Self Serve Manual Doors....

[MDrost1]

Folks,

Does anybody use manual roll up doors in their SS bays? I live in West Michigan where the lake effect is tremendous. I just installed Airlifts in my IBA in September, and it they are great. I am thinking doors as an option on the West side of my SS bays would make winter much nicer for my customers.

What do you use? Any recommendations?

Thanks!

 

[DiamondWash]

Do not I repeat DO NOT install roll up style doors I am looking at removing mine and installing airlift style due to ease of use and maintenance.

 

[MDrost1]

Ha! Ok. Advice taken!

 

[Waxman]

I use insulated metal doors with torsion springs and cables. manual on ss bays, powered on iba ( one jackshaft style, one trolley style operator). i built new 10 years ago and these have held up well. we do regular maintenance on rollers, hinges, cables and springs. Mine were a solid door so we cut holes for windows. plexi is better than glass for the windows (holds up better). on a day like today (windy and 15-20 degrees F), customers can wash the car in a bay that is fairly warm. they like that and I like the lower heating costs.

 

[soapy]

I have had a few doors on my SS bays over the years. I have a few observations from my experience with them. Make sure you get a door rated for high winds. Many SS bays are wider than a normal opening and a door will have increased stress in wind. I have had 2 doors get blown right out of the frame due to high winds. Occasionally we can get up to 80 mph winds. I suggest that if you put a door on one end that you lock it down so that it can't be raised. I have had several people raise the doors but not get them all the way up. On the way out not only do they damage the door then they want you to pay for damage to their vehicle. All my SS doors now are locked in place when down. I would not put doors on every bay so that you have some open for people with trailers.

 

[mjwalsh]

MDrost1,

We are glad we replaced our extension spring doors with counterweight "strapeze" from Airlift. They made sense for us from a long term durability standpoint. We have had 6 of them since about 1998 so this is actual first hand experience. Some may argue that torsion springs are better but I don't see their reasoning ... especially in the wet car wash environment in a part of the country where the winters can be very severe! We actually were experimenting with a homemade roll up door mainly to seal off the bays better & a temporary backup for especially when the wind chills get down to minus 60-90 below degrees fahrenheit. We lacked the support to get it done so we had to give up on that specific rollup door project.

mike walsh from north dakota www.kingkoin.com

 

[MudMoney]

I've have doors and put the entry door on a separate breaker to prevent people from closing it in weather when its borderline nasty.Its a day to day judgement call due to weather factors.My wash is next to my office and easy to check on

 

[DiamondWash]

I'm in the market for new doors for my Self Serves and the Airlift XRS doors seem to be the winner each time unless convinced otherwise, the doors I currently have are aluminum roll-up doors mainly used for storage facilities or warehouses and now 15 years later their life is coming to an end, I have 4 10'x10' and 2 12'x10' I know I will need to start budgeting for them what would be the ballpark figure I'm looking at?

 

[kentadel]

Around 7k per door.

 

[mjwalsh]

I'm in the market for new doors for my Self Serves and the Airlift XRS doors seem to be the winner each time unless convinced otherwise, the doors I currently have are aluminum roll-up doors mainly used for storage facilities or warehouses and now 15 years later their life is coming to an end, I have 4 10'x10' and 2 12'x10' I know I will need to start budgeting for them what would be the ballpark figure I'm looking at?

Steve & others,

When we redid our doors back in the fall of 1998 ... we did make sure that all hangars (angles attached to our concrete ceiling etc.) which required local fabrication were stainless steel. I guess the XRSs are a step up from our Strapeze Alaskans ??? ... collision proof??? ... so I am not sure if there is some choices on both hardware from our friends at AirLift & whatever is provided by whoever local installer. We do like the way the machine shop installer came up with a way to reliably lock the doors from the inside with air cylinders & some nifty linkages etc. I guess it was a joint collaborative effort though ... on some of those tweaks etc. Airlift also sold us some nifty ZAP door openers ... that we ourselves can remotely close from phone or remote desktop computer the overhead doors ... as long as there are no impediments to the specific door opening & closing. LOL ... definitely also need to pay attention to specific cameras on that process ... to avoid a potential collision. I personally do not think that safety light beams etc would be fail safe enough. Any experience along the lines of safety beams etc? Not sure if anybody in USA still sells Zap Operators ... so I do not want to be misleading on that part of the equation.

Is anybody being totally successful (long term wise) in automatically opening & closing the doors after a customer comes & leaves on self service bays?

mike www.kingkoin.com