Start with a written description of the tanker
Ask the driver or depot supervisor to record what the tanker actually looks like when it arrives for the trial: which materials it is made from, where residue collects, how the tank is opened and emptied, and what cleaning is done today. This note becomes the reference for everything that follows. It also reveals the constraints that decide the equipment, such as whether a water and power supply is available where the tanker is parked and whether cleaning has to happen inside a shed or in an open yard.
Write the description down in the same words the staff use. "Powder residue packed behind the hinge brackets" tells the supplier far more than "the tank is dirty". Bring that description to the discussion with the cleaning equipment series team, together with photographs of the areas in question taken before cleaning begins.
Fix the area and the sequence of the trial
Choose one part of one tanker for the trial instead of cleaning the whole vehicle. Mark the boundary with tape so the edges are unambiguous, and pick an area that contains the problem the buyer cares about: a weld seam, a hinge, the underside of a discharge door, a section of the tank wall exposed to road spray. Cleaning one defined panel keeps the comparison fair and keeps the trial short enough that staff will repeat it.
Then set the order of work and keep it the same for every run. Loose dust and loose feed residue first, then the cleaning step under evaluation, then a rinse or wipe where the process calls for one, then drying where the surface has to be inspected. Changing the order between runs is the most common reason a trial produces two different answers from the same setup.
Prepare surfaces so the result can be seen
Before the first pass, remove anything that can be taken away by hand: accumulated loose material, mud cakes, packing off the brackets. Record the time this takes. Staff should also confirm that the surface is sound — no peeling coating, no open electrical boxes, no damaged seals near the area being cleaned — and report anything questionable rather than working around it.
Set up the working conditions at the same moment: where the operator stands, where the machine sits, how long the hose has to reach, and where the run-off water will go. A trial carried out in a place the tanker is never parked is not a trial. If the yard has no drain, that fact belongs in the trial record before the machine arrives, not afterwards.
Agree what "clean" means before the trial starts
Decide, in advance, the observation staff will use to judge the result. A practical format is a simple comparison: photographs of the same marked panel before and after, taken from the same distance and in similar light; plus a written note on what remains. Ask the people who inspect the vehicle in daily operation — the driver, the yard supervisor — to make that judgement, since they are the ones who will live with the outcome.
Record what the routine costs in working time and what it needs from the site: how long one panel takes two staff, how long the machine runs before it has to be refilled or recharged, and how much preparation each run requires. If the trial compares two methods, run each method on a comparable panel under the same conditions on the same day.
What to bring when discussing equipment
The written description, the marked-area photographs, the before-and-after notes and the working-time record are what allow an equipment discussion to be specific. PowerDe describes its cleaning range as high-temperature, high-pressure active-water machines with dry-steam and wet-steam modes, and lists mobile and fixed configurations, so the trial record shows which configuration fits the yard. Where the application is a feed transport truck washing duty or a farm and livestock facility cleaning duty, say so explicitly and let the supplier confirm which machine and which accessories apply.
Send the same packet when the request is for a customized cleaning solution. A prepared trial is also the cheapest way to find out whether a standard machine covers the job or whether the site genuinely needs a configured one.
Questions to settle on site
- Is the trial area marked, and is the same area used for every comparison run?
- Do water, power and drainage exist where the tanker is actually parked?
- Has the surface been checked for coating damage and open electrical or seal problems before work starts?
- Is the before-and-after photograph set taken from the same position and light?
- Are preparation time, cleaning time and refill time written down for each run?
- Has the judgement of the result come from staff who inspect these vehicles daily?
When those six points are settled, the trial gives an answer that transfers to a purchasing decision. When they are not, the same tanker cleaned twice can produce two different conclusions, and the equipment never gets properly evaluated.
