WHAT
TYPE OF EQUIPMENT NEEDED TO START RETAIL LAUNDRY BUSINESS?
Washing Machines and Dryers Selection Criteria-Commercial Use
Preface:
Laundry Machines are no longer a new equipment for us to use, but when it
comes to selection of the equipment, it becomes a great task and we seek help
from Google or laundry experts.
And if you have decided to start a laundromat or a retail outlet it
becomes very important to know the technical know-how of the washing machines
and the dryers to be used.
To get a good return on investment, you need to choose the right
equipment. Equipment that gives a high quality results, with the speed of
production, lower operating cost and with less maintenance and spare cost.
The capital equipment invested should get good returns on investment
with-in the shortest period of time. Good machines purchased may be higher in
rates initially, but are stress free from regular breakdowns occurring and are
also free from the additional cost of spares occurring due to downtime of the
machines.
The laundry machines which are used commercially are far different from domestically used laundry machines, with respect to the Capacities, Technical Specifications, Mode of Operations etc. We will be discussing the different laundry equipment required in the laundry business.
Domestic Vs Commercial Equipment:
Capacity:
Domestic washing machines are not designed to handle daily loads. Commercial washing machines are designed to handle laundry-loads all day every day laundry load. Commercial equipment is designed to handle large loads multiple times a day.
Reliability and Durability:
On break-down domestic washing machine spares are replaced, where as in commercial washing machines parts are repairable. Multiple cycles of loads in a row is not a problem for commercial equipment. This equipment is stress tested for consistent, high standard performance.
Multiple Programs:
1 Commercial equipment is
designed to professionally operate the equipment
as per the quality of the fabric and the quantity of the contamination of the laundry
load. Pre-determined programs are set with the equipment to wash the different types
of load.
2 The dryers are designed as such
so that the quantity and temperature of the hot steam is automatically
adjusted according to the dampness of the load with the help of sensors
attached.
3 The quantity of the water and the detergent is automatically released as per the weight of the load known as “Smart Load Technology”.
Cost of the Equipment:
Commercial Equipment is ten times costlier than domestic laundry equipment. But the work delivered by commercial equipment is ten times more than that of the domestic laundry equipment.
Capacities:
Commercial Equipment is available in different load capacities from 8kg per cycle to 200 kg per cycle machine. In big organizations where tons of loads are washed, dried and ironed every single day, that time continuous washers are used with the capacities of more than 5 tons per day.
EQUIPMENT FOR COMMERCIAL LAUNDRY BUSINESS
1. Washer Extractor-Washing Machine:
Washers are essentially the first piece of equipment required to start any type of laundry business. Washing Machines or what we call Washer Extractor extracts more moisture from the garments while washing. which in-turn passes an advantage to the dryer where less energy and time is required to dry the garments. Linens like bed sheets and pillow covers are washed in Washer Extractor and fed to flat work ironer directly without drying in the dryer, because more than 80% of moisture is extracted in the washer extractor.
When selecting the washer extractor, the following things that need to be observed.
a) The washing cycle of the washer.
b) Whether the drum is made up of SS, for a longer life.
c) Capacity of the machine as per the
requirement.
d) High Spin of the drum helps extraction of moisture.
e) Hard mount or soft mount. Soft mounts
are preferred for high speed.
f) Punching of the drum(Perforation). It should be punched and not drilled. It
should also be designed as such, the moisture is drained properly.
g) Should have the minimum possible noise.
2. Hydro
Extractor:
Hydro extractors are used after the washing process to extract the moisture from the washed clothes. Most Commercial laundries that get long clothes for washing like bed sheets and sarees, prefer to use the combination of washing machine and hydro extractor. The reason they say that, in washer extractors these clothes get entangled and time is lost in removing this entanglement. But in modern washing concepts hydro extractors are eliminated from the list of equipment.
3. Tumble
Dryer:
Use
of Tumble dryer comes after Washer Extractors. The drum, which rotates at high
speed to dry the clothes, as this drum tumbles, these dryers may be called
tumble dryers (Jill came tumbling after). When selecting the dryer there are
lots of criteria to be considered. The more the drum volume, the more the clothes
are exposed to the hot steam. The longer the depth of the dryer drum more number of
clothes will be dried.
4. Flat work Ironer:
Flat
linens like bed sheets, pillow covers etc. are pressed and folded in the flat
work ironer directly after taking out from the washer extractors.
They come in different sizes as per the width of the roller, like 2mtrs
or 3mtrs in width. The flat-work ironer comes in different types like drum/roll
heated and chest heated type.
5. Vacuum Finishing Table:
As the name suggests, there is a vacuum generated on the flat bed where the clothes are ironed, with the help of vacuum generators to hold the clothes spread on it for wrinkle-less ironing. Steam generator is used to generate steam which is attached to the Steam irons for quality pressing of the clothes.
6. Water treatment plant:
Water treatment plants are fitted before the water enters the washer extractors. This water treatment plant is fitted where bore well water is used in the laundry. Use of treated water improves the quality of the clothes washed and also increases the life of the machines used in the laundry.
Water Softener for washing machine:
If you are already using a washing machine and hard water is a problem, that leaves your clothes stiff, then you need a water softener. Some online water filters are available which are fitted online to get fresh water without minerals. You don't need a tool to fit it, and it has a long cartridge life of 6 months.
7. Boiler:
Boilers are used for the generation of steam, which is used in dryer to dry the clothes, in flat-work ironer to heat the roller to pass the heat to the linens. Different types of boilers are used such as electric heated, Coal heated, oil fired, wood fired or gas heated. It all depends on the economical availability of the fuel at the place where this laundry project is erected.
8. Waste Water/Effluent Treatment Plant:
The most important and most missing out on plants that are a part of the laundry project is the waste water/Effluent treatment plant. The waste water which comes out of washers, dryers and dry cleaning machines should be treated in this plant to remove the hazardous chemicals and the treated water then disposed out.
9. Heat Exchanger:
This equipment was not found in many places. It is a known fact that the most energy in the laundry business operation is used in steam generation or heating the water. By using the heat exchanger, inlet water can be heated by the steam which is vented out. Warm water can be fed directly to the washer. The energy required to heat the water to a temperature of up to 60 degrees centigrade is saved, which in turn means up to 05 to 15 percent of the energy can be saved.
The capacities of washer The extractors and tumble dryers come in a range of 8kgs to 200 kgs. capacity of linen/clothes to wash/dry per cycle.
There are some companies which also offer machines on lease/rent. List of a few companies Manufacturing and
trading in this laundry equipment are listed below.
ADD Laundry Concepts Pvt.Ltd., Fabtech Equipment, Welco Garment Machinery Pvt.Ltd., Fabcare Garment Textile Manufacturing, Stefab India Ltd., IFB Industries Ltd., Superfab Machines Pvt. Ltd., Star White Laundry Equipment, Unitech Garment Machinery, Super White Engineering Works, Xsoni Systems Pvt.Ltd., New Vishwakarma Engineering ETC.
Please comment if you need any more technical requirements on the
laundry equipment.
