What's new
Car Wash Forum

This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

Changing Vacuum bags

SAW1

New member
Just purchased my first car wash (6 bay SS plus 1 automatic).

I'm baffled as to how to change out the vacuum filter bags. There are no mfg. names on the vacs nor name plates. Single door access and two spring loaded bags.

I've tried reaching up in the machine but my arms are too short to reach anything to unhook.

Any help appreciated.

Thanks in advance.
 
Just purchased my first car wash (6 bay SS plus 1 automatic).

I'm baffled as to how to change out the vacuum filter bags. There are no mfg. names on the vacs nor name plates. Single door access and two spring loaded bags.

I've tried reaching up in the machine but my arms are too short to reach anything to unhook.

Any help appreciated.

Thanks in advance.


A picture is worth 1000 words 2 pictures will tell us everything you may have the vacs with 2 doors and cut zip ties that hold the bags or 1 single door and you have to remove dome like mentioned above
 
Don't clean them. Most of my vacs were like that. They are somewhat self shaking, in that they collapse while running and drop down when the vac shuts off. When I cleaned out my vacs, I would reach up in there and smack them around, but as far as removing the bags and laundering them...didn't happen.
 
I wash our vacuum bags once a month, changed out 2 motors last week,1 went bad and I change n pairs. BTW 1st time since I bought these new combo's 6 years ago.
 
Wash once a month???? You must have a LOT of free time.

We wash ours annually. In between....besides shaking every other day....we take a toilet cleaning brush and run it up and down inside the bags monthly.
 
Wash once a month???? You must have a LOT of free time.

I luv hearing how top notch operators due PM. I never change motor brushes and only clean bag if that is the last option for loss of suction and that may happen once or twice a decade.
 
I've never felt like I had to clean the bags unless something happened to really muck them up. I had a detailer vacuuming up a couple gallons of water with a 1/4 bottle of dish soap in it, which of course made a ton of foam that filled the bags, then the dirt would dry like concrete and stop the airflow. I do try to clean a vacuum thoroughly about once a month and change the bags so at least once a year they get done. FWIW I use the Adams bag with the spring ring at the bottom which is a thinner material and not fuzzy inside, so stuff drops out of them easily when they're shaken.

When I was a kid working as an attendant, the woman who owned the wash insisted I remove and wash the bags because the exhaust air smelled. I did, and a couple days later she smelled the same smell from the vacs and called me a liar. I showed her the inside of the vac, how everything was absolutely clean, she still said I was lying so she opened the coin drawer. There were six quarters in it, two from me testing it after cleaning and four from customers. And it already smelled as bad as it did before I cleaned it.
 
I've never felt like I had to clean the bags unless something happened to really muck them up. I had a detailer vacuuming up a couple gallons of water with a 1/4 bottle of dish soap in it, which of course made a ton of foam that filled the bags, then the dirt would dry like concrete and stop the airflow. I do try to clean a vacuum thoroughly about once a month and change the bags so at least once a year they get done. FWIW I use the Adams bag with the spring ring at the bottom which is a thinner material and not fuzzy inside, so stuff drops out of them easily when they're shaken.

When I was a kid working as an attendant, the woman who owned the wash insisted I remove and wash the bags because the exhaust air smelled. I did, and a couple days later she smelled the same smell from the vacs and called me a liar. I showed her the inside of the vac, how everything was absolutely clean, she still said I was lying so she opened the coin drawer. There were six quarters in it, two from me testing it after cleaning and four from customers. And it already smelled as bad as it did before I cleaned it.
So if that story's true, I will never waste my time washing a filter bag again. 😰
Most vacs get that SS Vac smell, & don't know what to do to get rid of it...
 
A number of years ago a fragrance salesman left a bunch of sample spray bottles at the car wash, like a case of spray bottles. When my vac's start smelling ready bad I gave them a few shots of fragrance spray from my collection. I have a complete extra set of vac bags. I pull the bags out about every 6 month, replace them with my extras and wash out the ones I just pulled out.
 
A number of years ago a fragrance salesman left a bunch of sample spray bottles at the car wash, like a case of spray bottles. When my vac's start smelling ready bad I gave them a few shots of fragrance spray from my collection. I have a complete extra set of vac bags. I pull the bags out about every 6 month, replace them with my extras and wash out the ones I just pulled out.
Yej, but how soon after changing bags, does the bad smell come back?
 
Back
Top