Base wash facility
Central Vehicle Wash Facility for a Military Base
One engineered pad where every vehicle on the base is washed. A drive-through lane takes the heavy mud off first. Water cannons and high-pressure wash points, fed from one pump room, do the rest. A recycling plant keeps the water on site.
What a Central Vehicle Wash Facility Is
A central vehicle wash facility is the one place on a base where vehicles are washed when they come back from the field, before they go back into the vehicle park or the workshop. It replaces a hose at every unit's lines. So the water, the mud and the oil are caught in one place and treated in one place.
We build it from equipment we already make: high-pressure pumps and wash points, water cannons, under-chassis spray banks, wheel wash, control panels, and the sedimentation and separation skids behind them. The layout is designed around your fleet, your site and how many vehicles come back at once.
How a vehicle moves through it
Four Stops, in the Order a Vehicle Meets Them
Pre-Wash the Running Gear
A drive-through lane with an under-chassis spray bank in a floor channel takes the heavy mud off tracks, wheels and belly plates before the vehicle reaches a wash point.
Water Cannons for Packed Mud
High-volume cannons move packed mud fast on heavy and tracked vehicles. They are worked by hand, by remote joystick or on traversing trolleys. See the cannon systems.
High-Pressure Wash Points
Lances at up to 200 bar for running gear, recesses and anything a cannon cannot reach. Every wash point runs from one central pump room.
Water Back to the Pumps
Washings run to sedimentation tanks in series, then an oil–sludge separator or cyclone filter, and the cleaned water goes back to the pumps. How the recycling works.
One pump room, many wash points
Why the Wash Points Share One Pump Room
Most wash bays have a pump at every bay. A central pump room with a variable-speed drive feeds every wash point instead. That is more efficient, not just tidier.
- Sized for what the wash points draw together, not for every lance at once. That means a smaller connected load, cable and switchgear.
- One pump working in its best range. Splitting the work across many small pumps means many small motors, each with its own losses.
- No running at full power for nothing. A fixed-speed pump keeps running at full power every time a trigger is let go. A variable-speed drive slows down instead.
- One place to service. Pumps, filters and chemicals sit in one room, away from the mud and the spray.
What comes onto the pad
Designed for the Heaviest Vehicle on the Base
The pad, the ramps and the drain covers are designed for the heaviest vehicle that will use them, confirmed against its wheel or track loads before we quote.
Light Vehicles
Utility and light patrol vehicles, washed at the high-pressure wash points.
Trucks and Transport
Logistics trucks and general transport, the bulk of most wash programmes.
Tracked Vehicles
Tracked and armoured vehicles, where the water cannons do most of the work.
Engineering Plant
Engineering and earthmoving vehicles, usually the muddiest on the base.
Buses
Staff and troop buses at their own wash point, or through a bus and truck wash if the fleet is large.
Trailers and Towed Equipment
Trailers, towed equipment and anything else that has to come back clean.
Water
Water That Stays on the Base
A base wash facility uses a lot of water, and what comes off the vehicles is mud, oil and fuel. The water train catches it, cleans it and sends it back to the pumps.
- Sedimentation tanks in series drop the solids out, coarse to fine.
- An oil–sludge separator or a cyclone filter takes out what settling cannot.
- Fresh water only tops up what evaporates and what leaves on the vehicles.
- Sludge is dug out of the tanks, not washed into a drain.
Before a vehicle moves
Clean-Down Before Vehicles Move Between Regions
Vehicles moving between training areas, or shipped home from overseas, often have to pass an inspection before they move. The inspector looks for soil and seed in tracks, wheel arches, stowage bins and belly plates.
- A sealed pad, so washings are caught rather than run off
- Under-chassis spray, and lances that reach the belly plate and suspension
- Sedimentation that holds the soil and seed for disposal
- The authority receiving the vehicle sets the standard, so tell us which one applies
Specifications, Approvals and Tenders
We do not publish flows, pump ratings or tank sizes for this facility, because they come from your fleet and your site. Our engineers size them for each project and put them in the technical proposal.
We make no claims to military certifications or approvals we do not hold. Where a programme names a standard, a test or a set of documents, that becomes part of the project scope and is agreed in writing at the start.
If the facility is bought through a main contractor or a tender, we can work as the equipment supplier to the contractor, and we prepare the drawings, data sheets and technical proposal the tender asks for.
Central Vehicle Wash Facility — Common Questions
How many wash points does a base need?
It depends on how many vehicles come back from the field at once, not on how many the base owns. The facility is sized for that busiest return, not the average day. Tell us the fleet, how many come back together and how long you have to wash them, and we will size the wash points from that.
Can the facility be built in stages?
Yes. The pump room, the pad and the water train can be sized for the final number of wash points, and the wash points added later. It costs less to size the pipework and the water train once than to dig them up again.
Can the same facility wash buses and light vehicles?
Yes, at their own wash points. If the base runs a large bus or truck fleet that is washed every day, a gantry or drive-through bus and truck wash is usually faster than washing by hand, and it can share the same water train.
Who builds the pad and the drains?
Usually a local civil contractor, to our drawings. We supply and commission the equipment, and the drawings give the contractor what the pad, the drains and any concrete tanks need.
Vehicles have to be cleaned before they move. Can this facility do that?
Yes, if it is built for it from the start: a sealed pad, under-chassis spray, lances that reach the belly plate, and sedimentation that holds what comes off. The authority receiving the vehicle sets the inspection standard. Tell us which one applies and we will design the layout around it.
Tell us about the base
What Comes Back from the Field, and How Many at Once?
Tell us the vehicles, how many come back together, and where the facility has to go. We will come back with a layout and what it needs from the site.