Shutting Down the Car Wash during Cold Weather

[Kevin James]

We don’t have floor heat systems because we only get a few cold snaps every year and we are beginning to think that it isn’t feasible to keep the car wash open during very cold weather, lower than a day time temperature of 27 degrees. We have a cold snap coming that is going last about 4 or 5 days with lows of around 14 degrees and highs about 27 or so. With those temperatures we don’t get many people washing so we are thinking about shutting down the car washes until the day time temperatures get back up about freezing. This is mostly from a safety stand point with the ice build on the bay floors, but it’s also to save a little money on the water bill. How should we accomplish this, turn off the weep water, purge the systems with air, remove the gun and foam brush handles. Has anyone ever done this? Any thoughts on this?

 

[MudMoney]

My gut reaction is don't shut the weep down,but I don't know how expensive your water and sewer is.Do you really save that much money compared to the hassle of removing guns and brushes vs a supple line having left over water after a blow out and freezing anyway?

 

[pgrzes]

I shut down my bays if its going to be in the low 20's or below for an extended period. I leave weeps run and just put up cones and turn off power to bays.

 

[mjwalsh]

We don’t have floor heat systems because we only get a few cold snaps every year and we are beginning to think that it isn’t feasible to keep the car wash open during very cold weather, lower than a day time temperature of 27 degrees. We have a cold snap coming that is going last about 4 or 5 days with lows of around 14 degrees and highs about 27 or so. With those temperatures we don’t get many people washing so we are thinking about shutting down the car washes until the day time temperatures get back up about freezing. This is mostly from a safety stand point with the ice build on the bay floors, but it’s also to save a little money on the water bill. How should we accomplish this, turn off the weep water, purge the systems with air, remove the gun and foam brush handles. Has anyone ever done this? Any thoughts on this?

Kevin James,

We have three of our bays that we keep open year round 8AM-10PM except during severe blizzards with -20º F to -30º F (North Dakota weather sometimes). We only have our deicer below & by each of our overhead doors & the other 3 bays floor area which is semi enclosed (more of a snowmelt system).

I do not know if it is a good fit for you but what we did was put in 3 (one for each bay) Trane Unit Heaters that include a fan on each one .... that we circulate with glycol. Works great (no weep needed for us) & also helps keep the visibility (steam water vapor created) situation much better. For efficiency ... we use Spirec Heat Exchangers because we know that the specific gravity of glycol causes significant efficiency loss if the glycol is heated directly in a boiler chamber.

I know I know ... operators in milder climates are having an extremely hard time relating ... I understand I understand.

mike walsh http://kingkoin.com/USA_Deficit_Reduction.html

 

[MEP001]

If I were to shut bays down, I'd blow out the lines and then purge with a little antifreeze or windshield washer fluid and blow them out again. You'd be able to reopen with the temps still below freezing if you want to and not have to worry about deicing the lines if there are low spots where water collected and froze.

 

[robert roman]

“We don’t have floor heat systems…..we only get a few cold snaps every year….:

“….cold snap last about 4 or 5 days with lows of around 14 degrees and highs about 27 or so.”

“Any thoughts on this?”

Four snaps each lasts five days equal 20 days.

What is the cost to run weep and salt bays for 20 days?

What is benefit of claiming you are always open?

How much does it cost to shut down and then re-start the wash? Multiply this by four.

What strategy has lowest cost, highest benefit?

 

[MEP001]

His main reason for closing the wash in freezing weather is risk of customers slipping on the ice. I'm certainly less concerned about the cost of weep water than a lawsuit.

 

[Randy]

We shut down our carwashes a couple of times during the winter season, normally when the temperatures drop down into the low teens and the highs are only in the mid-20’s we shut down, we don’t get much business then anyway. We do this primarily for the safety of the customers. We turn off the power to the meter boxes, remove the guns and foam brush handles, we remove the gun and foam brush handles because we’ve caught nonpaying customers trying to wash with weep water when the wash was shut down. We installed a “T” downstream of the weep water shut off valve with another valve on the “T” to connect an air hose and antifreeze purge hose. When we shut down the car wash we turn off the weep water, remove the guns and foam brush handles, connect an air hose to the valve off the “T” blow out the weep system, then put the hoses into 5 gallon buckets in the bays and then purge the weep system with -20 deg. windshield washer fluid with a spare G57 pump. After we get the system filled with windshield washer fluid we purge the weep system with air one more time collecting any excess windshield washer fluid in the 5 gallon buckets to be reused. This whole process takes less than 30 minutes.

 

[mmurra]

I was helping a sick friend at his wash yesterday in Michigan and I went to the ground on a piece of black ice. Temp was in the 20's, sunny day and tunnel busy. Reminded me that at 61, I do not want to fall like that too many more times. Also reminded me to be sure I'm doing my job to be super vigilant at my wash every winter to salt -salt -salt. Not too much - just enough, paying attention to what can happen to us or our customers if we are not attentive. Mark

 

[Randy]

We worry about our customers falling and getting hurt. We use a lot salt and sand on the parking lot but we have still had people fall. A few years ago we had a guy fall and break his hip, he left in an ambulance. 2 years ago we had a guy fall and shattered his elbow. Both times were beautiful days with the temperature in the mid 20's.

 

[Ghetto Wash]

beautiful days with the temperature in the mid 20's.

I hope I never think a mid 20's day is beautiful. I don't know how you Northerners do it.

 

[pgrzes]

You would wish to if it was a sunny mid 20's Saturday after a little freezing rain on Tuesday of that week!!! Best days ever for a carwash!!!

 

[soapy]

-11 this morning and no power at one of the washes for around 8 hours. Wintertime fun.

 

[mjwalsh]

-11 this morning and no power at one of the washes for around 8 hours. Wintertime fun.

Soapy,

That is a very scary combination!!! We can relate ... usually with that scenario there is a section of the city .... scrambling ... not knowing for sure how long ... a matter of taking the necessary precautions possibly improvising ... watching over those precautions ... and patiently waiting. More often than not, the power company will not commit to an exact time for being back up & running. I know you might not have time now but it would be nice if you can share any words of wisdom for us operators who may find ourselves in a similar situation.

mike walsh http://kingkoin.com/USA_Deficit_Reduction.html

 

[soapy]

Not a lot you can do in a power outage situation. The first thing I do is try to keep the equipment room from freezing. I do have a small Honda generator than I can bring to the wash to power a small heater. I also keep a filled 80 lb. propane tank that I can hook a radiant type of heater to that does not require any electricity. It will keep the equipment room from freezing for a extended time without requiring electricity. Generally cities have emergency generators for water pumps so they can keep people supplied with water so the weep systems for the SS bays stay working. If that is not the case I have a small tank that I can fill with antifreeze and then air pressure up the tank and flush the SS bay lines so that I do not have to unthaw them later. If you do have to unthaw the SS bay lines it is best to take down all the lines that you can that are exposed and let them thaw out in the heated equipment room. Then use hot water to thaw any short exposed lines not in the heated trough. For IBA the most important thing to do is drain any water pumps you have. Swivels are cheap to replace compared to a large pump.

 

[cantbreak80]

YEA!!! My place survived the night! -17F according to my Weepmizer! The floors and aprons are even ice free even though the design temp for the system is +10F.

I've had 2 customers today...washing at +4F. Yikes! Hope their doors and locks don't freeze solid.

 

[2Biz]

Wow...Its been a long time since we've had temps like that here in Southern Ohio. You can keep it out there! Global Warming My A$$...

 

[MudMoney]

It got to -28 yesterday, I have doors and shut the wash down,a regular came in at 7 pm while I was putting mail truck away and I asked that he come back at 11 am and I would open for him no problem he says,you gotta love a small town!

 

[Kevin James]

Thanks Randy, we followed your procedure to the “T”, installed “T” in the weep system and blew everything down with air and then pumped in washer fluid. We shut down all of our car washes down on Tuesday, the high Tuesday was 26 and the low 14. It took about 45 minutes to pull the guns and foam brush handles and pump in washer fluid. This cold snap is lasting longer than we had originally anticipated. We went by a couple of other car washes and they are still open, they are incrusted with ice. The kids have tossed the guns and foam brush handles out of the bays and now the parking lot is sheet of ice, not a soul around. Thanks again Randy, some people here just don't get it.

 

[soapy]

It was -4 today and I get a call from a guy who says he put $5 in the SS bay but the wand is frozen inside the wand holder. I say I am sorry and will refund his money because I was 20 minutes away. He starts swearing and yelling at me over the phone. By the time we get there he has broke the gun and tore stuff up. I have it on video as well as have his cell phone #. He got a call from the cops and they were going to pick him up. He calls me and asked how does he get his $5 back now.