Using Industrial Washing Machines for Bulk Cleaning
Industrial washing machines and processes serve diverse institutions. These mainly serve to clean bulk loads of dirty linen. Detergents and chemical cleaning agents are used for getting rid of the toughest stains. Over the years, there has been a decline in the use of chemical cleaning agents. This is attributed to the fact that they have an adverse effect on the environment and thus have given rise to air-quality concerns. The existing modes of cleaning are gradually been replaced by technologies such as wet cleaning, application of supercritical carbon dioxide and silicon-based technology. Wet cleaning refers to the process of cleaning, where water itself is used as a cleaning agent. If air-cooling technology is used, the remaining two technologies do not need to use water.
Industrial laundry operations are carried out using heavy duty washing machines. Most of these comprise diverse control settings, multi-load washer extractors and huge load capacities and even handle loads amounting to hundreds of pounds. Most of these use washer-extraction technology that offers increased water-efficiency capability, ranging from two to four gallons per pound. This also depends on the extent the clothes are soiled. Tunnel washers yield high efficiency as large volumes of extremely soiled clothes can be washed easily.
A large number of the multi load machines are solid-mount or hard-mount and are attached to the floor. The multi-load washers can be operated by setting a number of cycles and these include bleaching, flushing, sizing, washing, scouring and rinsing. The water levels are separately set for each of the wash cycles and therefore water consumption varies depending on the programmed setting.
There are separate heating systems that supply hot water to the industrial washing machines for effective cleaning services. Hot water boilers are generally used for this purpose. There is no provision for water reuse in a water heater. The only way to save water in these setups is by preventing plumbing leaks and by using water-efficient washers.
Make-up meters and temperature gauges are installed on the lines that supply the cold water. It is necessary to monitor the water pressure and temperature relief funds regularly for any kind of leaks or openings.
If water softeners are used, it is necessary that the system be equipped with controllers that are automatically activated depending on the volume of water that is been treated. It is advised that water softeners be used only when they are necessary. If you are using filtration systems, pressure gauges need to be programmed in a way that they are able to figure out the time when the cartridges need to be changed or a backwash is necessary.
A few establishments make use of warm water recycling equipment with a capacity to recycle 10% to 90% of the wash water and at the same time ensuring conservation of energy. If the establishment is using ozone equipment, then water use automatically goes down by 10% to 25%. The cleaning industry is slowly looking to work on the areas of water reuse and recovery in order to save water and energy and at the same time reduce the use of detergents and lower air emissions.
Author Bio: Thomas Rankin owns a laundry and commercial cleaning company. He has published several articles on the ways in which establishments can save power and water even when it comes to industrial washing machines.
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