Remove dryer from wash packages

Hi all,

Has anyone removed the dryer option from your IBA top wash packages? If so,
how was the pricing changed if any? Did it affect wash volumes? Maybe you've
started business w/o a dryer for your IBA. Would you do the same thing if
you could re-do the decision? Thanks.

Tim

If your customers don't have much of an option to wash other places then I would think it would be ok (if your RO is in tip top shape). I would keep the same pricing. However, unless you are in a climate like west texas or a very small town, I would never open a wash without a dryer. (sounds like yours went down and you don't want to replace it)

you need to have a dry on the top package. crazy not to, imo.

It's funny because with good RO you really don't need dryers, but customers perceive a clean, dry car as a better overall wash and are willing to pay for it. Don't try to tell them what they don't need, charge them for whatever they're willing to buy and thank them for it. You're also going to have a lot of unhappy people if you remove the dryer, especially if you keep the price the same. Even if your competition charges the same and doesn't give a dry, you may lose people to them just because suddenly they aren't getting something they used to.

I think you still need a dryer, because even if your TDS is zero your car is still very wet and very susceptible to dust in the air.

Yes I'm having problems with my dryer and I am looking at
different options. I noticed after I used one of my packages w/o
the dryer and drove for less than 3 mins on the road my car is almost
completely dried. So for now it's just a thought.

I think I can pinpoint 80% to be true that my dryer is causing a spots
problem. Initially I thought it was my Clear-coat sealant however, I tried
washing w/ the sealant and no dryer several times and no spots. When I
turned on the dryer w/ the sealant most of the time it caused spots. The
odd thing was it was 90% of the time on the passenger side. I must have
ran over 120 washes over the last 8 months trying to solve this problem.
I also tried the dryer on w/o the sealant and sometimes it has spots too.

I have a unique situation where my dryer is only 4 feet away from my Wash
World's L-inverted arm and my dyer system is the type that sucks air from
the bottom. It has a lot of air vents at the bottom, so during a wash lots
and lots of water probably gets splashed into the system. I tried covering
most of the air vents, but I believe this happening over 3 years now
probably did its damage already. I also tried washing the dryer's inside
but hasn't improved anything. Maybe I need an even more thorough cleaning.

Thanks for your opinions.

I opened one of my washes without a dryer on my touchless IBA. But I had a huge RO machine and lots of storage capacity and I put spot free on at high pressure and slowed the speed way down during the spot free cycle. I drenched the car in spot free. And most cars came out just fine. The only time we had problems was when it was windy out and dust sticks to a wet car.

Sometimes I think that carwash operators are the only people who to try to rationalize the idea of not needing a dryer in an automatic carwash system; less moving parts to break down, save a little electricity, RO won’t leave spots. On the other hand, I don’t know too many people who take the time to wash at home, rinse off with fresh water and then leave their car to air dry in the sun. Most people use a shammy, towel or leaf blower to dry.

My business partner offers a wet wash at one of his conveyors but this service only represents about 5% of sales volume. With this in mind, I believe most people look at an in-bay or conveyor and expect a clean, shiny and dry vehicle produced automatically. If you don’t offer a dryer, I would think most people would view the wash as less than optimal. I know I do.

Tim, if your dryer is giving you fits and you are having problems with wash and dry quality, bring in a professional to identify the root cause of the problem(s), recommend a solution and then calibrate your system. This means an equipment distributor who understands the make and model of your equipment and environmental conditions that you have to deal with.

If you open your wash with no air dryer then you built a wash volume that knows it will be a wet wash. But to remove the dryer option to existing customers I think you will have a lot of upset and confused customers. In reality people dont even know what they are purchasing in a wash package to know about spot free, at the the end of the day the customer will return to the carwash where they recieve the cleanist and driest car. In this tough economy it is tough to put money out there that sometimes isn't there. But bring in a professional to diagnose the issue and give the cutomer a clean and dry car everytime. consistency pays off in the end. we have a IBA and a cloth tunnel at our site. and in the tunnel the track speed never gets touched, the same speed everytime everyday. People know that busy or slow the end result is the same, IBA customers want the same result as well. good luck

I should add that even though I did have a wet wash, it was less than ideal, and I did put in a blower after about a year and a half.

I wouldn't advise you to not have a blower.

With all due respect,IMO you don't have a "drying problem", you have a spotting problem. I would look for a problem with chemical or wash overspray getting plastered on a wall or piece of equipment, then being redistributed on the car by the blower when it turns on. There should be a way to solve this. I do assume the blowing air inlets are facing the outside of the bay, not the inside. I also assume your have checked your TDS of your SFR.

I have one wash where the top two washes are identical except one is dry, the other is no dry. There is a $1 difference in the two. If customers are complaning about spotting you could offer that, but I'd rather try to find the real cause of the problem and correct it.

What about soap on the floor back spraying on the car, maybe the drain is slow and water with chem blowing back on the car.

My dryer system has one large vent blowing at the top middle and
two columns with five vents on each columns to blow the two sides
of the car. The air inlet holes are all around the columns at the
bottom, so yes they face inside the bay. I noticed that when the
dryer is on, water was splashing out of those inlets. I covered up
75% of the column so that any air holes facing a car driving out
would be covered. The dryer is stationary so the customer must drive out
of the bay, so I'm not sure how the dryer can blow any chemicals
off the walls or from the wash equipment. The dryer is installed right
outside of the bay. The bay used to be a SS bay, so it's pretty short.
I'll have to inspect carefully to see if any water from the
walls, equipment or floor getting splashed back at the car.

Yep, my water softness and SFR are good. I had 3 different chem guys
confirm this.

WashWorld is also stumped that the spotting only occurs
on the passenger side of the car too. Once in a blue moon it'll spot
on the driver side instead, but after 3-4 washes it'll revert back
to the other side.

I contacted the developer of the dryer system and he gave the suggestion
to cover those air inlets. I mentioned I covered 75%, but it still didn't
work.

Hopefully I can figure out this truly annoying problem.

I think it might just have to do with the distance of the car from the dryer. People tend to pull closer to the left (were the stop/ back up sign probably is) than they do to the right. That puts the passenger side a little further away from the dryer over that side. That would also explain why every so often it only spots on the driver side. Can I have a little more info on the dryer? Like how many producers, and how much hp per producer.

maybe a picture would clarify it too! Homer makes a great point all my customers hug the d side on my protvest bayshear

To me the blower sucking in moisture sounds like a problem. Water blown around a dirty impeller will likely be spotty. Perhaps you can build ductwork or a partition to solve this problem.

I know that the dirtiest part of my tunnel is the drying room. If you are getting dirt off the car it could also be getting sucked into the impellers.