Protecting Your Car Wash In Severe Weather

When you’re in the path of a hurricane, tornado or dangerous storm, your personal safety is obviously the most important thing, but you also want to protect your car wash. Your Washify® equipment could get damaged even with the best preparation, but these tips will help you minimize the risk.

General Best Practices

  • When unplugging a cable or connector, label the cable and port first so you know where to reconnect it.
  • Take a picture of the connections before unplugging them. This is helpful when hooking them back up.

POS X and Loader Touchscreens

  • Power down the terminals through the operating system.
  • If the terminal is plugged into a surge protector or battery backup, power those devices off, and then unplug the power cable from the wall.
  • If the terminal plugs directly into the wall, unplug the power cable from the wall. When you hook the computer back up, consider plugging it into a surge protector.
  • Unplug the network cable to the computer or terminal.
  • Remove Ethernet connect from the cable modem to the network switch

XStations / Meridians / Sentinel® Pay Stations

  • Power down the computers through the operating system.
  • Turn power off at the breaker that controls the pay stations.
  • Cover pay stations with tarps for protection. Use cardboard or foam to protect the screens under the tarps and duct tape to hold it down.

Gates

  • Turn power off at the breaker that controls the gates.
  • Remove the gate arms to prevent damage.
  • Cover the gates with tarps.

Washify Controller / MOXA / IA Gate Controller and IP Relay Board

  • Power off each relay box.
  • Turn the power off at the breakers for the relay boxes.
  • Unplug the power cord from the wall outlet or surge protectors.

Miscellaneous Peripherals (RFID / ALPR Cameras, etc.)

  • If they have a power cord, unplug the power cord from the wall outlet or surge protector.
  • If you expect your site will be flooded, get all computer equipment above the expected flood level.
  • For the ALPR Camera unplug the Ethernet Cable from the POE Switch inside the pay station.
  • Label all equipment and take pictures before moving it.
  • Cover the equipment with tarps.
  • If possible, move the RFID angle to a flat zero-degree angle so it does not get pushed by strong winds. Remember to put it back to a 30-degree angle when starting up again.