2 motor vac / 2 motor + 1 turbo vac / 3 motor vac

[RAAOO7]

In the market of upgrading new vacuums. What do you recommend?

1. Standard 2 vac motor set up
2. Combo Vac 2 motor + 1 turbo if customer pushes button (Usually cuts down time or customer's pay more for this feature.)
3. Buy a standard vac with 3 motor set up. one price; one time.

What do you think will be the best choice?

 

[Twodose]

If you have a 3 motor vac and remove one motor there will be no difference in the amount of vacuum it creates. Only thing is with 3 motors there is more maintenance and cost involved over a period of time, it you don’t believe it purchase a vacuum test guage and check a 3 motor vrs a 2 motor.

 

[slash007]

Agree about 3 motor vacs, but you do get the benefit of customers thinking they are getting more suction and getting less time at least. Not sure if that is worth it though. I would put a combo vac instead in a heartbeat.

 

[MEP001]

Agree about 3 motor vacs, but you do get the benefit of customers thinking they are getting more suction and getting less time at least. Not sure if that is worth it though.

Some years back I had a customer with four old vacuums that looked identical, but one pair had two motors and the other pair had three. He said the pair with three motors got 50% more use, and sometimes his customers would yell him they worked better. Similar anecdote with a customer who had two frag/vacs, two shampoo/vacs and two turbo vacs, he said most people chose the turbo for less time. The suction may be the same, but there is more CFM, and customers can tell the difference.

I wouldn't run 3-motor vacs without charging appropriately for them.

 

[Rainway]

I have 3 Coleman Hanna 3 motor vacs and then I put in a JE Adams combination vac with fragrance and spot remover/carpet cleaner. JE Adams has vacuum selection for 2 and 3 motors but I didn’t differentiate the price so I think people always use the 3 motors. The combo vac does better than all the others but is more maintenance. Buttons wear out etc. but still worth the extra headache.

I charge $2.25 for a 5 or 6 minutes of vacuuming. I then added crypto pay to all 4 vacs and have found it well worth it and charge $3.00 minimum when they use credit card but they get a little more time. I’ve had people keep swiping away and have paid $20 to use the JE Adams. I don’t think anyone has ever dropped that much coin in.

 

[Wet Spot]

I’m getting 5 new IVS 3 motor vacs installed this month, I’ll evaluate then. Pretty confident they‘ll be slightly better than two. if it’s 20-25% better than competition, it’s worth the pennies in cost

 

[Scott220]

Last year I replaced two high volume vacs with three motor vacs, raised my price from $1.00 to 2.00, which I agree is a bit too high. I also increased time from four minutes to five minutes. Best decision I've made! I'm always asking for customer feedback and the common reply is its well worth the increased price. Customers are very pleased. I plan on doing the same to my other location later this year.

 

[Earl Weiss]

If you have 3 motors make certain your wiring and breakers can handle it.

 

[RAAOO7]

Is there a noticeable difference in electric costs running 3 motors? I plan on charging $2 for 5 minutes

 

[MEP001]

Look at your electric bill, there should be a cost per kilawatt-hour. Mine is 12.5¢. That means a 3-motor vacuum would cost me $0.375 per hour, or $0.00625 per minute. So a 3-motor vacuum would cost me about half a cent per cycle more in electricity.

 

[Earl Weiss]

. The suction may be the same, but there is more CFM, and customers can tell the difference.

Thought I read on here sometime ago about huge diminishing returns on a 2" hose from 2 to 3 motors. I also think the surface are of most vac nozzls is less than the 2" hose

 

[RAAOO7]

So what's the verdict? 3 vac motor or combo vac with turbo option?

 

[soonermajic]

So what's the verdict? 3 vac motor or combo vac with turbo option?

get 3 motors, just cause you will get more money per charge.

SOmeone on here posted about cutting a notch in their vacuum claws. Does anyone remember what the deal was? I can't find it on the SEARCH feature...

 

[Randy]

Years ago at one of the car wash conventions I was at the “Smooth Bore” booth, they make the vacuum hoses. I was talking to the head of sales and I asked him what his thoughts were on using 3 motors on a vacuum. He laughed and said you could have 5 motors on a vacuum and you’re only going to get 210 CFM’s though a 2” hose. He said when the customers see “Turbo” or hear the third motor kick in when they push the button they think they are really getting something. I have 2 motor vac’s that are well maintained and I’ve gotten complaints that they suck to hard and there hard to use.

 

[RAAOO7]

Years ago at one of the car wash conventions I was at the “Smooth Bore” booth, they make the vacuum hoses. I was talking to the head of sales and I asked him what his thoughts were on using 3 motors on a vacuum. He laughed and said you could have 5 motors on a vacuum and you’re only going to get 210 CFM’s though a 2” hose. He said when the customers see “Turbo” or hear the third motor kick in when they push the button they think they are really getting something. I have 2 motor vac’s that are well maintained and I’ve gotten complaints that they suck to hard and there hard to use.

Very interesting point made Randy. What type of maintenance do you do on your 2 motor vacuums? At my site we clean vacuums every week.

 

[Randy]

Very interesting point made Randy. What type of maintenance do you do on your 2 motor vacuums? At my site we clean vacuums every week.

We clean out the vacuums3 times a week and shake down the filter bags. Inspect the gaskets, take piece of paper and run it around the door gasket if you can get a piece of paper between the door gasket and vacuum housing the gasket needs to be replaced. We use the same brand motors in all of our vac's, when you mismatch motors they'll work against each other. We change the vc brushes every 6 months whether they need it or not. Vacuums are the highest imcome generator on theproperty. The car wash on the other end of town doesn't understand that, they never do anything to to there vac's, they are .50 and .75 for 5 mintues, I'm at $1.50 for 3.5 minutes and mine are always busy.

 

[RAAOO7]

Very interesting point made Randy. What type of maintenance do you do on your 2 motor vacuums? At my site we clean vacuums every week.

 

[Twodose]

get 3 motors, just cause you will get more money per charge.

SOmeone on here posted about cutting a notch in their vacuum claws. Does anyone remember what the deal was? I can't find it on the SEARCH feature...

Vac nozzles

I know this has been discussed in the past, but how do you best modify the vac nozzles so that they can be more easily moved over the carpet? I have been rebuilding EVERYTHING at the wash I bought. Now that I have good gaskets, new motors( 3 per vac) and filter bags, these things could suck the...

www.carwashforum.com

 

[RAAOO7]

We clean out the vacuums3 times a week and shake down the filter bags. Inspect the gaskets, take piece of paper and run it around the door gasket if you can get a piece of paper between the door gasket and vacuum housing the gasket needs to be replaced. We use the same brand motors in all of our vac's, when you mismatch motors they'll work against each other. We change the vc brushes every 6 months whether they need it or not. Vacuums are the highest imcome generator on theproperty. The car wash on the other end of town doesn't understand that, they never do anything to to there vac's, they are .50 and .75 for 5 mintues, I'm at $1.50 for 3.5 minutes and mine are always busy.

What do you mean mismatching motors? I use lamb VAL6336 from kleen-rite. Which do you recommend ?

 

[Twodose]

Those are good vac motors to use, I use them, never touch the brushes, when they fail I just replace with another lamb vac motor. I think possibly mismatching motors could mean that they may draw different currents, or run at different speeds, the carwash business is the only business I know that the less time you spend there the more money you make.