Snow removal for car washes: dripping cars, frozen drains and the exit lane

What makes a car wash different?

A car wash adds water to its own lot all day. Every car leaving the tunnel or a bay carries some into air below freezing and drips it onto the exit lane and the vacuum area. On a clear 15°F afternoon, the exit apron can glaze over with no snow in the forecast.

The people are different too. Customers lean out at pay stations and walk around open doors at the vacuums, and attendants stand on wet pavement guiding cars onto the conveyor. Winter is also salt season: AAA tells drivers to wash at least every two weeks in winter, more often after heavily salted roads, and the wash keeps running, and making ice, through the coldest weeks. Pump islands and canopies at a wash attached to a station are covered in snow removal for gas stations.

What gets cleared first, and by when?

1. The entrance and queue lanes, full width for the length of the line.
2. Pay stations, keypads and card readers, by hand, with the approach plowed so drivers can pull up close.
3. The tunnel or bay entrance, where attendants stand, treated.
4. The exit apron and exit lane, cleared, treated and rechecked all day.
5. Vacuum islands and the walking space around each stall.
6. Self-serve bay approaches and their overhead doors.
7. The office entrance, accessible parking and the route between them.
8. The exit onto the road, with piles kept low for sight lines.

The clear-by time is opening. If the wash stays open while it snows, plan touch-up passes on the queue and exit lanes while cars are moving.

Why does the exit keep icing, and when should it be treated?

The exit apron gets wet every time a car leaves, so it refreezes on its own schedule, not the storm's. Treat it:

• Before opening, after the overnight freeze.
• During the day on a set interval whenever the pavement is below freezing.
• At closing, so the last cars' water does not become the morning's first hazard.

Product matters in deep cold. Rock salt slows badly below about 20°F and effectively stops below about 15°F, which is when an exit apron is at its worst; calcium chloride keeps working colder. If the exit has a heated slab, plow it lightly and never stack snow on it. For how thin, clear ice forms on pavement, see black ice.

Why must snow never go into trench drains or reclaim pits?

A car wash has two drainage systems. Trench drains in the bays and tunnel carry wash water to settling pits and, at many washes, a reclaim system; EPA notes that commercial car washes often recycle their water or must treat it before it reaches the sanitary sewer. The catch basins out on the lot are storm drains, which lead to local waterways.

Snow pushed into a trench drain melts into the pits and brings the lot with it: Michigan's snow disposal guidance lists salt, sand, litter, heavy metals and petroleum products in plowed lot snow. The pits exist to settle grit out of wash water, and plowed snow fills them faster and adds road salt to water the wash may reuse.

• Never push or blow snow into trench drains, bay floors or pit lids.
• Never chip ice off trench grates with a blade. A frozen grate dams the trench and sends water across the apron; report it to the operator.
• Stake pit lids and manhole covers, which must stay reachable for pumping.
• Keep piles off lot catch basins, so meltwater drains instead of refreezing.

Pay stations, vacuum islands and staff on foot

Pay stations sit on raised islands guarded by bollards, at bumper and blade height. Clear them by hand, keep spreader throw off keypads and card readers, and ask the equipment maker what may touch them. Customers walk most in the vacuum area, between open doors and hoses on the pavement, so clear and treat it and keep piles out of the stalls. Before the first storm, stake pay islands and bollards, gate arms, menu boards, tunnel guide rails, vacuum island curbs and arch posts, trench grates, pit lids and light poles.

OSHA's walking-working surface rule (29 CFR 1910.22) requires employers to keep walking surfaces free of hazards including snow and ice. Where wet processes are used, it also requires drainage to be maintained and, where feasible, dry standing places such as platforms and mats. The attendant stations at a wash are wet processes in the plainest sense.

Where should the snow go?

Not against the wash building, where meltwater runs under the overhead doors and freezes in the tracks. Not near the tunnel or bay entrances, the trench drains or the exit apron. Not in queue lanes or vacuum stalls, and not over catch basins. Stack it at the far edges of the lot, downhill of the lanes, with the exit and the road kept in view. See where to put snow in a parking lot.

Records and contract questions

Keep timestamped records of every plow visit and exit treatment, plus the operator's own checks. A fall at the exit on a dry, sunny February day is still a winter claim. See snow logs. Before signing for commercial snow removal, ask:

1. Is the clear-by time opening, with touch-up passes while the wash runs?
2. How often is the exit treated on cold days without snow, and how is it billed?
3. Who hand-clears pay stations and vacuum islands?
4. Are trench drains, pit lids and catch basins no-push zones on the site map?
5. Which deicers may be used near the tunnel, the equipment and any reclaim system?
6. Where are the stacking zones?