Winter2021_SSCWN_web

Strange Legends
PIT
FROM THE
PIT
Legends
It’s the Pits...
Along with dealing with clueless customers and having to repair vandalized equipment, on a scale of
1 to10, how bad is cleaning out the car wash pits? If you do it yourself, from the back-breaking, yuckentrenched
ick, it is most likely a 10. Some have found solace in knowing you can pay others to do it …
but at a cost. So, what is the best solution? Pay in terms of labor, or pay in terms of cost?
Here are some stories from fellow self serve owners who share what works best for them.
John Hilzendeger owns two Monroe Street
Powerwash locations which include self serve
and automatic bays and are located in Spokane
and Hayden, Washington. The Hayden location
has smaller pits requiring monthly cleanings and
they use a clam shell digger for that location. “The
second location in Spokane has much bigger pits,
but with the grate being smaller the clam shell digger
does not work as well so they use a commercial
company that uses a pump/vacuum system,” said
Hilzendeger. They have the commercial company
come in the early spring of each year. The costs of
maintaining the pits is around 1.5% of gross revenue
for the self serve bays.
As for the amount of time it takes, he estimates
it takes roughly 30 minutes per pit.
Kimberly Berg, the owner of the five-bay
self serve Citrus Heights Car Wash, in Citrus
Heights, California, said she hires a local pumping
company which comes out once a year every
November.
52 • WINTER 2021
“I have a 1500-gallon size tank and it costs me
$1050. The process takes less than an hour for them
to suck up the sludge and wash down my pits. Because
their truck is so large, and blocks access to
two wash bays and two vacuums, I schedule them
to come out early in the morning, usually around 7
a.m., in November when business is slow,” Berg said.
As for her advice for new owners, she suggests
scheduling such services regularly as an essential
maintenance item.
“When I first purchased my car wash, the pits had
not been emptied in a while. It was full of smelly
sludge, that had backed up into the wash bays.
There was so much sludge, that it required two
trips and cost me double to remove! In the past,
when we noticed more oil in the pits, I dropped in
oil-absorbing sheets, but it's so messy to pull out
the oily sheets and throw them into a trash bag.
This year, I researched an easier solution that is better
for the environment. It's a concentrated liquid
bacterial enzyme, that is supposed to break down
oil in grease traps and drain lines. It's called ‘Get Serious’
and it has 4-star reviews on Amazon. It cost
me $24.98 for 1 gallon. I pour 1 cup (8 ounces) into
my main pit every month, from each of our 5 wash
bays. We'll see how good it works next November,
but it certainly won't hurt anything!”
Mike Walsh, owner of King Koin Launderette
& Car n Dog Wash in Bismarck, North Dakota,
has been in the business for 50 years, and said
that one thing that came about from unbelievable
intense competition from local gas stations no longer
doing any mechanical service work and adding
"100% hands off" drive thru automatics was the
increase from Roto Rooter and many others offering
car wash suction services. “Whereas” he added,
“it was almost impossible for those services in our
area back in the 70s.”
“Those were the days when I personally physically
cleaned out our pits,” Walsh said. “Since I was
a quite a bit younger ... in retrospect ... the exercontinued
...