Car Washing eco style

[redyaris]

Where can I find one of those uninformed opinions? somewhere? anywhere? everywhere...?

[jakobnev]

Originally Posted by Arragonis

That bit is the killer, how much to boil a litre of water into steam ?

~2.3MJ or 0.63kwh or 0.017Ge⁽*⁾.

If you include heating from 20⁰C first:

~2.6MJ or 0.72kwh or 0.020Ge.

*⁾Gasoline gallon equivalents.

[gone-ot]

Originally Posted by User

Yay, some colour to uninformed opinions. If you think rain gets a car clean you obviously live in some fantasy land without trees or birds or insects.

...What? You expect Mother Nature to scrub the bird poo, tree sap, and bug guts off your car...for you?

...now, who obviously lives in some fantasy land without trees or birds or insects?

[euromodder]

Originally Posted by User

I've just finished my first wash of my car (it only gets them once a year) using a steam cleaner.

And now for the shocking bit, cleaning the entire exterior including the wheels, windows, and rails used under 1L of water (and a chunk of electricity). No chemicals, just water and a towel.

Steam is a rather clean way to clean, even when evaporating water takes a good bit of power - far more than to heat it up.

At work, we use steam on just about anything that'll take the heat, and it works rather well.
Right off the low pressure utility header that is, no perky steam machine in between as we make tons of steam every hour anyway.

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by User

If you think rain gets a car clean you obviously live in some fantasy land without trees or birds or insects.

But who needs a perfectly clean car, anyway? Rain washes off the accumulated dust &c, which is all I need.

[D.O.G.]

Originally Posted by User

Most people wash with hot water to start with, so it cant be too far off.

I don't remember ever having washed a car using hot water.

Like Frank Lee, I usually wait for light rain, then, use car washing detergent and cold water in a bucket with a liberal dollop of elbow grease.

I might use a high pressure washer for the brake dust on the front wheels if I had one, but I don't and a good brush works OK anyway.