Flushing without garden hose?

[justbecauseIcan]

Hi all

I am about to pick up a Spark that I'll keep in a storage unit because I live in an apartment without the ability to store the Spark on-site.

I live on the Gold Coast of Australia and will be exclusively riding in salt water, so flushing after each use is a given.

However, I have no garden hose and would drive through a self service car wash to rinse and flush the Spark - now my question is whether there is a way to flush it without a garden hose, i.e., maybe holding the car wash nozzle up to the flush connector? Is that even possible or do I risk not flushing correctly or even causing damage?

I'd appreciate any help because I could not find a single thing on this on the internet... I must be the only one without convenient access to a garden hose.

Thanks!

 

[greenhornet2]

That's interesting. I would not try and stick a pressure washing hose into the flush port personally. Most launches I know have a garden hose there, but if you don't you could pick up a tank you can pressurize and keep it full of fresh water to flush it. probably have enough to rinse it down too and avoid the carwash.

 

[justbecauseIcan]

I see - is there a tank out there I could buy that does just that or are you talking about something custom made?

The 'spot free rinse' with 2 pressure settings would be my choice, the regular rinse is quite a bit stronger.

I thought maybe I could hook the car wash nozzle up to a short piece of garden hose that then connects to the flush port? I do want to play it safe...

 

[greenhornet2]

I am pretty sure there is a tank you can buy. people use them to add antifreeze to the system for winterizing. you could even just do it with a little electric inline pump hooked to a garden hose, one end screwed to the flush port the other end submerged in a tank of fresh water. The car wash thing sounds like more of a hassle than setting up your own little rig, plus it will be free to use

 

[justbecauseIcan]

I would go past the car wash anyway on my way home as it is convenient to spray down the Spark, pure salt water use.

I am getting confused with flush port access on the iBR model. I will pick up a 2017 3UP HO iBR in a couple weeks and wonder whether how easy it is to access the flush port with the iBR bucket down? Is it correct that older Sparks required a flush port kit but the newer ones have the port at the level of the drain plug?

Could I simply buy say 50cm of garden hose, fiddle that onto the flush port despite the iBR bucket down, and then put the car wash nozzle into the other end of the hose?

Asking all these questions because I do not want to get caught out with an unflushed exhaust on my first day

 

[greenhornet2]

A regular garden hose will screw in with the IBR down. It is a little bit of a pain to get the hose lined up correctly but it does go in I have an IBR model as well. You can try what you suggest and see if you get a decent flow and get fresh water out of it, my only concern is over pressurizing the system and blowing off a hose but I have not looked at how it is all hooked up to be honest.

 

[justbecauseIcan]

Thanks mate, your input is invaluable because I am trying to piece things together looking at videos and pictures without being able to judge the gaps properly. Most fittings I see are level with the bilge drain hole, but then I saw some forum posts where people had to uninstall the entire iBR to put an extension in - this was back in 2014 so I hope they changed this.

I am pretty confident that the pressure with the spot free rinse + hose in-between will not overpower the system. If the regular wash settings have two settings at 70% normally and 100% water pressure when pulling the trigger, the spot free rinse (being more expensive purified water) flows at something like 20% and 30% when pulling the trigger.

I may look at a pump I can hook up to the battery as you suggested, but I am overseas and will pick up the Spark the day after I arrive, so I know I'll be too keen to ride asap before being able to organise these gadgets. If I can get away with buying a garden hose for the first couple flushes I am okay with a bit of a fiddle.

What size garden hose is best to have a good fit with the Spark? In Australia, 12mm internal diameter seems to be the standard hose.

I'll call the dealer later to ask what the setup is like. I read that the iBR models 'tend' to have the flush port extension installed, but some apparently did not to the dismay of their new owners.

Cheers

 

[justbecauseIcan]

I just saw this:

this should make access a breeze, or is there still plastic from the gate in the way?

 

[greenhornet2]

sorry I cannot see the attachment at work due to content block. Our standard garden hose works I have no idea what size it is. I have no extension or flush kit hooked up to mine it is simply a threaded female in the machine there is probably 4inches of space between the flush port and the IBR, the IBR bucket is likely in the way for a straight shot hence the little difficulty getting the hose to line up correctly.

 

[mikidymac]

The other issue with the car wash is there are typically low volume high pressure sprays. You want a good volume of water to flush the salt away. I would get a 5 gallon plastic bucket and some plastic fittings at the hardware store and a 12v RV water pump. You could have a self contained flush kit in the bucket. Just fill the bucket with water and put a matching plug on the pump to your vehicle trailer plug. Then you could just plug the pump into your trailer plug and turn the headlights on for example and pump 5 gallons through the ski.

The RV pumps do 3 gallons per minute at 50psi and pull 15 Amps.