Hydraulic or Electric

We are trying to decide if we should go with electric or hydraulic driven equipment at a new location. Our other tunnels are all hydraulic driven. I was wondering if anyone had switched to electric. If so, would you do it again.

When I came into the industry in the 60's hydraulics were just coming into the picture, big battles at that time between the manufacturers who were advocating hydraulics and those who were electric.

Obviously the hydraulics won out.

However as electric motor technology advanced in recent years some companies are offering electric motors with variable speed control.

I have a friend with 17 conveyor washes. He rebuilt a location and equipped it with top quality electric, variable speed motors, but I believe it is the only one of his 17 washes that have the electric.

It seems to be quite expensive to install and to operate vs hydraulic.

I would wait to make a decision until you talk with some other operators that may or may not have converted to electric motors.

Send me your email and I will commnnicate with you privately about my friend's washes.

Bud Abraham
buda@detailplus.com

Like Bud I remeber when there wer no hydraulics. FWIW electricty in a wet environment poses all sorts of issues. When stuff is new everything is wonderful. Within a few years stuff starts to wear and corrode. I'd rather be working on Hydraulic fittings in a wet environment making sure everything is tight and good to go than doing the same with electric connections.

Hydraulics are in 95% of carwashes, and the problem is not the system itself, but the oil that is the problem, the cost to run a 20HP motor is not as much as running multiple motors, if one goes look at the replacement cost. I agree that working in a car wash with high voltage has to been a bit crazy.. I have had a solution to the biggest headache which is leaks, use WATER BASED hydraulic fluid which is sold by mrlhydraulics for 9.98 a gallon, I as an operator of 2 exterior carwashes and blender of the ENVIRO-BLUE want to reintroduce a price break so that all operators who want to use hydraulics are able to afford to do so. Please email me at mrlhydraulics@aol.com PS there is no need for a thermal cooler using ENVIRO-BLUE

Electric is the way to go and I have had both. The hoses and oil were the biggest problem along with the increased cost to operate the hydraulic system. With VFD's you can easily adjust the speed of the equipment. I have one wash with electric and one with hydraulic and the electric bills are far apart doing roughly the same volume. Electric is only a small amount more than hydraulic to install.

Sure, electric - is the future.

I would also suggest to electric as the oil leaking is a big big issue which not only cause operation break down but also causing negative feeling when oil spread on their cars

I have two hydraulic tunnels and one electric. My next one will be a combination of the two. FWIW - A friend of mine outside the US advocates using hydraulics on wet cloth applications, and electric on foam applications or any dry cloth applications such as shammy drying curtains after the blowers. Electric motors driving wet cloth tend to wear down the motor prematurely - sometimes as soon as two years old. Hydraulics can drive heavier loads longer.

I have both. I prefer electric above groung and hydraulic below ground.

I prefer hydraulic. I thought my leak problem was solved with the introduction of the water based hydraulic fluid but soon discovered the motor seals would prematurely fail and the manufacturer soon tired of replacement under warranty. They eventually discontinued it's use. I do not remember the brand of water based fluid we were using. Perhaps the technology has improved since then ( my trouble was about 5 years ago) Other than the occasional hose burst and subsequent mess, the hydraulic system for me has been trouble free.

We have been studying this very thing for over a year and a half now and found hands down that Hydraulics is the BEST way to control your car wash equipment. First and foremost, Proper Hydraulic systems are more reliable, more forgiving, less expensive to operate and less expensive to replace component parts. Most car wash hydraulics (we estimate over 70%) are still using Content displacement pumps (gear or vane)and some type of mineral based hydraulic oil and last bust not by far least NPT fittings. (pipe fittings)
Proper systems which we have installed and proved are Pressure Compensated variable volume pumps, running on a water based Hydraulic oil with O-ring fittings through out. Less Leaks, Less electricity to run, and less issues if there is a leak on cars or the environment. no fuses to replace, much smaller components, and variable speed controls with a turn of a dial, plus wash it down all you want it does not care. for more info contact cliff eddie @ car wash hydraulics .com that's ceddie@carwashhydraulics.com