The True Benefits of Energy Saving Laundromat Equipment
What could be done to make a washer or dryer more efficient? Very little. The only way to make a washer more utility efficient is to reduce the quality of clothes washing. You achieve utility savings by lowering the water levels through reducing the number of cycles (2 deep washers, 3 deep rinses were the standard on frontloads), reducing the water levels in the tub (your customer can't see the water level on the glass), and reducing the use of hot water on hot water cycles. Reducing the volume of water also greatly impacts the quality of the wash for your customers.
Washers are shipped from the factory with such low water level settings that most owners have to increase the water levels to avoid customer complaints. Reducing the quality of the wash is not an efficiency improvement. There really has been minimal improvement in efficiency technology and design in about 30 years. Sticking a new payment system on a washer is not new washer technology. The inverter is new but the failure rate is much higher than the previous method. Super high speed extract washers have been around for decades, just not sold to Laundromat who historically have looked for the cheapest solution in their equipment searches.
Dryers face the same problem. More time is spent on advertising computer controls than actual innovation on laundry equipment. This is a positive, however, since no expensive new dryer computer technology can capture a market away from a well-run existing Laundromat.
For example, a new feature of lint reduction is being promoted by one manufacturer but fails to disclose it is not available on stack dryers. Expect the ill-informed to begin circulating the belief that this brand of dryer is lint free despite the fact it is not available on the models normally sold in volume to Laundromats. These are benefits build on advertising, not on reality.
An experienced owner knows you should replace equipment when the cost to keep equipment running is surpassed by the cost to buy new equipment. Excessive failure can cause customers to seek more reliable equipment in other Laundromats.
Microwave dryers, and waterless washes are in the distant future. A well maintained and well operated Laundromat with 20-year-old equipment is still competitive; more repairs than brand new equipment, but still competitive in delivering clean clothes to happy customers. Brand new equipment becomes old equipment in three years. Forget about energy efficiency as a reason to purchase.
For years customers would come to me as a distributor to tell me about their lower gas bills when they installed a new water heater. Nonsense. If they had de-limed and maintained their old heater, there would have been only minimum savings, if any at all. Tankless heaters can achieve some savings on gas but only as a function of water heater storage tanks and will increase maintenance.
Let's all agree that the larger machine installations are being pushed by the factories. Their lowest profits come from the sale of their small models; their biggest from their largest machines. Not sure if I agree that a 130-LB washer is needed in the typical Laundromat unless you wash hot-air balloons. A sixty pound or eighty pound washer is probably large enough for most walk-in customers in a self-serve Laundromat.Some owners who have 100-LB plus washers use them for their Wash/Dry/Fold business. They are appealing to certain customers, expensive to purchase, require electrical considerations and access concerns. A two-ton 130-LB washer must have good rear access.These super sized washers are certainly initial attention grabbers but many owners discover customers prefer to sort their clothes by color and cycle selections. These large washers are often discounted in price so that a 20-LB washer is vended at $3.00, a 100-LB washer should be vended at $15.00. Owners who elect to discount the 100-LB washer are reducing their income by the pounds of laundry they are washing.Our business is based on producing income from the pounds of laundry we process each day, not on the number of customers. If the demand exists for super large load customers, maybe they are worth the price. In my opinion these expensive washers should only be placed in Laundromats where demand has been established.
One issue I seldom see addressed when considering a super size washer installation is the potential liability issues related to their size. Because of their interior size and large doors they have been seen by at least one equipment manufacturer determined them as too risky to build. They are seen as an attractive nuisance by some in the industry and ongoing observation of their use by staff is needed to prevent them being used as a playground.Anyone who has owned these super sized washers has likely seen their attraction to youngsters to crawl inside these giants. There have been lawsuits involving owner and manufacturer liability on injuries resulting from individuals being inside these washers when they are activated. I suggest this means they may not be suitable for partially or unattended Laundromats. Fully attended Laundromat staff should be trained to ensure that crawling inside or playing inside these washers is not to be allowed.