need to get your hands wet at all, the only time i need my wet use gloves is if i use a sponge to get into some nooks and crannies, ie when feeding the spongs around the inside of the alloys working between the wheel spokes.

Good suggestions on the chemicals above, i've recently started using Dirt Busters snow foam which comes in several flavours and is cheap enough if bought in 2 x 5 litre packs from Amazon, the cherry flavour one leaves a pleasant smell, its really concentrated and makes short work of cleaning the cars and has a small amount of wax in the mix.
We're in a hard water area and after using this stuff, with minor agitation from a long handled soft vehicle washing brush, all i've needed to do afterwards is squeegee the windows down, but then our cars are silver and a mid blue which don't show streaks like a black car would.

I don't use a snow foam dispenser, too much faffing about for me i want something quick which works, my pressure washer has a two stage lance so on low flow will spray the stuff on in thick suds.

Edited by Smint on Friday 4th March 07:44

Edited by Smint on Friday 4th March 07:49

[Shanksy87]

I built this setup to reduce my wash time and tidy up the equipment



Pull the hose out, flick a few levers and your buckets are filled and pressure washer ready. I'm going to improve it a little next year and had considered a hot water feed, but this would be bad for the deionisation system so I personally just dump a kettle of boiling water in each bucket during winter.

I'm not sure if this helps but it may give you some ideas.

[Smint]

^^^ excellent work.

[mickyh7]

stevemcs said:

I've never seen the point of two buckets, you wash, put it in clean water, then in the soap bucket then in the bucket that had clean water but now has dirty water in it and then repeat.

I'd go with something like Bilt Hamber touchless or Sufax HD through a snow foam lance, or pressure sprayer, then auto foam through a lance, wipe with noodle mitt then jet wash.

Isn't it so any grit or heavy dirt on your sponge or mitt falls to the bottom of the rinse bucket.
Therefore staying out of your main bucket, ultimately not 'Sandpapering' your car?

[bosshog]

Shanksy87 said:

I built this setup to reduce my wash time and tidy up the equipment



Pull the hose out, flick a few levers and your buckets are filled and pressure washer ready. I'm going to improve it a little next year and had considered a hot water feed, but this would be bad for the deionisation system so I personally just dump a kettle of boiling water in each bucket during winter.

I'm not sure if this helps but it may give you some ideas.

That’s excellent. What filters are they at the bottom
?

I’m about 100m from the house so no hot water available. Might just use a kettle

[Shanksy87]

bosshog said:

That’s excellent. What filters are they at the bottom
?

I’m about 100m from the house so no hot water available. Might just use a kettle

Thanks

The deionisation system is from here https://www.cyclonecarcarecompany.co.uk/product-pa...