[Rob_Mac]

I am looking into setting up a recycling water unit that can be clipped onto various flat surface cleaner attachments - for pressure washing.

Now I have the basic idea of a circuit of flat surface cleaner with extraction unit attachment (this would be a form of carpet cleaner/wet vacuumn - that would be able to handle the debris), hoses up to approx 200 ft or longer to a pond filtration unit, with removable filters (for easy maintenance and cleaning), to water tank and then back out to the pressure washer in a loop.

Now I have seen all the possibilities on the internet, as far as water reclamation for pressure washing but they are very expensive and I feel it can be done a lot cheaper, with similar results.

The questions are what extraction unit could handle the workload (8 hours per day, possibly 5 days per week)and debris.

What working distance from the van could any existing extraction machines handle (machine will be in the van)

Would the exhaust on the extraction unit work whilst the vacuum is on and could this be used as the feed back to the filtration unit.

Is there a flaw with any of the methodology here

Many thanks

Rob

[John Kelly]

I think the amount of dirt a debris you create when pressure washing would make this a non starter.

[Rob_Mac]

Would that be because the vacuum would not be able to handle it. There are 4000watt vacuums being used for gutter clearing, which is much more dense as far as debris but I am unsure whether they could handle the distances of the vacuum recovery hoses

Rob

[Rob_Mac]

I also  have a way round debris by using a filter immediately after the recovery port on the flat surface cleaner, so really the question is what portable would handle the extended hoses and 8 hour operation.

Rob

[John Kelly]

I think the problem would be the filter or filters.They would need to end up being very fine to prevent dirt getting into the pump as even very fine silt will degrade the seals and pistons. I think the filters would clog up very quickly.
What is your resoning behind the idea. Is it to overcome a hose pipe ban?

[daysdeepclean]

You hould maybe ask a wheelie bin cleaner... Their set ups recycle water!

[Rob_Mac]

Colin

I have a good friend with a wheelie bin cleaning business and I have seen his system, it couldn't be more basic and it works really well. This is why this could work with the right filtration unit and vacuum recovery.

John, a lot of my work is on live supermarket frontages, with heavy footfall and no option to close a large area off, splashing customers and leaving large pools of water & detritus is something I want to resolve and then take to the client as the way forward (another selling point!).

The filtration is not going to be a problem, it is down to the capability of the vacuum unit and whether it could handle extended working hours and recovery from 200 plus metres away.

Can extraction machines pump out (of the waste outlet) as they are sucking into the dirty water chamber?

Rob

[Mike Halliday]

from what I can see is you only have 1 problem, the recovery of the water (you will probably have a constant supply of water from a water source or a standpipe)

this is easy, a small positive displacement blower ran by a small petrol engine will pull water over 200ft.. suck it  through a waste tank which could be manually emptied into a drain or a sump pump could be incorporated into the tank which can handle large solids without a problem. the waste tank could be an adapted 50gl steel drum

this unit could run 8 hrs easily ( but would need refueling)

[Rob_Mac]

Mike

The water source will be a van mounted tank and could be quite small, 250 litres to 400 litres.

Can you point me in the right direction for the postive displacement blower please.

Rob

[Rob_Mac]

Just done a search on the blower and it is showing uses for air & gases?

Rob

[Mike Halliday]

they are used in truckmounted carpet cleaning machines to create the vacuum that sucks into a waste tank.

search 'Roots Dresser' then look for thier UK supplier.

[Rob_Mac]

Mike

Many thanks for that. Will get onto this tomorrow, site down for maintenance, that has been a big help.

Rob

[jasonl]

I do not have any specific design advice to put in here .

I do however wish you well .

9 YEARS AGO I developed an existing idea for a drying machine to dry water damaged buildings much faster than traditional methods, lots of people categorically told me it would fail , not work ,was a daft idea etc ,,, they were all wrong , and I sold the company for a nice price last year.

If you believe in your science/physics of what you are doing , ,then it is pretty much fact that an existing technology exists that can be adapted to suit your needs.

Every time I visit the cleaning show , it is clear that there is not actually any real innovation in cleaning equipment , just minor tweaks to existing.

This was most vividly illustrated at the show before last with the.......  tadahhhhh PINK Henry ,, Hetty I think they called it  it was   nothing new ,, just new marketing.

Go for it!!!! It can be done.


Oh ,, and does it really need to run for 8 hours?  with travel time , breaks etc  I reckon 4-6 hours daily is more the norm.

[Rob_Mac]

Jason

Thanks for the positives. As anyone can see I am not trying to reinvent the wheel here or be at the forefront of pressure washing innovation but there is a requirement to find an alternative to spending 40 grand on a ready made set up and if I can do that for myself and keep it tidy then it will be sellable because of the rip off costs of the suppliers.

My work is national and I tend to be on site for a minimum of 8 hours per day for upt to several weeks at a time, so it will be for the 8 hours as specified. I have always worked till the water ran out. This system will make my days a full 8 hours because I wont run out of water.

I am not aiming to cobble something together here but am wanting a solution that will stand the test of time, for a fraction of the cost.

Well done, I sold a business last year for more than the market value/or what others thought it might be worth.

Rob

[John Kelly]

Rob, have you posted on the general cleaning section. A few pressure washer guys on there may have some ideas.

[Rob_Mac]

John

Yes I put it on the general cleaning section. Have had a couple of bits of advice from them, haven't got round to ringing reference the roots dresser (blower) - had a really bad day today!!, but with the other info provided and a very good conversation this morning I am more determined than ever to do this.

Cheers, I will keep you all posted!

Rob

[Rob_Mac]

I have, in the back of the unit, a CFR 1000 extraction machine would this give me the vacuum I need. Forgot about it!!

Rob

[John Kelly]

With some primary filtration wouldn't that do what you are after?