Car Wash Blog / Self Serve Industry Blog and Forum
One of my customers tried to fix my high pressure hose problem with a towel and some electrical tape. I guess it worked pretty good? Looks like the hose was cut somehow twice and one of the cuts was deep enough to cause a leak. I just replaced the hose.
If the Rowe five dollar upgrade board was released and for sale, this is how you would change it out (like a how-to for a product that does not exist). You first take out the CCC board from the Rowe changer. (I lost this guys business card so unfortunately I can not give out his information. I need to try and get this information from my dad.) The first picture shows (red arrow) the board that will be replaced. The second picture shows the board that you will get in the mail. The distributor said that the kit will also come with 2 chips like the one next to his thumb. He also said that the chip on your old board will be labeled and that type needs to be on your new board. He is also pointing at the notch (third picture) that you have to line up with the notch on the ccc board. Looks pretty easy and he said he will be selling them for around $66.
Update: I believe that I found his business card. Jess Vasquez from Baca’s Changer Service & Sales Inc. bcschangers.com
Well, I can not figure out the purpose and really not sure how to stop this, besides spending the night and calling the Police. But my plan (this is from a non-truck owner and never off-roading ever guy) was to dig a hole on one side of their ramp. My logic is if I dig it down far enough the average truck will not be about to get up the hill? I was also thinking about installing posts but I am afraid someone is just going to rip it out of the ground. So seriously email me if you have any knowledge of preventing it or if you know the purpose of this event.
IRS note: Now the 10 Pepsi drinks I purchased from this Pepsi machine are all a tax deduction. At only $3 a piece that is a large deduction. They were actually a good deal because inside the ICA show they cost $3.25.
This is really an update of the previous post on the MEI credit card bill system. The second picture shows the antena locating for the vending machine. I really like this bill acceptor and if you watch the exciting video the first time I swipe my card it was not read (which was the only time that happened with my research) the credit card is in very poor condition.
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I also checked out the coinco booth at the ICA show. I was looking at the BillPro-CRX Card acceptor which attaches on the front of a standard BillPro-CRX bill acceptor so you can accept credit cards. It costs around $150 and it has a metal bezel.
I really liked coinco’s new bill acceptor: the Vantage. This has the coolest features concerning the bill surpressor and others. The red arrows (left picture) show the suppressor in the out position and the (right picture) shows it in the in position. This can be activated when somthing strange is inserted into the changer or it can be set to surpress on every bill accepted and stay in that position until another bill is inserted. There are 3 setting on the suppressor that change the length the suppressor stays back, to help with speed. Also is has a nice feature that when the bill acceptor gets wet, it will not shut down and the next bill inserted will go in and out to dry out the acceptor. Cool. I believe (I did not write it down) that it also can accept 110 different coupons. The coupons are different then the old ones and use a fancy printing process instead of the old way. The blue arrows show the bill box locking hasp, which is an add on; pretty worthless but cool if your maintenance man hates quarters and only steals bills. It also programs easily, but how many time do you really have to do that?
I checked out the “Genesis” Rowe conversion kit $995 (last picture). It replaces the bill acceptor, ccc, and power supply. The Rowe people were saying that the BC-200 conversion kit will cost around $800 and replace all the same parts.
I really liked this switch (middle picture) that they were selling; it seemed very heavy duty (10 position around $110). It reminds me of the iwash switch.
I also post the fliers that Jim Gosnell was handing out. http://cwguy.com/?page_id=2514
I enjoyed the ICA meeting this year and appreciate Jeff Byma from the International Carwash Association, for helping me attend the show and to attend the educational sessions.
I also enjoyed meeting Eric Hanson from Boston? who invited me to a party I was not invited to. I believe he said that he was going to send in some pictures of his wash for me to post. I also enjoyed meeting Kate Carr and Pat Harrington from Professional Carwashing & Detailing. I also talked to Greg a couple times while he was running away from me and others.
I could not attend very many sessions this year because I was extremely tired but I did attend “Going Green” by Bill Sartor, Washem Car Wash.
The ICA meeting only had 16 sessions this year, but in 2005 (the last time I attended) they had 29 over 5 days instead of 3. Also the session handbook was a lot larger then this years.
I picked up my 2008 catalogs at the ICA meeting, I think that everyone should have one of each for self serve car washes or just a pressure washing business. Why? because each company seems to have different products. The new catalog I added this year was “CarWash Superstore” which I have never had but Greg really loves them.
Kim Supply kimsupply.com 1-800-444-2783
CarWash Superstore carwashsuperstore.com 1-877-663-9274
Windtrax.com “The Car Wash Store” windtrax.com 1-800-443-0676
Dultmeier Sales dultmeir.com 1-800-553-6975
Kleen-Rite Corp kleen-ritecorp.com 1-800-233-3873
I went over to Giant Industries booth who sells the high pressure guns that I use. The lady at the booth explained to me the difference between the stainless steel guns and the all brass gun. She said that the only difference was the discharge fitting was stainless and should provide better life to the gun.
She also gave me some towels and a “Moistwipe”.
