It’s time to refurbish!

[Don B.]

In a couple weeks I’m going to go in and do a renovation of all my 6 bay self serve equipment. I’m gonna have to shut down for a few weeks or longer, but it needs to be done. It’s about to wear me out trying to keep everything running. We built the car wash 27 years ago. I’m going to rebuild all the pumping units, high and low pressure. New plumbing inside, all new bay hose and tubing, control wiring , switches, timers , water softener, new tankless heaters. Out of 4 old Paloma ph-24’s, I’ve got one heater left working and parts are long gone for those things! Both water softeners are leaking out of the resin tanks. I’ve got two different water softeners, long story, but I’m going to go back with one large softener to cover everything including my touchless automatic. What isn’t already leaking or broke inside the room is going to! It’s absolutely wore out. I’m bringing my son in to help me! He’s 25 years old. He’s our youngest and our only son. I figure there will be no better way for him to learn how a car wash works then by rebuilding one. Hopefully, in a few years, he can take it over!
I’ve been sourcing so many parts that my head is spinning! It’ll be fun! I’ve got some things that I need suggestions on but I’ll have to post those later when I can remember what they are! Too much in my head right now!

 

[MEP001]

After about 50 times it gets a lot easier.

 

[Don B.]

After about 50 times it gets a lot easier.

Yeah, I bet it does get easier! But I definitely know how a car wash works. I actually even installed the original equipment myself, 27 years ago. It was all Dultmeier equipment. What’s your thoughts on mounting a Dixmor LED 7 remotely outside of the meter box on the wall in an enclosure? Right now I have the old ginsan GS 31s. They’re mounted on the wall. I know the dixmore mounts inside the meter box but I don’t really have a place to put them in there, or an opening in my meter face. What I am running into is finding an enclosure to put them in. They won’t fit in the old GS -31 boxes. I know Dixmor makes a larger timer with an enclosure that mounts on the wall. Those things are very expensive!

 

[MEP001]

A Dixmor LED7 should fit in this plastic box:

Cantex 4 in. x 4 in. x 4 in. Junction Box R5133709 - The Home Depot

The 4 in. x 4 in. x 4 in. Junction Box is an easily accessed surface mounted PVC box without entrance hubs. The box will hold multiple conduit connections and wire splices. The junction box is made of

www.homedepot.com

Some stainless security screws will keep it safe. It may not look nice, but it'll work. Laurel Metal makes boxes for a LED7 and a card reader, maybe they make a box just for the timer.

 

[Don B.]

A Dixmor LED7 should fit in this plastic box:

Cantex 4 in. x 4 in. x 4 in. Junction Box R5133709 - The Home Depot

The 4 in. x 4 in. x 4 in. Junction Box is an easily accessed surface mounted PVC box without entrance hubs. The box will hold multiple conduit connections and wire splices. The junction box is made of

www.homedepot.com

Some stainless security screws will keep it safe. It may not look nice, but it'll work. Laurel Metal makes boxes for a LED7 and a card reader, maybe they make a box just for the timer.

Yeah, I had thought about those plastic gray PVC boxes. Those would probably work great, but like you say, it won’t look as nice as stainless. I might check with Dixmor and the Laurel metals and see what they think about it, or if they make a box for it, I don’t know. If a guy had a way to recess that plastic box where you couldn’t see it and then put a stainless front cover on it with a cut out for the display in it. But I don’t wanna have to cut a hole my brick wall for that!
I’ll figure something out.
Thanks!

 

[soonermajic]

Proud for you & your son! Don't get too frustrated.
Keep us posted.

 

[Don B.]

Proud for you & your son! Don't get too frustrated.
Keep us posted.

Thanks! It won’t frustrate me much. I’ve been working on carwash equipment for a long time.
It’s just second nature to me! Getting everything lined out is the hardest part!

 

[Randy]

Come on a plastic box, one good hit with a foam brush head and it’s be gone. Do it right and replace the coin box with a larger face plate. Post a picture of your current coin box. You might able to get a custom made face plate that will allow you to install a LED-7 timer and Cryptopay swiper. Your customers don’t care what’s inside your equipment room. Keep the bay equipment looking nice, clean fresh signs, bay equipment in good order and everything working 100% of the time.

 

[Don B.]

Come on a plastic box, one good hit with a foam brush head and it’s be gone. Do it right and replace the coin box with a larger face plate. Post a picture of your current coin box. You might able to get a custom made face plate that will allow you to install a LED-7 timer and Cryptopay swiper. Your customers don’t care what’s inside your equipment room. Keep the bay equipment looking nice, clean fresh signs, bay equipment in good order and everything working 100% of the time.

It’ll have to be mounted outside the coin box. Changing the coin box really isn’t an option. My coin boxes are the smaller vault style, and they are recessed in the brick. You would have to bust the brick to get them out! I also do have the Cryptopay swiper and bill acceptor. They are mounted on a box also outside of coin meter. In all honesty, I don’t want the timer inside the coin box. The only way I would want that would be if I had a larger coin box . There’s just not a lot of room in there. It’s much nicer when you only have a coin acceptor inside the box. Right now everything is crammed in there. Probably won’t go with a plastic box. I wish it would fit inside the old Ginsan GS 31 enclosures ,but it won’t. I might just bite the bullet and go with the Dixmor Led 9. They’re a little larger, and they’re mounted in a stainless enclosure.

 

[MEP001]

I think you could fit a Dixmor timer on that door if you move the coin acceptor to the right about 1/2", eliminate the pilot light and put the timer above the rotary switch.

 

[Randy]

I don't think you'd have to change the entire coin box. Your coin boxes are about the same size as mine and I've got a LED-7 inside mine with no problem. Look at this coin box face plate https://www.dultmeier.com/products/0.48.218.221/10589 it looks Identical to what you have. I've found that mounting timers up high above the coin box the customer don't see them or don't look at them.

 

[Don B.]

I don't think you'd have to change the entire coin box. Your coin boxes are about the same size as mine and I've got a LED-7 inside mine with no problem. Look at this coin box face plate https://www.dultmeier.com/products/0.48.218.221/10589 it looks Identical to what you have. I've found that mounting timers up high above the coin box the customer don't see them or don't look at them.

Yeah, after looking at the catalog I believe that’s the same size box as mine. It gave the dimensions 8x11. I believe that’s what mine are. I’ll have to measure them when I’m at the car wash. It looks identical to mine, except for the cut out for the timer. I mean, I’m not totally against putting it in there. That might be my only choice. And, like you said, it might be better for the customer at eye level. After thinking about it, I need to look at the inside of the meter face plate. It seems to me like there is a square stamped-spot for a timer, but it’s not punched completely out. I don’t remember, I’ll have to look.If all it needs is a cut out, I could cut my plates out. That wouldn’t be that big of a problem. I’ll have to do some measurements on it.

 

[Don B.]

I think you could fit a Dixmor timer on that door if you move the coin acceptor to the right about 1/2", eliminate the pilot light and put the timer above the rotary switch.

I think you’re right. That’s probably gonna be the best way to go. I’m going to do some measurements inside there, I’m not sure I’ll even have to move the corn acceptor. At least I hope I won’t. If all it needs is a square cut out, that’s not a big deal! Dultmeier shows a coin box in their catalog that looks identical to mine except for the cut out. And it looks like the coin acceptor is still in the same spot.

 

[Don B.]

Well, I’ll be starting my equipment rebuild in about a week. Luckily I found some used Dixmor 2000-2 timers for sale and bought them. A member of the forum had them for sale. He had 7 of them. He made me a pretty good deal so I bought all 7. They all worked great. Really impressed with these things. They’re very heavy duty, and very noticeable! Especially after using the small Ginsan GS-31 Displays. Just needed a good cleaning, and the Lexan lens covers replaced on them. I’ve got the lens covers ordered from Kleen-Rite, and also some last minute beepers, they weren’t very expensive. I hooked them up to a transformer and coin acceptor and bench tested all of them. Played with the programming and figured out how to program them.
It’s really not that hard. I’ve talked with Nick a few times at Dixmor and he’s helped me. I need to get a remote for them so I can have the capability to turn on the bays with the remote, and also much easier to program with a remote. Believe you can program one and then transfer to all the other ones. They also make an info key that plugs into the timer. Believe you can plug it into one and then transfer the program to all the other ones. My shop at home is full of parts and equipment that I’ve been sourcing out from different places. I have purchased things from Zorro, Kleen Rite, Wintrax, Dultmeier, and Automation Direct. And a few others, I can’t even remember! My single, biggest expense so far has been the water softener. I went with a Culligan unit. We have a very good Culligan dealer here. I know him very well. He’s always worked on my softeners for me and I trust him. I got one of the top-of-the-line units. I’m usually kind of cheap, lol! But I didn’t splurge on the water softener, because I also have an automatic. It’s an 80 gallon per minute maximum flow softener.
Want to make sure I have plenty of water flow!
I’m just ready to get it started!

 

[Don B.]

Well, the remodel is finished. Never had time to update our progress, simply too busy and too tired at the end of the day! We closed it down and started gutting out the equipment room on April 29 . We opened back up 4 days ago on June 7. It took much longer than I anticipated. We advertised that we would be closed down for 3 weeks, it took 6. We worked very hard the past 6 weeks! It was exhausting! I didn’t think we were ever going to get it finished. I hated being closed that long. A lot of 12 to 14 hour days. New and/or rebuild, low and high pressure pumping units, new water softening system, rebuilt the spot free system, new water heaters. All new plumbing, hoses, tubing, control wiring to meter boxes and in equipment room, check valves, solenoid’s, motor starters, rotary switches in coin boxes, bill/coin acceptor’s , timers, foam brushes, spray guns, decals, mat holders, rebuilt vacuums, painting, etc..
I love the dixmor 2000-2 timers! They’re so large and easy to see, and the customers love them too!
The original equipment lasted 26 years. If this equipment rebuild last another 26 that’ll be fine with me, I won’t own it by then, anyway! I added some pics of our work!

 

[Don B.]

A few more pics!

 

[Randy]

Looks good Don, good job!

 

[Don B.]

Looks good Don, good job!

Thanks!

 

[Keno]

Looks really good! Sounds like a ton of work

 

[Don B.]

Looks really good! Sounds like a ton of work

Thanks, yeah, I was second-guessing it after about three or four weeks! But we kept plugging away, till we finally got it finished! I’m not as young as I used to be! 10 or 15 years ago, it wouldn’t have worn me out as much!