The hourly cost of running an ironer is high, probably higher and more wide ranging than many laundry managers realise.

Excluding labour, the costs include energy, electricity, air, steam and the cost of general mechanical wear, plus wear on ironer clothing and calender guide tapes.

Yet many laundries leave ironers, feeders and folders running, with the ironer rollers and beds in contact, through tea and lunch breaks.

Based upon a single shift, this could amount to an hour a day, and if this happens daily, 5hours per week, and 260hours per year.

If the laundry works double or treble shifts, this wasted time totals 520hours or 780hours each year.

So depending on the number of shifts, running an ironer during breaks could be equivalent to running it non-stop for nearly 11days, 22days or 33days a year.

This wastage affects not only the cost but also efficiency. Leaving an ironer running for an hour per shift without linen being processed, allows the needlefelt and ironer guide tapes to come into direct contact with the hot beds and causes them to burn. This not only discolours the clothing and tapes but polishes both surfaces which may result in slippage, in problems with transporting the linen and in small creases in the work.

As the surface of the needlefelt becomes hard and polished, the air permeability will be impaired which can reduce drying efficiency and quality. The extra wear on the needlefelt will also eventually reduce roller circumference.

A laundry working a single 8hour shift that allows the ironer to run with rollers and beds in contact for 1hour each shift, therefore, in theory, reduces the clothing life by one-eighth. However with all the adverse conditions, wear and tear and so on, a reduction of one-fifth is more likely. The same scenario can also be carried through to the calender guide tapes. Then there are the running costs to consider.

I have done some calculations for an average laundry using a three-roll, 800mm diameter, 3m wide, steam-heated ironer.

The cost of that wasted hour works out as follows:

  • steam consumption, £3.00
  • air consumption, £0.10
  • electric consumption £0.45 (or £0.60 if the ironer is combined with feeder and folder).

So taking into account costs for the boiler, the extra running costs for one calender total £3.55 per shift, £17.75 per week, and £923 per year plus a couple of hundred pounds each year for mechanical wear, calender clothing and ironer guide tapes – in all, well in excess of £1,000 per year or £2,000 per two shift operations.

If the laundry has more than one calender it could be wasting double or treble that per year.

Save that money by hitting the stop button during staff breaks.