[Closed] Using Hose to clean bike during Hosepipe Ban

Yeah. I do too. Don't five a fek about the ban TBH.

I could fill a bucket with water and throw half a dozen of them over the motorbike, or I can use about a third of that amount giving it a spray with the hosepipe (Trigger spray, so not constantly running)

I can use the hose on the car, or take it to a carwash and use 100 times that amount perfectly legally.

Hosepipe bans - More about power hungry eejits telling people what they can or cannot do than actually, god forbid, saving water.

£1000 fine potentially though, and this time around people are being actively encouraged to 'shop a neighbour' 😮 . I'm bloody pee'd off too. As PeterPoddy says, a correctly employed hose will use far less water when washing a car than having X amount of buckets flung over. I wash my car [u]a lot[/u] (and then spend countless hours claying, waxing, polishing, hoovering and generally titivating it, but I'm just sad like that) but according to Southern Water I'm not going to be able to use a hose again this side of Christmas if I don't want to be hauled up in court and relieved of a bag of sand.

All this said, a fairly thorough internet searching session has failed to turn up a single case of any individual actually being successfully prosecuted for contravening a hosepipe ban, but there's a first time for everything.

surely if there is a hosepipe ban you can just brush the dust off?

Cheers, just looked at the Anglian Water legal stuff and there is no mention of bikes so may just crcak on:

But Jam bo it chucked it down here yesterday and my daughter had an mtb race in the evening - bike was caked.

what about a dirtworker?

jambo

I think the spirit of the ban would cover washing your bike, so I personally would be using a bucket and hang onto my £1K

ventanarider - Member
what about a dirtworker?

Now thats a good idea.

Bugger, I sold mine because I brought a house with an outside tap. 😐

what about a dirtworker?

It has a hose and is drawing water from a container - the rules don't permit that

surely if there is a hosepipe ban you can just [s]brush the dust off[/s] Leave it out in the rain?

FTFY 😀

Rain butt for the DirtWorker?

Rain butt for the DirtWorker?

the DirtWorker doesn't comply with the regs

My interpretation is you are ok with a dirt worker. I position mine under a trickling tap for cleaning the car and the bike.

I do think the main issue is people watering gardens with the tap running endlessly! That isn't to say someone won't shop you with a hose going to wash the bike or a car. Regardless of the validity of your argument.

Pressure washer connected to a water butt 😀

here's the regs

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2010/2231/part/2/made?view=plain

Pressure washer connected to a water butt

And piping run underground to fill it from the mains, job's a good 'un.

And piping run underground to fill it from the mains, job's a good 'un.

That isn't to say someone won't shop you with a hose going to wash the bike or a car

See, that's the whole thing isn't it? WHO exactly is going to catch you? If it just some random passer by, it's your word against theirs.... 🙂

And I've not seen any job adverts for "Hosepipe Wardens" recently.....

😉

I use one of those garden pressure sprayer things, no hosepipe ban here but no outide tap 🙁

Bit of a PITA but it works.

you can legally use a hose/pressure washer to clean paths and patios

Just make sure you're bike is on the path

I vaguely recall that last time there was a hosepipe ban it was still ok to use a hose to clean your bike

Dear Thames Water,
I use a hose pipe to syphon petrol out of people's petrol tanks.
Is this banned?

Regards,
Mike Rhyme of Thweak

[i]or take it to a carwash and use 100 times that amount perfectly legally[/i]

Well, no. Car washes that recycle water (as many do) are allowed to keep going, one's that don't, aren't.

Ignoring hosepipe bans - More about petty eejits who rabidly object to being told what they can or cannot do than actually, god forbid, making any real point about wider issues with saving water.

25mins of pressure washing my path the other night only used 1/4 of the water butt

How to connect pressure washer to water butt - can't make the current connection fit - what are you using?

I have 4 full water butts, maybe I should sell it on across a soaking wet Surrey, the irony...

Just say you didnt know about the ban. You dont watch the news and dont buy newspapers. They can't enforce a fine if they cant prove you knew about it.

Just say you didnt know about the ban. You dont watch the news and dont buy newspapers. They can't enforce a fine if they cant prove you knew about it.

Ignorance is no defence.

Washing the car or bike needs a bucket of water and a watering can to rinse it all off.

Also, tha ban defines "health or safety reasons” as including:

(a)removing or minimising any risk to human or animal health or safety; and
(b)preventing or controlling the spread of causative agents of disease;

I'm sure the forestry comission would endorse the cleaning of your bike under "b" 😀 all that nasty fungus innit

[b]IHN[/b] - [u]Member[/u]

Ignoring hosepipe bans - More about petty eejits who rabidly object to being told what they can or cannot do than actually, god forbid, making any real point about wider issues with saving water.

On the contrary. The overwhelming sentiment is one of frustration at a lack of common sense on the part of the relevant water companies.

Outlawing the use of a hosepipe for purposes of tasks like bike or car washing but happily condoning the filling and tipping of buckets, when the former method actually uses far less water than the latter, is ludicrous. I'd be astounded if each and every one of the water companies involved hasn't had this reasoning pointed out to them from numerous quarters, yet they resolutely refuse to budge or give any leeway. They base their argument against hosepipes on the assumption that Joe Bloggs cleaning his car will leave the hose running at full blast throughout the process. I never do this and I can't think of anyone I know that does.

A caveat on the legislation that hoses used for washing cars or bikes (or any other desired application) must be turned off between actual periods of use is all that is needed.

For the N'th time on here

The ban prohibits cleaning a private [b][u]motor-vehicle[/b][/u] using a hosepipe

motor vehicle

geddit

m-o-t-o-r

[i]A caveat on the legislation that hoses used for washing cars or bikes (or any other desired application) must be turned off between actual periods of use is all that is needed. [/i]

Surely it would be better to change the legislation to say that, for safety reasons, you can clean the windows and lights of motor vehicles, with a bucket. But that's it.

There's a shortage of (mains) water, and having a shiny car or bike is not a priority. If you want to clean your car or bike from your own stored supply, go for your life.

[b][u]mjsmke[/u][/b] - [u]Member[/u]

Just say you didnt know about the ban. You dont watch the news and dont buy newspapers. They can't enforce a fine if they cant prove you knew about it.

[b]ransos[/b] - [u]Member[/u]

Ignorance is no defence.

Correct. Ignorance of a given law is not admissible as a defence to prosecution.

I can't think of anyone I know that does.

think you are right there - i can't think of anyone i know that does that

The legislation, as batfink says, allows for cleaning with a hose pipe under H&S regulations.
If you keep your bike indoors, and on the ride you just happen to accidentally ride over some doggy-do, you should be allowed to clean your bike with a hose under these regulations.
That's my excuse anyway.

drawing relevant water through a hosepipe from a container and applying it for the purpose;

so that would include feeding a dirtworker from a water butt, or feeding water from a dirtworker.

or, you could accept that the ban is in place to try to encourage people to think more about the water they use. You're in Anglian Water's catchment. Currently the NFU are meeting the Environment Agency to discuss the serious crisis in your area and the affect this will have on livelyhoods and UK crop production. East Anglia has less rainfall per person than most of Sub-Saharan Africa.

Farmers in the village I grew up in in Norfolk shot their cows because of the cost of feed and lack of grass in the dry summers of 77&78, some never recovered.

But as long as you're ok and your bike is nice and clean eh?

Well said pictonroad

I do think the main issue is people watering gardens with the tap running endlessly!

In the fortnight since the ban started it's rained every day. I want it to dry up a bit so I can cut my grass.

the mobi website reckons that it is hosepipe ban friendly if filled from an internal tap, although you would need a big sink, or the bath, to fill it without using a hose from the tap...

http://www.mobiwasher.co.uk/

does the ban mean we get a grand from the water companies when the pipes burst and are not fixed?

drawing relevant water through a hosepipe from a container and applying it for the purpose;

so that would include feeding a dirtworker from a water butt, or feeding water from a dirtworker.

No it wouldn't, unless you filled your water butt from the mains supply (after the ban started)

“Relevant water” refers to mains water i.e. supplied by the water undertaker; it does not
include water supplied before the water use restriction was implemented.

pictonroad has nailed it. We can all make this problem go away if we use less water. This is not someone else's problem, this is your problem and you can do something about it.

Anyone else got any particularly selfish views they want to add?

[b]IHN[/b] - [u]Member[/u]

Surely it would be better to change the legislation to say that, for safety reasons, you can clean the windows and lights of motor vehicles, with a bucket. But that's it.

There's a shortage of (mains) water, and having a shiny car or bike is not a priority. If you want to clean your car or bike from your own stored supply, go for your life.

Your first paragraph was kind of my point - you [i]can[/i] use a bucket to clean windows and lights (although I would suggest that number plates should also be allowed, given that it is a legal requirement to ensure they remain legible), you can also quite legally use the same bucket as many times as you like to repeatedly throw water over the car to rinse it, expending far more water than a sensibly controlled hosepipe.

On your second point, keeping things 'shiny' is not the only reason for keeping a car clean (although it makes sense to keep an item you've spent thousands of pounds on in good condition, but that's a different debate). Clean cars (and motorbikes etc) are far less likely to corrode and degrade, due a lack of harmful dirt trapping moisture and oxidents against perishable metal surfaces. Someone who regularly gets 'hands on' with their car is also far more likely to spot faults such as corrosion, tyre wear etc as they occur, rather than when it results in a breakdown or accident. Conscientious car care results in safer cars on our roads, reducing accidents and pollution and therefore reducing environmental impact.

you could take your bikes here for a clean, lots of freely available, running mains water apparently:

http://www.yourlocalguardian.co.uk/news/local/topstories/9656366.Leak_gushing_water_during_hosepipe_ban/

“Relevant water” refers to mains water i.e. supplied by the water undertaker; it does not include water supplied before the water use restriction was implemented.

what about recycled washing up water or shower water?