Floor Heat - Tekmar 650?

[Tpoppa]

Hello, I recently purchased my 1st Self Serve Wash. A 4 bay in Cleveland, OH.

The floor heat is run by an older boiler and an electric pump (always on) that circulates glycol through a network of manifolds and hoses. The boiler is cycled on/off by a slab stat (desn't seem to be very sensitive) and and a return line temp sensor. On cold days (20-25 degrees) it seems to run 5 min on 5 min off. It doesn't seem to be a very efficient system, but then again I don't really have anything to compare it to.

I recently purchased (not yet installed) a Tekmar 650 Floor Heat Control. If it works as advertised, the Tekmar seems like a excellent tool that could lead to some serious gas savings. Does anyone have any experience using a Tekmar 650?

http://www.tekmarcontrols.com/prod/650.shtml

For you vets...
-Any tips on managing your floor heat system would be appreciated.
-On really cold days...when you need to shut down...do you continue to run your floor heat? Is there any risk to shutting off the floor heat when the wash is not running?

 

[Bubbles Galore]

I don't understand why people would even want to shut down. Is it really a cost savings to shut down? Even on the nastiest coldest days here in Michigan, I still have people in and out. Having to run the Floor Heat boiler is just one of those things I have learned to live with here in the great white north.

Anything you can do to increase efficiency is a great investment. Good Luck!

 

[Randy]

We don?t have floor heat up here in our area. Our cold weather season is pretty short. We just had a cold snap that lasted 7 days, lots of ice and snow. Most of the car washes in the area closed down mostly for safety concerns, slip and fall lawsuits are always nice to deal with. I couldn?t get to my wash to close it down, the roads were to bad for me to risk my life and well being to go to the car wash so I left it open. My total profit for that run of cold weather will just about pay the equipment room heating and weep water costs. I?m thinking that the next time we get a cold snap like the one we just had I?m going to ?T? into the weep water feed, blow down he system with air, pump windshield anti-freeze cleaner into the weep system and shut down the car wash. I don?t know how you guy?s that are paying for floor heat can make a profit with the high gas prices. Is it cost effective to stay open and pay for floor heat?

 

[pitzerwm]

IMO, in areas that have the cold weather for longer periods of time, the customers know that they still have to function and a lot of those areas use salt on the roads, which has to be washed off often, that is how they make money in the winter.

 

[Waxman]

Being onsite 6 days a week, I adjust the floor heat up and down with the outdoor temps and usage of the wash.

I now have an employee come by at about 8pm on Winter nights and close the self serve bay doors down. The wash can still function and I do have regulars who put the door up to enter and lower them when they leave. My feeling is that the slabstat is more easily satisfied with the doors down and I save gas.

In Winter, my feeling is that any business that gets discouraged after 8pm with the doors shut will return during daylight hours to wash. This has worked for me so far.

 

[Jim Caudill]

Do a search regarding "floor heat" or "underfloor heat". There has been a lot of discussion regarding how to utilize it or not to use it.

Underfloor heat might have made sense when natural gas cost 55 cents per therm or ccf (Dec 1995), but in July of this year it was just over $2. At these prices, you need to have a good understanding of your business model. When I entered the car washing business, natural gas was around 62 cents per therm and I quit using my underfloor heat on a regular basis when the price doubled. That winter I wrote a check for over $2,400 for one month of natural gas use. At my old consumption figures, my natural gas bill would easily exceed $3,000 for the coldest months. At my current income level, the gas bill alone would exceed my total revenue for the month.

You can't operate washes designed around cheap utilities in todays environment. This business requires a major overhaul in how we do things.

 

[soapy]

I used to have Techmar thermostats but could not justify the high expense for them. I changed out to johnson control A 419s. I set the temp and let it turn the slab heat on and off when needed. You can set how many degrees you want to have for a differential. I think heating SS bays in the winter is almost not worth it anymore. I have been heating the bays for 2 months and getting very little business in them. It warmed up a bit today and the SS bays were getting busy. I look around a few times and what I had was bucket washers tieing up the bays so paying customers could not use them. I almost had to throw one guy out. The main thing I get in the winter in the SS bays is large iceburgs that people kick off their cars wheel wells. They are no fun to deal with and you have to smash them up with a sledge hammer.

 

[Tpoppa]

I used to have Techmar thermostats but could not justify the high expense for them. I changed out to johnson control A 419s.

Can you explain how your Tekmar setup was used? Was it a Snow Melt Control?

 

[soapy]

I had built 2 locations with the techmar snow melt controls. Eventually they both shorted out for some reason. WHen I went to replace them I found the cost to be over $300 and that was several years ago. I went to johnstone supply and purchased some digital A419 thermostats for around $50. I set up the sensor for the A419 in a shaded spot on the floor I wanted to keep ice free. I have not noticed any difference in costs to run with the A419 and once I figured out the right temp. to set I think the simpler control does a better job of keeping it ice free.