There are many factors to maintaining a car wash that consistently provides satisfactory results:
- Ensuring the machine is mechanically performing at peak capacity
- Maintaining soft 0-2 grain water and 0-25 PPM spot free water
- Chemicals are being applied properly
Frankly, this is the hard part; the easy part is keeping the bay clean and debris free.
Trash in the bay is unappealing to customers; it can interfere with wash operation. Dirt, debris, paper, plastic, and cardboard on the floor can cause intermittent problems with treadle sensors, ultra sonic sensors and measuring eyes causing the machine to mis-measure beyond the front or rear of the vehicle and/or measure extra wide on sides of vehicle. The customer will not notice in most cases this is happening until they get out of car and look at the poor cleaning and complain or worst yet, say nothing and never return. Dirt and debris can also contribute to premature wear of moving parts.
We all love these snow days and the ensuing dirty cars and long lines at our washes. However, mud and sand will also build up quickly in the bay. We have witnessed cars being cleaned well only to have the dryers come on and blow the dirt and debris back on the clean cars, negating the efforts!
Keeping the bay clean is a year round action item. In the spring time it’s common for customers to drive through the car wash with grass clippings and hay in the back of pickup trucks. As the wash passes over the bed, the pressure causes grass to blow back up into the machine, all over the bay and into the dryers. It then slowly spreads throughout the bay and inadvertently ends up on other customer’s vehicles during following wash and dry cycles. Aluminum cans, bottles and other light debris can become airborne during the dry cycle bouncing all over the bay and possibly hitting customer’s vehicles.
Any of these problems can cause a negative customer experience and lead to loss of revenue if not corrected promptly. It only takes a few minutes every day to make sure your bay is clean, a clean bay and a well maintained wash will result in a clean car and happy customers that will return.