Running a thriving car wash business can feel like a juggling act. Balancing quality service, customer service, and constant efficiency — all while navigating environmental considerations — can seem overwhelming.
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What if you could strike that perfect balance and turn an operational challenge into a powerful advantage? Understanding and utilizing a car wash water recycling system is a perfect opportunity to transform your business.
This innovative approach minimizes water consumption, boosts your bottom line, and elevates your environmental stewardship. Read on to explore how this system can revolutionize your car wash operations.
A car wash water recycling system operates on water reclamation and filtration principles. Water in a car wash is typically mixed with dirt, grime, and chemicals. Due to contamination, this dirty water can’t be immediately reused or directly discharged into the municipal water supply.
Here’s where a water recycling system comes into play.
The water recycling system starts by collecting the contaminated water from wash bays. The recycling process begins with separating solid wastes and sedimentation, then filtering the water through a sophisticated car wash filter system. This process removes solid contaminants, leaving behind clear, reusable water.
Lastly, any remaining microorganisms are eliminated through disinfection before the water is stored, ready for reuse in the washing process.
So, how does a car wash water recycling system make this process happen?
It’s all in the components. Each part is crucial in transforming dirty water from the car washing process into clean, reusable water. Every component is meticulously designed to maximize water efficiency.
Water tanks function as the initial collection point for the dirty water from the car washing process. They hold the contaminated water for subsequent treatment.
Separation and sedimentation components separate solids and facilitate the settling of heavier particles, significantly reducing water contamination.
The car wash water filter system filters the separated water by extracting minuscule particles from it. The car wash filter’s operation ensures that any residual contaminants are removed, safeguarding the water quality before reuse.
The disinfection stage kills off harmful bacteria and other microorganisms in the filtered water.
Storage tanks store the clean water from the previous processes, keeping it ready and in reserve for the next car wash cycle.
Distribution and reuse are the final steps in the water recycling process. This stage distributes the recycled water back to the washing equipment, substantially reducing the volume of water used per vehicle.
Once you understand the workings of water reclamation systems, you should understand the benefits they bring to your car wash business. The advantages are multifold, from significant water conservation to substantial cost savings and reduced wastewater discharge.
Each of these benefits contributes to making your business more sustainable, economical, and environmentally friendly.
Implementing a water recycling system in your car wash business is a leap toward water conservation. Amidst the escalating global water crisis, industries across the board are urged to cut down on their water usage. Car wash businesses — known for their high water consumption — are no exception.
A water recycling system is your answer to this call to action.
Why?
Firstly, it significantly curbs your dependency on freshwater sources. Using a patented water recycling system helps you repurpose what would have otherwise been rejected water, diverting it back into your washing process through fresh water rinses and other processes.
Your efficient reuse of water also positions your business as environmentally responsible. Your commitment to sustainability could attract a customer base that values and supports eco-friendly practices, boosting your reputation and customer loyalty.
The economic benefits of a water recycling system can’t be overlooked. When you require less fresh water for each vehicle, the savings start to stack up.
The standard car wash utilizes hundreds of gallons of water per vehicle. But with recycled water, a car wash can enjoy a significant savings potential of 50-80%, amounting to over $15,000 annually.
Moreover, reusing water allows you to end excessive reliance on the municipal water supply. Your business thus becomes less vulnerable to fluctuating prices or scarcity.
A water recycling system is an investment that pays for itself over time, leading to substantial long-term savings. Your operation becomes more resilient and financially stable, providing you with a competitive edge in the market.
A water recycling system is your weapon against excessive wastewater discharge. Without recycling, the strong chemicals and grime from the dirty water could end up in the municipal water system. This pollutes the environment and can also lead to potential regulatory issues for your business.
With a water recycling system, you drastically cut down the amount of contaminated water discharged into the environment. It efficiently filters and treats dirty water, making it suitable for reuse.
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In a car wash, recycled water means less harmful wastewater seeping into ecosystems and less regulatory scrutiny on your operations.
It’s not just about compliance — it’s about demonstrating corporate responsibility towards the environment. This proactive approach can enhance your business’s public image, setting a high standard with your local environment and the entire car wash industry.
Water recycling isn’t just an environmentally conscious decision. It’s a financially sound one as well. By investing in a patented car wash system, you can significantly reduce your water and sewer costs. That investment pays off with lower operational expenses and a more environmentally friendly business.
Are you looking to make the shift to a car wash recycling system? National Car Wash Solutions (NCS) can help. As North America’s largest end-to-end provider of car wash equipment, chemicals, service, and support, we offer state-of-the-art water recycling systems to transform your car wash facility.
At first glance, using recycled car wash water seems like a great idea because of the possibility to conserve water and reduce the amount of water consumption your facility has. However, there are many factors that go into car wash water, which include municipality issues as well as other water treatment scenarios that you would need to take into account.
Even though there are steps that can be taken to improve the car wash solution that you use, the water will always have issues if the municipal water supply isn’t properly treated. The only way to mitigate these problems is by changing the water quality directly with the use of modern car wash equipment and technology.
The various technologies you can use to save water and improve its quality include filtration, recycling, changing the water chemistry, and improving the finishing rinses that are used. The following offers an in-depth guide on the advantages and disadvantages of recycling car wash water.
To understand how valuable recycled car wash water can be, you should know the amount of water that’s used during a typical car wash. The amount of water needed for an automatic car wash mainly depends on:
Let’s say that a car wash is being performed in an in-bay system, which involves a vehicle remaining still while soft-cloth foam brushes move over the vehicle’s exterior to wash away any debris and dirt. In this scenario, around 35 gallons of water are used for every vehicle. If the car wash is located in a high-volume area where 100 cars are washed per day, as much as 3,500 gallons of water could be used every day.
As for a touch-free wash, this type of car wash relies mainly on high-pressure spray and strong chemicals as opposed to the soft brushes used with an in-bay system. In most cases, the touch-free wash will use as much as 70 gallons of water per vehicle. If the car wash is located in the same high-volume area, it would use up to 7,000 gallons of water per day, which is double that of the soft-cloth alternative.
While many industries and facilities use the same amount of water, the aforementioned numbers are on the low end. If a tunnel car wash is outfitted with numerous high-pressure applications, it could use up to 120 gallons of water for every vehicle, which makes the total amount of water used per day much higher. Tunnel car washes are also capable of accommodating up to 400 vehicles each day, which results in daily consumption of 48,000 gallons.
There’s a commonly held myth that washing a vehicle by hand uses much less water when compared to an in-bay car wash. However, the reality is that the amount of water consumed when hand washing a vehicle is higher than an in-bay car wash. When you use a hose to wash your SUV, car, or truck, it’s likely that you’ll end up using upwards of 80-140 gallons of water for a 10-minute wash, which is substantially higher than the 35-120 gallons used in an automatic wash.
In the event that your hose is outfitted with a spray nozzle that turns off when you’re away from your car or you only use the hose for a small rinse of your vehicle, you can lower your water consumption to around 22-30 gallons per wash. However, there are several additional problems associated with a driveway wash.
When washing a vehicle on your own, you’ll be using chemicals as well as water. When you rinse away the chemicals you’ve placed on your vehicle, they will reach the ground and likely seep into the septic system, sewer system, and groundwater supply. Eventually, these chemicals will enter lakes, oceans, and streams, which does extensive damage to the environment. These hazards are mitigated when using a recycling system for your water.
Car wash owners who want to reduce the sewer and freshwater costs they pay can have recycling systems installed in their washes. A large percentage of municipalities require that these systems be installed in order for a car wash provider to meet the local building code and obtain a permit.
Water recycling systems are stand-alone units that work alongside car washing equipment. Keep in mind that not all of these systems have the same features and build quality. If the system obtains water from a spacious settling tank, it will process this water to get rid of any leftover chemicals and contaminants. After the water has received its initial treatment, additional treatments are applied to get rid of foul odors. Once this step is completed, the processed water will be sent back to the main system to be reused.
If there are any clay or sand particles in the water when it’s reused, the paint on the vehicle could be damaged, which is why these particles must be removed beforehand. There are a large number of car washes that provide extra services, which can include applying a shine wax or surface protectant. The water in the recycling system can’t contain any of the substances that are used for these services.
There are many reasons why car wash owners benefit from using recycling, the primary of which is that the majority of the water that will be used to wash the vehicle comes from the recycler as opposed to freshwater. Not disposing of the water after the initial use also results in sewer costs dropping.
It’s also possible for the freshwater you obtain to have too many contaminants before any cars have even been washed. In this scenario, the water will need to be treated beforehand, which is made much easier if a recycling system has already been installed in your facility.
In the event that you wash your vehicle at home, you would invariably use too much water and wash detergents and chemicals into the nearby sewer system and water supply. Using an automatic car wash ensures that water is disposed of according to local rules and regulations. The amount of waste that’s generated when a recycling system has been installed in your facility is significantly lowered, which means that not as much freshwater will be required. If the automatic car wash system is maintained properly, it should be better for the environment when compared to hand washing.
There are both pros and cons that come with using recycled car wash water in your facility. Weighing these pros and cons should help you determine if this type of system is right for you.
The main benefit of using recycled car wash water is that this water is more Eco-friendly. When you install a recycled water system, the used wash water is able to be restored to a quality that’s relatively high and free from contaminants. Once this water has been cleaned, it can be used for additional washes in the future.
By effectively reducing the amount of freshwater your facility uses and lowering the waste that’s being released into the environment, you’re taking steps to protect the environment and make sure that your facility adheres to EPA regulations.
Another benefit of recycled car wash water is that this water offers a more economical method of cleaning cars. Your business will save money in two separate phases of the car wash. When you use less freshwater, the water consumption costs you pay will drop significantly. If the water doesn’t go down the drain, your sewer expenses will drop as well.
Even though recycled car wash water can be highly advantageous for businesses, there are also a couple of issues to be aware of. For one, this process involves high upfront costs for new equipment. Replacing old equipment is always going to be pricey. On the other hand, the high upfront costs should eventually be outweighed by the lower sewer and water costs.
Another issue is that the water recycling system you use needs to be able to get rid of the suspended solids that build up in car wash water. As mentioned previously, clay and sand particles will damage a car’s paint and may worsen the quality of the reused water if it isn’t treated properly.
Before you outfit your car wash with a water recycling system, make sure that you have the equipment needed to treat water in a manner that reduces dissolved solids, waxes, detergents, and used chemicals. You can determine the concentration of total dissolved solids in the water by using a pH sensor or conductivity sensor. These sensors will give you precise readings on how contaminated the water is. The readings you obtain before treating the water can be compared against the readings you get after treatment.
If you want to start using recycled car wash water in your facility, it’s highly recommended that you consider all of the pros and cons associated with this process. Like any major change in business operations, there are some upfront costs that will need to be taken into account. However, the long-term economic and environmental benefits may outweigh the negatives for you.
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