Dip Tank

Dip Tank

Dip Tank

The dip tank is nothing more than a fancy name for a container of soap and water to soak the removable parts of the grill in. It essentially acts like a sink or dishwasher per say. 

A dip tank is:

  • Heated
  • Usually made of stainless steel
  • Fixed or mounted inside the trailer
  • Filled with soap, water and degreaser
  • Used to soak and scrub the removable components from the grill
  • Usually custom fabricated

Advantages of Dip Tanks 

I personally used to have a love-hate relationship with my dip tank. I have gotten to the point where I would not want to clean a grill without one. I could clean without one and certainly have many times but there is something about using a dip tank that allows me to feel like I’m providing a much better cleaning than not having one at all.

My dip tank is:

  • Custom fabricated to my specifications
  • Insulated
  • Fits all grate sizes (well..almost all. There are some grills with bun racks that are longer than my tank)
  • Heated
  • Gives me an opportunity to let the parts soak
  • Helps cut thru the grease and carbon
  • Allows me to clean the removable parts better than without a tank

Disadvantages of Dip Tanks

  • When installed in the trailer, the trailer bounces while driving down the road. The water in the tank sloshes around and can leak out of the tank. If your lid is not sealed you will have dripping, dirty water coming out of the trailer. You don’t want to be parked on someone’s driveway
  • The water in the tank will get rancid after a lot of cleanings. It needs to be cleaned out and the dirty water disposed of properly
  • With the bouncing of the trailer, the welds on the tank can break down over time. Upkeep and maintenance is required
  • Mounting posts to the trailer can break over time and the tank can shift inside the trailer
  • It can take up to 30 minutes or longer to heat the tank (depending on how much water you have in the tank)
  • Running out of propane when heating up the tank
  • Sometimes the water loses heat and it’s necessary to heat up the tank at a customers home. If you are parked in the street and you are in the backyard, you can’t keep an eye on the trailer. You have to leave the lid open while heating the tank. You need to be mindful of the safety of people walking by, looking inside, touching hot surfaces, etc. I’ve never had this happen but it’s something I’m always mindful of.

Heat Source 

Most dip tanks are heated by propane using burners underneath the tank. Some people are uncomfortable using propane for some reason so look into other ways to heat the tank. I get it, I was there too!

One of the first things most operators will look into is electric. I tried it too. Here’s why it didn’t work for me: 

  • The most common way is an emersion heater, like an element in a water heater tank. In most cases to get the water hot enough, you need the an emersion heater that puts out 220v. A 110v or one that plugs into a standard wall outlet won’t put out enough heat to heat the water. Maybe if the heater is plugged in over night, the water will be luke warm but not hot. 
  • A 220v emersion heater requires a circuit like a for a dryer or an oven. Where are you going to plug that into at night? Are you going to add a special circuit into your garage? 
  • Even if you went with a standard wall outlet heater, do you have somewhere to plug into at night? What if you live in an apartment complex? Are you stringing an extension cord across the parking lot?
  • What if you need to heat the tank up while at a cleaning? Plugging into the customer’s wall outlet might be an issue depending on how far away you have to park from an outlet and since it takes a long time to heat the water, you’ll probably be done with the cleaning by the time it’s get’s back up to temperature. You’ll be wasting time and energy.
  • You need to modify the tank to support an emersion heater. Added extra holes or threaded fittings creates new leak points.

The guys over in the UK and Australia who use heater elements use a 220v element because that’s what their standard electrical current is. They still have to plug into a wall outlet and let their tanks heat overnight so it’s hot enough for the next day. If their element goes bad, they are waking to a cold tank. A heater element is simply not an efficient way to heat tanks in my opinion.

About the only thing I’ve seen work is a bucket heater. It can work off a regular wall outlet and get the water warm enough. It’s best for a 5-gallon bucket and not 15 to 25 gal of water that might be in a dip tank. It’s a slower process to heat water but it can work – 5 gal at a time.

Do You Need a Dip Tank?

The quick answer is No, you do not need a dip tank. As mentioned, it’s nice to have but I’ve seen and heard of quite a few cleaners who do not haul around and have special made dip tanks. If cost is a major factor for you, I’ve heard of guys carrying around a large Rubbermaid bin and filling it with water when they arrive at the customer’s home. 

The disadvantage to this option is mainly the filling and disposing of the water. Where you going to dump it? Where you going to put the bin while you’re cleaning? What if you are on the second floor balcony of an apartment? Are you dumping the water into their grass or in the street before you drive away? The lid won’t be sealed so you don’t want to put it in the back of your vehicle and have it slosh around while traveling between appointments. 

If you don’t have a lot of money to dump into the business right away a bin can work in replacement of a dip tank but in my opinion it’s a short term solution.

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