What's the longest your wash has been closed due to weather?

[DiamondWash]

We are going on 1 week because the temps have been in the single digits last time we opened in the teens cost us $300 for the less then $100 we made.

 

[Fatboy769]

I was closed for 5 days straight, after a couple of days of having the place shut down, I was second guessing my decision. Once the weather broke, we had 6 days in a row of booming buisness and more than made up for the 5 days of being closed. I agree, it cost way too much to operate in frigidge weather to be open than I would ever make.

 

[Stuart]

I was closed for a day and half. We have not had a long streak of single digits like others but we have had a lot of wind which hurts about as much.
Decided if I was lighting the wash, keeping the floors heated (still had ice build up with wind chill) and heating the water for weep & trough heat I might as well get some funds to cover some of these expenses. I didn't wash the floors down as much-just shoveled the ice chunks from the fenders.

 

[MudMoney]

As of today I've been closed 10 days straight due to lows of -25 and a high of 8 above,even though I have floor heat and doors its not worth the effort to be open.Longest stretch was 31 days back in 2011.My other washes remain closed during the winter for 3-4 months as there is no floor heat.

 

[Earl Weiss]

1 day this year when it got up to a high of -12. . Last time was the 60's or 70's where it snowed like heck non stop and we were closed a couple of days.

 

[PaulLovesJamie]

This year has been the worst, I've closed for a total of about 12-15 days since Christmas. Never used to close at all until utility costs quadrupled, now I lose $ if I stay open. 5 degrees with another foot of snow coming tomorrow; makes me empathize with you cold weather climate operators.

One thing I do more frequently lately to try to balance out the "should I close" struggle - I close 3 bays and keep 2 open. The individual bay floor temps really drop when they get wet/snow/ice clods so I figure I'll keep the small # of customers who do want to wash in one or 2 bays.

 

[PaulLovesJamie]

On a related note it always surprises me how many vehicles drive around in my lot when the wash is closed. Sometimes the snow is so packed down that I cant plow it.

 

[2Biz]

+1 on this winter being the worst! I've closed a total of 3 days. Twice because the temps dipped to -15° and I was afraid my pits would freeze! So I covered the pits and left the floor heat and weep run. The 3rd day was when we got 1/2" of freezing rain. I tarped the vacs and pop machines and closed off the bays. I'm glad I did, it hasn't warmed up above freezing since.

When the temps drop to about 0°, the truck bay pit will get about 1/2" of ice on top. I think any lower than that, I'm doing the right thing by covering them. It does help....I just haven't seen or heard of anybody else doing that?

Next winter I am going to have the option of blowing out the HP lines and injecting washer fluid. It just won't warm up enough to add the valves now! It would be nice to at least save on weep if it was going to be in the negative numbers for very long. I just don't know about turning off the floor heat. All I can see is busted lines even though I have good antifreeze in the system!

 

[Earl Weiss]

should note that my post #5 referred to the tunnels. SS remained open for what that was worth. All bays were open Sunday and busy with a high of about 18 degrees. Today it is about -0- and 3 of 5 bays out of service due to freezing issues. Maybe 25 degrees tommorrow - woo hoo.

 

[Randy]

6 days last week and 4 days in December. I can't see staying open when it gets cold and icy. It costs more to stay open than what we bring in. We don't have floor heat up here in the Pacific Northwest.

 

[mmurra]

Two time three days each since Christmas at the 6+2. Mark

 

[dlc95]

The longest stretch was about four days. I have 15 feet of conveyor outside. I took over the shop on Dec 18, and the pit had a foot of mud in the prep area that had already froze up. This proved problematic in regards to chain/rollers being frozen to the conveyor. Even with salt, it took some time and effort to get it loose. Then we found out the hard way that the previous owner wasn't especially vigilant when installing chain/cotter pins. These are difficult repairs out in the elements, but, you do what you gotta do! Now I have rollers coming up sideways... Some of the rollers are really old with worn carrier links, and messed up front rollers... But yeah, cold? I don't have hot water, and a wind curtain at the north end. The one day I did try in that weather, the brushes had a beautiful, glistening coating of ice on them!

 

[JMMUSTANG]

The longest stretch was about four days. I have 15 feet of conveyor outside. I took over the shop on Dec 18, and the pit had a foot of mud in the prep area that had already froze up. This proved problematic in regards to chain/rollers being frozen to the conveyor. Even with salt, it took some time and effort to get it loose. Then we found out the hard way that the previous owner wasn't especially vigilant when installing chain/cotter pins. These are difficult repairs out in the elements, but, you do what you gotta do! Now I have rollers coming up sideways... Some of the rollers are really old with worn carrier links, and messed up front rollers... But yeah, cold? I don't have hot water, and a wind curtain at the north end. The one day I did try in that weather, the brushes had a beautiful, glistening coating of ice on them!

Try using a heavy guage tarp over the conveyor, put an extension cord with mutliple outlets and high wattage lightbulbs extending every 3-5 feet between the upper and lower rails of the conveyor. Obviously keep all of it out of the water.

 

[Earl Weiss]

We also use tarps in clod weather on the outside. We use some jumk tires to weight it down. A couple of times I put a cheap box fan pointing into the trench isnside top blow warmed air from the building into the trench. The tarp tends to keep it in.


There may have bben some record snow periods where we were closed for several days.