Bob Eager wrote:
manatbandq wrote:
David W.E. Roberts wrote:
My plans to power wash the flags at the back of my Berkshire property have
been thwarted by the hosepipe ban.

I heard on the radio that you can actually use a hosepipe and as much
water as you like to clean your patio, but not to water the garden or
wash the car. It was a "isn't this ban stupid" type stories.

Rules vary with water company.

No they don't. Water companies do not make the law.

In uk.d-i-y John wrote:
In article ,
"Christian McArdle" wrote:

So is it feasible to put a pump in a rain water butt to feed water to the
power washer?

Mine worked just fine from a bucket. Used water surprisingly slowly, too.

Eh? So are you saying that they suck water - they don't require any
pressure [at the input end]?

YPWMV.
Mine says explicitly "will not suck water from a water butt".
Now, if it means that it requires a positive head by this, ...

I have however run it from ~50m of hosepipe, connected to a hot water
tank maybe 1.5m above where I was working.

It claims 360l/hour, which'd work out to 6l/min, or 100ml/s.
On actually measuring the output into a bucket, I get more like 60% of
this.

"Chris Bacon" wrote in message
...
Bob Eager wrote:
manatbandq wrote:
David W.E. Roberts wrote:
My plans to power wash the flags at the back of my Berkshire property
have
been thwarted by the hosepipe ban.

I heard on the radio that you can actually use a hosepipe and as much
water as you like to clean your patio, but not to water the garden or
wash the car. It was a "isn't this ban stupid" type stories.

Rules vary with water company.

No they don't. Water companies do not make the law.


Nope.

So long as they don't exceed the powers granted to them by the
privatisiation
legislation, they're as allowed to be as selective as they wish, in which
particular
provisions they choose to enact.

They'll want to balance any possible savings againt the possible public
relations
cost, when deciding on any particular measure.

The possibility of a campaign encouraging water customers to withhold or
delay
payment etc. won't be entirely absent from their minds for a start. As it
is, the
water companies, many foreign owned, have a disastrous PR image.


michael adams

....

michael adams wrote:
"Chris Bacon" wrote...
Water companies do not make the law.

Nope.

So long as they don't exceed the powers granted to them by the
privatisiation
legislation, they're as allowed to be as selective as they wish, in which
particular
provisions they choose to enact.

As far as I know the only things that are banned are washing the
car with a hosepipe, and watering the garden. If you've a pointer
to a legal resource that says different, I'd like to read it, for
interest.

"Chris Bacon" wrote in message
...
michael adams wrote:
"Chris Bacon" wrote...
Water companies do not make the law.

Nope.

So long as they don't exceed the powers granted to them by the
privatisiation
legislation, they're as allowed to be as selective as they wish, in
which
particular
provisions they choose to enact.

As far as I know the only things that are banned are washing the
car with a hosepipe, and watering the garden. If you've a pointer
to a legal resource that says different, I'd like to read it, for
interest.


Right now under the 1999 legistlation Water Companies can apply to
introduce compulsory water metering to restrict demand. And at least
one - Dover if not more, has already done so. If things got really bad
Water Companies are empowered to cut off domestic supplies altogether
and install stand pipes. If there was any evidence that the use of
hosepipes for supposedly innocent use was being abused, there's no doubt
whatsover that the use of all hosepipes would be banned forthwith.
And that such an eventuality was anticipated in the legislation,
by a catch-all clause if nowhere else.

michael adams

....



I charge £45 per hour for documentation searches, with a minimum
charge of £50.

wrote:
According to Karcher http://www.karcheruk.co.uk/news.php and Hozelock
http://www.hozelock.com/HoseRestrictions-faq.htm using a pressure
washer is OK, except for washing a car.

googling "hosepipe ban pressure washer" does, however, throw up other
links implying that pressure washers are not allowed.

MBQ


Following from www.3valleys.co.uk (W London water suppliers)
quote
Q. Why are you banning washing of cars and watering of gardens when
people can still fill up pools and wash driveways?

A. When the water resources of a water company are at threat due to
long term drought they can take a number of actions to encourage
customers to reduce their water consumption. The first stage is a
hosepipe ban under the Water Industry Act 1991 (Section 76), which
prohibits the use of a hosepipe for watering of a private garden and
washing of a private car. This legislation was originally drafted in
1945 and does not cover many activities which are now part of modern
lifestyles eg. Jetwashes to wash patios/driveways, filling of swimming
pools, leisure pools and contribute to the fact that our customers now
use twice as much water as their grandparents did.

We agree about the anomaly and have already raised this issue with
government and our regulators with a view to encourage revision of the
existing legislation.
/quote

--
Adrian C

"Chris Bacon" wrote in message
...
michael adams wrote:
"Chris Bacon" wrote...
Water companies do not make the law.

Nope.

So long as they don't exceed the powers granted to them by the
privatisiation
legislation, they're as allowed to be as selective as they wish, in which
particular
provisions they choose to enact.

As far as I know the only things that are banned are washing the
car with a hosepipe, and watering the garden. If you've a pointer
to a legal resource that says different, I'd like to read it, for
interest.

What is banned depends on where you are and who provides your water. The
legislation covering drought orders provides for a range of measures to be
introduced, and depending on local circumstances individual water companies
may pick and choose the measures they impose, balancing the need to save
water with the need to minimise socio-economic disruption. The definitive
story on what you are, or aren't, allowed to do should be available on your
local water company website or look at
http://www.beatthedrought.com/aboutT...OnWaterUse.asp

If things get really bad the Water Resources Act 2003 allows almost total
control of water use in real emergencies, once we get to stand pipes in the
street. Before that point there is a long, and comprehensive, list of water
use that may be restricted, and it is quite likely that some parts of the
South East will have more than just a hose pipe ban this summer.

Andy

"Bob Eager" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 3 May 2006 10:15:46 UTC, Triple Jumper
wrote:

http://www.thameswater.co.uk/UK/regi...FAQ_000051.jsp

Washing flags is not explicitly banned, so you wouldn't be prosecuted.
It's a question of conscience.

Being true for Thames Water doesn't make it true for other water
companies, though.

The relevant Act only gives the Water Suppliers the power to prohibit the
use of hose pipes for watering of domestic gardens and for the washing of
private cars. They do not have the powers to impose greater restrictions,
until they get to the point where they have to limit supplies to standpipes
and/or tankers.

Colin Bignell

Christian McArdle wrote:
So is it feasible to put a pump in a rain water butt to feed water to the
power washer?

Mine worked just fine from a bucket. Used water surprisingly slowly, too.
Make sure the water is filtered, though. You don't want bits of leaves and
twig in the washer.

I was watching that "green" programme last night about that bloke who
can't afford a pair of scissors setting up a turbine to pump well water
to his roof from an open well.

It struck me as odd they never built up the adit to keep out surface
water and didn't seem to have a cover to stop windblown litter dropping
in.

No mention of a filter either. The occasional blip that might put a
little grit in the works is capable of playing havoc in the plumbing.
They'd onlly need a felt pad or somesuch in a collander.

John wrote:
In article ,
"Christian McArdle" wrote:


So is it feasible to put a pump in a rain water butt to feed water to the
power washer?

Mine worked just fine from a bucket. Used water surprisingly slowly, too.


Eh? So are you saying that they suck water - they don't require any
pressure [at the input end]?

I have a Karcher 411A and it sucks water up without any head of
pressure. It takes some seconds to get the water out of the lance
though, due to the slow rate of water use, but otherwise was fine.

Dave

Hi

On 3 May 2006 10:25:05 -0700, "Weatherlawyer"
wrote:


Christian McArdle wrote:
So is it feasible to put a pump in a rain water butt to feed water to the
power washer?

Mine worked just fine from a bucket. Used water surprisingly slowly, too.
Make sure the water is filtered, though. You don't want bits of leaves and
twig in the washer.

I was watching that "green" programme last night about that bloke who
can't afford a pair of scissors setting up a turbine to pump well water
to his roof from an open well.

I'm getting more dissilusioned with that program by the week - they're
doing some very strange things....

....like running 3 woodburning stoves and then fiddling about with an
air-to-air heat exchanger - rather than running one decent woodburning
stove with boiler & radiators to 'spread' the heat around


It struck me as odd they never built up the adit to keep out surface
water and didn't seem to have a cover to stop windblown litter dropping
in.

No mention of a filter either. The occasional blip that might put a
little grit in the works is capable of playing havoc in the plumbing.
They'd onlly need a felt pad or somesuch in a collander.

We use a well for all of our domestic water.
Before use it's passed through a cartridge-type grit filter, and then
a UV filter to kill off any bacteria. Not sure I'd want to do without
either of those (UV for the bugs and grit to keep the crud out of the
ball-valves, tap seats etc).

Having a little wind-genny to drive the pump is also all very well -
but the amount of power consumed by the pump must be pretty small - as
the genny wouldn't have been much more than 200 - 300watts.
OK - so it was all very good on camera - but whether it was
cost-effective.... dunno.....

We also heat our house by means of a woodburner / multifuel stove.
All very well having a nice big blazing bonfire for Guy Fawkes night -
but in this house that timber would have ended up in our woodburner -
either as kindling or as substitute logs.... - and you don't dry logs
by wrapping them up in a tarpaulin....

Ah well - I suppose it makes good telly..... g

Regards
Adrian
Suffolk UK




======return email munged=================
take out the papers and the trash to reply

David W.E. Roberts wrote:
Hi,

cross posted to gardening and DIY as probably relevant to both :-)

My plans to power wash the flags at the back of my Berkshire property
have been thwarted by the hosepipe ban.

As far as I can tell, power washers don't use that much water.

So is it feasible to put a pump in a rain water butt to feed water to
the power washer?

Has anyone tried this?

TIA

Dave R

I bought a power washer for that very purpose last year. Could still do it
with the ban in place, but won't. Back to a bucket, scrubbing brush, and
Jif. Oh, and some knee pads
--
ßôyþëtë

Andy McKenzie wrote:
What is banned depends on where you are and who provides your water. The
legislation covering drought orders provides for a range of measures to be
introduced, and depending on local circumstances individual water companies
may pick and choose the measures they impose, balancing the need to save
water with the need to minimise socio-economic disruption.

Yup. At the moment in various places (Dover excepted?) we've
only got a "hosepipe ban". As far as I know, this means you
can still clean your "patio" with a pressure washed. Y/n?

On Wed, 3 May 2006 20:09:50 UTC, Stan The Man wrote:

No they don't. All water compnaies have to abide by the law which is
the Temporary Hosepipe Ban provision in Section 76 of the Water
Industry Act 1991. Using a hosepipe from the mains to drive a pressure
washer for any non-vehicle cleaning purpose is legitimate under a
"hosepipe ban" and none of the water companies say otherwise

My water company is saying otherwise, at least by omission. And they
call it a 'Total Hosepipe Ban'!

nor can they.

That's useful to know. I checked on their web pages a while ago, and the
headline pages say 'you can't use a hosepipe'. The FAQ mentions nothing
about other usage. I dug deeper and found a copy of the actual
restriction order, and it's as you say.

Thanks.

--
The information contained in this post is copyright the
poster, and specifically may not be published in, or used by
Avenue Supplies, http://avenuesupplies.co.uk

David W.E. Roberts wrote:
Hi,

cross posted to gardening and DIY as probably relevant to both :-)

My plans to power wash the flags at the back of my Berkshire property
have been thwarted by the hosepipe ban.

As far as I can tell, power washers don't use that much water.

So is it feasible to put a pump in a rain water butt to feed water to
the power washer?

Most power washers will suck water from the same level easily. You would
need an in line filter if there is any muck in the butt.

Pumping would work, but you need to keep the pump pressure low. Anything
over 10 bar will goose the inlet valves.


--
Dave
The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk
01634 717930
07850 597257