Car wash
This article discusses car washes for cleaning vehicles; for car washes for gold mining, see gold prospectors.
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A car wash is a facility in which the external cleaning of preferably motorized vehicles, such as cars, trucks, buses or trains is carried out. Less common are washing facilities for bicycles, as in the Münster bike station. As a rule, a distinction is made between portal car washes and car washes. A special variant is the tyre washing plant, which is mostly intended for use on construction sites. Due to the closed cycles and the adapted cleaning technology, car washes are basically more environmentally friendly and more economical in the consumption of resources than ad hoc vehicle cleaning carried out by hand.
Rag wash in front
Fixed washing plant for agricultural machinery (1982)
Car wash
Gantry car wash for trams
Gantry car wash
Gantry Wash
In a gantry car wash, the customer must drive in with the vehicle and usually leave it. The cleaning brushes move independently around and over the vehicle. The customer can often select the desired cleaning program in self-service mode after inserting punch cards, magnetic cards, chip cards or tokens. Alternatively, in other systems, the wash program is already stored on the card, or a previously purchased, one-time valid combination of digits must be typed in to activate the car wash. Modern gantry car washes are mainly used for cleaning vans or trucks.
Car Wash
In a car wash, the vehicle is pulled through a kind of tunnel with the help of a conveyor belt. The washing belts are stationary and only move vertically or horizontally. In newer installations, there are linear brush portals that follow the vehicle up to 1.5 metres to ensure thorough front or rear cleaning. A car wash has a much higher capacity than a gantry car wash. One advantage of car washes is that the customer usually does not have to leave the vehicle and the wash always takes the same amount of time, regardless of the program selected.
Questions and Answers
Q: What is a car wash?
A: A car wash is a place to clean the outside, and sometimes the inside, of automobiles.
Q: What are the three main types of car washes?
A: The three main groups of car washes are self-service that are usually coin-operated, In-Bay Automatics which use machines that roll back and forth over an automobile while washing it, and tunnel washes which push or pull the automobile through a line of cleaning machines that do not move.
Q: What chemicals are used in modern car washes?
A: Modern car washes typically use soaps and other milder acids and alkalies as opposed to hydrofluoric acid which is hazardous.
Q: Are there laws regarding water treatment for car washes?
A: Yes, many car washes are now required by law to treat and reuse their water.
Q: What are two types of foam used in a car wash?
A: Two types of foam used in a car wash include polish foam which is cheaper but harder to rinse, and wax foam which is more expensive but rinses well and covers the vehicle with a lighter puffier foam.
Q: How does an In-Bay Automatic work?
A: An In-Bay Automatic uses machines that roll back and forth over an automobile while washing it.
Q: Is there such thing as a touchless car wash?
A: Yes, some modern car washes offer touchless services where no physical contact between brushes or cloths occur during the cleaning process.
