Is there a chemical and/or preventive maintenance procedure that will keep our main drain line clean? Occasionally, we experience a backup of water, which seems to be due to a buildup of a black greasy residue within the line.
Would you recommend a periodic flush of hot water to “melt away” the detergent? If so, how hot? Our normal hot-water temperature is maintained at 120 degrees.
We also have observed that some of our customers use too much powdered detergent, which we believe contributes to our problem.
We have a four-inch main drain that runs approximately the 70-foot length of our store. The line doesn’t drop much from the front to the back of store, which also doesn’t help our situation.
Our equipment mix features 23 washers, including six toploaders, nine 30-pound frontloaders, five 40-pound washers, two 60-pounders and one 80-pounder.
For the first time since opening two years ago, we had a plumber use a rod to clear the line.
First of all, hot water won’t do anything to help your situation.
Two things are important in any type of laundromat installation – big or small. They are the size of the drain line and its approximate pitch from the front to the back of the store.
If your pitch is incorrect, you will get what is often referred to as “lazy water,” and this is what causes that black “muck” to settle and collect, because the water is not moving fast enough to leave your line.
You have two problems: (1) for all the equipment you have in your store, you would have been better off installing a six-inch drain line, and (2) you probably could use another six- to 10-inch drop from the front to the rear of your laundromat.
Unfortunately, it most likely would be too expensive to re-do your main drain line. Therefore, I would recommend you have a power wash cleaning done on the line once a year. This will clean your drainpipe more thoroughly than a standard rod cleaning, because it’s high pressure and it will flush through the full circumference of the pipe. It also will dislodge and flush out any of the coins that tend to fuse together in that detergent/muck mix.
You are correct about powdered detergents, especially the less expensive brands – they have a high concentration of soda ash, which has a tendency to harden like concrete when it comes in contact with cold water. Once it hardens, it’s very difficult to loosen up.
