Zack Arnold is the founder of WashTechnologies Inc.,
a manufacturer of self service equipment.
He has had over 12 years of experience in both ends of the industry manufacturing and operation of car washes.
He has written articles for the S.S.C.W. News on timers, pumps, maintenance and reclamation systems.
As a manufacturer he has help to bring forth many cutting edge innovations in equipment design like stainless vending stations, hydro proportioning injectors, self cleaning R.O. systems to name a few.
You can contact Zack via email at WshTch@AOL.com

Before we look at which type of reclamation system is best for your location, let us examine what we need to accomplish with the reclamation process. First, we must consider the type of car wash being installed and how much water it will need to operate. The following chart will help answer this question; Washing at home 125 Gallons per car Full service car wash 75 Gallons per car Rollover wash ( Gas Station Type) 45 Gallons per car Self Service Car Wash 25 Gallons per car The Self-service car wash uses considerably less than most other wash methods. In fact, in some areas of southern California, it is illegal to wash your car at home and may have up to a $200.00 penalty attached. When building a new self-serve, most city's require that all car washes reclaim their water or, if not, require such high city sewer connection fees that often it is less expensive to install the reclamation system than to pay the higher connection fees.

What kind of reclaim do you need?

There are many reclaims on the market. Most will do what they profess, but are not necessarily the best choice for your wash. We need to know how the systems work in order to make the right choice for your location. Two of the items we will consider are solids removal and volume of water needed.

Solids Solids are measured with a micron rating system. A 70 micron particle is about the size of a grain of sand. Most reclaim systems filter water down to a nominal 25 micron rating. This means 25 microns 75% of the time. This size is difficult to see. The problem is that high pressure pumps can only operate with 5 micron water without encountering damage to the pump. Higher than 10 microns will void the warranty of all the high pressure pumps (HydraCell pumps excluded). Look for a system with a positive micron rating of 10 or less

Volume Equally as important as size is volume. While some systems can produce positive 10 microns, they only generate 10 gpm, which will only supply two pumps. Thus, it becomes necessary to store a large amount of water in the equipment room. A good rule of thumb is 4 gpm x # of bays 4-Bays should use a 25 Gallon per minute system.

What else is there to know?

All Systems have a few things in common. You will always buy water. A reclaim system only recaptures the water that goes down the drain. You will lose approximately 30% of your water due to evaporation and run off. Most washes have access to a sewer discharge (if not, your only recourse is a total water reclaim system). This is to your advantage, because any system can build up concentration of oils, grease, and chemicals, as well as biological organisms and will need to be purged. Pump trucks charge for disposal of waste by the gallon. If most of the water is purged to city, then you only have to dispose of the oil & dirt. When evaluating a system, look at the flow process and how the water is cleaned and reused. Some systems make little sense in how they operate. Some total-reclaims unnecessarily remove all detergents from the water, only to add soap and wax back into the water later in the process. In the case of the Spot Free Rinse System, the concentrate (bad water) is thrown right into the drain and mixed with grease, oil, and chemicals just to be reclaimed, cleaned, and re-used for rinse. This water is almost as pure as the water out of your tap.

Why dirty it and than have to re-clean it again?

Look for proper process flow and proper system design.

Odor Control Also one should look to see how each system controls biological problems (aerobic bacteria). Bacteria will build in a system quickly if not controlled on a consistent basis, and will produce a foul sewer or "rotten egg" odor. Bacteria control is needed mostly in total (wash/rinse) reclaim systems. There are four methods of controlling the bacteria; Ozone generators, chlorine additives to the water, U.V. Light, and germ warfare.

Ozone generators work well and are mostly automatic, not requiring a lot of maintenance. The process works by adding an extra molecule to the oxygen in the water. This molecule attaches its self and holds on for the ride, but is not very stable. As soon as it sees the bacteria, it jumps from the water molecule to the bacteria, which kills the bacteria. One of the best methods to control odors.

Chlorine Systems Chlorine, or even bromine, does a great job of killing germs and may even be used an ozone controlled system to "slug" the water, which may be needed during the warmer months. The effectiveness of the chlorine process is dependent on the water's pH balance being maintained to exact tolerances. Much like a swimming pool, you will need to neutralize the water (pH of 7) before injecting the chlorine. Chlorine looses half of its effectiveness at a pH of 8 and is almost ineffective in a pH of 9-10. Most self-serve waste water has a PH of 10. Chlorine systems are more expensive to operate than U.V. light or Ozone generators.

Make sure the system has an automatic PH neutralizer system.

Ultra Violet Light These systems use U.V. light tubes. They pump the water pass the UV light. The problem with this design is two-fold. The U.V. bulbs are expensive and the quality of the water is less than desirable. Additionally, if the water becomes too dark, the U.V. light is not able to penetrate through the water to kill the bacteria. Needs fairly clear water for proper efficiency.

Germ Warfare The good germs eat the bad germs. It's about that simple. The main deterrent of this process is the out-of-pocket costs of the good bugs. Furthermore, once all the aerobic bacteria is gone, the good bacteria dies off. then the odor returns, you must first kill the odor and then add the new germs. Slow to control odor problems once they have started.

What Systems are out there?

Reclaim systems fall into two categories, with different methods of achieving water quality. The categories are Wash-only and Wash & Rinse. We have added a third type of reclaim package; a Spot free rinse recovery system which recovers the waste water for one pass.

Wash-Only Reclaims. These systems will clean the water up to specifications, without removing chemicals from the water. This water is only used in the wash process. Any excess detergent in the water may actually enhance the foaming of detergent. Wash-only reclaims are used in full-service and rollover-washes. The WRS-25-10 will produce 25 gallons of wash-only water with a water quality of positive 10 microns. It uses an exclusive SpinDisk filter, which operates like a stack of old 45rpm records with grooves on them. This enables the dirt to be trapped and is automatically backflushed as the filter becomes plugged. It then "polishes" the water with a 10 micron post filter. With a wash-only reclaim, enough water is purged so that heavy odor control ceases to be problem. However, it does utilize an Ozone system for total odor control. For most self-service car washes, a wash-only reclaim, or a wash reclaim in conjunction with a SFR Recovery System (see below), is more than enough to satisfy city requirements without breaking the bank. Wash Only reclaim at a self serve should provide approximately 59% water Recovery.

Wash/Rinse reclaim. These systems are designed to re-use all of the water. At best, a total-reclaim is only recovering 70% of the water, since 30% is lost as a result of run-off & evaporation. If you have no sewer discharge, then a total-reclaim system becomes a necessity. The problem with total-reclaims is that water is never discharged. Grease and oils build up as do chemical concentrations and bacteria. A good Ozone system with Chlorine "slugs" are necessary to control the odor. It is important for operating costs that these systems be sized properly for your location. If the system is to large, water stagnates and odor is present. If the system is to small, there will not be enough supply to handle the demand. Technicians and distributors have the necessary expertise to properly size your system. If the system cleans everything out of the water (soap) just to add it back in later, then it is doing double work which either exhausts the carbon filters or uses to much coagulant.

GAC Systems Post filtration brings the water down to a micron size where the soaps and grease are removed by the GAC (carbon) filter. There should be a "polishing pack" after the GAC to remove the gray color from water. The better systems also use an "oily water separator" to keep the grease and oils from fouling the GAC filters. GAC filters work by trapping the oils and soaps in the carbon. Since the carbon filter is non re-usable it must replaced when it becomes plugged. Often, it must be disposed of as "hazardous waste" because of the chemicals and oils in the carbon .

Coagulant Systems These systems have higher operating costs because of the chemicals they require. The process pumps the waste water to a processing tank and adds coagulant, which causes all of the grease, oils, and detergents to sink to the bottom of the tank. Maintenance of a total-reclaim is higher than other systems. As a whole, the cost of full reclamation is higher than purchasing the water and sending it to sewer. Operating cost are often higher than water cost. The WRS-25-10 reclaim is a combination of Wash-Only reclaim system and a Total-reclaim system. All wash water is processed only by the Wash-only section. Rinse water goes through the wash section first, then through a large bed of twin carbon filters, and finally through a "polishing pack" for final processing. It also employ an "oily water separator" to control grease and oil build-up. This process stores oil in a small drum to be disposed of easily. Full reclaim system can be added to Wash-only system later if required by the city.

Spot Free Rinse Recovery System To date (12/31/00)

WashTechnologies is the only company that manufactures a SFR Recovery System. Your Spot Free Rinse System will dispose of 1-gallon of water (concentrate) for each gallon of Spot Free water (permeate) it makes. This concentrated water is crystal clear and perfect for rinsing. Other reclaim systems just allow this water to go down the drain and mix with other effluent. We process this water and re-use it in the rinse cycle. Our SFR Recovery system should provide approximately 23% water Recovery. Comparison Chart The following two pages show how much water is actually used in the typical wash cycle and how much you can expect to recover. With our SFR Recovery System & a WRS-25-10 systems you should be able to recover approximately 51% of all the recoverable water. This design is considerably less expensive than a Total-reclaim

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