Wringer Sinks?

[KleanRide]

The 7 bay SS that I'm renovating has two towel wringer sinks in the vac/detail area of the wash.

It appears that a few customers use them, but mostly they are a magnet for the homeless to bathe and wash their clothes after they've finished treasure hunting in my trash cans, and sifting through my mother-effing vac dirt for dimes.

In an effort to remove every last reason for those bums to lurk around my wash in the wee hours, I'm locking up all the trash cans and vacs this week (do not feed the bears)...so that leaves the wringer sinks...

Does anyone else have them in their SS wash? Keep them? Turn them off at night with a timer? Tie a tow strap to my truck bumper and yank them out?

Would appreciate any thoughts/advice.

 

[Axxlrod]

We have one sink/wringer at one of our washes, and it turns into a shower/bathing area for homeless at night. We are about ready to take it out. I'd never put in another one.

 

[MEP001]

I was about to put one in, but I also have a really bad homeless problem. Also the customers will abuse anything they can get free. If I go ahead with it I'll definitely add a solenoid to shut it off at night. I've noticed that the customers who use the sink and wringer the most do a crap job of washing and spend an hour with a chamois "drying" their dirty truck, having to rinse and rinse all the dirt out of it.

Also, I've been making some super-duty lock hasps out of 1/4" thick 1 1/2" angle stainless to keep the homeless out of the vacs. I'll post some pics if I ever have time to install them. This is a crappy version I made out of aluminum angle probably 15 years ago that's still there:

 

[KleanRide]

I also thought about just taking out the faucet and leaving the wringer and sink. Let people still dry their chamois but take away the free homeless bath.

Did the bums leave the vacs alone once you locked them or do they still try to pry in?

 

[Rfreeman]

So I had a standalone stainless steel sink that was yanked when my property was in foreclosure before I bought it. Now it never fails I have at least 1 to 2 people a day ask me for sink to wet down their chamois. I have been on the fence for some time on whether to buy one and install it or not. At my other car wash the sink does get used a lot by the customers but I could see how it would be a magnet for the homeless.....when I purchased my first wash from the bank it came with a homeless guy living in the dumpster enclosure....so I could see how it would attract the homeless again.

Its amazing what people think they will get prying open the clean out doors on the vacs! At one wash I have them all locked up with Coleman brackets similar to what Mep posted it never fails eventually some POS comes by and grinds away at 1 or 2.

 

[Randy]

We don't have wringer sinks or any place for someone to wet there chamois. In 32 years I've only had 2 people ask wheres your wringer sink at, they seem a little surprised when I tell we don't have them. It must be a down south thing, you don't see them up here in the PNW.

 

[Greg Pack]

None around here in my part of the south. They can wet the towel on the car and wring it by hand. I rarely see a true chamois anymore. Everyone around here uses microfibers which work well when damp.

 

[KleanRide]

None around here in my part of the south. They can wet the towel on the car and wring it by hand. I rarely see a true chamois anymore. Everyone around here uses microfibers which work well when damp.

That's the direction I'm leaning. Seems like the more I cater, the more they abuse.

 

[MEP001]

Its amazing what people think they will get prying open the clean out doors on the vacs! At one wash I have them all locked up with Coleman brackets similar to what Mep posted it never fails eventually some POS comes by and grinds away at 1 or 2.

I think they're looking for drugs people have vacuumed up more than they're looking for change. Right now I'm just cutting and grinding simple pieces to put a Buffo lock with a lock guard on, but if they try to cut, pry or grind I'm going to put an American 2000 puck lock on them. Sad thing for them is I wouldn't even care if they went through them as long as they didn't throw the trash all over the lot and would secure the door when they're done, but I've lost a ton of business and have had vandalism from them leaving the cleanout doors open.

 

[KleanRide]

Sad thing for them is I wouldn't even care if they went through them as long as they didn't throw the trash all over the lot and would secure the door when they're done, but I've lost a ton of business and have had vandalism from them leaving the cleanout doors open.

Exactly, I wouldn't be waging war on them if they hadn't crossed the line with me. A few weeks back they unscrewed my vac service panel and wired an extension cord into it so they could run a fan at night in the alley where they were camping. Give them points for ingenuity, but stealing my electricity was the final straw. The alley encampment is now gone, but the vac-dirt sifters are still stopping by late at night.

 

[MEP001]

My final straw was similar, there was a live outlet at a pole near the street where they would often sit and charge their cell phones. One evening a couple of them sat there charging their phones, eating snacks and left a bunch of trash, not at all far from a trash can. The outlet is gone now, and they aren't getting anything for free from me anymore. If I were a nastier person I would've left the 120v outlet but wired it for 240v.

 

[water guy]

So what I have heard from one of the guys that watches the Carwash for us said they are looking for any kind of batteries especially lithium batteries because they open them up and smoke the stuff on the inside. It's gotten pretty crazy out here.

 

[KleanRide]

An update: I finally turned off the water in my wringer sink (aka Homeless Laundromat). A couple of customers have asked why and I explained it to them. This morning I watched a guy on video drive into the wash, past my wash bays, and pull in next to the wringer sink. He got out his towels, bucket, soap, and brush and prepared to hand wash his car right where it sat. He then walked up to the sink to fill his bucket, but no water came out. He stood and stared for a long while before loading his crap back in the car, then looked up at the surveillance camera, flipped me the bird, and drove off.

That's one cheapskate down, and about 200 to go.

 

[Car_Wash_Guy]

I have one at my wash. It was there when I bought it. I see one regular who uses it on a regular basis.

 

[MEP001]

IF I put one back in, there won't be room under the faucet for any size bucket, and if I catch someone washing right by the sink like that, they will be banned from the property.