Portable Sink
Ive been homebrewing for about 1 ½ years and have been frustrated with having to wash up outside on a picnic table with a garden hose or with a hose over the drain in my garage. Finally, I decided to do something about it:
I had a couple of things on hand that would provide a good start; I had purchased a used Hitachi 10 table saw from a guy who had built a mobile base (with locking casters) for it. I didnt like the fact that it raised the table saw about 4 inches, so I replaced it with a mobile base from Harbour Freight. Second, my wife had a 6 folding table that was in pretty good shape. I will have to replace that table at some point with a new one, but this one was perfect for what I wanted to do.
I was planning to buy a self rimming utility sink at Lowes for $60, but found a used one (same sink) a the salvage building store that we have here in Helena for $20, I also picked up a used faucet for another $16 along with a drain and stopper kit for a couple of bucks.
I looked for a salvage cabinet to mount on the mobile base, but couldnt find anything suitable, so I bought 3 10 2x4s. I may enclose the base of the sink later, but Im good with it as it is. All-in, Im into this for a little over $100.
I started by disassembling the folding table and removing one set of folding legs and the lock. After putting half of the table back together, I placed the table upside down on the garage floor and began building the base up from that point. I attached two 2x4s to the metal rails attached to the table and began piecing the table together, making sure folding portion could fold and also making sure the finished table would be taller that the wing so that I could roll the sink around with it folded up. Note: The mobile base pretty much determined the width of my base, but its about right. I had to remove two casters and cut about 2 inches off the depth, but no big deal. The opening for the sink was cut with a jig saw.
Rather than buy a bunch of expensing fittings, I connected everything up using gray PVC hose connectors. Half-inch female connectors worked to connect the faucet and hose bib and I used ⅝ reinforced hose connect everything together. The drain was plumed with the standard Do-It-Best kit that you would use to install a double kitchen sink. I put a quick garden hose disconnect on the hose bib to be able to switch back and forth from bottle washer to hose quickly.
Lastly, after trying to figure out some elaborate way to extend legs on the folding half of the table, I decided to build simple stand from the remaining 2x4 and some 4x4 scrap I had laying around. This has worked pretty well so far.
In the picture of the plumbing you will notice that I hooked both the hot and cold sides of the water faucet up to the same supply line, I hook this sink up to an electric water heater that was scrapped out from my house (long story) and plumbed is using high temperature garden hoses. I set the temperature to 116 degrees and that seems to be about right. For bigger cleaning days, I connect the hoses, fill the water heater, heat the water (for a day or two) and go. For lighter cleaning days, I fill the water heater, heat the water, then shut off the water heater and place the out hose on the water heater drain and use compressed air (regulated at 20 lbs) to pressurize the water (that way Im not diluting the warm water with cold).
Ive been homebrewing for about 1 ½ years and have been frustrated with having to wash up outside on a picnic table with a garden hose or with a hose over the drain in my garage. Finally, I decided to do something about it:
I had a couple of things on hand that would provide a good start; I had purchased a used Hitachi 10 table saw from a guy who had built a mobile base (with locking casters) for it. I didnt like the fact that it raised the table saw about 4 inches, so I replaced it with a mobile base from Harbour Freight. Second, my wife had a 6 folding table that was in pretty good shape. I will have to replace that table at some point with a new one, but this one was perfect for what I wanted to do.
I was planning to buy a self rimming utility sink at Lowes for $60, but found a used one (same sink) a the salvage building store that we have here in Helena for $20, I also picked up a used faucet for another $16 along with a drain and stopper kit for a couple of bucks.
I looked for a salvage cabinet to mount on the mobile base, but couldnt find anything suitable, so I bought 3 10 2x4s. I may enclose the base of the sink later, but Im good with it as it is. All-in, Im into this for a little over $100.
I started by disassembling the folding table and removing one set of folding legs and the lock. After putting half of the table back together, I placed the table upside down on the garage floor and began building the base up from that point. I attached two 2x4s to the metal rails attached to the table and began piecing the table together, making sure folding portion could fold and also making sure the finished table would be taller that the wing so that I could roll the sink around with it folded up. Note: The mobile base pretty much determined the width of my base, but its about right. I had to remove two casters and cut about 2 inches off the depth, but no big deal. The opening for the sink was cut with a jig saw.
Rather than buy a bunch of expensing fittings, I connected everything up using gray PVC hose connectors. Half-inch female connectors worked to connect the faucet and hose bib and I used ⅝ reinforced hose connect everything together. The drain was plumed with the standard Do-It-Best kit that you would use to install a double kitchen sink. I put a quick garden hose disconnect on the hose bib to be able to switch back and forth from bottle washer to hose quickly.
Lastly, after trying to figure out some elaborate way to extend legs on the folding half of the table, I decided to build simple stand from the remaining 2x4 and some 4x4 scrap I had laying around. This has worked pretty well so far.
In the picture of the plumbing you will notice that I hooked both the hot and cold sides of the water faucet up to the same supply line, I hook this sink up to an electric water heater that was scrapped out from my house (long story) and plumbed is using high temperature garden hoses. I set the temperature to 116 degrees and that seems to be about right. For bigger cleaning days, I connect the hoses, fill the water heater, heat the water (for a day or two) and go. For lighter cleaning days, I fill the water heater, heat the water, then shut off the water heater and place the out hose on the water heater drain and use compressed air (regulated at 20 lbs) to pressurize the water (that way Im not diluting the warm water with cold).
