November 2022 Newsletter

 

Everet's Laundry Newsletter Nov 2022 Holiday Season for WASHING is Upon Us!

Tidbits from the Washtub The cold weather is already here and most of your customers have probably already washed their blankets and comforters after getting them out of summer storage. If they haven't washed them yet, or maybe you want to encourage them to wash them several times over the winter, have signage in the store to encourage them to wash weekly or bi-weekly. Perhaps if you have bigger machines that aren't being used as often, or have a customer base that shies away from big machines, try having a limited time special on certain machines or only at certain times to encourage use. You might have machines that you can set to "jack pot" for a free wash. Whatever method you use, if 10% of your blanket washers come back a second time in a month what does that do to your bottom line? If they do that all winter what does that do for your income?   There are lots of interesting laundry tips on the blog. Below are three of them. Just click on the link to open an article. Thanks for looking! Everet A Heck of A Nice Guy Featured Articles this Month Ever come into your laundry and see condensation on the door of a dryer? Here is one cause of it: condensation-in-dryer   Wonder why a small washer always seems to have water leftover after a use? Maybe the pump is jammed: small-chassis-washer-drain-errors Who to call when selling your store? Your distributor of course! selling-buying-call-your-distributor   I know I said above there are three articles, however here is why you should read the ones that interest you, in my humble opinion of course! why-read-this-blog

Fast Coin Jam Clearing Method

Coin jams are probably the most common maintenance repair that a laundry room, or laundromat owner, or landlord has to deal with. Learning how to clear a coin jam can save you the $100+ repair bill from a laundry technician. It can also save you the wrath from frustrated customers who can't use the machine, and the machine keeps making you money.

Maytag back of coin mech showing the long screw

Speed Queen and Huebsch showing the thin rod

When it comes to clearing out coin jams all of the manufacturers have their methods.

I'll use Maytag, Speed Queen, and Huebsch in this example.
The most common way is to remove the coin drop from the washer or dryer. This usually involves opening up the top access, panel, and loosening long screws, and then pulling the front plate out of the front of the machine to get out the coin mechanism. Even though the coin mechs for all of the manufactures are usually made by a couple of companies, the way to get the coin mechs out of the machine differs. To get the Maytag bolt out you need a 6.5 mm lug nut and ratchet wrench. For the Speed Queen and Huebsch machines you need a special tool that goes over the long thin rod attached to the screw that holds the coin mech inside the washer. The tool is similar to a straw, that attaches to a ratchet, and then you can unscrew the base plate screw to get the coin mechanism out.  Both of these methods can be cumbersome if you don't have flexible fingers, aren't good with tools, or are not tall enough to see inside the access panel and need to sit or kneel on top of the washer.

A lot of operators of laundry machines try using a butter knife, nail file, windshield wiper blade, scissors, or any other piece of metal that will fit inside the coin slot in order to clear the jam without taking the time to open the access panel. While these methods may work for you,

here is another idea that I use to get coins unstuck that works almost every time and is fast:
A pipe clamp.

You want a pipe clamp to be about half an inch wide because that is the proper width of a quarter

How does it work?
Get a pipe clamp that is about a half inch in width.
Straighten the pipe clamp so it is not quite so curved.
Insert the end of the pipe clamp into the coin slot and push it in only far enough until you can feel it hitting a quarter.
DON'T RAM IT INTO THE COIN SLOT VIOLENTLY!

Push the pipe clamp gently inward, you might have to apply a little force.

The pipe clamp will either push the quarter down into the coin box, or it will act like a fish tape and pull the quarter back far enough to free up room in the coin mechanism for the quarters to fall through.

SAFETY TIPS:

=Be careful that you don’t just jam the pipe clamp into the coin slot really fast because you can break something on the coin mechanism.

=Keep the pipe clamp as straight as possible. The clamp naturally wants to stay curved because that was the way it was made and was stored.

=Depending which way you insert the pipe clamp into the coin slot it will curve to the right or to the left. Just ramming it in and out of the coin slot will get the pipe clamp stuck in the coin mechanism or break some of the small plastic parts on the coin mech. 

=Depending on what type of coin mechanism you are working on, the slight curve in the pipe clamp will work better one way or the other either facing left or right.

I had a position with a company where I was in charge of 51 laundromats. I had to often visit 4-8 per day. As experienced as I am it still took at least 10 minutes to get the coin mech out, clear the jam, and put the mech back into the machine. Each store would have two or three jams. The pipe clamp method I could clear almost all jams in a minute or less.  For a  common day of three or four coin jams per store, this saved a lot of time getting the jams cleared up so customers could use the machine.

The only time that I have seen this method not work, is when there are five or more quarters stuck in the coin slide. At that point, you don’t have much of a choice, except to remove the coin mechanism as you would. Give the pipe clamp a try. It takes a little bit of finesse and patience at first, but I think you’ll find it works faster and most of the time. 

Ev

A Heck of A Nice Guy

 

...Hello New!

The WASH Commercial Laundry location in Wisconsin has a new home!

After WASH acquired Great Lakes Commercial Laundry in 2016, they have been operating out of the Great Lakes Commercial Laundry building on Robin Lane in Brookfield.

Having outgrown that facility, WASH just completed the move to 8888 W Tower Avenue in Milwaukee. Located between Bradley Road and Brown Deer Road, the facility allows for a bigger warehouse and repair facility.
goodbye-old warehouse

Everything was still being unboxed and organized when I was there, however here are some early pictures. I look forward to giving you a tour sometime.

New address:

8888 W Tower Avenue

Milwaukee, WI 53224

Ev

A Heck of A Nice Guy

Bigger office space with several staff office options, break room, and kitchen

Small chassis warehouse and repair area

Much larger warehouse 

Front entrance

For those of you who saw the post on the old location, the new location has much larger

and many more bathrooms
goodbye-old warehouse

Pearl Harbor In Pictures

Rest assured we won't forget.

Thank you to all of the WWII veterans and the rest of the "Greatest Generation."
Ev

A Heck of A Grateful Guy

Getty Images

Smoke pours from wrecked American warships after the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.

 U.S. Navy battleships at Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941 (l-r): USS West Virginia (BB-48) (sunk), USS Tennessee (BB-43) (damaged), and the USS Arizona (BB-39) (sunk).

 Hangar on Ford Island burns

 Destroyer USS Shaw exploding after her forward magazine was detonated

 The U.S. Navy battleship USS California (BB-44) slowly sinking alongside Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (USA), as a result of bomb and torpedo damage, 7 December 1941. The destroyer USS Shaw (DD-373) is burning in the floating dry dock YFD-2 in the left distance. The battleship USS Nevada (BB-36) is beached in the left-center distance.

 Battleship USS Arizona explodes.

U.S.S. Arizona sunk

 A destroyed Vindicator at Ewa field, the victim of one of the smaller attacks on the approach to Pearl Harbor.

Battleship USS Nevada attempting to escape from the harbor.

Battleship USS West Virginia took two aerial bombs, both duds, and seven torpedo hits, one of which may have come from a midget submarine.

 A destroyed B-17 after the attack on Hickam Field.

 Aftermath: USS West Virginia (severely damaged), USS Tennessee (damaged), and the USS Arizona (sunk).

 Pearl Harbor Attack, 7 December 1941. Japanese naval aircraft prepare to take off from an aircraft carrier (reportedly Shokaku) to attack Pearl Harbor during the morning of 7 December 1941. Plane in the foreground is a "Zero" Fighter. This is probably the launch of the second attack wave.

 The wrecked destroyers USS Downes (DD-375) and USS Cassin (DD-372) in Drydock One at the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard, soon after the end of the Japanese air attack. Cassin has capsized against Downes. USS Pennsylvania (BB-38) is astern, occupying the rest of the drydock. The torpedo-damaged cruiser USS Helena (CL-50) is in the right distance, beyond the crane. Visible in the center distance is the capsized USS Oklahoma (BB-37), with USS Maryland (BB-46) alongside. The smoke is from the sunken and burning USS Arizona (BB-39), out of view behind Pennsylvania. USS California (BB-44) is partially visible at the extreme left.

 Not originally published in LIFE. B-17 Bombers fill the Hawaiian sky, December 1941. (William C. Shrout—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images)

 Not originally published in LIFE. The exposed wreckage of the battleship USS Arizona. (Bob Landry—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images)

U.S.S. Arizona

Not originally published in LIFE. A sailor chalks a message to America's fighting men from the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations on a destroyer at Pearl Harbor. "Your conduct and action have been splendid. While you have suffered from a treacherous attack, your commander-in-chief has informed me that your courage and stamina remain magnificent. You know you will have your revenge. Recruiting stations are jammed with men eager to join you." (Bob Landry—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images)

Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (Jan. 20, 2004) -- Pearl Harbor survivor Bill Johnson stares at the list of names inscribed in the USS Arizona Memorial. Johnson visited the memorial to pay respects to the Sailors killed that day, particularly his friend and high school buddy, W N Royals, 64 years after the attack. He also met with Rear Adm. Paul F. Sullivan, Commander, U.S. Submarine Force U.S. Pacific Fleet, who presented him with a command coin. He also received a pier side tour of USS La Jolla (SSN 701) and toured the Bowfin Museum. Johnson served in the U.S. Navy as a Torpedoman 1st Class for seven years and made several patrols aboard USS Holland and USS Devilfish. While on Patrol in the Pacific aboard USS Devilfish, Johnson and his shipmates survived a kamikaze attack and also managed to escape an enemy minefield. U.S. Navy photo by Chief Journalist David Rush. (RELEASED)

Related: 'It was a terrible day. It just engulfed us in flames'

Photos from Wikkipedia

Small Chassis Washer Drain Errors

 

Maytag calls them F21 errors. Wascomat calls them Error 2.

Other brands have their own code for the same problem: a slow drain.

What is causing the drains to be slow?

The quick answer is a litany of debris:

coins

hair pins

lint

rubber backing from rugs

socks

rocks,

pet hair

Anything that will fit in the drain will be the culprit!

The easiest thing to check is the drain.

Most small chassis models have some sort of panel on the front of the machine. Remove that and behind it is the pump. Some older frontloaders require you to take off the entire front panel.

Either way you should see a circular drain with a cover that can be twisted open.

Twist on the cover and the drain screen should come out when you've twisted a few turns.

The above picture shows all of the junk that accumulated. There was a sock, paper clips, coins, and a bunch of the rubber backing from a bathroom rug.

Once you've dumped out the drain screen. Stick your finger inside the pump drain hole to see if there is anything stuck in there like a sock or dryer sheet. In the models I work with you can feel a small impeller inside the hole. If it isn't blocked up you should be able to spin it freely with your finger tip.

 

There is always water in the drain. If you don't have a bucket you can use the front panel as a water catch. If there is water inside the tub before you start this process then you need a bucket!

 

More examples of junk inside drains.

When you are done your drain and screen should be clean. I like to run a test cycle on the machine just to make sure and to give the machine a rinse in case there was water stuck inside for a time.

It's a good idea to check the drains once or twice a year even if they don't back up.

Remember my other articles about finding money in dryers?

You can often get a chunk of change from your drains too!

Ev

A Heck of A Nice Guy

Condensation in Dryer

Have you ever come into your laundry room or laundromat and noticed the dryer doors were wet?

The dryer works fine but each time that it rains or snows you notice the water dripping off the inside of the glass.

If you see this hapening with regularity you might want to check your backdraft damper inside the dryer. The following pictures are using a Maytag MLG45 stack dryer, however the general idea is the same across all dryers. 

To solve the problem open up the back of the dryer.

Locate the exhaust duct inside the cabinet and the exhaust fan. Somewhere there should be an access panel in the exhaust duct or sometimes the backdraft damper will be on top of the exhaust fan housing.

Remove any panel that covers up the access hole.

Behind the panel should be a damper of some sort that stops air from gong back down into the dryer.

Notice the silver "ramp" in the picture above That is the damper in its closed position. Moist air from the top dryer can't get into the bottom dryer and moisture from the bottom dryer can't go back into the top.

This is the same damper when we first took off the access cover.

Notice the lint.

The lint was not allowing the damper to close enough and when the dryer was off all of the damp air from a rain storm would go back into the lower pocket. If the top pocket was running some of the hot air would go into the cold lower dryer and that caused the condensation.

On a related note, if you notice the paint inside the lint drawer area or on the lint drawer itself starting to peal off, odds are you have a problem of moisture getting back into your dryer.

Make sure you clean all of the nooks and crannies on the damper so that it swings freely and easily.

Your damper should look like this when you're done.

Depending on the way your venting is set up you can also add an external damper in the duct work coming out from the dryer. Sometimes it is easier to deal with that location than to go into the dryer itself all the time. 

Thanks to owner S from Milwaukee County for letting me use his dryer for these pictures!

Ev

A Heck of A Nice Guy

Goodbye Old…

 This week WASH begins our official tenure at the new location on Tower Avenue. The old location in Brookfield served us well for many years. We say goodbye to the old and hello to the new! I look forward to seeing you at some point at the new facility.

Ev

A heck of a nice guy

This was the old show room and the entrance to the Parts area and service counter

Great Lakes customers and employees will always remember this is Dan’s office

A newer rendition that took up space of the old lunchroom and created some new officers

A look into what used to be the parts area

This was Reed’s office. It had no heat so he used to have to have his own space heater and still had to wear a winter coat

I don’t remember knowing that there was an attic. This was the area behind the lunch room

Warehouse 

This was unused space behind the office. For a brief time it was a bigger conference room until it was divided in half

Storage above the bathrooms and show room

Warehouse bathroom. Even when clean it still was gross

Loading dock looking from the old parts store

The other half of the break room/lunch room. When the conference room was divided into two this became an office space

From the back of the warehouse looking forward