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Help! Need timer to shut off vacuum timer.

R

RAATCB

Member
Long story short. The city is forcing me to power down all vacuums at night. I cannot go to the car wash and shut off each breaker and turn them back on in the morning every single day. All my vacuums are powered 24VAC to (IDX big two timer). I was thinking of purchasing small intermatic timers and having the timer shut off power going to the (IDX big two timer).

I assume the wiring should be: 24vac line to the intermatic timer then 24vac load to the (IDX big two timer). All the timer is doing is breaking/closing the contact during a certain time.

Does this sound right? Any recommendations on miniature reliable timers? I found this one, let me know what you all think.

http://www.amazon.com/Grasslin-Intermatic-FM1D20-24U-24-Hour-Electronic/dp/B005IHWA8U

All feedback and opinions will be greatly appreciated.
 
I’d be fighting the city tooth and nail because this is pure BS. Have you consulted with a lawyer to see if it’s legal? Are there any other car washes in town that have to shut down there vacuums at night? Why are they forcing you to shut down at night? Is it because of the loud noise that the vacuums make? Has anyone done a noise study to determine how much noise the vacuums are putting out at the property line? How many decibels are you allowed at night, has anyone checked this? What does the noise ordinance say? If you really want to do timers use an Intermatic T101 24 Hour Dial Timer on each vac breaker in the equipment room. http://www.amazon.com/Intermatic-T1...=1460475389&sr=1-10&keywords=Intermatic+timer
 
When I went to get permits to build my car wash (over 20 years ago), the city required me to disable the vacs between midnight and 6am. When I supplied them with a noise footprint (supplied by my equipment supplier).....it turned out that the ambient noise from the 4 lane street (in front of my wash) was noisier than the vacs. When I told them that.....I can still remember a councilman saying, "Tell you what college boy....if you want the thing approved.....that's the way it will be. You choose".

They had me over a barrel. I used intermatic timers.....and put up decals that said, "In consideration of the neighbors, vacs are disabled between midnight and 6am".

The timers are still on the equipment room wall. If memory serves me correctly.....they quit working after a year or so....and stopped disabling the vacs. That was over two decades ago. Not one issue, noise complaint, or comment...... FWIW, I haven't had the time to check them or repair them :o

It's stupid....but it's the way it is sometime.
 
There are a couple of former National pride Locations in the area that share a property line with residential and are required to shut down at about 9:00 pm. Car washes are often deemed a "Special Use" for zoning purposes and all sorts of restrictions can be lawfully imposed as a condition of granting a Special use permit.
 
It is not the noise issue. The issue is the machine are working. They want everything off. The city is being very irrational with this issue.
 
Do they have a reason for wanting them powered off?

I'd install one timer in the ER operating a bank of relays for all the vacs, probably an Intermatic electronic model that can adjust for Daylight Savings time.
 
MEP001 said:
Do they have a reason for wanting them powered off?

I'd install one timer in the ER operating a bank of relays for all the vacs, probably an Intermatic electronic model that can adjust for Daylight Savings time.
Click to expand...

Probably the most viable solution. One timer and enough relays to handle the load. Plus it would be simple and spacing saving. You could also use DPST relays to run 2 vacs off one relay. Adding to saving space and cost. Example:

http://www.amazon.com/Dayton-5Z546-...0561399&sr=8-4&keywords=dayton+dpst+30a+relay

These relays are very robust...I use one to power my lighting circuits. Flawless for 5 years and counting.
 
RAATCB said:
Long story short. The city is forcing me to power down all vacuums at night. I cannot go to the car wash and shut off each breaker and turn them back on in the morning every single day. All my vacuums are powered 24VAC to (IDX big two timer). I was thinking of purchasing small intermatic timers and having the timer shut off power going to the (IDX big two timer).

I assume the wiring should be: 24vac line to the intermatic timer then 24vac load to the (IDX big two timer). All the timer is doing is breaking/closing the contact during a certain time.

Does this sound right? Any recommendations on miniature reliable timers? I found this one, let me know what you all think.

http://www.amazon.com/Grasslin-Intermatic-FM1D20-24U-24-Hour-Electronic/dp/B005IHWA8U

All feedback and opinions will be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...

How many individual vacuum circuits are you gonna be switching?
 
RAATCB said:
It is not the noise issue. The issue is the machine are working. They want everything off. The city is being very irrational with this issue.
Click to expand...

Is this car wash an existing facility or is it a new facility? If it’s existing facility is the city forcing all 24 hours business to shut down or are they singling you out? If they are not going to be closing down any of the other 24 hours businesses in town then I’d get a lawyer and have a “come’n to Jesus” meeting with the powers to be in the city. What is the reasoning behind shutting down the car wash? What town is this car wash located?
 
The city normal business operating hours are from 6:00 am to 11:59pm. After that all business have to shut down unless you obtain another conditional use permit to be open 24 hours. They keep saying since your machines are running, the business is still actually running even if lights are off. They are being very irrational and feel like we are being bullied. I do not know what to do.
 
Yeah, I'd consider the conditional use permit process. Overnights are not the busy times so maybe that will help. For safety and security reasons, I quite frankly would not feel comfortable turning off the lights even if I must turn off the equipment.
 
It's not really that big of a deal. My fear....was that a drunk customer would come in at 2am, and take a tire iron to a disabled vac. It never happened. I think there was a handful of customers who lost a buck...and we handled it via customer service.

If they let you leave the rest of the wash open....it's probably a non issue.
 
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