Looks like our area is going to be faced with a Drought Order very soon. It looks like a total ban on the use of water for a wide range of activites including car washing.
I have been thinking about how to get round this, having just brought my new car (first new car). Possible options are driving out of the area to use a jet wash, or washing in the small hours!
They do say except for reasons of safety and hygiene, I have e-mailed them to clarify this.
The order should apply to everyone including hand car washes, valeters and dealers.
james
|
The order should apply to everyone including hand car washes, valeters and dealers.
your having a laugh?yes? would you buy a dirty car then?or would you like everyone to go bust?by the way most of us have metered water these days you run the tap you pay for it........
--
\"a little man in a big world/\"
|
by the way most of us have metered water these days you run the tap you pay for it........
And what, when the day comes and the water runs out?
Seriously however I agree to the extent that you can't restrict all water users in the vehicle sector.
As a private car owner my priority would be to get rid of dirt/mud from under wheel arches and salt film from under the car. And you can't do this with a bucket and sponge, so ....
Oz (as was)
|
Cars don't *need* washing - they get to a certain level of muckyness and then don't get any dirtier.
Last time we had a carwash ban, I thought the best thing about it was my neighbours frustration! He works away, but when he's home he washes his car *every* morning - he did it in the snow a couple of weeks ago!! During the car wash ban he didn't know what to do with himself. When I cleaned the lights and windows for safety reasons he complained that I also washed the bonnet!!!
|
|
|
|
The order should apply to everyone including hand car washes, valeters and dealers.
Perhaps they use a product like this instead?
www.go-waterless.co.uk/
Plenty more if you google ""dry car wash" on a uk search.
|
So in the droughted south once can't use ones washer jets? Washing glass should be allowed as it is a safety issue to have windows and windscreens you can't see out of properly. Ditto mirrors. If you can wash your glass then the same bucket of water could be used for washing the rest of the car sparingly.
Can one charge the imposer of the drought order for rust repairs if your car has to stay mucky?
As a northerner that is not in the over populated, over priced and dried out South I am smirking. I shall be posting pictures of my car washing activities.
How much are the southern water companies being fined for every litre of water that leaks out of their pipework? Once they have 100% leak free pipework then it would then seem fair to impose daft measures such as this.
Where will it all end. Will they charge fat people more for their water as they have a greater acreage to keep clean (they also seem to sweat more thus further increasing the soap and water consumption)? :-)
teabelly
|
The reason the pipes leak so much in the south is that they are so old. You don't have that problem in the north, as you only got running water 20 years ago.
Chris M
|
We have a drought down south because we shower and have baths.
In the last water restrictions, no hosepipes and all the car washes were closed. Cars got dirty. No problem.
------------------------------
TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
|
|
|
|
I'm sure that washing your lights and plates will not be an issue. Bit of a problem for car sales though, "yes sir the dead flies and the grime come at no extra cost....."
Amazing isn't it, 4th (or is it 5th now?) biggest economy and an island and we run out of water. Look what an ostracised third world country can do:
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4814988.stm
|
Water will never run out. You use it, it goes into the ground or evaporates and appears as rain again. You can't destroy water.
The problem is you can end up with it all in the wrong places.
|
The UK's annual rainfall is perfectly adequate to supply all its needs but, unfortunately, the will isn't there to get it from one area of the country to another.
Scotland, in particular, and Wales for instance "enjoy" plenty of rain - if it was oil there would be no hesitation in piping it all over the country...:-)
Although there haven't been restrictions in my part of the country for many years, I still managed quite successfully to wash my car with one big bucket of water and a little shampoo - it's even better done just before it rains as it saves me the job of rinsing it off and leaves a streak free finish (we have a hard water supply).
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
|
The UK's annual rainfall is perfectly adequate to supply all its needs but, unfortunately, the will isn't there to get it from one area of the country to another. Scotland, in particular, and Wales for instance "enjoy" plenty of rain - if it was oil there would be no hesitation in piping it all over the country...:-)
Whoah there. Remember what the South did with our coal? Let's make sure we charge them a proper rate for our water. If they want fancy luxuries like showers and baths then there's a price ;-)
I wash the car with rain water collected in a barrel from my roof.
|
"I wash the car with rain water collected in a barrel from my roof."
Would that be the roof of the shoebox in t'gutter?
Chris M
|
|
|
|
|
just wait when we're all on meters, then you'll see adverts every night saying don't forget to wash your car tonight.
|
just wait when we're all on meters, then you'll see adverts every night saying don't forget to wash your car tonight.
Have been on metered water for nine years now. It is the best thing we did. At the time I was paying just under £300 p.a based on rateable value. After the changeover we were just paying £140 per year but unfortunately, like everything else, prices have risen and we're now paying about £200 per year - Goodness knows what that would equate to, based on the 'old' rateable value system, had we still had the latter.
I must remember to get the patio etc. all pressure cleaned before the ban starts, in our area, in April.
|
Don't worry, I bet one of the first announcements made by new Chinese owners will be that there is now enough water for everyone and the camrades will save gardens of England to the cheers of the crowd. ;)
--------------------
[Nissan dCi are NOT Renault engines. Grrr...]
|
The UK's annual rainfall is perfectly adequate to supply all its needs but, unfortunately, the will isn't there to get it from one area of the country to another.
There was a proposal to use canals to ship the water around, but little government interest in the investment.
|
On central news last night they showed some loopholes in the hosepipe ban.
IIRC,
A hosepipe cannot be used to water the garden / lawn.
A hosepipe can be used to wash down the patio area.
A hosepipe can be used to wash your dog whilst stood on the garden / lawn.
A hosepipe can be used to fill water cans, which in turn can be used to water the garden / lawn.
Bonkers or what?
Anyway, turning this back to motoring, it appears that you can use a hosepipe to fill up a bucket and in turn wash your car with the water from it.
www.thames-water.com/UK/region/en_gb/content/FAQ/F...p
eg,
Q. Can I wash my car using a hosepipe?
A. No, the ban restricts the washing of private motorcars with hosepipes.
N.B. You may still use a bucket.
Q. Can I use a short length of hosepipe to fill containers?
A. Yes, if to fill a container, e.g. watering can or bucket.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Alternately, place your dog on top of the car, then you can use a hosepipe ;o)
|
How about stick the hosepipe up you dogs bum and use it as the brush?
------------------------------
TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
|
How about stick the hosepipe up you dogs bum and use it as the brush? ------------------------------
LOL! Best use for a dog IMO
|
|
|
|
Sometime in the 70s when there was a huge shortfall of water in some areas there was great plans to cure the problem.
Apparently there is plenty but in the wrong places. I remember watching endless programs of how this was to be done. Engineers and surveyors told us how rivers would be used, and culverts would transfer water from such as the lake district and the problem would be resolved for ever. Unless my memory fails me we even had a Minister of Water appointed who was going to put these plans into action.
The following year water was back to normal and these great schemes were forgotten.
|
Trouble is we get a drought of this intensity perhaps every ten or fifteen years. In my lifetime 75/6, 90/91 and now 05/06.
Hosepipes been banned and car wahes shut each time, but nobody has died. Standpipes were threatened in 76 but never implemented. Aginst that background the investment required to bring water from say Kielder or Scotland to the south of England simply does not pass any rational test.
|
|
|
We are an island surrounded by water and in the middle of winter they propose a hosepipe ban. What a shambles this country has got in to.
I don't suppose that you can wash your car while smoking.
It was Denis Howell who was the minister of drought in the 70's, he was an ex football referee.
|
|
Why not build a wide canal and use it to transport goods on barges? It would clear some of the traffic off the roads, and move water from one part of the country to the other.
|
|
|
Great thinking Quizman. Its been on my mind all afternoon that the Minister had something to do with football at one time.
Thought of all the old Managers with no success.
And I remember that as soon as he was appointed it began raining and never stopped....Great laughs when he appeared on TV interviews being asked how he had done it..
but seriosly the forecasted scenario is that we are likely to see more of this in the future. To give us a national grid for the water system would be sensible forward planning which is what we lack in many areas.
The nuclear power stations are in their last throes with no decision yet made as to the alternatives. Roads are gridlocked with no prospect of change. A water transfer system would be a straight forward engineering project similar to the North sea gas distribution of many years ago.
|
>>A water transfer system would be a straight forward engineering project similar to the North sea gas distribution of many years ago.
If the water companies had done as they were hinting about many years ago and replaced all the old pipes with new,and done it rather than talk about it.
maybe we could all wash our cars down without fear of drought, they are all talk and no do
--
Steve
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
