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  1. J

    Rebuilt Cashier Controllers

    There is a "Randy" here on the forum that services Hamilton equipment (validators). His forum name is simply "Randy", just click on "Members List" above and search thru the "R's"; click on his name to send a message. You might also check with Suncoast Changers - Scott Johnson. Again, they do...
  2. J

    High gas prices and its effect on the car wash business.

    The first part of your question should be "self-evident". I have long thought that the car wash industry suffers from lack of psychologial analysis. Years ago, I though I needed a carefully thought out "viewpoint" that I could adopt for help in dealing with all the "stressors" of operating my...
  3. J

    Powerain Touchless IBA

    Continued. Electrically, if you have a "leaking" proximity sensor, the machine will falsely sense that it is at the end of the track and stop moving. This occurs because the track settles and the proximity sensor has been striking the "end of track" hoops at the front end of the wash track...
  4. J

    Powerain Touchless IBA

    One thing to try is to rent a laser level and check the track for level. It is possible that due to settling of the anchors and track deformation that you have developed a "valley" in your rails. The next thing to look at is the paralellism of the track. If your rails are spreading apart or...
  5. J

    motor failure

    Alan, going Pat's route would protect your motors, but could result in some PO'd customers. Why let someone put their money in, if the pump ain't gonna' work.
  6. J

    motor failure

    There are a number of ways to skin this cat, here is a link to one: http://www.phaselossprotection.com/ Basically what you want to do is detect the loss of one or more of your 3 phases. When a loss is detected, you need to shutdown your feed from the control transformer. In my case that would...
  7. J

    Repo man

    Hey MAC, are you ever going to tell me the type of swivels you were using to replace the Powerain units. I think it was you that was describing a modification to let the high pressure cause the rotation and eliminate the hydraulic motors.
  8. J

    Air Freshener Bubbler display

    Good idea, how about getting some of that stage lighting "gel material" and rolling it up and let it expand so as to line the inside of the tube. I was noticing how "Steak&Shake" uses red filter material they wrap around ordinary flourescent tubes inside their restaurants. Same principle, only...
  9. J

    changing vac motor brushes

    Well Earl, that the rub, isn't it? You really can't tell and we are such a "crude" business that we don't have, nor can we justify any type of monitoring or data recording. This sort of thing could be designed-in to a state of the art facility, but I know of no one that uses PLC's to control...
  10. J

    How many cars do you wash per month in your IBA?

    I never said I tore it out, I shut it down. If it is ever economically feasible to operate it, I will start it back up. I may consider shutting down the self-serve bays in the winter and only operating the automatic. One "busy saturday afternoon" in the wintertime for the automatic will double...
  11. J

    changing vac motor brushes

    On the old forum, I had posted a step by step tutorial on how to change out the brushes. I forget the exact time, but I could change them out in something like 15 minutes. Changing a motor, for me, involves other incidentals that I can't ignore, resulting in something like an hour job that...
  12. J

    How many cars do you wash per month in your IBA?

    In 2000 I did just under 10,000 washes with my Powerain IBA. In 2001 I did 12,000, 2002 it fell to 7,600, in 2003 it was down to 7,300, for 2004 the number was 5,600, 2005 was similar at 5,900, and for 2006 it had fallen to 4,100. I shutdown the automatic in the spring of 2007 after only doing...
  13. J

    Repo man

    Contd- The foreclosure process and auction listing is a totally transparent process. On our County Sheriff's website, is all the auction listings, both upcoming and past. You will have to find out how things work in your area. Here is a link to our auctions...
  14. J

    Repo man

    In our area, there is a very specific procedure that must be followed. The lending institution doesn't just "repo" property. The first thing that happens is the lender pursues foreclosure and goes thru the court sytem to obtain a judgement. Note that a judgement is a financial amount that the...
  15. J

    Geothermal Assist For Floor Heat

    Steubenville Ohio is at a similar lattitude as I am, and I suspect has similar winters. I can easily spend $3,000 a month for natural gas in the winter. Shouldn't take long to recover the additional cost on an initial install. Retrofits are an entirely different animal. You need to think about...
  16. J

    Checked Methonal Prices Lately?

    Well, I just thought I would post the current price from my supplier: today it is $2.67 per gallon. Not much difference from October of 2006 when it was $2.60 per gallon.
  17. J

    Geothermal Assist For Floor Heat

    Newboy, you are on the right track, but I think you will find information, scarce to non-existant from the car wash industry. Do not go forward with any plans to build a new wash until you have a new design that does everthing possible to conserve both energy and water. Consider exactly how...
  18. J

    Gas Prices, Rain have Dried my Bays

    I sure wish you folks would edit your profile and put your location in. Your posts are relatively meaningless without knowing where you're located.
  19. J

    New Armor-All Sponge Paks

    Ok, my business has been really slow and I tend to buy in large quatities to try and save on shipping. So, I guess I have been out of the loop on the new Armor-All sponge packs. I wondered how Kleenrite was keeping the price the same when almost everything else I ordered from them was up about...
  20. J

    increasing income at my wash

    I hope you did proper due diligence as well as read most every post in this forum regarding the "downturn" in the car wash business before purchasing. As you can clearly see in my signature line, I am in Enon (near Dayton-Springfield). My business has dropped by about 80% since my peak year of...
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