The washing of turf rolls or slabs for sports turf surfaces involves the removal of the soil that is attached to the turf after harvesting. It is an important step in ensuring the success of the turf, providing several important benefits. Turf washing removes clay and dirt, helps to maintain the consistency of the existing sand profile, provides quicker root establishment, and reduces the weight of the turf for transportation.
Our first turf washer was built in 1997 when we received an order for 2000m2 of washed Tifgreen 328 on Wednesday for delivery the following Wednesday. The washer was built very basically in 4-5 days and could only wash 18-inch slabs and small rolls.
That washer provided us good service until it needed to be replaced in the early 2000’s when we built a new unit that could wash both slabs and 48-inch maxi-rolls.
The Maxi-roll washer washed a lot of both slabs and Maxi-rolls and was still operational till the replacement was completed this winter.
The New Washer
In September 2021 we received an order for 120,000m2 of washed Kikuyu, to be provided over the next two years, and to be delivered 40,000 to 50,000m2 at a time.
The last washer had a minor issue with everyone getting extremely wet while washing which wasn’t ideal. It also was not as ergonomic as it could be if you had to wash 3000m2 per day for a couple of weeks straight.
The Planning Process
Along with the new washer we needed to improve how we handled the soil which results from a big washing job. We already had a retention basin/settling pond, but the back wall needed to be strengthened to allow the excavator and trucks to work on it with the dam nearly full. This had always been done in the past with the dam empty prior to the start of our wet summer. Washing 3000m2 a day for days on end meant that we needed to be able to empty this every few days.
The Design Process
We started off thinking that we would just improve the loading process to reduce the workload on staff and help keep them dryer and a frame system to keep the washed turf as tidy as possible on the pallet. This was achieved with the design and construction of a scissor lift and stacking walls at each end which achieved the aim of less effort and drier staff.
One of the things that slows the washing process is waiting for the empty pallet to be removed from the loading end and the new pallet to be loaded. The same problem exists at the other end, with the process causing a double hold-up with every pallet.
After a lot of thought and talks with our management staff, I decided to rebuild the whole washer entirely. The only thing we kept from the last washer was the spray bars that worked extremely well.
The resulting and final design for the washer was to build it to allow the empty pallets to travel through the washer ready for re-filling at the other end.
The Construction
The construction of the new washer was started in late March with the plan of being finished by the end of May when we had an 18,000m2 TifTuf Hybrid Bermuda job to wash.
I completed the full designs with David from Runge Engineering doing all the drawings for the laser cutting. Everything was designed and built so that it could all be hot-dipped galvanised. Meaning a lot of things that would normally be welded together would be bolted so as not to exceed the dimensions of the dip tank.
The construction was done by both Twin View Turf staff and Runge Engineering to keep the project on time. As parts were completed, they were brought to our shed and assembled as a working machine to ensure it all worked. This ensured we would not be cutting and welding bits onto a galvanised machine.
Once we were happy with the finished product it was all dismantled, catalogued and sent to the galvanising plant for treatment. This took place at the end of June and took three weeks to be completed. Lucky for us, the big TifTuf job was delayed till mid-September.
While this was happening, we built the parts and frames for the workers’ shade at both ends, along with the frame that keeps all the spray from the washing section under control. While this was at the galvaniser the machine was being assembled at the washing bay beside our dam with a new Hydraulic power pack, E-stops and foot pedal for the controls.
It was mid-August before we had the project all completed and were able to do the first test wash. This went very well, and all staff seemed happy. It received a better test at the end of August when we washed 1,700m2 in one day and everyone was a lot drier and warmer than experienced in the past.
