where to use warm hot water?

[washtecnic]

Hello,

I am thinking about using warm/hot water into the self serve wash

I have few questions, what is the recommended or usual temperature used?

In what phases of the washing cleaning process warm/hot water is used?

prewash? wash? foam? rinse?

Is it used all over year winter and summer?

I will look into solar heating pannels in order to reduce heating costs

Let me know your opinions and suggestions

thanks

mario

 

[Waxman]

HP soap, wax and foamy brush I use hot. Heat water to between 113F and 119F.

I use cold water rinse, but friends in colder climates switch to hot rinse in Winter months.

 

[Kevin James]

We only heat High pressure soap. Anything else and your wasting your money.

 

[PaulLovesJamie]

We only heat High pressure soap. Anything else and your wasting your money.

hmmm... maybe, maybe not.
Basically, I use hot water for high pressure soap, cold for rinse.

I also use hot water thru my hydrominders to mix water with the soap concentrates, so technically all of my low pressure functions (foaming brush, presoak, tire cleaner, etc) are hot water. Yes, I would say that by the time those low pressure functions reach the customers car, they're not hot anymore. So why do I do it? 4 simple words: solubility increases with temperature. In other words, using hot water to mix/dilute the soap concentrates gives me a better/more uniform solution, which should lead to a better & more consistent wash. Is it noticeable to the naked eye, is it really enough of a difference to be worthwhile? hmmm... maybe, maybe not. I figure that the little things add up and make a difference, and since so little water (percentage-wise) goes through the hydrominders, its worth using hot for this.

So the last function that I didnt mention is wax/ccp - hot or cold? Well, I use hot water, but in this case I have to admit I'm not sure if its worthwhile. So I default to using hot for the same reasons as I just explained for the LP funtions - mainly solubility.

Yes, I usually switch to cold water for everything for my 2 slowest months in the middle of the summer. Well - everything except the hydrominders that is.

 

[MEP001]

So the last function that I didnt mention is wax/ccp - hot or cold? Well, I use hot water, but in this case I have to admit I'm not sure if its worthwhile.

I've been thinking the same thing. I've seen washes set up with hot only on soap and cold rinse and wax. I can't tell any difference at all with the wax application between hot and cold. If it didn't require a major change in the plumbing for the pumpstands I'd probably switch to cold wax and save maybe $100 a month on the gas bill.

 

[Mel(NC)]

I turn on the hot water for soap,wax and rinse every winter and I always wonder if it is worth it. I have had one customer in 7 years comment that they like the hot water. There is no doubt that the hot water cleans better but I am not sure the average customer realizes this.

 

[sparkey]

Am I the only one on here who doesn't heat any of my water? When the temperature in ohio drops in the teens and lower the water feels warm straight from the ground and even causes steam in the automatic bay. My competition doesn't heat their water either. Of course we are selling self serve washes for $1 = 3 minutes and automatic for $4 - $7. I don't think customers in my area are willing to pay higher prices for hotter water. In the winter we barely need soap to get the salt off the cars.

 

[2Biz]

I'm aslo from Southern Ohio and don't heat water. I'm with you, when it gets below freezing, the bays steam up from water at ground temps. I'm like you, Sparkey, if I raised my prices enough to cover hot water, I wouldn't get any business. So far in the year we've owned this wash, I haven't had the first complaint. The PO said he had not heated water in years for the same reason...

 

[Buzzie8]

There is definitely a difference in heated water for the wax application. I use the same chemical in two different washes and the when applying high pressure wax with hot water the break and customer experience is much better with the wash I that I have heated wax water.

 

[Randy]

Each bay has 1 “Junker” on demand Gas water heater, they have been in service since 1982. “Junker” was sold to Bosch a few years ago. We only heat the water for the High Pressure soap. Our Gas bill runs at around $90 a month year around.