A SUPERB CONVENIENCE MOBILE WASHING SERVICES

Nature has plenty of ways to spark wildfires— lightning, volcanic emissions, and burning coal seams. It doesn’t need any help.

In fact, we should all be trying to tamp down causes of wildfires by doing the basics we learned as children. Dowse campfires and treat anything that might ignite a fire—from wet hay bales to ammunition and fireworks—with extreme care.

A stubborn kitchen match now and again is not an indicator of the difficulty in starting a fire. Combustible material, like dry undergrowth in a wooded area, does not take much encouragement to start burning.

Overheated off-road equipment laden with fuel residue can be a catalyst for a fire. In general, equipment that is poorly maintained becomes a menace. Maintenance includes properly inflated tires, a reliable exhaust system, and no dragging parts (e.g. chains), and maintenance includes cleaning.

With regulators scrutinizing water use and wastewater collection (including treatment), it might seem that mobile washing services will become less common. They might even disappear given the rules that mobile services must follow.

But mobile washing services will not disappear. They are much too necessary and contribute too much to safety. “They absolutely have a future,” says Brad Howland, president of PowerJet Pressure Cleaning Systems in Sussex Corner, NB, Canada. “Equipment needs cleaning, and that’s it,” says Howland. “If it’s not cleaned, it’s a fire hazard.”

When equipment is dirty, performance is disrupted and more. “Hot engines and hot radiators can burn,” says Howland. “You don’t want to burn the forest down.”

What becomes essential is to achieve a balance between water use on one side of the equation and clean and safe outcomes on the other. “You can’t have everything,” explains Howland.

Yes, mobile washing uses water and creates wastewater. But it improves safety.

Companies like Howland’s work year after year to improve systems for washing so that they accomplish the most with the least amount of water, and they create the smallest amount of wastewater.

Prevention is always a better option than suppression of a fire. The cleaning pressure washers and ancillaries (e.g., trailermounted tanks) that Howland’s companies manufacture (also include Easy-Kleen Pressure Systems Ltd.) boost prevention.

Although companies working and then washing equipment in off-road settings may have discretion about the setup they deploy, some states have explicit rules about exactly what’s required.

For example, the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services specifies the ground and water handling equipment that must be part of the equipment roster when companies work in fire-prone areas. Tank and pump setups, bladder trucks, and 2,500-gallon tracked tanks that can be pulled by a dozer are all in use. (The 2,500-gallon tracked tank can be used to fill/refill semi-stationary tanks.)

Equipping companies for mobile washing—and companies that work off-road in logging and construction typically do their own washing—is an important industry niche. The potential liability for a company found responsible for starting a wildfire can be huge. Consequently, investment in tank and wash systems is one that such companies take in stride.

State-of-the-art off-road equipment includes onboard fire suppression systems, quick power cutoffs, and, of attributed to arson in recent years and from the assessment that improperly maintained rights-of-way under electric transmission lines may increase the fire risk. Of course, interest by CISA also derives from its concern about maintaining the integrity of critical U.S. infrastructure.

Estimates of the costs of wildfires vary. A 2023 report by a climate group in the U.S. Congress put the cost somewhere between $394 billion and $893 billion each year.

Closed-loop systems seem ideal and are probably the future of all washing, but they challenge the service provider. Closed-loop systems can be coupled with recycling options so that water can be reused after treatment. In a practical sense, they are not firmly closed because when the chemicals used to remove waste and waste accumulate (as a sludge) to a significant level, the sludge becomes a disposal issue.

COMMERCIAL AND RESIDENTIAL CUSTOMERS

VALUE MOBILE WASHING SERVICES. THEY

HAVE THEIR VEHICLE WASHED WHILE

THEIR

HOME course, fire extinguishers. Even so, prevention that includes cleaning is the place to begin.

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA.gov), which is part of the Department of Homeland Security, has taken a keen interest in fires in recent years. CISA projects an increase in the number of what are classified as “very large fires” (megafires) by the middle of this century. Megafires are defined by federal entities as those that burn more than 100,000 acres or have an unusual impact on people or the environment (e.g., deaths, destruction of rare habitat).

Interest by CISA stems in part from the number of fires that have been

Manufacturers, distributors, and contractors selling cleaning and tank systems for off-road washing will encounter all the familiar regulators (e.g., EPA, OSHA). And they may also get to know representatives of CISA.

Wastewater

Tolerance for residue in wastewater may be greater in areas far removed from municipal water supplies or feeder streams of municipal water supplies. But the broad-mindedness constricts or disappears when mobile washing takes place in urban and suburban (and even rural) areas where criteria established by the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) must be met.

States and local communities may have specific rules for mobile washing. For example, the City of Las Vegas allows mobile washing services to operate if they adhere to a truly mobile model. A client must call for the service. The mobile washer then travels to the customer’s site. What is absolutely forbidden is advertising by the mobile washer that indicates he or she will be present at a certain place and time to accept washing jobs.

Wastewater from mobile washing must be handled properly. Again, the jurisdiction where the service is provided will determine what constitutes proper handling.

The four general methods for handling wastewater are closed-loop system (no discharge) recycling, discharge to a municipal sanitary sewer, discharge to ground, and discharge to surface water (NPDES permit required).

Absent any hazardous contents, the sludge can go to a municipal sanitary sewer (almost always requiring a permit) or taken to a treatment facility. Or a contractor can skip the closed loop and discharge wastewater to a sanitary sewer (with permit) or take it to a treatment facility.

One certainty for mobile washing companies is that expectations for collection and proper disposal of wastewater will continue to multiply across communities. A containment system for wastewater will be a must. Some combination of booms and berms, containment pools, storm drain covers and mats, vacuums and pumps, or other tools will be needed.

Collection of wastewater is easier and less expensive than collection, treatment, and recycling. Thus, mobile washing is simplified for companies having the option to contract with a wastewaterconsolidator company. Individual contractors collect their wastewater and hand it off to a collection company that consolidates collections from several firms and takes care of the required treatment.

Commercial and residential customers value mobile washing services. They can have their vehicle washed while they are at their workplace or at home on a Saturday afternoon. It’s much more convenient than driving to a car wash facility.

For the convenience, customers are willing to pay a premium, and mobile washing companies should not undercharge. As with all contractor services, fair price setting is easier when all competitors have obtained the same licenses and permits.

(Just as power washing companies who clean building exteriors with pressure washing or soft washing are being undercut by unlicensed service providers, so too are mobile washing contractors. Consistent enforcement of rules is the only equitable, free-market solution.)

Professional cleaning contractors may grumble on occasion about a permit or certification that’s needed, but such requirements genuinely fortify the profession. They also promote community health and safety.

What’s a little wastewater discharge? It can be a great deal of trouble for those downstream of it.

No one would go to the nearest surface body of fresh water and dump 190 gallons of gasoline, diesel, and motor oil into it. How about 14 pounds of dissolved copper? No. It’s the same answer to 2200 pounds of surfactants—a firm “no.”

Yet in a 2009 study in Federal Way, Washington, it was found that vehicle washing contributed that much waste (and more) to freshwater sources. The study is available from the NPDES branch of the environmental Protection Agency (EPA.gov).

In the last 15 years car wash facilities have invested large sums of money to do all the things that reduce the amount of wastewater. Treatment and recycling systems have been installed. Carriages that minimize the use of water have been adopted. And so on.

Can mobile washing services achieve the same sort of water-conserving and reuse measures as their stationary counterparts? Yes.

And as regulations become more stringent, compliance will demand more investment in upgrades and design changes. We can always be surprised by the next initiative. (The federal government is putting a new emphasis on PFAs, per- and polyfluoroalkyls, which are small and persistent residues from industrial processes of thousands of sorts.)

Necessary for maintaining safety and health, and a superb convenience, mobile washing services are here to stay and adapt as required CT

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Would a solar-powered pressure washer be useful in some settings? Possibly.

Off-grid irrigation systems can already be built with directdrive solar. Direct-drive solar pumps power many water features in residential and commercial settings.

Yet whether the energy source for a pump is direct solar, an electric motor, or a combustion engine, the power must be sufficient to achieve pressure and flow goals. So back to a direct-drive solar pressure washer: it’s all doable in theory.

Innovation keeps making the theoretical into the functional.

What prevents more off-grid designs for equipment beyond irrigation carriages and pipes, pond pumps, tank pumps, and the like? Cost, size, and ease of movement are significant factors when pressure washers and ancillaries are designed.

In practice the cost and especially the cumbersome nature of a solar array—carrying it from place to place, requisite size for power needs—can tamp down a lot of interest. So, too, can cloudy days, unless an off-grid effort includes battery storage, which adds more complications.

That doesn’t mean direct solar should be discounted. Put direct-drive solar pump in any search engine to churn up numerous companies perfecting solar pumps for all sectors, and especially agriculture, recreational landscapes, and off-grid communities.

The refinement of energy capture and energy to power includes getting ever-better results with PV [photovoltaic] modules that put out DC current, pass the current through an inverter, and produce threephase AC current. But getting to needed pressure and flow running on DC power alone is a goal that’s already been met by companies that tie a battery bank to the PV array.

Plenty of solar-energized pump options are already available for those in the agricultural sector who are satisfied with a flow rate of 5 to 25 gpm and pressure in the 20 to 45 psi range. It’s too low to do tough cleaning, but for routine chores—washing down concrete staging areas—it may be more practical than running new electrical lines to distant spots on a property.

Can we imagine the day when a solar array rides along with a pressure washer and acts as its ultimate power source? In theory, yes. But feasibility must come first.

Solar energy fits into the renewable energy category. The U.S. Energy Information Administration ( EIA.gov ) offers a definition of renewable energy, which also includes biomass, hydropower, geothermal, and wind.

According to the EIA, renewable energy is “from sources that are naturally replenishing, but flow limited.” EIA notes that the sources of renewable energy are “virtually inexhaustible in duration”— a good thing. But the sources are “limited in the amount of energy available per unit of time”—a negative, to be sure.

Nothing better illustrates the semantic twists built into the lexicon than discussions of renewables. In the broadest sense, fossil fuels are renewable—it’s just that they are renewed over eons. Geothermal sources are not endless long-term because tectonic activity keeps altering them. Even biomass—corn, wood fiber, etc.— takes time and space to replenish itself.

The dichotomy between oils (fossil fuels) and renewables attracts enormous attention in 2024 for many reasons. Top among them is the quest to find ways to reduce the impact of human activity on the environment.

People see the residue from burning fossil fuels. Few see the process of cobalt mining.

On the renewable side of the EIA ledger, there are somewhat vexing biofuels. To review perspectives on biodiesel and renewable diesel, see the article that appeared in these pages in 2020, https://www. cleanertimes.com/magazine/cleaner-times-articles-2/ biodiesel-vs-renewable-diesel