While the trucks in your fleet may look nice and clean, your wash bay may not. You may come in after a period of inactivity and take a whiff and wish you hadn’t. Unfortunately, that isn’t an uncommon reaction. This is a common complaint of many people who own and use wash bays, although most prefer not to mention it. It may seem like a “dirty secret” to some, but there are ways to help combat a situation that just downright stinks.

The first thing to know about any smell is what causes it. Normally you can tell what the problem is, like when the garbage can is stinking up the kitchen. Enclosed wash systems have a series of unfortunate circumstances which lend themselves to the smelly situation you may find yourself dealing with. More often than not, the unsavory assault on your nostrils comes from anaerobic conditions. This means that there is a lack of oxygen in the wash bay and the lack of air flow causes bacteria to develop and grow. This most often leads to a sulfuric, or rotten egg, smell but it can manifest to any number of other scents.

Thankfully, we have a couple of solutions. The first thing you should do is check the pH level in any water which may be in your wash bay. It should register around 7, and if it doesn’t you can begin to add chemicals which will balance your pH out to where it should be. Make sure to test this often. Even if you only use water, try draining it and refilling the tank. You should be doing this around twice a year, even without odor problems simply for sanitary purposes.

Other options include chlorine tablets like those used in pools or simply finding a way to aerate the area if it is enclosed. This can be something as simple as putting fans in the area to help to move the air around. No one wants to work in a smelly location, and if your wash bay stinks you may be suffering along with your trucks. Neptune’s wash bays are purposely made to combat this smell problem because we know what it’s like to use one that isn’t. We don’t want anyone to be subjected to that. You deserve better. You deserve Neptune.