Short Bay friction wash options

[Greg Pack]

Hi Guys,

I was considering pulling out a water wizard with on board dryers at one wash and installing a friction unit. However, I was surprised to find out that my inside bay length is only 30'6". The Istobal flex five can wash a vehicle (with the vertical brushes only) out to 240". That will wash most vehicles- an F150 crew cab with 5.5. bed is 231" and a Suburban is 226" . However, the on board dryers will limit the maximum vehicle length (that will get the rear dry) to only 189" ( That's a jeep wrangler). I'm guessing stand alone dryers mounted outside the building are an option but literally 100 feet behind me is a Mexican restaurant with an outdoor patio. In addition I have a tight exit turn radius. It's a front entry, gabled rood design which may be difficult to modify without spending quite a bit of money.

Anyway, does anyone have a friction unit in such a short bay, and any input on setup- Maybe wall mounted dryers with some sort of noise reducing barrier? Any ideas appreciated.

 

[I.B. Washincars]

Greg, I don't know if you remember, but you were at one of my washes with me and we commented on how easy it was to talk over my 4 blower Peco dryers, mounted outside the building. I had Mark VII 2 blower onboards in the adjacent bays, which are a lot noisier. Maybe an echoing effect or something. I think you may be worrying about nothing.

 

[soonermajic]

Stand alone outside bay, & use some noise dampening system (like u said). But DANGGGGG, 100' is CLOSEBY! perhaps 10hp, & mount 2 on the side legs, above the rv mirrors ?

 

[Ryko CS]

If you go with on-board dry, and you have 30'-6" free and clear space, a Softgloss MAXX would be able to wash up to an 18'-6" long vehicle completely (top brush coming off the back of an SUV). Slightly longer on sedans.

You should be able to wash longer vehicles with a 5 brush as the machine doesn't have to move completely behind the front or rear. On the non-brush passes, the rear arms should fold in to allow further rearward travel.

 

[washnshine]

Greg,

A set of blowers like these can be installed in an attic since the intakes are a little more remote from the vents. If you don’t have room in the bay for an attic installation, these can be installed outside with the intakes in a canopy or enclosure over your exit door . I saw this done several years back on a road trip to S.C. Can’t remember the state, let alone the town I saw it, but it was a touchfree IBA. The owner was there and he said there was some ordinance he had to follow that required lower decibels from his wash, and that was how he solved it. I was impressed with how quiet they were. He had the intakes enclosed pretty much all the way around and the vents down the side and over the top extended out of the canopy enclosure. Not sure if it would be a solution for you, but it worked and gave him a very quiet exterior blower unit.