He Built His Own

2012 - Volume #36, Issue #4, Page #10

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He Built His Own "Car Wash" For The Farm

Jeffrey Yago built a commercial-style “car wash” system on his farm after getting tired of using buckets, sponges, and other methods to clean cars, trucks and farm equipment.
    “I tried a portable electric pressure washer, but it was low power and still required dealing with a hose, bucket, soap and an extension cord,” recalls Yago. “I couldn’t find a commercial car wash system sold as a kit.”
    What Yago did was to check out an area car wash and the components involved. They included a 2 hp, 1,500-psi pump with water hose fittings, a plastic chemical tank with concentrated soap and water mix, a 50-ft. pressure hose with hand wand and wall mount, and an extension cord with a built-in ground fault breaker. He later found a special high/low pressure nozzle and soap injector in a Grainger catalogue.
    “I just ordered the equipment without really knowing how they worked,” says Yago.
    With some trial and error, he assembled the components and discovered he also needed an inline filter to protect the soap injector orifice in the nozzle. Grainger had one of those as well.
    Yago mounted the hose, mount and wand on the outside wall of a garage with the rest inside. A water line connects to a sand/grit filter before hooking up with the 1,500-psi pump. A pressurized line leads to a soap injector and on to the pressure hose and wand. Yago mounted a 50-gal. soap tank above the water line to gravity flow soap solution to the injector.
    The high/low nozzle controls the flow of soap into the line. On high pressure, back pressure from the water line blocks soap solution from entering the line. On low pressure, the soap injector pulls soap solution into the line.
    “The documentation for the pump assembly said I should have a filter in the water line supplying the pump, so I purchased an under-the-sink home water filter and selected a replacement cartridge that removes sediment and grit,” notes Yago.
    On the outside wall, he mounted a 10-ft. long pivoting hose arm above the window. With the help of two heavy-duty barn door hinges, the aluminum hose arm can swing 180° for easy access to far sides of equipment being washed.
    For a washing pad, Yago laid down a thick bed of crushed rock. The pump is wired through a 15-min. timer mounted on the outside wall. Next to it is a section of pvc pipe to hold the spray wand.
    "The pump and pressure hose package cost $1,000, and the rest of the components were a few dollars each," says Yago. "The entire project took only a weekend to build."
    Yago described the project in detail with a list of parts and supplies in an article earlier this year in Backwoods Home magazine. He’s a licensed professional engineer and certified energy manager and has authored numerous energy and survival related articles and texts.
    Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Jeffrey Yago, P.O. Box 10, Gum Spring, Va. 23065 (ph 804 457-9566; www.dtisolar.com).

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He Built His Own Car Wash For The Farm CLEANING EQUIPMENT Jeffrey Yago built a commercial-style “car wash” system on his farm after getting tired of using buckets sponges and other methods to clean cars trucks and farm equipment “I tried a portable electric pressure washer but it was low power and still required dealing with a hose bucket soap and an extension cord ” recalls Yago “I couldn’t find a commercial car wash system sold as a kit ” What Yago did was to check out an area car wash and the components involved They included a 2 hp 1 500-psi pump with water hose fittings a plastic chemical tank with concentrated soap and water mix a 50-ft pressure hose with hand wand and wall mount and an extension cord with a built-in ground fault breaker He later found a special high/low pressure nozzle and soap injector in a Grainger catalogue “I just ordered the equipment without really knowing how they worked ” says Yago With some trial and error he assembled the components and discovered he also needed an inline filter to protect the soap injector orifice in the nozzle Grainger had one of those as well Yago mounted the hose mount and wand on the outside wall of a garage with the rest inside A water line connects to a sand/grit filter before hooking up with the 1 500-psi pump A pressurized line leads to a soap injector and on to the pressure hose and wand Yago mounted a 50-gal soap tank above the water line to gravity flow soap solution to the injector The high/low nozzle controls the flow of soap into the line On high pressure back pressure from the water line blocks soap solution from entering the line On low pressure the soap injector pulls soap solution into the line “The documentation for the pump assembly said I should have a filter in the water line supplying the pump so I purchased an under-the-sink home water filter and selected a replacement cartridge that removes sediment and grit ” notes Yago On the outside wall he mounted a 10-ft long pivoting hose arm above the window With the help of two heavy-duty barn door hinges the aluminum hose arm can swing 180° for easy access to far sides of equipment being washed For a washing pad Yago laid down a thick bed of crushed rock The pump is wired through a 15-min timer mounted on the outside wall Next to it is a section of pvc pipe to hold the spray wand The pump and pressure hose package cost $1 000 and the rest of the components were a few dollars each says Yago The entire project took only a weekend to build Yago described the project in detail with a list of parts and supplies in an article earlier this year in Backwoods Home magazine He’s a licensed professional engineer and certified energy manager and has authored numerous energy and survival related articles and texts Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Jeffrey Yago P O Box 10 Gum Spring Va 23065 ph 804 457-9566; www dtisolar com

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