Is your car dirty enough to draw on?
When it comes to the cost of owning a car, fuel-efficiency is often the priority. What consumers aren’t always aware of is the environmental impact of washing their vehicles.
When washing your car at home, typical 5/8″ garden hose running at 50psi uses 10 gallons of water per minute. If you are trying to conserve water, the average person will use 50-60 gallons for a 5-6 minute car wash. For those that leave the hose running the entire time, this number can jump to between 150-200 gallons. All of the sudsy, dirty water then goes directly into storm drains, eventually leading to rivers, lakes, and streams.
In comparison, professional car washes offer several benefits:
- The flow rate is often much lower, sometimes as low as 3 gallons per minute during rinsing, and 0.6 gallons per minute during the foaming brush stage (at self-serve car washes).
- The average water use for the entire car wash can be as little as 11.1 gallons for an 8 minute car wash. Your garden hose can’t compete with those stats.
- Most professional car washes either treat/recycle their water onsite, or directly pipe their water to the appropriate drainage facilities.