Economical drying

4 October 2002



Tumble drying remains by far the most energy intensive and lengthy part of the laundry process and it is therefore essential for any OPL to operate with the most economic tumblers available which are correctly sized and properly maintained


"Some dryers on the market are real gas guzzlers" says Armstrong's Tom Lowes, "and their performance is knocked back even further if components such as ducting… are not in peak condition".

Armstrong supplies the well-known Loadstar and Twinstar dryers under the Huebsch and Speed Queen brands from US manufacturer Alliance Laundry Systems. The 30/30 Loadstar is said to be the world's biggest selling drying tumbler, while the Twinstar offers two 30lb pockets in one footprint, thus saving valuable space in any laundry room.

Recent redesign

The recent redesign of these tumblers incorporated sealed cylinder rims and the move to axial airflow means that they are incredibly energy efficient producing gas savings of as much as 50% when compared with old design dryers using conventional airflow patterns.

"Loadstars range up to 170lb capacity and represent fantastic value for money to larger OPL operators," says Tom Lowes.

Adequate controls

Mr Lowes adds: "Recently much publicity has been generated within the industry about the threat of spontaneous combustion in dryers, but of course this risk would not exist if operators used a proper cool down safety period."

However, he says, in the event that there are inadequate controls within the laundry to ensure that this is done, a no cost option is available from Armstrong on all dual timer model Loadstars. This makes it impossible to start these machines without a cooldown safety period being selected. Microprocessor control machines already have this feature built in.

Also part of the Armstrong line up are the smaller 20lb cabinet dryers from Huebsch and Speed Queen, with their one-touch, auto-dry feature and quiet belt drive - described as the ideal machines to team with a 6kg capacity washer in many smaller on-premise laundries.



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