Reclaim your Drains

RECLAIM YOUR DRAINS

Table of Contents

Self-serve owners miss their chance to go green and save green when they ignore water reclaim systems.

Many  self-serve  carwash  owners  think  that  going  green  is  just  a  dream.  The  dozing  duo  of  re-pair costs and utility bills make it seem im-possible for operators to wake the sleeping beauty  of  forward-thinking  investments.  What owners need now is a knight in shin-ing armor, a gallant hero astride a steed of eco-friendly savings.    Reclaim your drains with Freytech’s innovative solutions to enhance drainage management, preventing blockages and ensuring optimal performance.
 
In  this  instance,  the  dreamy  knight  gal-loping  forth  could  be  a  water  reclaim  sys-tem. A reclaim system is rare in that it helps a carwash go green while revitalizing profi ts and  paying  for  itself.  The  systems  enable  a  50  percent  to  75  percent  reduction  in  water  usage, and they can signifi cantly reduce or eliminate sewer costs as well. As owners can tell you, savings like these will help any car-wash’s story end with “happily ever after.”
 

Cutting consumption and discharge

Today, the price and availability of water has become one of the most stressing oper-ator concerns. Conservation measures such as  restricted  operating  hours,  shut  downs,  drastic  increases  in  water  and  sewer  pric-es  and  outrageous  impact  fees  or  fi nes have  most  owners  desperately  looking  for  ways to conserve water, according to Dean Taylor  with  CATEC  Water  Recovery  and  Ozone Systems.    
 
Taylor  said  recycling  water  is  the  most  effective method to reduce water consump-tion,  sewer  discharge  and  high  sewer  impact  fees  in  new  construction.  “These  savings  are  typically  substantially  more  than  the  cost  of  a  recycling  system  itself,  and  they offer a quick return on investment and a substantial increase in profits,” he said.    
 
In  most  areas,  sewer  fees  are  calculated  directly  from  water  consumption,  and  the  fees  often  run  200  percent  to  300  percent  more  than  water  costs,  Taylor  said.  Thus,  when  water  consumption  is  reduced  up  to  70  percent,  high  sewer  costs  should  be  reduced  at  the  same  time.  Further,  with  a  good  water  reclaim  system,  a  self-serve  carwash  can  be  built  that  will  not  need  to  discharge anything into sewers.
 
Reclaim Your drains
 

Reclaim Your Drains – Uses and Installation

Reclaimed water is basically wash water that has been filtered and treated with bacteria  control.  This  recycled  water  should  generally be good for high-pressure applications, and this can include high-pressure soap and other functions, Taylor explained.
 
Depending  on  the  final  rinse  options,  re-claim can sometimes be used as a first rinse, which  is  usually  a  high-pressure  application as well.    
 
In  a  self-serve  wash,  fresh  water  usage  will  typically  be  needed  only  for  low-consumption options. These include pre-soak, tire  and  wheel  applications  and  foaming  brush  uses,  Taylor  said.  The  water  used  here  is  minimal,  and  the  necessary  chemicals mix better with fresh water.  
 
The  difficulty  of  retrofitting  a  system into  an  existing  wash  depends  on  a  lot  of  variables.  First,  Taylor  said  process  tanks  will  need  to  be  placed  in-ground  or above-ground. Other questions to consider are:
  • How  far  can  the  tanks  be  from  the  equipment?
  • Is there space in the equipment room?
  • Where  do  the  trenches  need  to  be  cut  for pipes?   
In  new  construction,  a  reclaim  system  can  be  designed  into  the  site  plan.  The  tanks  and  system  can  usually  be  located  close,  and  most  piping  is  completed  prior  to asphalt or concrete being laid. “Once the piping  and  tanks  are  in  place,  it  usually  takes a plumber a day or two to install and have the unit operating,” Taylor said.
 

Dangers of ‘Midnight Dumpers’

The self-service operator takes on special risks when recycling water because there is little  control  over  what  is  put  into  carwash  drains.  Self-serve  carwash  patrons  tend  to  dump  many  different  types  of  pollutants  into  trenches,  according  to  David  Roberts,  president of Freytech Inc.

The most common substance  put  in  the  drain  is  used  oil  from  an oil change. People will change their oil in a carwash bay when they feel that no one is looking, and this oil goes into the sewer or, even worse, into the reclaim system.  

Taylor  said  “midnight  dumpers”  have also  been  known  to  empty  RV  holding  tanks,  dump  buckets  of  paint,  empty  car-pet cleaning trucks and even clean their kill after  a  weekend  of  hunting  in  wash  bays.  This  promotes  a  fear  of  water  recycling  amongst  self-serve  owners  because  all  of  these actions could be detrimental to most water reclaim systems.    

There  are  some  steps  that  operators  can use to greatly reduce dumping and to minimize the effects, Taylor said. Posting signs and surveillance cameras, even fake ones, is usually a very effective method for reducing illegal dumping. Another way to protect the system is to divert the bay pit drains to the sewer during off hours. By opening a valve to drain to the sewer  during  these  hours,  the  risk  of  system  contamination  is  greatly minimized.

Still, Taylor said the best step one can take is to ensure that thereclaim  system  purchased  can  be  easily  recovered  from  contami-nation. “Check with the manufacturer prior to buying the reclaim equipment,”  he  recommended.  “Ask  what  will  be  required  and how  much  it  will  cost  to  revive  the  system  if  someone  contami-nates the water.”

“If the manufacturer is reluctant or hesitates to reclaim a self-service carwash, he probably has good reason, look for the flags,” Taylor  continued.  “There  are  a  few  systems  that  can  and  do  reclaim  self-service  bays.  It’s  important  to  do  your  homework  to  find out what works and what doesn’t.”

Oil/water separators

With  the  concern  of  used  oil  being  dumped  into  drains,  it  is  easy to see how an effective oil/water separator could be a good addition for a self-serve carwash. Especially considering carwash owners are solely liable if they surpass legal oil discharge limits in sewers. Roberts said discharging above these limits can result in “hefty monetary fines.”

For  this  reason,  Roberts  said  carwash  owners  should  consider  installing  an  oil/water  separator  whether  they  reclaim  water or not. Lower-priced systems are available today where existing tanks can easily be retrofitted to include a separator, and  this  means  installation  can  occur  without  breaking  up  concrete or securing permits.

In the U.S., the oil discharge limit is generally set at 10 parts per million (ppm), according to Roberts. A good underground or  above  ground  oil/water  separator  can  lower  the  oil  con-tent of draining water to below 5 ppm. Even without midnight dumping, there will always be some oil and grease in carwash runoff, and it’s very important to get the oil out — especially if a wash is using a reclaim system.

EcoLine B - Oil Water Separator

“From  an  environmental  standpoint,  it’s  of  course  impor-tant,  but  also  for  the  quality  of  the  wash,  using  recycled  wa-ter,”  Roberts  said.  “It’s  very  important  to  get  the  oil  out  be-cause  even  trace  amounts  of  oil  can  have  a  negative  impact  on  the  way  the  chemistry  works  for  the  soap,  shampoos  and  drying agents.”

Roberts  explained  that  the  oil/water  separators  basicallywork  because  oil  is  lighter  than  water.  The  separators  uses  a  coalescing  media  to  combine  the  tiny  oil  droplets  present  in  water, and, as they coagulate, the oil immediately rises to the top.  Here,  the  oil  can  be  removed  from  the  tank  by  an  auto-matic oil draw-off device (ADD). The oil removed is 99.7 per-cent pure, free of water, and it can be recycled or used in oil heaters.

What’s that smell?

The foul odor that is often associated with reclaimed water can be one of the fastest ways to lose customers. “Be sure the system addresses complete odor control. Get an odor control guarantee  in  writing  from  the  manufacturer,”  Taylor  said. “Beware if they cannot or will not offer an odor control guarantee with the equipment.”

Oil/water separators can also help with the pit odor associated with reclaim water systems, mainly because oil is one of the  main  culprits  when  it  comes  to  odor.  “Oil  attracts  germ  growth, and once the germs start to replicate with the oil, it’s really exponential growth,” Roberts said. “You need degerming technology.”

Taylor said early reclaim systems did not address all the issues required for proper water reclaim. In the early stages, the manufacturers were still experimenting with equipment and technologies to combat the foul water odor and provide a reasonable water quality for reuse.

“Reclaim system technologies have come a long way over the  last  10  to  15  years.  Systems  today  are  much  more  automated,  [they  need]  much  less  maintenance  and  most  properly  address  odor issues.”