Good book or place to learn about how car washes work from a technical perspective?

[cityview]

This sounds like such a novice question, but I realize that 99% of the time I have a major issue and I spend 40 hours trying to fix it, only to discover its a simple fix as long as you understand how the system works...

Which gets me to the crutch of the issue. Its taking me a really long time to build the expertise necessary to be a successful car wash owner. Problems often take so long to fix simply because it takes so long to learn how something works.

I figured there has to be some sort of books or manuals out there, so I ordered one on amazon, only to find it really just talks about marketing and business sides, and not technical.

I'm not looking for a resource on how to rebuild a pump... that comes with the equipment... but rather a good guide discussing how systems work- For example, low pressure systems, high pressure systems, etc. Still to this day I have no idea how/why low pressure presoak somehow goes through the pumps, but low pressure tire and wheel just uses the ARO or Flojet pumps, bypassing the main pumps... (And wouldn't it make sense to bypass the main pumps with the presoak? There's got to be some reason it doesn't).

I'm sure someone on here could answer THAT question, but I figured there had to be a good manual or car washes for dummies book out there. The nearest car was repair person is a 6 hour drive round trip, and paying them to tell me "Your check valve is bad" is asinine... haha. If I knew how the system worked, I would have realized it.

If anyone knows any great books or resources, I'd greatly appreciate it. The library on here is mostly about running a "business". I got the business part down... But I think of it like cars. I know how cars work and run, so when I have an issue, I know how to diagnose it, regardless of the issue... Is it fuel? water? electrical?
Same thing with computers... if my computer fails, I know how to diagnose it easily to determine which component failed.


But at a car wash I don't totally get how it works and why it works. I just swap out a broken component for another. There's got to be a crash course in it somewhere!

Thanks for your thoughts!

 

[OASIS WASH]

Ive only been in the wash business for 5 months, so I would love it as well! I will say that at my wash the pre-soak does not run as you described. I have 4 flo jet pumps that run presoak, FB, Spot Free, and Tire Cleaner. I have learned a TON on here and just by trial and error. I have seen some hands on classes you pay for floating around, I think one is in south florida

 

[Randy]

I’ve been in the car wash business 35 years or so. I wish back then there was a how to manual or training guide on repairing and maintaining car wash equipment, to the best of my knowledge there isn’t such a manual because there are so many different manufactures of the equipment and a good majority of them have gone out of business. I gained 99% of my knowledge from the school of hard knocks, I would go to conventions and ask a million questions of the suppliers and equipment reps on the convention floor. My best advice ask a lot of questions and don’t be afraid to dig in and get your hands dirty. Keep an inventory of spare parts so you don't have a bay down for any length of time. I worked on complicated nuclear reactor systems before getting into the car wash business, the car wash systems are a piece of cake.

 

[MEP001]

I don't know of any book, mainly because every car wash manufacturer does things either a little different or wildly different. For example your presoak, I assume there's a DEMA A453P solenoid on the outlet side of the pump and two pressure regulators. Your "presoak" is just the high pressure soap at a reduced pressure. Someone (I'm betting Coleman) thought that your customers would rather have weak soap that they can cover their car with quickly instead of something strong enough to actually work.

I just worked on a CustomKraft foam brush system this evening, and it's one of the dumbest piece of crap systems I've ever seen. It was obviously meant to be thrown together cheap and fast to be hung on a wall, and of course over all the tanks so you have to stand on something and lean to work on it, not to mention you have to take the board loose from the wall to change any component mounted on it. It took me a good ten minutes looking at it to figure out what was what because there were four 2-port solenoid manifolds that looked like they were all joined as one with air going in one end and liquid going in the other. The liquid plumbing and air plumbing was the same with nothing identifying anything. All the solenoid outputs criss-crossed together into a mess of another brass manifold, then into ANOTHER brass manifold with check valves and needle valves for freeze protection, then a 1/2" hose going to each bay. One of the regulators is bad, and it will take me a couple hours to change it.

One of the most ingenious things I've ever seen in a car wash was a foam brush system made up of three 3-foot long 6" PVC tanks. One was high up on the wall vertical for the Hydrominder with a big check valve in the bottom which went to a second tank that was vertical. It had a 3-way air solenoid on the top controlled by a reed switch in the side. When it got low the air solenoid would open to vent and liquid would run from the vertical tank into the first horizontal tank, then it would switch and pressurize to send that liquid into a third tank. That one had a reed switch to enable the "pumping" system when it got low, and an air regulator in the top to maintain a constant pressure.

 

[2Biz]

So what they are saying, there isn't a book that covers every way a car wash can work. Every manufacture or barn yard mechanic does the same thing differently. I think this site will be your best source for information.

 

[Jeff_L]

MEP - having a hard time envisioning what you describe with the three PVC pipes. Sounds interesting complex, and I wonder how the output looks. I always struggle getting consistency in all my bays.

2Biz - I agree, this site is a good source of info as all washes are the same, they’re different.

 

[2Biz]

MEP - having a hard time envisioning what you describe with the three PVC pipes. Sounds interesting complex, and I wonder how the output looks. I always struggle getting consistency in all my bays.

Same here! Trying to Envision this Work Of Art! Maybe the rest of us are doing it all wrong! LOL...

What I learned a long time ago, to get consistency you need to measure volume of all chemicals before they leave the ER. If you make the volume the same for each bay, it takes the different restrictions in hose length, elbows, and fittings out of the equation....Here's an example how I simplified PS and FB to get the same volumes out to each bay. I also have flow meters for soap and wax.

 

[Earl Weiss]

Count your lucky stars you have this forum and the Facebook page to submit questions to.

 

[MEP001]

MEP - having a hard time envisioning what you describe with the three PVC pipes. Sounds interesting complex, and I wonder how the output looks. I always struggle getting consistency in all my bays.

It was all just a pump. It had the usual solenoids, adjusting valves, tubing to the bays, etc. IIRC it worked fine at the bays.

 

[soonermajic]

I'm a HS bb coach, who has owned a wash(es) for 5 yrs. I still don't know jack$hit, as MEP & Randy can attest to.
I do know A LOT more than when I started, but I can not fix most things.
My best advice is find 1 or 2 really good sharp, honest handymen in your area & have them fix EVERYTHING @ your wash. They, & you from them, will become more & more familiar w/ everything. Will be a long slow process