Description

This manual is intended to be used with the operator’s manuals for each of the different components of the system and with the illustrated report describing the system’s development, MTDC Portable Vehicle Washer (0434–2819–MTDC). The report and the mechanical drawings for the washer (MTDC-1020) are available from the Missoula Technology and Development Center (MTDC).

The portable vehicle washer is a closed-loop system that uses a high volume of water under high pressure to wash vehicles, removing dirt, fragments of vegetation, spores, and weed seeds. The system recycles and filters the wash water, eliminating the need for a continuous supply of water. The washer’s major components (figure 1) include a high-pressure/high-volume (800 pounds per square inch, 20 gallons per minute) diaphragm pump powered by a 25-horsepower Kohler engine, two 175-gallon settling tanks, two bag-type filter systems, a 550-gallon holding tank for supply water, an industrial containment mat that contains the used wash water, and miscellaneous sump pumps and plumbing parts. The entire system is mounted on an 18-foot, tandem-axle trailer that can be pulled by a ¾-ton pickup.

[photo] MTDC Portable Vehicle Washer with text that identifies the main components of the washer.
Figure 1—The MTDC portable vehicle washer allows vehicles to be cleaned thoroughly,
removing fragments of vegetation, spores and weed seeds that could spread noxious weeds.

The basic flow of water through the system starts in the main holding tank. Water flows from the holding tank through a strainer that removes large particulate, preventing damage to the pump. A vacuum switch prevents the pump from operating without water. The pump forces water through a manifold to the underbody washers or to wands used to wash the vehicle. A containment mat with raised edges holds used wash water until a sump pump removes the water, pumping it through two cone-bottom settling tanks. Large, heavy particulate settles to the bottom of the first settling tank. Overflow from this tank flows into the second cone-bottom settling tank, where the largest of the remaining particulate will settle to the bottom. The overflow from the second settling tank flows through a coarse filter bag (that removes floating material) and into an overflow tank. A sump pump, activated by a float switch,pumps the water through two filter housings with filter bags and back to the main holding tank.

Wands are used to wash most of the vehicle. Operators should concentrate on the wheels, wheel wells, bumpers, axles, suspension parts, and inside of the wheels where mud and seeds can collect. Vehicles drive over one underbody washer when driving onto the mat and over another when driving off.

All tanks are fitted with valves for easy draining and cleaning. Drain and sump pump hoses are fitted with cam-lock fittings for easy connections.

Although the system recycles wash water, the tanks will need to be “topped off” occasionally, because water will be lost as spray goes over the mat and as spray evaporates.

The portable vehicle washer is designed to clean vehicles with light to medium amounts of mud and dirt. Washing vehicles with large amounts of mud may clog the filter systems.

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