Oil Water Separators in Car Wash Applications

FREYTECH OIL WATER SEPARATORS IN CAR WASH APPLICATIONS

Table of Contents

Water reclamation systems not only help the environment, but also your bottom line.

Oil water separators in car wash applications are essential for efficiently removing contaminants from wastewater, ensuring compliance with environmental regulations. Saving water is a good thing. Saving money is a great thing. Combine the two and it seems as if a water  reclamation  system  is  a  win-win. 
 
But  there  are  misconceptions  about  systems,  from their  price  to  their  maintenance,  with  some  operators  claiming  they’re  too  expensive,  others thinking they are too much trouble and some worried about the water’s quality. Professional Car washing & Detailing® spoke with a multitude of industry experts to get to the bottom  of  these  misconceptions  to  help  operators  in  learning  how  to  maximize  their  water reclaim systems.
 

The Common Misconceptions

Jim  Keller,  president  of  Con-Serv  Water  Recovery  Systems,  said  that  in  the  35  years  he’s worked in the water recovery equipment industry, the most common misconception is in regard to the cost.

“In  most  cases  to  dispute  the  myth  about  cost  and  to  implement  a  system,  calculate  current water and sewer rates in your area,” he said. “Don’t forget to inquire about any increases that might be in the forecast for your municipality’s future. I’ve been in the industry for quite a few years and I have never seen a rate decrease.”

Joel  Wollin,  the  director  of  Sales  and  Marketing  at  Autowash  Systems,  Inc.,  said  the  biggest misconception he has heard has to do with water quality and “that you cannot use one without degrading  the  quality  of  the  wash  and/or  experiencing  a  sewer  odor  that  is  traditionally associated with inadequate reclaim systems,.”

If  a  reclaim  system  is  installed  correctly,  Wollin  said  it  can  be  one  of  the  greatest  assets  to  a carwash. To truly maximize effectiveness the operator must have plenty of underground settling capacity,  use  a  strong  disinfectant  (such  as  ozone),  and  properly  maintain  the  system  on  a regular schedule.

Charles Borchard, the vice president of operations for New Wave Industries, said there is still a lot  of  resistance  among  operators  despite  rising  water  and  sewer  costs.  As  these  expenses increase, Borchard expects more operators will look to reclaim systems to realize a payback that can occur in less than two years with a 60 percent recovery rate.

Out with the Old

Some  manufacturers  believe  the  negative  reputation  for  reclaim  systems  is  owed  to  earlier models, which didn’t work as well. Dean Taylor, who serves as the system application specialist for  CATEC  Water  Recovery  and  Ozone  Systems,  said  reclaim  systems  have  improved  greatly over the years and deserve a second look.
 
“Early  systems  were  unsophisticated  and  produced  water  that  looked  and  smelled  awful.  Such systems are still being sold today, and they continue to be very detrimental to a car wash facility by  turning  away  customers  and  causing  premature  equipment  failures  and/or  maintenance nightmares,” he said.
 
According  to  Taylor,  the  substandard  systems  continue  to  give  reclaim  a  bad  name.  Over  the last  10  years,  Taylor  said,  a  hand  full  of  reclaim  system  manufacturers  have  made  leaps  and bounds with reclaim technology.
 
Today,  there  are  systems  that  will  produce  clean,  odor-free  water  and  with  very  little maintenance. These systems can deliver water clean enough that their customers can’t even tell reclaim water is being used on their car.
 
“The recent trend to “go green” with car washing shows no sign of ending anytime soon,” Wollin said.  But  once  upon  a  time,  he  had  an  operator  decline  to  give  a  letter  of  recommendation because he didn’t want anybody to know he reused his water.
 
“I  now  have  new  operators  proudly  advertising  that  they  do  so.  As  water  and  sewer  costs continue to increase, I see the future of water reclamation as very strong … and not just in the carwash industry … we are starting to look at water reclamation for the ethanol industry as well as the health club industry,” Wollin explained.
 

Oil Water Separators in Car Wash Applications – Picking the Right System

 
Picking the correct system comes down to your carwash’s size and the amount of water that will be reclaimed.
 
By  pre-determining  what  equipment  you  will  use  reclaim  with  and  how  much  water  that equipment will need, Keller said you can properly anticipate the size of your system. “If you are planning on recovering only 50 percent of your carwash water, tank size, pipe size, pump and motor size will be significantly smaller and so will the cost of the recovery system you will need to purchase,” he said.
 
Wollin recommends choosing a system that comes with a drain. He also said operators should look for a system with a filter purge “so that filter changes can be performed safely and with no mess.”
 
“Systems  that  are  designed  to  depressurize  automatically  when  you  turn  them  off  can  be unreliable  and  dangerous,”  Wollin  cautioned.  “Never  assume  that  a  system  is  depressurized before opening the filter vessel … it could take your arm, or worse, your head off. If your system  has  a  manual  drain  valve  on  it,  you  know  that  when  you  open  that  drain,  it  is depressurized.”
 
As for its size, Wollin said an operator needs to be prepared. “Keep in mind,” he said, “that we recommend  9,000  gallons  of  underground  settling  capacity  to  make  a  reclaim  system  really,truly  function  well,  and  this  means  that  an  operator  has  to  make  a  significant  investment  not just in dollars, but in space, to put one in.”
 
oil water separators
 

Maintaining While Reclaiming

As with all equipment, good maintenance is important and must be done regularly and correctly.
 
Wollin said that filter, strainer and nozzle maintenance is a must, and reclaim water will typically leave a muddy residue in and on the equipment it is used on. “While the filters are designed to remove most of this, dirt particles that are smaller than the micron rating of the filters will still get through,” he said.
 
Wollin stated these particles eventually accumulate and will plug strainers and nozzles, which naturally leads to other, more serious maintenance problems. The same goes for the filters themselves. “Failure to maintain these items leads to premature equipment failure … usually an expensive pump,” he said.
 
Gideon Brunn, an Application Engineer with Automatic Filters, inc. said, “leftover particles will cause maintenance nightmares when they get into a system.” He said unscheduled shut downs for cleaning and maintenance will then occur. Particles will also cause spotting and coloration on cars and will eventually plug the spraying nozzles, Brunn added.
 
According to Taylor, proper maintenance is key to keeping the water clean. He said to be loyal to your preventive maintenance program. “Just as with a swimming pool, some things must be maintained to keep the water nice,” he said. “Many reclaim systems of today require much less maintenance than those of the past. Five to 10 minutes of simple maintenance once a week will help keep your system operating at its peak performance.”
 
Taylor also said that really understanding the system is a good way to keep it working, and some manufacturers offer an onsite visit for set-up and training when you purchase your reclaim equipment. “Take full advantage of this visit. Take time to learn your system, how itoperates and what is required to maintain it. It will save you time, money and headaches in the long run,” Taylor said.
 
Borchard agreed and said operators should plan to hold onto their owner’s manual. “After you have read the manual, do what it says, check or clean filter elements, media. Verify operations.If  there  is  periodic  maintenance,  do  it,”  he  warned.  “Almost  all  systems  will  have  a  strainer basket in front of the pump and all systems will benefit from keeping it clean; once a week inmost cases.”
 

Parts to Consider

Knowing that oil can get into the reclaim water, David F. Roberts, the president of Freytech Inc.,recommends the use of an enhanced coalescing oil water separator. “Even trace amounts of oil in the recycled water can diminish the quality of the wash,” he said. “An ‘oil trap’ is not enough since it is simply a tank with baffled walls which does trap some of the oil floating on the surface of the water, but it will not trap all of the oil present below the surface.”
 
In  addition,  using  such  an  antiquated  method  does  not  offer  adequate  protection  against potential fines for discharging oil beyond the legal limits, according to Roberts. As for self serve carwashes, he said an oil water separator is strongly recommended since it is not uncommon to come  across  patrons  changing  their  oil  and  dumping  it  into  the  carwash  drain. 
 
He  said  that retrofitting  existing  tanks  and  installing  a  turnkey  separator  kit  is  a  simple,  affordable  option that not only improves the wash quality and protects the environment but also offers peace of mind to the operator.
 
Good filters and the replacing of those filters is also a key step. Wollin said that most of his sites are changing filters every 1,000-1,500 cars. Some newer models can handle 5,000 cars on a set of filters. He also recommends good felt filter bags, which nowadays go for about $4 a piece.
 
“If your reclaim system has three bags, and you change your filters every 1,000 cars, the cost of this maintenance is slightly more than a penny per car,” he said. “I have seen sites wash and reuse  their  filters,”  which,  in  his  opinion,  quickly  degrades  the  ability  of  the  filters  to  remove particles they are rated to catch.
 
“Considering the negligible expense of the filters,” Wollin said,” it is not worth the time or the hassle  to  do  this,  and  in  fact,  the  cost  of  washing  these  filters  probably  exceeds  the  value  of doing so.”