Glacier Clean Car Wash looks to the sun for hot water

Glacier Clean Car Wash in Columbia Falls will soon thank the sun for part of its hot water supply.

Owner Shayne Hatfield has installed a solar heat exchange system on the south side of the building’s roof. When the sun’s rays hit glass vacuum tubes installed in an array, it superheats water inside copper conducting tubes. The water is pumped into a water tank with a coiled heating element. The hot water is not only used to wash cars, but to heat the floors in the winter time to keep ice at bay.

The entire system was an $80,000 investment, he said recently, but a U.S. Department of Agriculture grant paid for 25 percent of the cost, he noted.

The system should pay for itself in energy savings in seven years, Hatfield said.

“It should cut our natural gas use by one-third,” he said.

The car wash, which Hatfield built in 2001, will also add three more self-service bays.

In addition to the solar exchange system, Hatfield is installing LED lighting in the facility through a program with Flathead Electric.

“The LED light upgrade in the existing wash will provide a 63 percent reduction in its electrical energy usage,” Hatfield said. “We will also be having a similar reduction of energy consumption by installing LED fixtures in the new portion. Our estimated simple payback will be 4.8 years, and our return on investment is estimated at 21 percent for the LED light system.”

Hatfield said the average customer spends between $3 to $4 on a car wash. He said summer business has been good this year.

Hatfield grew up in Whitefish and has a degree in industrial marketing.

His wife, Kristi, is from Columbia Falls and is a physical therapist.