Winter is over - for now. Some car wash operators are turning their hot water down, or off for the summer. Some don't run hot water at all, summer or winter. If your wash does not use hot water for at least some of the features, how do you think this affects your winter trade? Are you losing customers because it's hard to rinse the soap off the vehicle? When you have a freeze up, can you get the bay thawed, or wait until it's a warmer day?

Assuming you are using hot water for some features. How hot do you need it? We need to keep in mind, for self-serve operations, the customer is holding onto the gun/wand assembly or the foaming brush handle and it can't be so hot as to be uncomfortable. At the same time, we need to enhance the chemical effectiveness to do the best job possible. Setting the temperature going out to the bay at 38 - 46 degrees (100 - 115 degrees Fahrenheit) in most cases will do the job nicely. For automatic washes using hot water for the presoak, you may want to go a little warmer as this helps to activate it, doing a better cleaning job.

For a lot of Canada, winter is over and we are enjoying warmer temperatures and no snow, but next fall consider your weep water, if you have a car wash exposed to the elements. A cold water weep usually means the water is running a little faster than those who are tempering it with some warm water. This also keeps the lines warmer to help prevent freezing.

Enjoy the summer, but consider keeping some heat on come next fall.