It’s official!

[Joswhaha]

Howdy y’all,
It’s official as of today I am a run down car wash owner! Now the work can begin. We already grossed $40 in the auto and $50 in SS bays today . Any comments about this SS equipment?

 

[Greg Pack]

Welcome to the party! That is Coleman equipment, its a solid line and will serve you well. Can't tell if you have a 1st generation water wizard or 2.0 from the pictures, send more if you like.

Many operators scrap the chemical holding tanks Coleman provides and just run straight out of containers.

 

[Joswhaha]

I know this is first day stuff but how the heck do I make the foam more foamy, the soap more soapy, and the wax more waxy?

 

[washnshine]

I know this is first day stuff but how the heck do I make the foam more foamy, the soap more soapy, and the wax more waxy?

On a very generic level - your mix of air into the lines. Your product may have something to do with it too - some naturally foam better than others, but most foam brush soaps are higher foaming. The air / water mix is what really determines the consistency. You also have to make sure any foaming screens you have are clean and not plugged up.

 

[Rfreeman]

Welcome to the community of owners. I'll reiterate what Greg said, Coleman is a good line of equipment. Their support isn't worth a damn but any issues post them here and I'm sure we can get you fixed up faster than Coleman can or would.

 

[Bricks]

I know this is first day stuff but how the heck do I make the foam more foamy, the soap more soapy, and the wax more waxy?

If it’s like my deal, the previous owner put tiny tips in some hydrominders and several other dirty tricks because he didn’t give a crap about any loss in business that I would suffer. Wires were removed from a soap solenoid and the presoak was watered down. The foot valve in the rainX wasn’t working at all. The pvc tubes going from the coin boxes to the vault were accessed through a missing block and one was busted off with a hammer about 14 hrs before I signed the papers. I was watching. He said he gently tapped them to get every last quarter out. They had to be snaked out from the vault every day because the angle wasn’t good enough for them to make it to the vault. So the quarters went into a pool of water down in between the block walls after he smashed one tube . Hopefully you dealt with decent human beings. I wish you the best! Congratulations!!

 

[Joswhaha]

That stinks! The previous owner didn’t intentionally screw me but I feel like he did the minimum maintenance and lowest chemicals possible. Probably since the place opened. I really have a lot of learning to do to get this place turned around.

 

[Bricks]

That stinks! The previous owner didn’t intentionally screw me but I feel like he did the minimum maintenance and lowest chemicals possible. Probably since the place opened. I really have a lot of learning to do to get this place turned around.

I’ve only had mine since May of this year. Maintenance and inconsiderate people are already wearing on me. Some owners on here must have nerves of steel.

 

[Joswhaha]

I’ve only had mine since May of this year. Maintenance and inconsiderate people are already wearing on me. Some owners on here must have nerves of steel.

Man, I have some low income rental property so I am well versed in Stupid people and ridiculous maintenance.

 

[I.B. Washincars]

how the heck do I make the foam more foamy, the soap more soapy, and the wax more waxy?

Before monkeying around with chemicals, be sure the water is soft.

 

[MEP001]

The previous owner didn’t intentionally screw me but I feel like he did the minimum maintenance and lowest chemicals possible.

My friend/business partner bought a car wash in July. The seller did his best to screw my friend, but he knew I was involved and, knowing my background, admitted to a lot of stuff. He said "I don't know why anyone wants more than foam brush and rinse, that's all they use anyway." That's about all that worked - the spot free actually made pressure but the TDS is way too high. The kicker is the day we got the keys and I got my hands on things, they must have just run out of foam brush soap so they stuck the Hydrominder hose into a bucket of wax. That guy has at least four other washes, and he runs them all the same way.

 

[Greg_T]

Not long after we bought our wash, I found that our chemical supplier was really good in helping us get the chemical dilutions & air mixtures into good shape. Once we did the first pass, I had learned enough to continue to tweak them myself. To attract new customers I purposefully made sure all our chemical concentrations were pretty strong, with vibrant colour and lots of chemical cleaning action. Over time I carefully reduced some concentrations to a level where they still worked well and looked good when sprayed on the vehicle, but kept chemical costs in control.

The previous owner was a bit stingy with the chemical concentrations, and some settings just didn't work properly due to liquid and air pressures not being correct.

I would also recommend a focus on cleaning and presentation. Our customers certainly noticed how much better the site was after we took over.

Good luck with your new venture!

 

[Joswhaha]

Thanks everyone! This place is full of old and new parts. Do y’all keep everything just in case it can be salvaged. I’ve got boxes and boxes of stuff.

 

[Tom Thumb]

Thanks everyone! This place is full of old and new parts. Do y’all keep everything just in case it can be salvaged. I’ve got boxes and boxes of stuff.

try to determine if the oldparts are still good, if so keep around because the wash will break on friday or just before a hoilday and you can use the older parts to keep running until new is available.

 

[Tom Thumb]

Howdy y’all,
It’s official as of today I am a run down car wash owner! Now the work can begin. We already grossed $40 in the auto and $50 in SS bays today . Any comments about this SS equipment?

get yourself a manual on the Super Saver system, will help a lot.
Coleman has a lot of good information on their website.

 

[MEP001]

Do y’all keep everything just in case it can be salvaged.

If something can be tested, you should do so and mark it as working, or if it's repairable mark it with what's wrong. If it's questionable and not expensive, throw it out. You will save yourself a LOT of time and headache if you aren't searching through junk with a bay down hoping something in the pile is still good.

 

[Randy]

At least he’s got lights. I was once in an equipment to fix a bill changer and they didn’t have any lights in the equipment room and they saved every used car part that someone had left, transmissions, engines everything. The owner had a headlamp that he let me use so I could fix there bill changer after I had to crawl over all the junk car parts. I fixed there bill changer and the next time they called I was too busy to go fix there changer. About the only thing you can do is start going through everything and toss out what you might think is garbage. I don’t know why operator save all this crap.