Finishing worked example

Wash Line Water Usage with pretreatment stage flow rate of 13 gal / hr: a worked example

Suppose pretreatment stage flow rate falls to 13 gal / hr. This page works the full calculation at that level so you can see exactly which result moves and by how much. Calculate wash or rinse stage water usage and cost from flow rate, runtime, and water cost.

The inputs for this scenario

  • Pretreatment stage flow rate: 13 gal / hr (the input this scenario stresses; the baseline uses 25)
  • Wash line runtime per shift: 8 hr (held at the documented default)
  • Delivered water cost: 0.75 $ / gal (held at the documented default)

Working through the calculation

  • The calculation starts from the formula this tool documents: Consumption = use rate × runtime.
  • Consumption works out to 104 gal / shift at these inputs, and this is the headline figure for the scenario.
  • Run cost works out to 78 $ at these inputs.
  • Runtime works out to 8 hr at these inputs.
  • Unit cost works out to 0.75 $ / unit at these inputs.

How this compares with the baseline

  • Against the tool's baseline example, where pretreatment stage flow rate sits at 25 gal / hr and the headline result is 200 gal / shift, this scenario comes in 48% below the baseline at 104 gal / shift.
  • It multiplies a wash or rinse stage's flow rate by shift runtime to give gallons consumed per shift, then multiplies by unit water cost for the run cost. When the numbers land here, the stressed input is the lever to work; the walkthrough above shows exactly how much each output recovers as it climbs back toward the baseline.

Results at a glance

  • Consumption: 104 gal / shift (headline result)
  • Run cost: 78 $
  • Runtime: 8 hr
  • Unit cost: 0.75 $ / unit

Run it with your numbers

  • To rerun this with your own numbers, open the live Wash Line Water Usage calculator, set pretreatment stage flow rate to your actual value, and adjust the remaining inputs to match your operation.

Last reviewed 2026-05-12.