I hope some of you have some experience here, Im planning to use 2 x 80 gal (2x300L) water tanks. I get them at a decent price of 60$ish a price from a baker factory that use it once.
Planning to use 2 tanks to reduce water moving when driving, and plan to add water drainage pipe inside of the tanks for better stability. Another benefit is that I could use one tank as needed to fill RO water for window cleaning, and the other for PW. Or even use on demand what is needed. PW Honda IGX700/8gpm.
For SH, Im planning to use a 55 gallon tank? Too much perhaps?
Weight capacity on the van is total of 2200 lbs (1 ton).
Im seeing people drawing water from the bottom with the IBC connector at the bottom, and Im seeing people installing drop tubes. Is there any positives with installing drop tubes rather?
My first initial thought was to just use the IBC connector at the bottom and serial connect them there, perhaps make a pipe between the tanks on top to equalise the water better? Sounds good or stupid?
I even thought about installing the PW on top of the IBC tank, for smart usage of space in the back of the van, any experience of using a similar setup like this?
If you do much window cleaning to speak of, I would definitely reserve one tank for RO/DI water most of the time. It is so handy having an on-board 12v system for the wfp, that doesn’t rely on the customer’s water.
I have two 55 gallon tanks plumbed together with shutoff valves, so I have the option to pull from either tank with the pressure washer. If I have a job with slow water, and no window cleaning, I can open both valves to make for one bigger buffer tank. I just make sure and rinse the pure water tank out really well afterwards.
I think I have some pics in my Truck Norris build thread.
The IBC tote fittings can be a pain to find appropriate adapters for (at least in this part of the world). I would just install new bulkheads with the size thread you want. Put an elbow on the backside to pull closer to the bottom of the tank.
As far as where to pull from on the tanks, generally speaking the lower, the better. Drop tubes are typically used for chemical, since the bulkheads will all start to leak at some point if they’re submerged in bleach.
You might also use drop tubes if you’re using a proportioning system, so you have comparable plumbing on both the water and bleach sides of the proportioner intake.
55 gallons for the bleach tank would be a good size if you’re washing roofs, or running a 2 person crew or more. Working solo, and not touching roofs, I find 20 gallons to be adequate. That will get me through a very full day of washing with the down-streamer.
35-40 ppm from my tap at home. I hate to do it, but I’d rather use a tiny bit more resin than wait around on water any longer than necessary.
Edited to add: every once in a great while, I run a well dry. Using what I’ve got in the pure water tank is my only option in that instance to get chemical off the siding and landscaping. So I treat it as sort of a “reserve tank”- I don’t - plan on using it, but it’s there if I need it.
