How cold is too cold?

[JeffM]

Seeing as I am starting my day with the temperature at -41 with the wind, I thought it might be nice to see if there is anyone else that opens and washes cars in extreme cold. If you do, what precautions do you take? If not, what temperature is “too cold” to open?

 

[Waxman]

I'll wash cars at 10 degrees F in the touchfree but like 20 better. Anything 10 or below and the presoak freezes to the car and the car comes out like a metal popsicle.

Wonder what the guy in Fargo will say?

 

[Whale of a Wash]

We are at -17 without windchill, and decided to open later today as we only had 2 or 3 customers per wash yesterday, and tired of spending dollars to chase dimes. At some washes had people just come in to empty garbage from car- too cold at vacs i guess,, so no soup for them today-- soup nazi

 

[bigleo48]

At about -10 I start thinking about closing the IBA at night. I have a sign I put on my big cone at the entrance saying "Sorry...Too Cold To Wash". I don't like people to think my wash didn't work.

The SS bays stay open no matter the temp.

 

[Hoser06]

Same here on Vancouver Island. If its -8 to -10c plus wind, I close the IBAs at night. I don't have any doors and heated rails on only two of my 4000s. I find the festoon rollers start sticking to their non-heated tracks at that temp. As for SS bays, they stay closed until the roads are cleared and it has stopped snowing. Otherwise I find myself shoveling up wheel-well chunks the size of Volkswagens and $2 pick-up truck blow outs.
Yesterday I "spent" $60 on ice melt getting the bays ready to go in the am, about 4 hours thawing the sites, de-icing machines and tri-foam pods and shoveling up what the snow-dozer missed only to be iced up again after only a couple washes. So had a total of 10 $2 washes and about 3 through the IBA. Today I stayed closed. I hate to turn customers away but its really not worth it until the roads are cleared.

How many of you have doors on your IBAs or SS bays?

 

[Rosey G5]

I'm in northern MN,My cutoff is when the doors are frozen to the ground and you cant see the hand in front of your face,then you know its time.Usually around 0.

 

[MudMoney]

I will close at 0 degrees during the week and plan to be open on friday and saturday.if its zero or higher any wind I can forget it.Don't make much just want to keep my diehards happy.

 

[Earl Weiss]

Seeing as I am starting my day with the temperature at -41 with the wind, I thought it might be nice to see if there is anyone else that opens and washes cars in extreme cold. If you do, what precautions do you take? If not, what temperature is “too cold” to open?

If -41 with the wind is a "Wind Chill" factor it's basicaly meaningless for non living tissue. Although wind will tend to defeat heat in certain areas. Things are also different for tunnels, SS and IBA . You didn't say which you are.

Our tunnels can be plenty busy at Zero degrees. There have been occasions where wind velocity and direction have cause us to close due to ice accumulation. In some cases we closed for a half hour to thaw things out and opened again. If it's a bright sunny day and cars are dirty we can be busy at zero degrees. There is some issues with "Flash freezing" at these temps. Especialy if the car has been running a short time. I have a seperate Hot water manifold on the entrance arch with hot water and a switch on the loaders console to keep windows from flash frezing and then the customer can't see to exit. I also increase the temp of the rinse water to help prevent this.

 

[Reds]

I have 2 IBA'a and 2 SS bays. We have lots of sub zero nights. Two years ago we had 10 days in a row where the temp never went above zero - day or night. I never close due to temperature. The only thing that makes me close is if my doors get a heavy ice accumulation on them or start freezing to the ground. Then I thaw them out and reopen. My doors are my biggest issue in the cold weather. The DOT spreads salt and salt brine heavily during cold spells and it causes cars to get a white film on them. That gets people washing in the cold weather. The colder it is the busier I am. Propane bills are huge during those cold months, but we are busy, day and night. And I am busy too keeping the doors working, water weeping, and things running. I spend a lot of time at the wash during the winter. On cold days I am there at dawn to get the doors warmed up and working.

 

[JeffM]

If -41 with the wind is a "Wind Chill" factor it's basicaly meaningless for non living tissue. Although wind will tend to defeat heat in certain areas. Things are also different for tunnels, SS and IBA . You didn't say which you are.

Although wind chill is meaningless for non living tissue, it does significantly change customer perception and acts as a deterrent on whether they should wash that day or not. On the day I first posted, it was -29 deg C (-20 deg F). We are a FS tunnel w/ enclosed heated vac and drying areas. (about 18,000 sq. ft. total)

 

[JMMUSTANG]

Although wind chill is meaningless for non living tissue, it does significantly change customer perception and acts as a deterrent on whether they should wash that day or not. On the day I first posted, it was -29 deg C (-20 deg F). We are a FS tunnel w/ enclosed heated vac and drying areas. (about 18,000 sq. ft. total)

And how many cars did you wash that day?

 

[JeffM]

Washed 330 cars that day. More than I thought we would.

 

[JMMUSTANG]

Jeff that's amazing.
Where we're at if it was -20 degrees I might not see 330 cars on the road in front of our wash all day.