Powdered Soap; Long-term test

[rph9168]

I think you are making things too difficult. Here are the steps involved in calculating cost per car per chemical.

1. Calculate how much powder you need to make your chemical solution per gallon.
2. Do a chemical draw during the wash from a container that measures the amount by mls - preferably for at least 3 washes.
Note: Be sure to measure the amount in the container without the draw tube and remove the draw tube when measuring the amount
used to ascertain the correct amount.
(Most measuring cups already offer the amount in mls as well as ounces - make sure that you use a container that will allow you to have
enough solution for the draws.)
3. Divide the amount used by the number of washes you did for the test giving you the amount of solution in mls you are using per wash.
4. Using your cost per gallon divide by 128 to get the cost per ounce then divide by 30 to get cost per ml.
5. Multiply the cost per ml by the amount used in a wash to calculate the chemical cost to do one wash.

To calculate the cost using a liquid you can use the same method to calculate the cost per car.

If you use this method on all the chemicals you use during a wash you can then calculate your cost per wash for each package you offer.

 

[Greg Pack]

Hmm, good resurrected thread.

Although cost per car volumetric type setup works I prefer to know the cost to run a full container. I had a friend that swore his cost per car were running a certain (very reasonable) number, but when we looked at his total car count and amount spent on chemicals in Quickbooks the two numbers were very different. The cost per car quoted by his rep was about 25% less than what he was actually spending.

When I put a container online I mark it with car counts and the date and the number of cars I got out of the last container. This gives me a better average. If I see a number badly skewed from one container to the next I start looking for problems with equipment.

Looking at invoices. My cost for 1 pass of boosted presoak is about .25. My top wash with two presoak passes (one boosted, one not boosted) tri color, wheel cleaner and CCP is around .60.

 

[rph9168]

The cost can be skewed quite a bit by the size of the vehicles that are washed. Ideally, as you suggest, the more vehicles you do in the test the better the result.

 

[ICEMAN]

bighead . This is a learning and teaching forum not the playground. Play well with others or do not play at all. If you get out of your own way you may just learn something. People make claims on here all the time, I was just asking for proof of the claims made. I was not asking how to run my business, or for someone to show me how to do a simple test. thank you

 

[Waxman]

I don't see why all the pre-calculating is necessary. Isn't any savings better than no savings? I have found the salesmen overstate the dilution of their products.

Just buy a few boxes of powder, some surfactant and try it. At a cost of ~$125/55 gal drum, there is room to apply at least twice the product over liquid presoak! Just try it and see for yourself.
The way a waxman (simple type) would compare is 2 drums, side by side. 1 powder. 1 liquid. Write 2 things on drum: car count full/empty. Cost per 55 barrel. Run 1 barrel all the way empty. Put second barrel online and run it. What are your numbers?

 

[rph9168]

That's a simple way to do it but consider what just 5 cents a vehicle can mean. If you wash 2,000 cars using one chemical and you are paying 5 cents more per vehicle you are spending $100 more than you need to just on that one chemical. Small costs can really add up when you are talking about chemicals. If that is not something you are not concerned about it is up to you but from my experience, it is important to have a good handle on your chemical cost as part of a well run, efficient wash. It's not that difficult to calculate yourself and well worth the effort.

 

[Indiana Wash]

OK, I am trying the Kleen Rite Turbo with 1/3 of a 5 gallon pail of KR Purple Passion as suggested.

What tip is recommended for my LW4000?

I would imagine that I need to use a smaller tip than I was using with my Warsaw liquid presoak due to the viscosity difference.

 

[JGinther]

Don't know about either of those products, but generally a powder will require a lower dilution (larger tip) after mixing than a liquid concentrate. The Purple passion portion is too diluted in the powder mix to make up for that fact. I would start with the same tip, and go up til you get the right coverage, then adjust the mix of powder to liquid for better results.

 

[Waxman]

I ran a full drum and calculated a soap cost of 16 cents per car.

 

[madscientist]

Exactly where you should be. Nice work!

 

[Bubble1]

I am new to the touchless world. Great discussion from owners. I am using liquid because I did not know any better.
So I am starting to experiment. What titration ranges should I be looking for. Is there any method other than the eye ball test to
determine what clean is? Very subjective.

 

[bigleo48]

I agree and see the same as Waxman. My setup is the same except I use Simoniz Foamer. http://www.kleen-ritecorp.com/p-2726-simoniz-foam-additive-5-gallons.aspx Its $50 instead of $60 per 5gal pail and foams more.

 

[Waxman]

what is the scent of simoniz foam additive???

 

[bigleo48]

A bit of a clean scent...but not like the Purple Presoak or the Foam Brush soap. To me scent is nice, but if they see the soap and it foams up nice, they're happy.

 

[mikeexpress]

do all of you that use powder only mix it in a 55gal batch or do you mix it in larger batches. I have a larger tank up to 300 gal i can use.to mix. what are your thoughts on that? How far away are your hydrominders from your mixing tank?

 

[madscientist]

300 gallons would be great, if you have a mixer that can stir it up periodically.

 

[mjwalsh]

do all of you that use powder only mix it in a 55gal batch or do you mix it in larger batches. I have a larger tank up to 300 gal i can use.to mix. what are your thoughts on that? How far away are your hydrominders from your mixing tank?

Is a ph controlled mixer tank like Specialty Equipment set us up an option for Automatics? It works great for our self serve for mixing the powder as needed ... not sure applies at all on express or tunnel style etc.

 

[bigleo48]

mikexpress,

You can buy the powdered soaps in larger containers for a bit of a savings. For example, the powder that I use (Simoniz Correct) is available in 100lbs containers...so you would need three to make the 300 gals. The problem with the big containers is that you need warm water to mix...so that's a lot of warm water all at once. Also, sometimes when I see I need more cleaning power, I will boost my 55gal mix with a few more scoops of powder. That would be a little more difficult in your case. Finally, depending on the shape of your tank, automatic mixing might take a big of thinking and tinkering.

 

[Waxman]

Bigleo

Did you try a few powders before settling on Simoniz correct? I ordered the Simoniz foam additive and am excited to try it.

 

[bigleo48]

Yeah I did...with mixed results. Correct worked best for me.