Advice and considerations on setting my (small) van

[TillertheJohn]

I want you to consider your safety in the event of a wreck first. Through bolting through the floor and even tethering bolts under the vehicle if needed. I don't recommend wood, but solid welded angle iron brackets for stacking items.

You can try using small water tanks first, like the 30 gallon ones that your local carwash will give you to see how much you need one or the other.

Gotcha on the angle iron brackets and the safety factor. Thank you.

Not to ask a thousand questions but what do you mean carwashes will give me a 30 gallon water tank? Im not sure what you are referring to.

Assuming I buy or receive a tank from them it almost sounds like your suggesting 30 gal may or may not be big enough to collect wast water from a typical job of mine.

 

[Jim Davisson]

2 of my local carwashes have stacks of chem barrels they can't give away fast enough, if you ask you could probably get a couple for free to just try out temporarily. Your APO on a live reel into the customers yard (check out your local laws) is what I would use as much as possible. You are going to have a few jobs that you can't and a small auxiliary waste holding tank will be handy, but you won't be traveling with it full very far. You can use 20-50+ gallons on jobs, freshwater tanks are great for small jobs but not essential to have. Focus on setting up the APO and auto fill on live reels for speed on the job. The Mytee APO in the airhog doesn't need a garden hose and 3/8" airline will work fine and give you more on the reel, just keep that in mind.

 

[Ymetimme]

Also, one question I have been meaning to ask the group:

How many gallons of water is an average residential job?

Lets say you do 500 sq ft of carpet:

1000 sq ft:

20 gallons, 40 gallons, 60 gallons. I have NO idea.

Well that's a difficult question there's so many factors.
500sqft
For example if you're using a standard 2 jet wand with 03s on regularly soiled carpet so it has a traffic pattern that you can see. I typically go through and have to dump and fill a century 400 ninja which has 9 gallon tanks once.

But same wand same machine much dirtier carpet I may have to dump and fill the machine twice.

So what if you're using a rotovac now it even gets more complicated.

Just remember you went Waterhog Air Hog for its versatility you can always bring the stuff in set it up in a bathroom and just dumped in to the toilet don't overthink it.

So many guys when they're starting out stress out about every detail and the fact is you'll get out in the field and will be things that you never even considered that are even more critical

 

[TillertheJohn]

2 of my local carwashes have stacks of chem barrels they can't give away fast enough, if you ask you could probably get a couple for free to just try out temporarily. Your APO on a live reel into the customers yard (check out your local laws) is what I would use as much as possible. You are going to have a few jobs that you can't and a small auxiliary waste holding tank will be handy, but you won't be traveling with it full very far. You can use 20-50+ gallons on jobs, freshwater tanks are great for small jobs but not essential to have. Focus on setting up the APO and auto fill on live reels for speed on the job. The Mytee APO in the airhog doesn't need a garden hose and 3/8" airline will work fine and give you more on the reel, just keep that in mind.

More good stuff and thank you.

Surely you've noticed the opposing viewpoints on dumping into front yards even in this thread alone. Makes it concerning for me even though some say not to be concerned.

I would love to check my local laws. I have spent time searching the internet for how to verify this with little luck. Do you have suggestions on how I can verify my local laws?

Thank you.

 

[TillertheJohn]

OK, so here is what I am working with tentatively as far as layout.

Thank all you guys for the many suggestions and ideas.

Unfortunately, due to their height it doesn't look like I can stack the water/air hog in my van. Although I think moving forward their may be some opportunity to raise them with angle brackets to fit more stuff underneath. Im not sure at this point how I can pull that off but the wheels are turning.

You can see in the pictures I left out room for the vac hose reel. In theory I should be able to fit the Rokan V38-200 and bolt on a 17" reel as well for solution line and possibly a 2nd 17" reel for autofill. (still have to sort out how these could be live - might be easier than I think)

Im also hearing the steel braided hose might be useful for making the connection to the components in the van easier (with the turns and tighter spaces) such as the first 10-15ft to get outside the van from the vac pump out or at least as well as the autofill to the reel? I think one benefit aside from them making tight turns easier is they roll up smaller.

Also, I think the generator could work where it is now if I put a vent hose of some sort over the exhaust leading out the rear just to be cautious. I think I could also vent the diesel heater in some similar way out the side or rear door. However, I have been told if I burn kerosene in there (instead of diesel) it would burn much cleaner and therefore I'm holding out hope I may not even need to vent the diesel heater at all?

Anyway here is how things are looking now. At least Im feeling better about fitting the necessary stuff in there. (but no tanks!)

Now, I have to figure out some shelving for chems and other stuff. (air movers)

..to the pictures

 

[Anderson]

looks like you have plenty of room for a hose reel......

personally I woudnt worry about a waste tank....
just use your pumpout....

in texas most cities ....just run a black or grey water hose to the flowerbed or grass.....blends in .....

with a pupout you are only pumping about 1 gpm just trickle3s out not like dumping your tank.......

 

[Luky]

Oh no. How did you let the engine overheat?

The Astro I picked up is a 1 owner (maybe that doesn't mean anything) with 135K miles. Starts and runs strong. Passed inspection with no issues. No dents, and very clean and to me that is an indicator that suggests it was well cared for.

For some reason one of my biggest fears is the payload is going to blow a spring or something.

Other than that if I can get 2 years out of it I will be a happy camper.

Mine was 1997. I'll stop and talk to Astro's owners sometimes, I have seen some vans with over 300 K miles. Great engine, immense heat, smooth driving.
As far as overheating goes, it needed simple thermostat..
I got the van from young carpet cleaners with older portable and Tornado 175 and bunch of other stuff. Their goal was to get $2500 , exact amount and that's what they got. I was able to sell Tornado and portable( unfortunately don't remember the name) It was 3 motors setup with direct water feed option and APO, about 30 years old, 150 lb. Deserved to be on display in the museum. Also, came with one jet wand, iron cast head 13,5 lbs with a see trough 2" tube( all the way) .I wanted to keep it for showing off, but unfortunately wand fell on the ground and tube was gone.

 

[Jim Davisson]

Check out the rokan v49-200, same capacity and much narrower if it fits your van height.

 

[Ymetimme]

Years ago we used to have to use I openly admit it's not great you can get about a 100 feet on one

 

[Jim Davisson]

Here's a few swivel options for your live reels that may save you some money.
L to R from best to worst 3/8 mosmatic, 1/4 90° superswivel (with a zerk in place of the screw for lubing), straight 1/4 superswivel, 3/8 low pressure swivel commonly sold at your supplier.

The best one IMO is the mosmatic on Amazon for $38. The other ones are easy to rebuild with the affordable rebuild kits, but are lesser quality even if lubed regularly.

The whip lines from the reels to your equipment I personally would use a ball valve on each and brass garden hose QC's for the auto fill and APO for simple, quick, leak free on and off when you want to bring them inside. A little extra loot, but definitely worth it.

 

[Jim Davisson]

Here's some old pictures of the last up fit we did 2 years ago that may give you some ideas. The custom drip pan and raised TM bracket (for ease of maintenance) is 20 years old and is through bolted with one in the van frame for safety.

 

[TillertheJohn]

I might be able to fit the v49-200 if I run it out the side doors due to the ceiling arc that way. I just don't think it will fit out the rear like this setup because it measures right on 49" and id hate to have it not fit and have to ship it back.

Still an option I guess if I run it out the side but then other things must move..

 

[TillertheJohn]

Here's a few swivel options for your live reels that may save you some money.
L to R from best to worst 3/8 mosmatic, 1/4 90° superswivel (with a zerk in place of the screw for lubing), straight 1/4 superswivel, 3/8 low pressure swivel commonly sold at your supplier.
View attachment 84689

The best one IMO is the mosmatic on Amazon for $38. The other ones are easy to rebuild with the affordable rebuild kits, but are lesser quality even if lubed regularly.

The whip lines from the reels to your equipment I personally would use a ball valve on each and brass garden hose QC's for the auto fill and APO for simple, quick, leak free on and off when you want to bring them inside. A little extra loot, but definitely worth it.

Lots of info here. Goes to show how much Ive got to learn. I would of figured if you buy a live hose reel the swivel 'hardware' would come with it.

I suppose if you buy a live hose reel you get the reel and then have to find your swivel fitting as you describe above.

(talking through this) OK so I do live reel for Auto fill and live reel for auto pump out. Use ball valves to easily turn water off if I am going to use the water and/or air hog inside. Makes sense to have this ability.
The whip lines would be from the water hog auto fill (which comes stock as a female threaded garden hose adapter) to the hose reel and then obviously my hose would run to the customer water source (hose bib). I think you are suggesting re-plumb this to qc's which makes sense for ease of use. Is this a good place to use steel braided line vs. garden hose for better flexibility and smaller footprint?

Moving on to the live reel for auto pump out (which is currently the same female threaded garden hose adapter) I suppose again re-plumbing to qc's and using maybe solution line instead of garden hose because it has a smaller footprint if I've understood correctly.

I apologize for the wall of text as I try and process this. Hopefully I am grasping most of this.

Thanks for the support as I encounter all of this for the first time.

 

[TillertheJohn]

Here's some old pictures of the last up fit we did 2 years ago that may give you some ideas. The custom drip pan and raised TM bracket (for ease of maintenance) is 20 years old and is through bolted with one in the van frame for safety.
View attachment 84692
View attachment 84691

Nice and clean and lots and lots of room. Must be a full size van.

 

[DakotaG]

Saw this tonight at HD..might be good for mounting equipment on

 

[DakotaG]

Price

 

[Jim Davisson]

Lots of info here. Goes to show how much Ive got to learn. I would of figured if you buy a live hose reel the swivel 'hardware' would come with it.

I suppose if you buy a live hose reel you get the reel and then have to find your swivel fitting as you describe above.

(talking through this) OK so I do live reel for Auto fill and live reel for auto pump out. Use ball valves to easily turn water off if I am going to use the water and/or air hog inside. Makes sense to have this ability.
The whip lines would be from the water hog auto fill (which comes stock as a female threaded garden hose adapter) to the hose reel and then obviously my hose would run to the customer water source (hose bib). I think you are suggesting re-plumb this to qc's which makes sense for ease of use. Is this a good place to use steel braided line vs. garden hose for better flexibility and smaller footprint?

Moving on to the live reel for auto pump out (which is currently the same female threaded garden hose adapter) I suppose again re-plumbing to qc's and using maybe solution line instead of garden hose because it has a smaller footprint if I've understood correctly.

I apologize for the wall of text as I try and process this. Hopefully I am grasping most of this.

Thanks for the support as I encounter all of this for the first time.

Your whip lines can be just regular garden hose for the freshwater and good quality 3/8-1/2" airline for the APO since both will not see over 100 psi. Staying with garden hose for the freshwater line you can purchase valves and QC's that directly screw on and that saves money not changing genders. If your water hog has chemical injection, just put a $10 in line RV pressure regulator on there to, that way regardless of where you are the injection rate will always be the same.

 

[keep it clean]

Mama, you know that we are still in just one shirt day weather, but 3 shirts a day is coming!

3 shirts a day ughh. I know that hell. Jungle heat and humidity.

 

[Luky]

Check out the rokan v49-200, same capacity and much narrower if it fits your van height.

I don't think that 49" reel would fit in Astro. Floor to ceiling clearance is about 43-45". I wish I was wrong, unless you guys are talking about different van and I got " lost in translation "

 

[TillertheJohn]

A cleaning van is always wet lol the floor is coated in white durabak marine coating and the anti fatigue mats are removable, super handy to pull one for working on something next to/under the van too.

Honestly, in the Long haul you will need to have a waste tank more than a freshwater tank. Having vertical square tanks for both would be ideal. I can solidly recommend this tank outfitted with float for auto filling the freshwater tank.
View attachment 84637

REVISITING OLDER THREAD...
...because winter is coming in PA I need to be able to run jobs without worrying about water access as well as commercial jobs that I want to collect waste water in tank in interest of time and/or not having to run pump out hose inside or outside in winter...

So I happened to get my hands on a very small 4x6 enclosed trailer....thinking of the ideas above I'm starting to think maybe I can put my generator in there as well as a couple water tanks....

Regarding the fresh tank - would the gravity and weight of the water in the tank be sufficient to feed the water hog in my van which would (I think) have an upward flow from the fresh tank in my trailer?

Regarding the dump tank (pump out tank) - anyone know of a way to plumb the fiberglass? (Kristi mini trailer) trailer with plywood inside walls so that I can possibly get to job, have set length of hose (maybe 10') on QC to pop onto plumbed trailer fittings? Idea would be so the fittings would be coming out of the trailer but done well enough so they are tightly sealed keeping the water tightness fo the trailer in tact. Is this making sense to anyone out there?

Other notes: The trailer is small enough where I just might be able to get away with it and largely avoid the hassle factor of pulling a trailer. The Astro is small too so my overall footprint stays on the small side..

Other ideas? Think this can work?

Then, maybe have a small space heater maybe hooked up to a 12v battery in the trailer to avoid freezing while transporting to job...if necessary. Pie in the sky or realistic thoughts here?

Thank you!