25 May 2009

You can wash your motorbike, but not your car??

| johnboy
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ACTEW have recently listed car washing as a “hot topic” on their website. After a poke around the linked page I found this text, not sure how recent it is, but certainly new information to me:

    No washing of any vehicle except at a commercial car wash that recycles water and holds an exemption allowing use of potable water. Boat motors may be flushed or rinsed after use.

    A general exemption exists for using water to wash a vehicle’s windows, mirrors or lights, and for spot removal of corrosive substances, and then only with a bucket or watering can filled directly from a tap (not by means of a hose).

    Under a general exemption motorcycles can be cleaned ONCE per month, and then only with a bucket or watering can filled directly from a tap (not by means of a hose).

So why are motorcycles so lucky?

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Ags said :

Pommy Bastard-What do you mean by “wash your motorbike”? Why would you do that?

You should shower every day too!!!!!!!

…. whether you need to or not.

My car is fairly clean, it lives outside and only gets a bit dusty in prolongued dry periods. It can’t go through the automated wash either, that’s my excuse.

harleys shouldn’t be treated as ‘motor bikes’ for this purpose, but. or any purpose, really.

otherwise, motorbikes are cool +6 [or whatever we’re up to by now]

nota said :

Because plants consume CO2 and your car creates it.

Because maintaining my car consumes less CO2 than by having to repair or replace it.

I find it odd that most people obey water restrictions anyway, regardless of what they say blah de blah bla.

Most of us are required to obey the law. But you’re obviously a special case.

Motorbikes rule 🙂

Pommy bastard6:06 pm 25 May 09

Ags said :

Pommy Bastard-What do you mean by “wash your motorbike”? Why would you do that?

You should shower every day too!!!!!!!

Now I know you’re kidding!

Steady Eddie said :

Because motorbikes are cool.

+4

nota said :

I’d love to know the ‘fair & equitable’ blah blahj

Because plants consume CO2 and your car creates it.

I find it odd that most people obey water restrictions anyway, regardless of what they say you can and can’t do.

Gungahlin Al4:34 pm 25 May 09

monomania said :

Gungahlin Al said :

Buy a rainwater tank and thumb your nose at water restrictions.

Even when it hasn’t rained for a month and if there is any water in your tank it came from the hose or through a valve on a pipe connected to the water supply.

Not true Mono (In our case anyway). We plumbed all our outdoor taps to the tank. And the whole roof is plumbed to the tank. So even a moderate fall refills it.

But that said, we’ve just emptied it for the first time – but only watering in hundreds of new plants has caused that – and that’s a once-off situation.

Sgt.Bungers said :

Buy a rainwater tank and thumb your nose at water restrictions.
__________

Even when it hasn’t rained for a month and if there is any water in your tank it came from the hose or through a valve on a pipe connected to the water supply.

I doubt that washing a car with a high pressure hose uses any more water than a 2-3 minute shower.
__________

When living in Canberra I would regularly wash my car and bike, on the lawn, during allocated watering times. I figured it would be fun for anyone to try to argue the logic of it being OK to stand around pouring water onto a lawn for up to 3 hours straight, but not OK to pour water onto some metal intermittently for 20 minutes, when that water then ran onto the same lawn. Me thinks that allowing this would have been unfair on people living in apartments?

In fact it used to take me about 5 minutes, despite the restricted flow of the pressure washer;

Similar to your apartment example, a rainwater tank isn’t feasible for renters like self, my place doesn’t even have guttering.

Hence I’m allowed to wash my Victa ,., but not my vehicle???

Trunking symbols4:22 pm 25 May 09

Steady Eddie said :

Because motorbikes are cool.

+2

I believe it’s a safety issue. Many drivers have trouble spotting motorcyclists as it is. By being shiny, they’re that tad easier to spot.

When living in Canberra I would regularly wash my car and bike, on the lawn, during allocated watering times. I figured it would be fun for anyone to try to argue the logic of it being OK to stand around pouring water onto a lawn for up to 3 hours straight, but not OK to pour water onto some metal intermittently for 20 minutes, when that water then ran onto the same lawn. Me thinks that allowing this would have been unfair on people living in apartments?

Gungahlin Al said :

Buy a rainwater tank and thumb your nose at water restrictions.

Even when it hasn’t rained for a month and if there is any water in your tank it came from the hose or through a valve on a pipe connected to the water supply.

I doubt that washing a car with a high pressure hose uses any more water than a 2-3 minute shower.

V twin venom4:07 pm 25 May 09

What Steady Eddie said!!

I wash the twin maybe every second month and use SFA water to do it. I do however, think it would be fair to allow all you tin top drivers to give your falcodores a scrub on the front lawn (if it is still alive) every now and then.

Do you want some crackers with your whine?

I’d love to know the ‘fair & equitable’ component behind car owners being required to fork out $20 or more to professional car washes when trying to maintain their asset .. yet garden owners are within their rights to let rip with all hoses blazing onto one single el-cheapo potted petunia etc (value $2) at token domestic water rates for 21 hours a week!

Fortunate indeed for the gardening enthusiasts – if that’s your ‘thing’.

Not very equitable to car enthusiasts, or simply for those who happen to value their expensive motor vehicle more than their flower bed.

Like others I do try to be Waterwise, choose not to own a sprinkler and in truth haven’t watered any garden anywhere in the last 30 years. Yet legally I can’t expend less than 10 literal minutes of water per fortnight, running from one solitary hose, to maintain my single most valuable asset?

Yes I already have one of those ‘eco-wise’ pressure washers, as do many Canberrans. And yes these days a good quality paintjob (vehicle respray) can cost around $5,000~$8,000 (!) although respraying is not the most ‘eco-friendly’ procedure, is it?

Btw don’t be fooled into thinking that the ‘hand wash’ mobs and all those ‘do it yourself’ outfits like Carlovers etc actually recycle their water, because by law they cannot – this fact according to the Car Wash Association of Aust. So every drop of their runoff goes wasted straight down the stormwater drain, which is a damn sight less waterwise than me washing a car on my lawn!

Finally, after spending the $20 or whatever exhorbitance on a mediocre job at a professional joint, plus fuel for the trip, how the hell can I apply protective polish or wax to the valuable paintwork of my car without scratching or grinding it, after said paintwork has being immediately tainted by dust & dirt from having driven it back home from the carwash?

[/whinge]

Pommy Bastard-What do you mean by “wash your motorbike”? Why would you do that?

You should shower every day too!!!!!!!

Joe Canberran3:00 pm 25 May 09

BenjaminL said :

Time to test out that wet weather gear and go through the automatic car wash on my bike…

I am so tempted to try that =) I’d have to be tipsy mind you which as i don’t go near the bike if I’ve even had a wiff of grog probably rules it out from happening…

You can’t use a high pressure hose (like those at DIY commercial car washes) on exposed engine and brake components. It’s fine in a car where the engine etc is covered up, but bikes don’t have that luxury.

I have always been a little worried about this, ever since pressure cleaning the engine on my car, and having to dry it out to get all the cylinders firing. But the bike seems to handle rain no worries…

Steady Eddie2:52 pm 25 May 09

Because motorbikes are cool.

Secret Squirrel2:10 pm 25 May 09

You can’t use a high pressure hose (like those at DIY commercial car washes) on exposed engine and brake components. It’s fine in a car where the engine etc is covered up, but bikes don’t have that luxury.

Pommy bastard2:05 pm 25 May 09

What do you mean by “wash your motorbike”? Why would you do that?

Time to test out that wet weather gear and go through the automatic car wash on my bike… Has anyone ever tried this? I’d be worried the laser guided spray would not see me and bonk me on the helmet or something.

Its not like bikes need a lot of water to clean, i mean the tank and faring on a bike would add up to… the bonnet on a family sedan?

I haven’t washed my bike since December and ride it almost everyday…

You grot

True. I think I might go wash it now. With a bucket of course.

Holden Caulfield12:48 pm 25 May 09

johnboy said :

Plenty of cars can’t go through the commercial car wash either.

What sort of car cannot go into a manual washing bay at a commercial car wash?

Presumably, if someone wants to wash their car at home manually, they are capable of doing so at a commercial wash.

That said, I’d love it if car washing at home was sanctioned on one weekend per month basis, or something similar.

p1 said :

I haven’t washed my bike since December and ride it almost everyday…

You grot

Gungahlin Al12:43 pm 25 May 09

Buy a rainwater tank and thumb your nose at water restrictions.

Maybe a push from the trail bike lobby. Can’t ride a unregistered trail bike to car lovers.

Although you can take it on the same trailer you use to take it out of town….

I haven’t washed my bike since December and ride it almost everyday…

No problem washing a motorbike at most commercial car washes, provided they’re the DIY type with the high pressure hand-held hose.

Plenty of cars can’t go through the commercial car wash either.

Because the bikies made them an offer they couldn’t refuse.

I’m guessing you’ve never tried to ride a motorbike through a commercial carwash.

It’s not new, it’s been a standard part of the restrictions since they were imposed.

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