Looking at lifetime costs

The OPL market has been rather slow in the past few years and like other laundry sectors has certainly been affected by the recession.

Equipment suppliers report that sales to hotel laundries have been better than to healthcare establishments as the hotel business has benefited to some extent from the trend for taking holidays at home rather than abroad.

Still laundry managers have been cautious about replacing equipment, often preferring to repair instead and dryer sales may have suffered particularly.

As Armstrong points out, leading manufacturers have established a reliable build quality and as dryers have few parts to wear-out or break-down it is easy to delay replacement.

Still, some suppliers are relatively optimistic. Peter Marsh, managing director of Girbau UK, says the company is beginning to see a slight increase in sales.

Marsh attributes this to two factors. Replacing the dryer cannot be delayed indefinitely and modern dryers are more energy efficient than the models they replace, so a new dryer can help to reduce operating costs, which is important giving ever rising energy bills.

Miele’s Malcolm Martin says that dryer sales, particularly those of larger machines, have had a greater dip than have washer sales but the company is now seeing a general improvement in business and dryer sales are also increasing. Martin expects further improvements in 2011.

Electrolux Laundry Systems notes the repair rather than replace trend but also says it has seen a slight rise in dryer sales as a result of its success in improving efficiency and introducing developments that help to prolong linen life. Such improvements have in turn helped to switch the customers’ attention from the initial purchase price to a machine’s cost over its lifetime.

Customer requirements for dryers are much the same as for the OPL market as a whole but the need for efficient use of energy is underlined in the dryer sector as drying is the most energy intensive part of the laundry process.

A machine’s long-term reliability is also high priority. Armstrong cites this as the single most important requirement and one that has gained added importance from the focus on lifetime costs.

The company points out that breakdowns have expensive consequences and longevity has a beneficial effect on a laundry’s bottom line.

Marsh at Girbau UK says that the biggest change in recent years has been the move from manual to electronic controls. “All customers are looking for high-tech products that have low running costs.” As a result dryers have moved from manual controls to electronic controls, which offer ease of use, efficiency, faster drying and lower gas consumption. Electronic controls are becoming increasingly sophisticated but they also need to be intuitive and easy to use. They must not present the operator with too many choices.

Developments in manufacturers’ ranges reflect these priorities. Miele Professional has recently introduced the DryPlus PT8000 series which spans five drum sizes for loads from 10 – 40kg and also provides a choice of control sets.

Patented features

All machines in the series have Miele’s patented features including the honeycomb drum, which cushions the linen on a pocket of air to ensure gentle handling; the air recycling system, which recovers around 60% of the heated air to save energy and the PerfectDry electronic moisture control.

The FlexPlus controls allow machines to be adapted to suit different applications including coin-op businesses.

Miele has also designed the EcoPlus casing to make machines more efficient. All seals and gaskets will adapt to the drum oscillations so heat is sealed inside the drum and cool air prevented from entering. The dryers are available with gas, electric or steam heating.

Girbau’s Pro Series II dryers cover load capacities from 11 – 77kg. They are equipped with the Pro-Series microprocessor control, which provides four time-dry or auto-dry cycles plus a no-heat cycle. The auto-dry function reduces the risk of over-drying by cooling the linen once the pre-set dryness level has been reached.

To improve energy efficiency Pro Series II dryers have instant electronic ignition, a modular electrical system and multiple burners that let the dryer reach set temperatures quickly. The dryers’ enclosed heat system pre-heats the intake air and this also reduces energy costs. Smaller dryers 11 – 15kg use an axial airflow while larger machines 22 – 77kg use a radial airflow.

The dryers are designed to be easy to use and easy to maintain. They have self-cleaning lint screens and the design allows ready access to all components. The dryers have oversized steel doors to simplify loading and the doors have reinforced metal bars and hinges.

Energy efficiency is a priority

Pro Series II dryers were recently installed at two purpose-built care homes in the TLC group. The Cambridge Manor home and the Carlton Court home at Barnet have each installed two 50lb and one 35lb dryer. Doris Bater, home manager at Cambridge Manor says that energy efficiency was a high priority.

Electrolux recently introduced the low energy dryer T4300LE, part of the company’s generation 4000 series.

This non-ducted dryer has a heat recovery system built into the base to re-use heat that would be exhausted to the atmosphere in a traditional design.

The recovery system helps to reduce energy consumption to 0.22kWh/kg.

The dryer has a 300litre drum and 13.6kg capacity at a fill ratio of1:22.

The non-ducted design means that it can be installed in locations that do not have direct access to an external wall, although it does need a drain for the water.

Other features include residual moisture control, reverse action, anti-wrinkle function and a large door opening for easy loading and unloading.

Armstrong includes dryers to suit smaller OPLs from Primus and Schulthess that can be matched to those brands’ 5 and 7kg washers.

For large OPLs, the company supplies equipment from the Alliance Laundry System’s Huebsch and Speed Queen brands.

The Huebsch range covers 11 models with sizes up to 170lb (approx 77kg). This includes two recent introductions the Huebsch 55 and the Super Twinstar.

The Huebsch 55 has a capacity of 55lb (approx 25kg). The Super Twinstar is a stacked dryer that provides two, 45lb (approx 20kg) dryers in the footprint of one. Both machines are narrow enough to go through a 36in door.

Minimising lifetime costs

Alliance designs its dryers to minimise lifetime costs by making sure they are energy efficient. The company says that the best results come from balancing heat, airflow and tumbling action correctly and both the airflow and action are affected by the cylinder design.

It also believes that the best design is one where the length of the cylinder is equal to its diameter.

Armstrong says reliability is a high priority for many of its customers including both OPLs and laundry service companies.

Caremore Laundry Services in St Andrews has five,

2 x 30lb stacked Huebsch dryers plus a 50lb dryer and these are run daily from 9 – 14.00 hours.

Ian Drummond, a partner in the business, say the dryers have proved highly reliable and easy to maintain. Drummond can replace rollers and belts himself relatively quickly – so there is no need to call an engineer for these routine tasks.

In all he feels the lifetime costs will prove these machines to be good value.