Hi All,
I am new to fleet washing, we do a fair amount of sidewalks and driveways but no trucks. Well today i just recieved info that we won a 120 fuel oil truck contract. I dont have the slittest idea how to do this kind of work so any info that you could help out with would be great. For eqiuptment we have a 5.5gl 3500psi hot water washed 100gl tank and trailor.

Regards
Kent

Hello Mr Spiffy,

If you don't know how to do fleets how did you figure out a price for this new customer of yours?

Are you going to pick up and treat the water? Since the fleet is fuel trucks, will you be able to run your boiler/burner where ever your going to clean this equipment? Are you expected to clean/degrease the inside of the compartments that have hose reels and meters?

Dave Olson

Tidy Powerwash Service, Inc. P.O. Box 781, Catlin, Illinois 61817 Phone 217-427-5557, Fax 217-427-2632 We are a commercial cleaning contractor serving East-Central Illinois and West Central Indiana since 1984. http://www.tps-inc.com

Hi Dave,
Thanks for your reply, I am charging them the same as there previous pw company 25 a truck. We will be picking up the water i have the equiptment to do so. And yes we have to clean the reel areas out. I am not sure as to how to wash the trucks in a proper fashion. As to pre soak or not, to apply with a sure flo, or down stream or up stream or foam, do i need to brush or not and so on. Any info that you could lend would be great.

Regards
kent

$25 per truck with reclaim filled with oil/fuel, your crazy, but if you like being crazy we would need to know if the trucks are alum,painted,polished alum, ect...Where do you get rid of your water and do they test it once a year or every time?
you should research the whole fleet wash area on this site. There are as meny ways to wash as fingers on both your hands. You need to match eqipment,manpower,speed,chem.cost,and quality of work at $25 per truck you need
1 man and min. of 3 per hour more like 4 with reclaim just to make a buck or your better off finding something better. just my 2 cents worth.
Also with reclaim you want to wash with min. of water so presoak, brush and rinse is what i would do, but thats 2 guys and 6 per hour min. no degreasing,no alum brightner, no battery wash for reclaim or it will test haz. Wash them 1 time and send sample to get tested and make sure you can dump it, where you dump it.
at $25 per truck i would use a simple good quality truck wash and thats about it. I hope you get to wash once a week or at least every 2 weeks or it wont be worth it at all. Dirty trucks take longer to wash and more water and chem. good luck

The more you learn the more you earn! Thanks to everyone for their help.
My motto '' Do it right or dont do it.''

The biggest problem that you are going to encounter is the soaps that you are going to use. The recycle thing, if you have the proper setup, is no biggy. IN MY OPINION, the guys that say it costs a ton of money don't do it, because they don't have the right equipment to do the work. You will want to make sure that you dispose of the wash water correctly.
As for technique, yes there are a lot of different ways to do the work. You will definitely want to let the soap presoak the trucks to loosen up the grease. A brush will work wonders on breaking the surface tension of the dirt to loosen it up.
As for the $25 dollar thing, it seems perfectly reasonable to me as a price. In fact, if we had fuel oil trucks in my area, that would almost be high, but if they are willing to pay it, then so be it.

Scott

SUPPORT OUR TROOPS

Bus. Phone 480-834-3434
Cell Phone 602-509-9741

HI Ron,

All the trucks are painted, and the reclaim is easy for us to get rid of. All the trucks will be washed bi weekly. I was thinking of useing Simmonize big rig wash. Thanks for the responce.

Regards
kent

HI scott,
Thanks for the responce, in your oppion what will be the best way of doing this. I was thinking of useing Simmonize Big rig wash as that i what i can get locally. Also the reclame thing is no biggy. As far as presoak what would i do just spray a little on and wait for a littel while??Should i sue a hand can or a sure flo. Or inject down stream??

Regards
kent

if reclaim is no problem then look up 2 stepping in the search area
if you learn 2 stepping you will only have to brush about 10%of the time
its spray acid[down stream] then hot soap [upstream] then rinse
use a dual lance and add wax to the rinse water. You can use PHOSPHERIC[PH] OR HYDROFLORIC ACID [HF] If you go the HF way learn all about it first[it is very dangerous stuff]
PH is much safer but also learn about it.

The more you learn the more you earn! Thanks to everyone for their help.
My motto '' Do it right or dont do it.''