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

[DITTRICH]

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!

Even better, clean the car using that well known car-in-pool technique that they seem to be fond of in Hollywood.
Les

 

[Howard]

Not being funny, but why can't everyone just accept that it is being done for the good of everyone ?

The EA and water companies don't all get up one morning and think ' right lets really piss everyone off today'

You will all be really upset when the water is turned off and we are all filling saucepans at standpipes because of people filling 200 litre bins to wash the car or 400 gallon pools to water the lawn ...

Grass grows again, it will brown and wither, but will 99% of the time come back ,it is a very resiliant plant ( actually did you know that grass is actually a weed ? it is the worlds most common weed )

So, the car has to stay dirty for a few months , there will be no water on the roads so no danger of rust , and if you clean it well before hand and wax it really all it will need is a dust off and maybe sponge the wheels once a week ... Big deal..

I like my car clean and shiny, but its not the end of the world if it's not for a little while...

 

[stats007]

I don't think people would mind too much if the water companies actually fixed the vast number of leaks causing the majorty of the problem.

 

[dagd]

I’d recommend putting some type of filter on the outlet of the water butt. I normally use water from my water butt for the garden, however, yesterday, I’d thought I’d do my bit and use water from the butt. I filled the bucket, put in some autoglim cleaner and proceeded to clean the car using a soft sponge, I had only just started to clean the roof when I could feel the graininess of the water. It was full of very tiny dust and crud particles that I could feel if I lightly ran my hand over the roofs surface
I guess some of this was washed of the roof. I stopped straight away to avoid damage to the paintwork. I then filtered the water using muslin from an old wine kit which seemed to remove the crap, but I just used this on my old Focus as I’d bottled out with the merc.
Be warned! Perhaps Howard has some ideas?
PS. Someone mentioned using bath water, not sure that I’d want this on my paintwork either, not happy about using water that contains harm hair products, shower soap, bath salts etc.

 

[Howard]

I don't think people would mind too much if the water companies actually fixed the vast number of leaks causing the majorty of the problem.

They are though !! Its just a slow process, they have to find the pipes, avoiding all the other services, and then replace in sections, digging up the road as they go.

Don't get me wrong i don't work for Thames water but we do talk to the people at London Water Control at Hampton and they are doing their best ...

But, most of Thames Waters leaking pipes are under London , whih makes it enormously difficult, given the volume of traffic and people to do it very quickly, they work at night where possible, but sometimes the replacement takes weeks, can you imagine what it would be like to have The Embankment closed for a month for example ? It's not an overnight job, its literally thousands of miles of pipe ...

 

[stats007]

Can't they crack a giant egg and apply some heat?!?!

 

[Doodle]

I'll stick with my usual...don't wash it. It's been unwashed for 3 months, another few won't hurt.

 

[big x]

The problem is to many people on this small island of ours.After Holland,England has the highest population density in the western world.The Governments response is a virtually uncontrolled immigration policy which can only further drive up demand along with john Presscots dream of concreting over the SE.(rain washes straight out to sea rather than into the watertable.)
Down here in somerset things look average waterwise.I have a stream at the bottom of my garden that comes from an underground source.Until recently it was the only source of water here.The stone level marker is from around the year 1650.The flow gives a good indication of winter rainfall.It's flowing strongly.

adam

 

[Flash]

I'm going to get up early at the crack of dawn i.e. 4.45AM and get around it that way as not many people/neighbours up around then...

Step 1: Rinse entire vehicle with hose pipe... (quickly as possible)
Step 2: Turn hose pipe off and wash car with shampoo as per normal
Step 3: Quickly rinse shampoo off vehilce with house pipe when done

If a neighbour grasses/reports you then insist that the pipe was used to fill the bucket with water and was immediataly swicthed off when bucket was filled!!!. Only way they will be able to successfully prosecute you is if your neigbours are sad enough to video/photograph you in the act...

 

[Flash]

Will be interesting to see how the Stealerships get around the hose pipe ban...

 

[stats007]

the hosepipe ban is residential for now.

 

[imadoofus]

I'm going to get up early at the crack of dawn i.e. 4.45AM and get around it that way as not many people/neighbours up around then...

If you're going to get up that early, why not just wait until the dew has settled, and then go over the car with a damp sponge?


Regardless of whether or not there's a hosepipe ban, it's not a legal requirement that your car is washed every week!

It's illegal to drink and drive, but but people don't say "Well how am I supposed to get home from the pub when I'm sh!tfaced then?" do they?

The reason they impose hosepipe bans is to reduce water useage. When I was a kid, back in 1976, we had to put bricks in our toilet cisterns to reduce useage. It's spring. How rusty is your car going to get if it goes unwashed for a few weeks?

As Howard says, it's for everyone's benefit, and trying to circumnavigate that just exacerbates the whole problem.

 

[stats007]

That's the second time someone has said your car will get rusty if you dont wash it

 

[Doodle]

I can certainly understand the hosepipe ban (sprinklers, garden watering and all that crap).
But on the few occasions that I do actually wash my car, I use far less water with a hosepipe and valved spray gun head than I would with buckets. Generally it takes 4-5 fairly uncontrollable bucket loads to achieve the same as some careful and efficient spraying...go figure.

 

[stats007]

True, but then there's always the chap that leaves the hose running on the ground whilst washing the car.

 

[Howard]

Trouble is , they don't interview everyone seperately or give them a form ...

a) how many buckets of water do you use to wash your car ?

b) could you do it more efficiently with a hose ?

etc etc ... its easier just to do a ban ...

 

[Spinal]

That's the second time someone has said your car will get rusty if you dont wash it

Thats due to the salt on the roads during winter. If you don't wash it off, it corrodes just about everything in sight...

Will be interesting to see how the Stealerships get around the hose pipe ban...

Its a residential ban... the stealerships are not affected...

No offence to all those pro-ban, but I think this is SERIOUSLY ridiculous! A pipe ban isn't going to stop garden affectionados from watering their lawn, if they paid to have it laid, they will try to keep it alive. Some will brave the law, others will fill tons of buckets (probably using more water than with a hose). Others will find ways around the law.

On a side note, yesterday I finished working on my bike, and realised I had spilt some gear oil on my drive. So I pop to halfords, get some oil cleaner and as per instructions, hose it off (I didn't know of the ban). No police came running... hmmm

 

[stats007]

Thats due to the salt on the roads during winter. If you don't wash it off, it corrodes just about everything in sight...

No it doesn't - that's a myth. Modern cars aren't affected in the slightest.

 

[Will]

On a side note, yesterday I finished working on my bike, and realised I had spilt some gear oil on my drive. So I pop to halfords, get some oil cleaner and as per instructions, hose it off (I didn't know of the ban). No police came running... hmmm

It only started today IIRC - think you might have got away with that one!

I hate washing cars without using hoses, can't stand swirl marks
As has been said, I can't help but feel that somewhere along the line it's been decided that it's easier and more profitable for water companies to leave the leaking pipes and just call a ban

Any idea how long we're looking at a ban for? October?

Will

 

[Doodle]

Trouble is , they don't interview everyone seperately or give them a form ...

a) how many buckets of water do you use to wash your car ?

b) could you do it more efficiently with a hose ?

etc etc ... its easier just to do a ban ...

Mmm, sadly. You can't rely on the populus to use their common sense....something along the lines of "never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups".