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Hand Held Dryers

E

Earl Weiss

Well-known member
Sound off please.

Experience with installing Hand Held dryers.

The good, Bad and Ugly.

MFGRS Features.

ROI

Maintenance

Other plusses / minuses.
 
I was on the fence on the air dryers. What sold me was the 30 day money back offer from dinsan. This installed one unit with an "hour" meter so I could see firsthand the usage. A reverse vac, that I don't have to clean out and makes great profit! I offer C/C with come not up but also see cash customers buying more time. As long as the meter is running I don't care how long someone stays the in the bay.
 
All Good, No Ugly.. If you don't have them, that is why you need them.. Ours are used constantly.. Attic mounted..Wall mounts work well also, but are noisier..
Doug
 
We added them about 2 years ago. Attic mount. They are very low maintenance. I have replaced 2 nozzles I believe. But one nozzle a year isn't bad for how much they get used. Definitely would be the next thing I would add if a wash already had cc acceptance in the bays.
 
Just bought a new car that I am babying and suddenly realized blowers would be great. Any specific brand recommendations?
 
I just used a Air Shammee at one location and a J.E Adam Turbo Towel at another location I like the gun on the Turbo towel verus the plastic gun on the air shammee
 
Hi.. Just my opinion.. I would step it up and go Credit/Debit and Bills in bays.. NO COINS.. trash your quarter changer for a Bill Breaker.. and the same with the Vacuums, Bills and Cards, NO COINS.. ..you gotta spend it, to make it.. I have done what I just mentioned and it works.. I just remodeled a 6 Bay and 8 Vac Wash, with EVERYTHING Top of the Line..Air Dryers etc, and it did 188,000 last year after remodel.. this year heading for 230,000+.. I know that is not great revenue, but it's working so far, and simple to manage....I thought about adding a AutoMatic, but I have had them in the past, and they can be a Pain in the you know what.. Just my 3 cents..
Happy Car Washing,
Doug
 
Robert2181 said:
I have 5 bays. Looking to upgrade. Only take coins. Do you upgrade to cc, blowers and/or bill changers? I would have to also put in new (flush mount)bay panels. Thanks
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Demographics will affect relative success of certain things. FWIW instead of committing to do the entire place and spend $ without knowing the return I first added bill acceptors to half the bays (Some people experience vandalism which make this a no go) . The return /experience justified me doing the other half. Same with CC accepters and dualers. .

If I do the hand held dryers I may try a couple of bays then do the rest.
 
CarWashBoy said:
.............. I just remodeled a 6 Bay and 8 Vac Wash, with EVERYTHING Top of the Line..Air Dryers etc, and it did 188,000 last year after remodel.. this year heading for 230,000+.. I know that is not great revenue, ................
Doug
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To the contrary, at more than double reported industry average that is great.
 
I put in six air Shammy's a couple of years ago and it was the best addition I made. People love them and they get use often. Once I added count up credit card a few months later, usage went up much further. People are way more inclined to dry the car when they don't have to add more $ first.
 
I have seen people spend 15 minutes in a bay drying a large SUV. It has taken a while for these to catch on but I think they have become a good addition for a self service wash. If you are unsure I would do what Earl suggests - put them in a couple of bays to see how it goes for you.
 
CarWashBoy said:
Hi.. Just my opinion.. I would step it up and go Credit/Debit and Bills in bays.. NO COINS.. trash your quarter changer for a Bill Breaker.. and the same with the Vacuums, Bills and Cards, NO COINS.. ..you gotta spend it, to make it.. I have done what I just mentioned and it works.. I just remodeled a 6 Bay and 8 Vac Wash, with EVERYTHING Top of the Line..Air Dryers etc, and it did 188,000 last year after remodel.. this year heading for 230,000+.. I know that is not great revenue, but it's working so far, and simple to manage....I thought about adding a AutoMatic, but I have had them in the past, and they can be a Pain in the you know what.. Just my 3 cents..
Happy Car Washing,
Doug
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Doug, what percentage increase in sales did you see after the remodel verses before? What do you attribute the 26% increase this year to?
 
Earl Weiss said:
Demographics will affect relative success of certain things. FWIW instead of committing to do the entire place and spend $ without knowing the return I first added bill acceptors to half the bays (Some people experience vandalism which make this a no go) . The return /experience justified me doing the other half. Same with CC accepters and dualers. .

If I do the hand held dryers I may try a couple of bays then do the rest.
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It will work.. Have no fear..
 
Earl Weiss said:
Do you guys set up a seperate breaker panel, one breaker for each unit for these dryers?
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Not sure how this pans out if you have the 110v, but we have the 208v air shammees, and we use the same breaker for each air shammee as the hp pump for that bay. Since there is no chance of both being on at the same time. I believe this is what most do.
 
Earl Weiss said:
Do you guys set up a seperate breaker panel, one breaker for each unit for these dryers?
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Earl ... not sure on how your existing in bay electrical is & whether this could apply to your setup ... but when we updated from our vintage 1987 less power required 3 smaller motor Specialty-Doyle Blo Drys we realized that amperage was going to be an issue & tried to keep the havoc to our existing electrical panels & new aluminum conduit & new boxes to the bays to a minimum. What saved us was that we tapped into some of our existing 110VAC in the bays that was no longer needed because of the new low voltage G&G 24VDC LED Lighting. In our case we used Square D (2 in the space of 1) breakers but still had to run one additional aluminum box with only one short run additional aluminum conduit out to & within our closest bay. We were advised that we could also use a time delay relays but we went with the double breakers to replace the existing single breakers & a bit more wiring instead. Time delay relay would make sure both of the higher amp single phase motors don't start at the same moment causing a code violation ... unless 10 gauge wire is run with 30 amp breakers etc.

As many of us know from experience, a good electrical person will balance or tweak the loads in the panels to match the utility drop's legs of power as close as possible whenever significant changes are made.

mike
 
BBE said:
Not sure how this pans out if you have the 110v, but we have the 208v air shammees, and we use the same breaker for each air shammee as the hp pump for that bay. Since there is no chance of both being on at the same time. I believe this is what most do.
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I'd recommend that as well. I remember someone who was about to pull the plug on an IBA install because the city wanted him to install a new 400 amp panel (at a cost of over $10,000) since the auto and the dryers would have overloaded the old one. When I pointed out to the city engineer that both would not ever be on together he said it was okay as it was.
 
It might be just me ... but I see at least a minor trade off with sharing breakers in terms of being able to replace wiring &/or a motor or whatever not as quick & knowing that the breaker could be needed to be used by another piece of equipment. There are other disconnect for safety ... workarounds; but it seems like it is something for Earl & his maintenance staff to consider.

mike
 
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