Heated Water for IBA

[Joswhaha]

Howdy yall
I am in the planning process for filmy water wizard 1.0 and want to know if heated presoak and wax is that important?
I have an old raypak boiler but it hasn’t run in years and I would guess the storage tank is rusted through. I could probably get the boiler running without to much hassle but would need to replace the storage tank.

Does anyone use a newer commercial tank type water heater for their IBA? It would save me a lot of space as long as it could keep up with the demand.

 

[washnshine]

Howdy yall
I am in the planning process for filmy water wizard 1.0 and want to know if heated presoak and wax is that important?

Heated presoak is essential for cleaning in a TF.

Heated wax is not essential to be effective, but will improve its drying abilities - especially in colder climates.

Your presoak must be hot to clean.

 

[Waxman]

My new razor wash has an option that I love and that is to use pure hot water for low pressure chemical application. In other words the hot water is not mixed with cold when applying presoak. Hot water cleans everything better as far as I know. Cars, clothes, dishes, bodies.

My hot water system uses a raypak boiler and ruud storage

 

[Toms PTcarwash]

I use a Tagaki tankless water heater for my touch free. I supply 110-120 degree water for the presoak and wax. Probably don't need the hot water for the wax but may wash is piped to use the same source for presoak and wax.

 

[Joswhaha]

Thanks guys. I got the boiler running today and the tank does have a small leak. I don’t know if I should replace the tank only for $2000 ish or replace the whole setup with a new tank style boiler.

 

[Tom Thumb]

Thanks guys. I got the boiler running today and the tank does have a small leak. I don’t know if I should replace the tank only for $2000 ish or replace the whole setup with a new tank style boiler.

the Water Wizard should have a Watts water heater built into to Presoak TANK.

 

[MEP001]

the Water Wizard should have a Watts water heater built into to Presoak TANK.

It does, but it won't heat enough by itself to wash cars. It's to maintain the heated water in the tank.

 

[Joswhaha]

It does indeed, is that sufficient for the presoak to clean? It has been off until 2 days ago when I turned it in.

 

[Joswhaha]

Does someone know if the presoak pulls water from the built in tank on the water wizard or no? My tank is plumbed with cold water and the chemical tanks feed hot water

 

[Joswhaha]

I have a couple of year old 50 gallon gas water heater I could retrofit to use for this until I order a real tank. Does that sound crazy to y’all?

 

[Tom Thumb]

It does, but it won't heat enough by itself to wash cars. It's to maintain the heated water in the tank.

So far both of mine have worked fine for 18 yrs. Have had to replace once.

 

[MEP001]

So far both of mine have worked fine for 18 yrs. Have had to replace once.

It's not about working for years, it's about how quickly it can heat the water. If you rely on hot presoak to get cars clean, the tank heater will not keep the water hot enough if two or three cars come through at once. Again, the electric heater is only intended to keep the water hot. It still needs sufficient hot water supply to stay hot through multiple cars.

 

[Greg Pack]

The water wizard likely has a three phase cartridge heater in one of the presoak tanks. I've never tested it but I assume it's sized to provide hot presoak with a cold water feed inlet. When you consider it's just heating a few gallons at a time, and there is likely 5-7 minutes between washes I would at least try it to see if it keeps up. With you just opening back up I doubt it will be overtaxed. I feed my pumpstands with about 110 degree water and let the cartridge heater heat a little hotter (120 or so) and the cartridge heater keeps it hot with no issues.

 

[washnshine]

The water wizard likely has a three phase cartridge heater in one of the presoak tanks. I've never tested it but I assume it's sized to provide hot presoak with a cold water feed inlet. When you consider it's just heating a few gallons at a time, and there is likely 5-7 minutes between washes I would at least try it to see if it keeps up. With you just opening back up I doubt it will be overtaxed. I feed my pumpstands with about 110 degree water and let the cartridge heater heat a little hotter (120 or so) and the cartridge heater keeps it hot with no issues.

Would that cartridge heater warm up a few gallons of say 60° or 70° to 110° In the time between cars?

 

[MEP001]

The water wizard likely has a three phase cartridge heater in one of the presoak tanks.

I'm pretty sure it's a 120V 500 watt.

 

[Greg Pack]

Maybe Coleman has a lower wattage option I'm not aware of that is designed for those that feed hot water and it just needs to keep it warm. Just checked mine- my wizards have factory installed 4.5KW three phase heaters. The presoak tank holds about seven gallons. If my math is correct it should be able to raise the water temp of in that tank from 50 to 120 in about 18 minutes, and be able to heat two gallons of solution 70 degrees every five minutes. I would think that would work, especially at a wash that's just getting cranked back up and won't be gangbusters.

 

[Greg Pack]

I have a couple of year old 50 gallon gas water heater I could retrofit to use for this until I order a real tank. Does that sound crazy to y’all?

I just sold a wash that had two residential grade water heaters plumbed in series, so yes that will work and save you a ton of money up front if you have the room.

 

[Joswhaha]

Hot water back online! 120 gallon tank was delivered yesterday and we got it plumbed this evening. Now is there any benefit to having hot water rinse for thes IBA or just heated presoak?

 

[Toms PTcarwash]

Not sure what your IBA flows for rinse but mine flows about 27gpm. To heat that from 50 degrees incoming to 100 outgoing would be about 675,000 net BTUs. So financially not feasible and I see no benefit from a heated water rinse.
I am sure others may have different opinions.

 

[MEP001]

Other than melting ice off of cars to get them clean in the winter, there's no benefit to having a hot rinse other than marketing. Rudy's barbecue stores around here have touchless autos with hot everything, including rinse. The crazy thing is they use on-demand electric heaters for everything. What I don't understand is with all that expense and advertising that everything is hot for the best cleaning, almost every single person will get out and prep their own car with brushes.