The Science of Automated Car Washes

     Quite frankly ladies and gentlemen, we're at war!  Every day our vehicles are assaulted by the environment.  Combined arms is the practice of utilizing two or more "weapon systems" to obtain a successful outcome to a military operation. In this case, we're bringing all weapons to bear that give you the successful outcome you're seeking!  We're going to take a quick dive into five areas that produce a great looking vehicle.  They are:

Water quality

Water quality can be broken down into two separate sections: water hardness and total dissolved solids (TDS). Water hardness is the amount of calcium and magnesium salts in the water, and it plays a critical role in achieving a clean, dry and shiny vehicle. As a rule, each grain of hardness diminishes the effect of detergents by 5%.

TDS represents the total concentration of dissolved substances in water and is typically measured in parts per million (ppm). Water high in TDS (above 30 ppm) will leave white spots on the car after the water has dried. Spot-free water is usually considered anything below 20 ppm. It is imperative to have high quality water, as no other factor of cleaning can truly offset poor water quality.

Our solution?  We teamed up with Pure Water for the installation of:

• Axeon N-4000 Reverse Osmosis System. This machine treats up to 4,000 gallons of water per day by reducing the TDS to 1 ppm. Through a membrane filtration process, it eliminates 98.5% of harmful TDS, while recovering up to 48% of treated water.
• Custom Care Twin Alternating Water Softener System. We’re able to neutralize the sourced (both well and city) water hardness to 7.1 pH. We have almost perfected balanced water relative to acidity.

Temperature

Temperature can be broken into three parts: ambient, vehicle, and solution (ready-to-use chemical).

Ambient temperature is very difficult to control unless the wash bay is completely indoors and temperature controlled. A vehicle’s temperature can be very hot, especially in warmer climates, so a “cool down” application may help ensure that all chemicals are applied to the surface within a safe temperature range.

The solution temperature is very important in some carwash models and less important in others. Most friction (those that utilize rotating brushes) car washes apply the ready-to-use solution at room temperature, but some touchless (our WashWorld Razor) car washes use heated water to help the chemistry work more efficiently due to less mechanical action being available.

In addition, extreme cold water will decrease the foaming action of cleaning solutions. Furthermore, most cleaning solutions see a point of diminishing returns somewhere around 120 degrees.

Our answer is to heat the solution water through a boiler to approximately 85 – 90 degrees which will aid in agitating the detergent chemicals. This agitation helps resolve the loss of friction.

Mechanical action

Mechanical action is any object or force that is used to remove soil from the vehicle’s surface. In modern car washes, there are two types of mechanical action: friction and high-pressure water.

Prep brushes, wraps, miters, top brushes, etc., represent different types of friction that are used in today’s washes. As a rule, the more friction that one has available, the less important other factors are, except for water quality.

An alternative form of mechanical action is high-pressure water, which is generally measured in pounds per square inch (psi). Typically, touch-free machines apply high-pressure rinses between 1,000 to 1,200 psi. Chemistry and temperature become very important in touch-free cleaning, as the high-pressure rinse does not equal most friction applications. To aid in this process, other factors of cleaning need to work in synergy.

We utilize the Wash World Razor “touchless automatic” to provide high-pressure water during selected cycles in the wash process.

Time

Time is something that is very limited in most car washes but is a very important part of the cleaning process. Many car wash owners reduce cycle time to get as many cars through as possible, while charging a premium fee of course. Likewise, many customers don’t like waiting in line, however they want a high caliber wash when it is their turn. Dwell time is the amount of time that a chemical sits on a vehicle’s surface and is critical, particularly when utilizing touch-free washing or when cleaning organic matter, such as bugs and tree sap.

In general, dwell time increases detergent efficiency and cleaning ability, whereas too little time will diminish efficiency. The chemical cycle timing is imperative as well. It needs to work in synergy with the detergent, sealant, and drying chemical solutions. This ensures the optimal kinetic interaction between the chemical solution and the soil being removed from the vehicle.

We have teamed with the staff at EnergiSystems of Kalispell to program the computer with various dwell time given the respective chemical.

Chemistry

Chemistry cleaning is the reaction between the solution and soils and the ability of the solution to remove them. Alkaline cleaners are cleaners with a pH over 7, and acidic cleaners are cleaners with a pH below 7.  As a rule, alkaline cleaners are the best cleaners and can be used as stand-alone cleaners or in conjunction with acidic cleaners. They clean organic soils (bugs, dirt, clays, oils, fluids, tree sap, bird droppings, etc.). Acidic cleaners remove inorganic soils (salts, rust and oxides).  It is imperative to use the correct cleaner at the correct dilution ratio because each chemical has a point of diminishing returns. Too much chemical can be expensive and very harmful, and too little will result in less than desirable finished products.

We have chosen to utilize Turtle Wax Pro Car Wash chemicals. Turtle Wax Pro has been a leader in the car wash industry for over 75 years. They are a family-owned company that produces quality chemicals, customer-centric services, and develops associated technologies.

Our commitment to this business has given us the opportunity to work with various experts in the local community that have installed efficient and effective equipment, made the proper adjustments, and reviewed our processes. It is imperative that all five factors work optimally and in synergy. When working together, the five factors of car washing can produce a clean, dry, and shiny car in a very timely manner.