I have just purchased my first 2 bay SS wash. It was built in 1996 it is a mess inside of the wash room. I want to make it nice. I’d like to update equipment, fresh paint and new sings. I have been looking at D&S pump systems. Does anyone have any advise on equipment set ups. Brand, style what I need to do a make over. The supply lines and pumps look like a spider web. Any help would be appreciated. I know it was a AOk system but has some rainbow parts on it and still runs hydro minders.
Need help
- Thread starter Jap
- Start date
kentadel
Active member
There is nothing wrong with hydrominders. I would suggest attaching some pics of your equipment with your specific concerns and then getting opinions on whether to replace. Lots of owners patch, patch, and patch some more making the equipment confusing to look at and understand it's use, especially for someone new to the industry. I have equipment from 1989 in use and wouldn't consider replacing with new.
There's probably nothing wrong with the equipment you have now. A 2 bay would be pretty easy to straighten out. The pictures of the equipment don't look to bad. Once you get everything working it's a matter of some TLC or groomin. What does the customer see is what you really want to be concerned about and keeping everything clean and working.
Like Randy said, nothing wrong with the pump stand. Just need to focus on getting everything working properly in the equipment room before anything is updated outside....Is your PS delivered through the HP wand? Also, if Soap works, won't be too hard to fix the wax. It works and should be plumbed the same as soap....
So again, wax will work identically to soap. Both are pulled into the HP pump with vacuum. Since it looks like you only have a cold water tank, I don't think its a vacuum issue. The only other thing to check is the wax solenoids or a check valve in line with the hydrominder tanks...I also see one of the pumps is down. Has it always been down since you've owned the wash? You should get that running asap...Will make it much easier to diagnose other bay issues when both pumps are running...
I am assuming you are sure the motor is bad? They don't go bad very often....Did you rule out the contactor as being the issue? Since you are a new owner...Just trying to cover all bases...You can push the bar in the middle of the contactor to eliminate contact issue and to test the motor...But this will not tell you if you have a coil issue. Also make sure the overload is not tripped on the contactor. If it is tripped, you can not manually energize the contactor...
I removed the belts and pushed in the blue contact and the motor would barley turn. So I removed the compasator from that motor to the good motor and they worked in the motor that will run. The pump turns freely and the motor gets really hot when I cut it on with out the belts
Greg Pack
Wash Weenie
Your equipment doesn't look bad at all, just disorganized. You will get virtually 0% ROI on a new pump stand unless you add functions with the replacement stand. A good tech on site for eight hours would cost about 1K and probably get all your problems solved. Having said that, I love the "new pump unit smell" and look of a brand new spotless equipment room with a clean, simple design and neat plumbing and electrical. Ginsan has some neat direct drive units with a very small footprint.
SS manufacturers have a tough business. If they build good equipment that is simple to service and made of stainless it literally can last for decades with only parts replacement. Both my pump stands are over 20 years old.
I have very little experience with single phase motors because I bet 95% of the car washes are three phase. What few single phase motors I deal with are so small they are usually "throw aways". I would take the motor to a shop and have the capacitors tested, or buy a multimeter that you can test capacitors with. Even if the capacitor is good It could be something relatively easy/cheap to fix for the motor shop and a good one will do a quick diagnosis while you wait. Being only two bays you might want to consider having a spare motor on the shelf.
SS manufacturers have a tough business. If they build good equipment that is simple to service and made of stainless it literally can last for decades with only parts replacement. Both my pump stands are over 20 years old.
I have very little experience with single phase motors because I bet 95% of the car washes are three phase. What few single phase motors I deal with are so small they are usually "throw aways". I would take the motor to a shop and have the capacitors tested, or buy a multimeter that you can test capacitors with. Even if the capacitor is good It could be something relatively easy/cheap to fix for the motor shop and a good one will do a quick diagnosis while you wait. Being only two bays you might want to consider having a spare motor on the shelf.
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