Does your veterinary practice struggle to get laundry done? There are likely multiple reasons for this. The first is probably due to frequent equipment breakdowns because residential machines aren’t engineered to handle vet clinic laundry. The second is likely that it takes too long for laundry to dry — contributing to lower laundry production, dryer bottlenecks and laundry pileups. The third might be that your equipment lacks a programmable control, which means cycle times are much longer than necessary. The good news? There’s a solution for all of these… Read on for tips for a more efficient laundry solution in your animal care practice.
Avoid Homestyle Machines From Big Box Stores
If you purchase your laundry equipment from a local big-box store, you’re no doubt struggling with constant breakdowns. This is because residential equipment is not engineered to handle the pet hair or bulky laundry items at your animal care facility. In fact, as soon as it’s installed at your vet clinic or hospital — a commercial application — any warranty that comes with the equipment becomes null and void. The solution? Invest in a commercial washer and dryer that is engineered specifically for vet clinics and comes with a factory-backed 5/3-year commercial warranty. Commercial washers and dryers often have the same footprint and utility connections as residential machines, making them simple replacements. They also come with programmable controls and larger basket capacities for speeding up laundry production.
Go for High Spin Speeds to Shorten Drying Time
When you’re shopping laundry equipment, it’s critical to select high-speed washers that maximize moisture removal during extract. Why? A washer with 350-450 G-force extract speeds can shorten dry time by more than 50 percent over lower speed washers. This significantly increases the number of loads you can complete each day — helping to prevent laundry pileups. At the same time, dryer operating time is reduced, which cuts natural gas and electricity usage — drastically lowering utility costs.
Programmable Controls are Key
Residential washers come with set controls with minimal flexibility. That just doesn’t work at a vet clinic, where you’re washing everything from mop heads and surgical linens to beds, towels, pads and sheets. Vet clinics need programmability to carefully control every aspect of the wash cycle, including number of baths and rinses, automatic detergent injection, rotation action, cycle time, water temperature, and more. Special programs can also be established for saving time, without lessoning wash quality, to ensure you maximize laundry productivity. This is important since most residential washers take at least an hour to complete a wash load. Programmability also simplifies life for your staff. Operators just load, press a program and press start. The washer automatically does the rest — in record time!
At the end of the day, there are many ways a commercial washer and dryer can save you time and money through efficiency and flexibility. In fact, a smart investment in commercial equipment will not only launch laundry production and cut utility costs in your animal care practice, it will also help eliminate equipment breakdowns and ensure a no-headache laundry operation.