The Town of Milton has grown faster than expected and the current Operation Centre facilities and add-on space acquired to handle the overflow has become inefficient and too costly to manage, therefore, leading to a new site to house all operations at one facility with room for growth. This new site will include a dedicated area for vehicle washing. The design build of a new facility allowed for open discussion and investigation on opportunities to improve how vehicles were washed. Traditionally vehicles have been washed manually with a pressure washer.

CONCERNS

Getting vehicles clean, extending life of vehicles, reduce cost of cleaning, improve efficiency of vehicle cleaning, environment considerations — reduce/reuse water wherever possible.

An evaluation of requirements determined that vehicle sizes varied greatly, from lawn mowers to graders to snow plows. The time required to effectively wash vehicles ranged from 15 to 45 minutes. Outdoor washing meant conditions weren't always good and wash quality was impacted. Vehicle cleaning only included sides, front and rear of the vehicles. The underside, top and inside of salt truck boxes is a challenge to get clean and rarely with any form consistency. The life expectancy of vehicles is low and difficult to manage, and there is no environmental considerations in place with the current vehicle cleaning practices.

RECOMMENDATION

An automatic Drive-Thru vehicle wash system using recycled wash water that would allow for vehicles of all sizes and shapes to be washed in 2-3 minutes, cleaning all sides of the vehicle including the under chassis and doing so in a fraction of the time and cost per wash compared to when done manually.