Mark Ellis is a second generation carwasher who currently operates five conveyor carwashes (Southland Auto Wash) with full-serve, detail and express offerings in and around Grand Rapids, MI. With the great lakes, Michigan may seem far removed from the issue of drought, but in the summer of 2008, at least 46 Michigan counties were affected in some degree by a drought that swept through the state.

According to data from the Michigan Department of Agriculture, the state was also affected by heavy rain, flooding and considerable frost/freeze; a virtual trifecta of poor carwashing conditions.

But Ellis kept his head up. Thanks to efficient water management, he is able to keep operational costs to a minimum and process high volumes during good wash weather. These best practices have helped him maintain and grow a healthy business even when the chips were down.

Ellis practices water management at all five of his locations, but we will focus on his fourth site, Southland Auto Wash near Woodland Mall, in Grand Rapids Michigan, as a case study. He purchased the 37-year-old carwash in 2005, after it had been blown up when “a little old lady ran into the gas meter.” As Ellis explained, no one was hurt, but the building was leveled. He purchased what was left — the property and foundation — and built a similar-sized but ultra modern carwash in its place.

In addition to its water management system, the Woodland site features skylights the length of building, a galvanized metal roof, high-efficiency boiler, variable frequency drives, and three automated tellers which utilize RFID readers and fast pass technology.

The 180’ conveyor has a trench designed to self clean and drain into a two stage sand/settling pit with adjustable height sanitary sewer overflow. Ellis said 98 percent of the sand and solids settle into the first two pits and are then pumped out by a sewer cleaning vac-truck twice a year. The two pits also use a turned-down flow through pipe which forces oils to stay in the pit, thus accomplishing the task of an oil separator as well. Any built-up oil can be skimmed off the top of these pit sections and the water then flows into a series of three 2-compartment septic tanks.

“This creates essentially six more compartments for the water to settle out any solids and stop moving quickly,” Ellis explained. The wash then relies on an AquaChem reclaim system to pump out of the last tank with a 10-hp pump. It doesn’t use an intake screen, but instead pumps directly through a pair of hydro-cyclones which take out remaining solids bigger than 12-15 microns. Those solids are then returned through a drain line to the conveyor trench.

Upon leaving the cyclones, the water is routed through an advanced oxidation chamber, where it is treated with a combination of ozone gas and an oxidizing chemical treatment. “This process removes the chemistry from the water,” Ellis said, “which ultimately keeps bio-degradation from taking place inside the pipes.” By removing the chemistry, Ellis is able to filter and use over 200 gallons per minute with no residual odor and very good water clarity.

The Woodland site utilizes a high pressure washing system which requires between 150-175 gallons per minute of the reclaimed water to wash a vehicle. The nozzles are “very well directed and effective,” Ellis said, and follow the entire vehicle, from the door handles down, including a following wheel washer and side/corner blasters to penetrate ice and snow in the wheel wells and on the lower body. These nozzles are also directed at the nose through the rear license plate, front, back and top of the vehicle.

Using high pressure sensing technology, the wash provides three pressure settles for each pump. This allows Ellis to offer his customers with a pinstriped car or convertible top a gentle cleaning, yet also aggressively clean an icy, snowy or muddy car. The pumps for this system are directly fed with reclaim water and plumbed through a gravity check valve so that if the reclaim system loses pressure, a reserve system holding city water automatically takes over.

The high pressure rinsing system is just prior to the last mitter. It is fed from a tank which captures the reject water from the reverse osmosis system and produces water for a spot-free final rinse. The reject water from RO production is saved for reuse along with the reject water from the RO carbon filter system backwash; this tank is also backed up by city water in case the volume can’t keep up on a production day.

In addition to these water efficiencies, Southland Auto Wash also uses reclaimed water for sprinkling its landscaping. The sprinkler system is run during business hours so it can add water back in, otherwise the system would empty the tanks.

City water is used for chemical applications, drying agent and spot-free rinse. Ellis reclaims 80-85 percent of the wash’s water for at least a second use — and in some cases a third pass. “We believe that this is good stewardship of the natural resources, even though we live in Michigan where water is plentiful,” Ellis explained. “Generally speaking, we see a two-year payoff in direct water and sewer savings in our reclaim system investments.”