What the perfect size of tank for a fleet washing business

I’m not too familiar with fleet washing and will like to know what to expect so I don’t run into problems.
For those who been in the business for a long time or have some experience I will like to know how much water do y’all usually use to wash a single truck and what is the best techniques to a get a great result…And my last question is, how much water do y’all bring to a job site to wash their fleets?

How many gpm is your pressure washer? Look at it like this. If you’re putting out 4gpm then 240 gal will allow you to run your machine for a continuous hour. How much water you’ll need depends on what you’re washing and how long each vehicle takes you. If you have your machine already try washing a few friends cars Syu you cab fee an idea of how long it takes you and go from there.
Say each vehicle takes you 1-3 min. Then you’ll need 4-12 gal per vehicle.

Hope that helps

Thank you clean1 for you response. I don’t have a pressure washer yea but I’m planning on getting one that can push 4 GPM and at least a 300 gallon take. I wanna wash cars and truck so I’m debating if I should get a hot or cold pressure washer.
I’m more familiar with washing cars and had a chance to wash a few boom truck here and there and they took me between 10 to 15 min each.
I will like to know how you guys come up with your price when you wash a fleet of truck.

I use a hot water machine, 4.8 gpm,3500 psi. I two step whenever I can to save time and no brushing. On high dollar rigs, you’ll have use good quality soap,non caustic. As for the tank size. 300 gallon minimum. You’ll go through at least 200 for 1 truck. I just use there spigot so I don’t have to tote water. I also do mostly owner operator’s with less than 15 trucks n trailers. $90 dollar minimum. . You have to have a hot water machine to compete. You’re dealing with grease n oily trucks

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Interesting to see someone doing the more high dollar stuff. I’m always chasing the big clients that just want an affordable quick wash. My biggest client has 70 trucks and 70 trailers. 2nd biggest has 20 and 20. About to get my 2nd 8gpm 3500 hydrotek unit setup on my new trailer and then we’ll really be going. That’s a lot of water though. We can do 2.5 trucks on 125 gallons.

Yeah we did alot. I haven’t used a buffer tank in over a year. So my water consumption is probably closer to yours by now,a lil higher . Used to take an hour and a half to wash a high dollar truck. Now we are down to around 45 minutes. The high end trucks chose us to be honest. We also have a polishing shop. So only owner operators and small fleet guys are willing to pay for that service. So now we wash and polish the same small fleets and owner opps every week,quarterly polish . I’d love to see you’re 8gpm rig set up.I’ve been dreaming of one,cuts the rinsing down big time I’m assuming. I’m around 5gpm. I’ve heard great things about Hydrotek. The only reason I stick with Hotsy is because of their support and parts team about 2 hrs away. I live in a very,very rual area in Arkansas. An hour to get to a walmart, 3 hrs toLittle Rock to get acid and brown soap to save on shipping… I use the Internet to get my good quality non caustic soaps, cheater waxes and degreasers in dry bulk through Envirospec because of free shipping and the price. You use Hydro chem if I recall ,M37 and film fighter. Heard great things. I’ve seen you’re pictures of the tanker you two stepped. Awesome looking. I’m assuming that M37 is phosphoric acid ? Looks awfully shiny to be HF.

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This is one of rigs we wash and polish. Time consuming as heck,but it pays pretty decent and we enjoy the end result after a hard day.