Hosepipe Ban - Tips on how to wash your car....

[nickg]

I don't have any!
Can someone enlighten those of us stranded in the parched southern deserts of hertfordshire the best way to rinse the soap off a car without using a hose.........

 

[fred_raven]

guess we will have to use a watering can - wonder if its ok to refill it from the hose ???? i am in water parched essex

 

[GrahamC230K]

I can't imagine mobile valeters will suddenly give up their trade.....I'll still be using mine!

 

[Mambo]

I can't imagine mobile valeters will suddenly give up their trade.....I'll still be using mine!

Don't let the water police hear you talk like that

 

[420SE]

Could you take the hosepipe off the tap, then simply use a bucket to fil it from the tap whenever you need to? That way I guess you are saving water but at the same time its not THAT inconvenient.

I washed my 420SE last week and waxed it too so dont have to do it for a while now

 

[DITTRICH]

Forget the water police, the neighbours might shop you though, so photo them doing their own car first
Les

 

[Howard]

In the first few weeks of the ban Graham, they will be looking to make examples of people ....

Be careful ...... Remember you have an EA 'mole' on the forum

 

[david55amg]

I don't have any!
Can someone enlighten those of us stranded in the parched southern deserts of hertfordshire the best way to rinse the soap off a car without using a hose.........

you could try move to yorkshire, it's p$$$$$g it down as I write. I'll send some down if you want but I need a waterproof envelope Only joking! Why didn't they see this coming and build a aqautic national grid?

 

[Howard]

'Cos it will cost billions and require about 25 years ....

They are looking at siting a new reservoir ourside of Abingdon, but the build time is 15 years +

Actually Thames reservoirs are now full ! but they are expecting very high demand as soon as the warm weater starts so are trying to keep them that way for now, hence the hosepipe ban ....

 

[GRAV888]

You could fill a bucket with water and put a hosepipe end in it, then attach the other end to a pressure washer (I know, a pressure washer ).
If you stand well back, no harm will be done to the car.

 

[BTB 500]

What you need is a VERY big bucket

I'm not looking forward to washing the caravan without a hose ... it's been standing in outdoor storage since last September!

 

[stats007]

I always wash mine without a hose - granted it's not as convenient, but you get used to doing it properly. Wash the car in sections - wheels first - then roof down, different sponges for different sections. I use a small bucket of water with Meguiars NXT shampoo then rinse with clean water and another sponge, dry it with a Hydrablade. My car never gets very dirty mind you.

 

[GrahamC230K]

I meant I will use the mobile valeter - not the hose pipe! Not to wash the car anyway. If my newly laid turf looks like it's going to dry out, given the maximum fine is £1000 I will use my sprinkler - £1000 has to be cheaper than removing dead turf, disposal, re-prepping the ground ordering new turf and having it laid again!

Other than that, i shall be consuming water as much as the next good citezem. I was looking at my drain pipes in fact to see about plumbing in a water butt.

 

[fred_raven]

You could fill a bucket with water and put a hosepipe end in it, then attach the other end to a pressure washer (I know, a pressure washer ).
If you stand well back, no harm will be done to the car.

Grav - sorry mate i posted this earlier re a query about jet washers

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I went to an amc wash - they jet washed mine - paint peeled off rear bumper- wouldnt use em again ry about pressure washers

 

[Howard]

I won't bore you with the figures Graham about how much water a sprinkler uses ... but you can actually do more harm than good by soaking everything ....

A few trips round the lawn with a watering can each day, once the sun has gone down to limit evaporation , is just as effective....

Watering heavily when newly planted means the roots stay near the surface as they don't need to 'seek' water - this is not good .... Let the roots head down 'searching' and just water sparingly and everything will be much healthier ...

Last year we planted 2000+ impatiens and overwatered them in the first few weeks, and come the end of the season when we have to dig them out normally with a fork, we just lifted them out by hand , the roots were no more than 4/5 cm under the soil . and the display that year was sh!t

 

[MangoMan]

I must say it makes me giggle when I see on the News about bringing in a Hosepipe Ban, and the next is the weather forecast warning about 4-5 hours of rain, causing possible floods in the south....lol....

I lived with years of water rationing, (as well as fuel), at one stage we were only allowed 2500 lts. (approx. 10 bathfulls) of water a month!!! But then again we had the benefit of not seeing a cloud in the sky for up to 8 months! We used to run around outside when It did eventually rain.

Crazy, I know, but true.....

 

[Howard]

In '98 i was working in the desert in Morocco for 3 months and we had 15 minutes of rain on one day about 2 1/2 months into the job having seen none so far ...

As you say, we were all running around outside like little kids, you really miss it if you are used to it ....

 

[portzy]

This very question was asked in one of the weekends daylies. Its perfectly legal to use a hose pipe during a ban for the transfer of stored water either from a tank or via a water butt. Run off stored rain water is free and belongs to no one but yourself. You can even claim against your water/sewage disposal bill if you use it for the garden as you are putting it back into the atmosphere and not putting it into the drains etc.

So, providing your "butt!" is high enough and big enough , so that the pressure is something like then you are home and dry, no pun intended.

You are all, of course, more than welcome to visit my house in Yorkshire and avail yourselves of limitless supplies of my Corporation Pop!

Portzy

 

[Alps]

Graham, as you are allowed to fill up a portable swimming pool, you can buy one with loads of holes in it and fill it over your lawn!, technically you are filling your pool!

stupid idea .. iknow!

 

[Spinal]

Apparently, according to the article in Metro the other day its fine to fill a pond or a bucket with a short hosepipe... It also is fine to use a hosepipe thats sourced from a bucket or pond (just not the water mains)...

Is it just me to get that thought of buying one of those LARGE bins from B&Q, attaching a pump to it and connect one pipe to fill it and the pump to wash my car?

Im not using the mains, nor the pressure from the mains. The "short pipe" from the mains fills my bucket (which is fine), and my pump drains the bucket (as its being filled) to was my car?

Plodd, anything au-contraire?

Michele

EDIT: Oh, and its a ban only for private/pleasure use... i.e. someone who makes a living out of washing cars can use a pipe as much as they wish...