Also, Identifying Stains, Replacing Water Heaters and More…
I own two self-service laundries, and the utility costs are killing me. To save money, I’m thinking about decreasing the water levels and perhaps eliminating one of the rinses on my washers. Is this a good or bad idea?
First of all, the best advice I can give you is to try raising your vend prices by 25 cents, as this essentially will achieve the same result – and without compromising the quality of the wash you can deliver to your customers.
Yes, eliminating the last rinse will save you some water. However, do not adjust the water levels on your machines; your washers require higher water levels during the rinse cycles in order to effectively carry away the soap and other chemicals from the garments being washed.
Is there a way of determining whether a stain is oil-based or water-based before I launder the garment?
The only way you can determine that is by laundering both types of stains year after year. Visually, there is no way to tell the difference. Some water-based stains look like they’re oil-based, and vice versa. This is especially true when it comes to rust stains. Rust stains can have four or five different colors. They can be dark gray. Some are black. Some are yellow. Some are orange. All I can tell you is that experience will teach you.
I’m thinking about replacing my old water heaters with new energy-efficient heaters. Will they really save me money? And what are the drawbacks, if any?
A new high-efficiency water heating system will definitely save you money and is probably the best piece of equipment you can buy, regarding saving energy and cutting your utility costs.
One word of caution: always follow the manufacturer’s instructions on the care and maintenance of your new unit; if you don’t, your savings will be diminished due to repair costs. The energy-efficient water heaters are more sensitive to neglect than the older generation heaters. But, if you follow the maintenance instructions, they will run trouble-free.
My frontloaders have developed a stale smell. The odor is clearly evident when the doors are open. Worse yet, customers’ clothing that has been washed also has developed that stale odor. What could be causing this, and what can be done?
When you have an odor coming from your frontload washers, the culprit most often is a clog somewhere in your vent pipes. When those pipes are clogged, the odor – rather than traveling up the pipe and escaping out through your roof – will be suspended inside your washers. And, as soon as the doors to the machines are opened, you will definitely smell it.
My suggestion is to have your lines rodded out. What’s more, I would rod the vent pipes from your roof straight down to your soil pipe, or drain pipe. This should open up everything and start fresh air flowing again – and then those odors will quickly exit out through your roof as they should.
A lot of laundry owners never rod their vent pipes, because they don’t fully understand the purpose of the vent pipe, which is twofold – it’s there to allow air to follow the water so that backups don’t occur, as well as to let out any odors.
So, my best advice is to have your lines and vent pipes rodded out, and this should eliminate your odor problems.
