📘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.

Tunnel Control Station 2 (CV2 CV5 CV6)

TunnelWatch Keypad (CV5)

Tunnel Control Station 1 (CV1 CV3)

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.

rTC Keypad (CV4)

rTC Controller (CV4)

Pump Station - located in the back room and provides high pressure water to tunnel equipment.

D35 Pump Stations

CAT 3535 Pump Station

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.

Sample Motor Control Center

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.

Sample Hydraulic Power Pack

Air compressor - provide high pressure air to tunnel equipment.

Champion Air Compressor

Air compressor dryer - dries the air inside the air compressor so moisture/rust can't clog the compressor lines.

DryPoint Air Compressor Dryer

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.

MacNeil Top Wheel

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".

Belanger 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.

TSS CTAs mounted on the floor

Petit - this is a machine that does the manual prep work for us, usually located after the top wheels and before the Gyro brushes.

Petit High Pressure System

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.

Exit facing Belanger Gyro Wraps

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.

Belanger LSW Brush

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.

Peco FSW / Van Brushes

Blowers - we call them blowers.

Sonny's Blowers (CV10)

MacNeil Blowers (CV2)

Belanger Blowers (CV1 CV3 CV4 CV5 CV6)

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.

Motor City Dry N Shine Top Wheel

EvoShine - same thing as the Dry N Shine (above) but manufactured by MacNeil Wash Systems. Performs the same function as the DNS.

MacNeil Evoshine Top Wheel

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.

MacNeil Tire Shine