📘Glossary of Car Wash Words
TLDR; car wash people speak a different language.
TunnelWatch - The "brain" of the car wash manufactured by DRB Systems, also called the "Tunnel Controller". The tunnel controller senses the length, height, and position of the vehicle in the tunnel in relation to the equipment in the tunnel, and turns the equipment on and off at specific times to control the wash. We have TunnelWatch installed at CV1, CV2, CV3, CV5, CV6, and CV10.
rTC - Another type of tunnel controller manufactured by MacNeil Wash Systems. It performs the same actions as the TunnelWatch controller (above). We have rTC installed at CV4.
Pump Station - located in the back room and provides high pressure water to tunnel equipment.
MCC Panel - this is the big electrical box with metal doors in the back room. Can be thought of like the heart of the car wash. The heart provides high voltage to the equipment, and the brain uses low voltage to trigger the high voltage.
Hydraulic Power Pack - this basically a big pump that uses oil to make equipment spin. All equipment in our wash is Electric except for the conveyor and the tire brush. This is the only equipment that uses the single power pack.
Air compressor - provide high pressure air to tunnel equipment.
Air compressor dryer - dries the air inside the air compressor so moisture/rust can't clog the compressor lines.
Top Wheel - A brush usually placed toward the entrance of the wash. They balance horizontally and touch the hood, windshield, top, and some of the back of the vehicle.
Tire Brush - A brush usually placed toward the entrance of the wash. These brushes run parallel to the tunnel and we call them "passenger side tire brush" and "driver side tire brush".
CTA - stands for Chemical Tire Applicator. These are placed before the tire brush to apply a high pH solution to the rims and wheel before the tire brush scrubs the tires.
Petit - this is a machine that does the manual prep work for us, usually located after the top wheels and before the Gyro brushes.
Gyro Wraps - These are vertical brushes that catch the front, sides, and back of the vehicle. We refer to them by the way the face and which side of the car they touch. We have 2 sets of gyro brushes at each wash--one entrance facing gyro set and one exit facing gyro set. Each gyro set has a driver side and a passenger side brush.
LSW - stands for low side washer. These brushes are the short ones that are mounted inside the gyro sets. They are referred to by the driver side and passenger side attributes.
FSW or Van Brushes - stands for full side washer or sometimes referred to as a van brush. These are the really tall vertical brushes at the end of the tunnel before the drying agents are applied. These push the side mirrors back into position if they get knocked by the gyros.
Blowers - we call them blowers.
Dry N Shine - The towel dry machine at the end of the tunnel manufactured by Motor City Wash Works. We only use the the "top wheel" part of the DNS. Motor City makes side drying brushes as well but we don't use those.
EvoShine - same thing as the Dry N Shine (above) but manufactured by MacNeil Wash Systems. Performs the same function as the DNS.
Tire Shine - Similar to the tire brush but located at the exit of the tunnel and applies tire shine to the tires. Refer to them as passenger side and driver side tire brushes.
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