A Cold freeze coming Windsheild washer fluid

[tdlconceptsllc]

Merry Christmas to everyone! On our future weather forecast for NC Christmas week it suppose to get abnormally cold for us. Over the years I have seen 2biz and others have fancy windsheild washer fluid blow downs.

If I was going to close down the wash for lets say 3-4 days and wanted to not waste weep water 24/7 to a 10 bay SS and Automatic the weepmizers will run all the time darn near. Could I drain my HP rinse tank and refill with -20 windsheild washer fluid and go to every bay and turn on HP so it fills the line and pump/purge with WW and be safe for extreme cold weather and same for low pressure functions. The water consumption and the few people washing =broken lines fittings muddy frozen mess wouldn't be worth it. Thanks in advance Thomas

 

[traveler17]

Merry Christmas to everyone! On our future weather forecast for NC Christmas week it suppose to get abnormally cold for us. Over the years I have seen 2biz and others have fancy windsheild washer fluid blow downs.

If I was going to close down the wash for lets say 3-4 days and wanted to not waste weep water 24/7 to a 10 bay SS and Automatic the weepmizers will run all the time darn near. Could I drain my HP rinse tank and refill with -20 windsheild washer fluid and go to every bay and turn on HP so it fills the line and pump/purge with WW and be safe for extreme cold weather and same for low pressure functions. The water consumption and the few people washing =broken lines fittings muddy frozen mess wouldn't be worth it. Thanks in advance Thomas

Great question. I’ll be doing the same. Would like to here from the guys that deal w this all
The time

 

[Randy]

This how we shut down the car wash when it gets real cold. I installed a "T" in the weep water system just downstream of the weep solenoid valve. I turn off the weep water, connect a air hose to the down leg on the "T" and blow air into the weep system, blowing out most of the water. Then I connect a Flo-Jet pump to the "T" and pump WW fluid into the weep system. I put the furthest foam brush handle and gun in a bucket so I can tell when I've got enough WW in the system. When I'm satisfied that I have enough WW in the system I disconnect the pump, turn off the power to the pumps etc. and go home until it warms back up. It normally only takes a about 3 jugs of WW. I went to Walmart the other day and bought WW fluid so I have everything staged ready to go.

 

[cantbreak80]

Since we deal with freezing conditions every year, our systems are automatic.

We fancy.

 

[MudMoney]

I have doors and heated floors,no problem here.

 

[jack954]

i do exactly same as randy, except i blow the washer fluid out of all the lines into 5 gallon buckets to reuse

 

[traveler17]

This how we shut down the car wash when it gets real cold. I installed a "T" in the weep water system just downstream of the weep solenoid valve. I turn off the weep water, connect a air hose to the down leg on the "T" and blow air into the weep system, blowing out most of the water. Then I connect a Flo-Jet pump to the "T" and pump WW fluid into the weep system. I put the furthest foam brush handle and gun in a bucket so I can tell when I've got enough WW in the system. When I'm satisfied that I have enough WW in the system I disconnect the pump, turn off the power to the pumps etc. and go home until it warms back up. It normally only takes a about 3 jugs of WW. I went to Walmart the other day and bought WW fluid so I have everything staged ready to go.

So how cold does it need to be for you to go through this process?

 

[Greg Pack]

So how cold does it need to be for you to go through this process?

No doors or floor heat here. When I have a low in the low 20's and it is followed by a day with a high no higher than about 35 (~40 if it is cloudy) I shut down. I know you guys up North will laugh but these cold snaps are very short lived. My business drops substantially anyway during cold snaps as people usually just wait until it gets warmer to wash. The people that are determined to wash usually aren't the customers I want to deal with anyway (muddy hunters, etc.)

 

[traveler17]

No doors or floor heat here. When I have a low in the low 20's and it is followed by a day with a high no higher than about 35 (~40 if it is cloudy) I shut down. I know you guys up North will laugh but these cold snaps are very short lived. My business drops substantially anyway during cold snaps as people usually just wait until it gets warmer to wash. The people that are determined to wash usually aren't the customers I want to deal with anyway (muddy hunters, etc.)

I’m in Southeast NC so like you no doors or floor heat. That’s the same temps I Turn on the heat in the equipment rooms and shut it down.

 

[2Biz]

If you don't have a "Fancy" blowdown system, I kinda like the idea of putting washer fluid in the gravity tank and fill the HP lines using the HP pump. One thing for all to consider, however you fill the HP lines with washer fluid....If you have a dripping HP wand, it doesn't take long to fill the hose with water and freeze....Ask me how I know this?! So when I replaced my gravity tanks, I put ball valves on both hot and cold side for each bay. So if I decide to only close some of the bays, I can shut off the water supply to these bays. I also have ball valves on SFR to each bay....A solenoid that leaks or leaks under pressure will do the same thing....A ball valve between the solenoid and bay is good insurance...

I generally close 2 of my 4 bays when temps don't get above 15° daytime temps, just to save weep water. I only weep the HP wands and have an automated washer fluid injection system for FB and the TF/PS Foam Gun that is activated at 32°....I Shut completely down when temps don't get above zero. I have had people wash in bays at -5° (I don't have doors but do have heated floors), so thats when I decided to start shutting down when its this cold. When I keep 2 bays open, I keep the ones open on either side of the ER to help with ice buildup on the walls...Here is a photo of my gravity tank shut-off valves.

 

[2Biz]

The weatherman is predicting lows down to about zero and highs 10-15° for next Friday, Saturday, and Sunday for our area...Glad I took the time to make shut-downs easier! Doing the math, you can save about 250 gallons of weep water (20oz per minute) a day per hose when it gets down this cold....When I pay $20 for a thousand gallons of water/sewage, it adds up quickly! Also glad I don't weep any of the LP hoses....All things to consider when you live in an area that can get this cold.

 

[Randy]

So how cold does it need to be for you to go through this process?

No one here in the PNW has floor heat so we stay closed or shut down when the daytime temperature isn’t going to get to 25 deg. We don’t do enough business to justify staying open when it’s that cold. I think last year we closed for 4 or 5 days.
I think this year I'm going to pull the guns and foam brush handles and blow out the water. Put a 1/4" ball valve on the end of each of the hoses and then pump in the WW, then blow out the WW with air into a bucket and reuse it again when needed. I always turn off the city water in case one of the solenoid valves leaks by.

 

[soapy]

We are headed to -17 below zero so I have stocked up the wood pile so I can keep the wood fired boiler going to keep the floors heated at the washes.

 

[Greg Pack]

I found my local walmart had the least expensive -25 fluid, a little less than $4/gallon. -25 freezing temp suggests a roughly 45% dilution (by volume)of methanol. I should be able to mix mine 50/50 with water and get the freeze protection I need (mid teens). I was looking at RV antifreeze and it has a lower percentage of methanol and a freezing point of 9 degrees. The RV antifreeze has a different goal of just preventing a hard freeze as slush is permitted.

I've got some green marker dye I'm going to use in my solution to let me know the system is flushed.

Here's a table of freezing points for methanol

https://www.methanol.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/FreezingPointsMethanol-WaterSolutions.pdf

 

[I.B. Washincars]

The guys over on the RV forums say that the RV stuff will actually freeze somewhat, but doesn't expand. Not sure if that's totally the case, but it's on the internet, so I assume it's true.

 

[MEP001]

Yes, it freezes into a slush but doesn't expand. It'll protect your pumps, plumbing, and lines but it's not for sure going to keep your lines flowing.

 

[2Biz]

I use -20° Washer Fluid straight. No mixing. Its about $2.00 a gallon here when I catch it on sale. No dye needed, its blue and very noticable when it comes out the HP wand...I use a clear plastic measuring cup to make it easier to see when it comes out the nozzles. It takes about a gallon to do 4 HP hoses...So doesn't break the bank. The other 8 LP hoses are done automatically with air-washer fluid-air, so don't have to manually do them. I used to blow out the waher fluid in the HP hoses but got plugged nozzles 75% of the time when reopning. So now I just leave the WF in the hoses without blowing out. No problems opening back up.

 

[Greg Pack]

Yes, it freezes into a slush but doesn't expand. It'll protect your pumps, plumbing, and lines but it's not for sure going to keep your lines flowing.

SDS I looked at said it had a freezing point of 9 degrees. So if you use it straight it should probably work fine assuming you wait until the twenties to open back up.

A friend just told me a 55 drum of methanol s available for less than $300. I have bought that in the past but it took me years to use that drum up.

 

[OurTown]

SDS I looked at said it had a freezing point of 9 degrees. So if you use it straight it should probably work fine assuming you wait until the twenties to open back up.

A friend just told me a 55 drum of methanol s available for less than $300. I have bought that in the past but it took me years to use that drum up.

Do you have a racing fuel supplier nearby? We have one near us and the methanol pump is a self serve pump so you can bring any container to fill. I went last week and filled 11 used and cleaned out 5 gallon square chemical buckets and it was $175 after tax.

 

[tdlconceptsllc]

I did a test bay 2 nights ago on my farthest #10 bay has hit 26 degrees and 27 degrees at night since no freeze up. You guys up north familiar with WW fluid tell me if I am wrong on this process to double check. First I disconected the supply hose to pump turned it on for 20 seconds with no supply water to purge then sucked a gallon of -20 washer fluid turned pump on until it came out in bay a very long run. I left the spray wand and tip still attached. Was thinking about doing several more bays and leaving them like this through the deep freeze we gonna have this weekend 10 & 12 degrees at night and 28 for high during day. I just don't want lines & swivels to all freeze and have a genuine mess. I want to do this to save on weeping water where I am water can be pricey. Thanks Thomas