Car wash chemical cost per car calculator
What each chemical costs you on one car, what ratio your tip really gives, and how to check it with a bucket.
Fill in 4 more fields to see its cost per car.
For the monthly total. Leave it blank if you only want cost per car.
Approximate, at 40 psi with a water-thin product. Real dilution changes with the product’s thickness, water pressure and temperature, so measure yours with the bucket test.
Source: Hydro Systems, maker of HydroMinder.
The bucket test
- Prime the dispenser the way its instructions say.
- Run the dispenser into a clean bucket for about a minute.
- Measure the mixed solution you collected.
- Measure how much the concentrate jug went down.
Wear the gloves and eye protection the chemical’s label calls for.
Read the maker’s instruction sheet
How this works
Cost per car is the concentrate one car uses, times what a gallon of that concentrate costs you.
Concentrate per car is the mixed solution that goes on one car divided by (ratio + 1). At 100:1, 2 gallons of mixed solution holds 2.53 oz of concentrate.
Premixed in a tank first? Add one to each ratio, multiply, then take one away: a 4:1 premix through a 20:1 tip is (4 + 1) × (20 + 1) − 1 = 104:1.
The bucket test gives your real ratio: (mixed solution − concentrate drawn) ÷ concentrate drawn, as water to concentrate.
ChemConsole keeps these numbers for every tank
Dilution, tip, cost per gallon and use per car for every tank, with tank levels and reorder points.