45 Trucks in 2 Hours!!!

Andy's Car Wash

New Member
I met with the local cable co. today and they are interested in me washing thier fleet once a month during a safety meeting. Apparantly this is the only time all the trucks are there. There are 45 trucks I would have to wash in a 2 hour window. The EPA is REAL strict on 2 stepping. Any ideas?
Thanks
andyscarwash@hotmail.com
 

Larry L.

PWN TEAM - Moderator Emeritus
<b><font color=green>Your going to recap?
Can you get enought help to average a truck ever 2 1/2 mins.
What color are the trucks.</b></f>
 

Dan S

New Member
is there any way you could wash maybe half of them one day and the other half the next? why do you have to do all of 'em @ one time ? i would break it up over a couple days and tell 'em that you need a lil more time to do it right..

tell 'em that any one can spray h20 but not erybody can make 'em shine...............

if the EPA is that strict you better listen to Big-Boy and capture that H20......
 

Bridget

New Member
On your mark...get set ...WASH!!!

Andy,

I'm assuming that these trucks are Econoline sized vans (?)
Hopefully white :)

I 'm also assuming these trucks are "home garaged" since you can only wash them during a saftey meeting.

If that is the case, then you will be whipping through these puppies at a pretty good pace. The customer will need to be advised that to wash with the amount of road grime a truck picks up over a months time and the amount of time that you are given, the best that the customer can expect is a "utility wash".

Unless....
You can workout another washing schedule.

For example, we wash cable trucks in the morning as they are coming in to pick up their schedules/supplies. It's not the best washing situation since everyone is on the move, but the job gets done.

We also wash cable trucks on Sunday. They have provided us with their gate access card and it is coded with a Sunday time slot. We have to wash within the hours of lets say 7am to 4pm.

You might also ask how many trucks are not taken home and are parked on the property at days end. You could wash those trucks on one day, as Dan mentioned and than on the day of the safety meeting wash the ones that are not on site at all.

What methods are you currently using to recover wash water?

(We use drain pillows to cover the storm drains. We pick up the water around the pillows using a device that hooks up to your wand.)

Generally speaking if that method is used, that would be something that wouldn't necessarily slow you down.

Bridget
 

Scott Stone

New Member
45 trucks in two hours should not be a problem. It is jsut a little bit of work. The recapture part of the deal is where 90% of your problems will happen.
There are some simple tips that will help you to do the job more quickly.
First, don't use brushes, use wash mitts.
Second, don't presoak the trucks, use soap buckets and use the pressure washer for rinsing only.
Third, have four guys, two with mits, one to rinse, and one to do the windows.
Doing it this way, you should be bale to easily do 30 an hour, and do a good job.

Scott
 

Andy's Car Wash

New Member
What do you mean when you say to use mitts Scott? Like small hand mitts. Wouldn's it go fast with 3 people? 1 rinsing and 2 with brushes. I use DI water, so the windows aren't a problem. If I did this I wouldn't ned to recap my water because my soap is USDA approved, and EPA compliant here. Thanks for the help guy, I am going to meet with them next Monday.

Thanks Again
Andy
 

Larry L.

PWN TEAM - Moderator Emeritus
<b><font color=green>Andy,Scott was talking about wash mitts made for washing trucks and cars,they're fairly good size.
He may be right if the trucks are setting close together as it would be hard to work a brush at the speed you need to go in the time frame.Could put your buckets in a cart as to get it up off the ground as to blending all the way down each time you ducked your mitts.</b></f>
 

Scott Stone

New Member
Bigboy was right, get the wash mits. You can get them at Autozone, etc. I would suggest the Chenille mits. They hold more soap. As for the brushes, they do get in the way, you have to work to get them in the bucket, etc. I use DI water as well. The reason that we squeegee the windows is that it hides mistakes. It also helps, because where we are if the rinse guy is not right after the wash guys, the soap will dry on the car. That will definitely slow you down. We also don't hit the windows with soap, for the same reason.
 

Dave Olson

New Member
We do utility company equipment once per month and they are white. Cars, vans, pickups, bucket trucks, back-hoes, etc.

Five man crew 125 units in about 4 hours (including breaks). First guy applys detergent, next two brush (24" brushes), last two rinse. Our hoses are 150-225 feet long so we can cover at least 300 feet without moving our unit.

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The smaller units (vans etc.) if they are parked close we can do 30-40 per hour.

Dave Olson
 

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