Recent content by Toms PTcarwash

The Cat Oil will actually mix with water and not be completely displaced by water. So if you have leaking seals your pump can run for a while until you notice it without trashing the bearings. Otherwise, hydraulic oil is ok to use.

That is a fin tube boiler. It is possible that the tubes need cleaned. Pop the fill plug off the expansion tank and look in to see if you have any flow with the pump running.

I have three Takagi 250 btu heaters piped to a 150 gallon storage tank in a primary / secondary configuration. One Taco bronze 0013 provides enough flow for all three heaters. The units I have will flow a max of 9.6 gpm and I believe need 1 gpm to trigger a start. Pressure is irrelevant.

The back of the pump has a sight glass, oil needs to be about halfway up into the sight glass.

For spot free rinse, pressure is irrelevant. Flow is what matters. If you have small diameter feed lines and small narrow angle nozzles, then you need to up the pressure to compensate. @ 150 psi with 1/2 lines I get 1.2 gpm to the bay. You can spot free a car in about a minute and a half.

If you have just contactors and not motor starters, if you single phase a three-phase motor that is not protected, it can smoke pretty quickly. Good luck to you!

You may also want to check the pump. A 5hp on a 310 should last pretty much forever. If the pump locked up, it may have smoked the motor. You should also have a motor starter with overload protection that would trip before the motor smokes. Some systems just use a contactor with no protection...

You can do a 3hp motor at 1800 rpm on a 310 if you are under 1250 Psi (Verify on a cat pump curve chart if you are over 1250) Just an FYI, a three-phase motor does not have a start switch or capacitor.

If the solenoid valve in your auto is leaking from the ss bays you need to replace or rebuild the solenoid valve feeding the RO to your auto wash. If it's a Dema valve you can get a rebuild kit for much less than a new valve. Most of these are rated for 150 psi. They will hold more than that...

I use 150 psi and always deliver water with under 5 ppm dissolved solids. It works great, and I get many complements from my customers about how much they like the spot free. My auto does not have a dryer and the cars dry spot free. I'm not sure what you mean about charging a premium for the...

I am not sure why you would want to run your spot free at that high of a pressure? I run mine at 150 psi for all SS bays and the auto wash.

Not sure where you are located, but the carwash is definitely weather driven. I do probably 85% of my business between November and May. Winter is great with snow, salt etc. Spring is great with pollen. Once summer rolls in, if we don't get much rain business drops hard. I don't have a...

The fuse is of course there to protect your wiring, relays etc. If it started to blow on occasion, maybe the relay or motor starter has some bad contacts and is increasing your current flow. Do you own an amp probe? If so, read the current before the fuse and see if it jumps up when the motor is...

Most insurance companies base their risk on your volume. The more $, the more cars / customers and the higher the risk. About every three years my insurance company asks for my schedule c.