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Calories burned hand-washing and drying a vehicle, stage by stage, from the 4.5 MET wash-and-wax compendium value.
This calculator estimates the calories a hand car wash costs by pricing each stage at its published MET value and applying the formula kcal/min = MET x 3.5 x kg / 200. Washing and waxing a vehicle has its own compendium entry at 4.5 METs, which puts it firmly in the moderate-intensity band, while rinsing sits nearer 2.5 METs and interior vacuuming at 3.3. Vehicle-size presets fill in typical timings for a hatchback, sedan, SUV, van or full detail, and every minute figure stays editable.
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Washing and waxing a vehicle has a dedicated 4.5 MET compendium entry rather than a generic 'chores' figure.
Rinsing, scrubbing, wheels, drying, waxing and interior vacuuming are each priced separately.
Hatchback to van timings load in one tap and remain fully adjustable.
About 240 kcal for a typical 50-minute sedan wash at 70 kg body weight, of which roughly 175 kcal is above resting metabolism. The scrubbing and waxing stages dominate because they are rated 4.5 METs, or about 5.5 kcal a minute at that weight.
Yes, as moderate-intensity activity. At 4.5 METs, washing and waxing a vehicle sits inside the 3.0 to 5.9 MET moderate band, so those minutes count toward the WHO recommendation of 150 to 300 moderate-intensity minutes a week.
Considerably, since an automatic wash costs you almost nothing beyond sitting in the driver's seat. A 50-minute hand wash at 70 kg is roughly 240 kcal, about the same as 55 minutes of brisk walking at 3.5 METs.
Soaping and scrubbing the bodywork, and hand waxing, both at 4.5 METs. Crouching to scrub wheels and arches and drying with a cloth are around 3.5 METs, and rinsing with a hose is the lightest stage at roughly 2.5 METs.
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