Are faster dryers better or worse?

[Anonymous]

Here is a thread that should add some controversy. Some of the newer dryers claim to be able to dry clothing faster and maybe save some gas too, although I think it hard to violate the laws of physics.

Assuming they really dry faster - would you want them in your store? Sure it is great if people can get in and get out faster, but if you cannot raise the price per minute then you end up being a net looser in this equation. For arguements sake lets say you vend at 25 cents for 8 minutes. If a standard dryer takes 30 minutes to dry a load then you will take in $1 from the customer. If you add the new faster dryer that will dry that same load in 24 minutes, what do you do with your cycle time and pricing? If you leave it the same then the dryer will now run for 24 minutes and you will only take in $0.75. Sure your cost drops slightly, but if your dryers are priced to make a profit then you will take in less revenue per customer. In my case I take in about 29% of my revenue from drying (versus washing). Why would I want to cut that revenue by 25%? That would be a net drop in revenue for the store of about 7.5%. Since I have plenty of dryer capacity this does not seem to make sense. Most customers are not going to travel to another store to save 5 minutes in drying. These new dryers seem to be a great way for equipment companies to sell more product, I just don't see them helping us owners.

Let the arguements start..............

[mike]

I agree, but if you HAVE to replace dryers. They may as well be more efficient. I noted in my post, that my new Wascomat TD-3030 dry faster, but I neglected to mention that I did, in fact, lower the heat to arrive at approximately the same dry time. Also, I did have a capacity problem. (my new stacks replaced maytag single stacks that were 25 years old.)

[Gary C]

I would do as Mike did, just lower the temp. Because Kirby is right the revenue would drop. The only place I think these dryers would be a help is in OPL operations.My dryers dry a load in 30 mins. and my washers wash in 30 mins so I have no intrest in shorting the time and revenue.

Gary

[Anonymous]

Good, that is the point I was trying to make - if you need new equipment then by all means you want to buy the equipment that has the best return in the form of the trade-off between purchase price and operating cost. The other point is that if you install this stuff that claims to dry faster, then you need to adjust it so that your total return is the same or better than what you replace. As stated that can be acheived by either lowering the temperature so it does not dry faster or increasing the cost per minute so that the total return from drying a load of clothing is the same as better. Anyone that spends money for new equipment and then passes it all to the customer should not be in business. Remember we are NOT in the Not-For-Profit business.

[pete f]

Some of the new "faster dryers" one which is SQ, also takes more BTU's per hour to run. Besides getting less revenue you also pay more in gas. Having room for dryers starts to look important in the coin op setting... I agree with kirby, I do not think anyone will drive someplace else to save 5 mins on dry time. Most people are drying and folding many loads, so they hardly ever keep up with the dryers anyway.

[anonymous]

My main concern when choosing new dryers is gas efficiency. My customers are not so sensitive to dryer speed because I have 3 extractors (the quiet Wasco variety). If they want a fast dry, then they use the extractors first.

I realize that extractors are not for all stores, and that some operators have a bias against them. Since I have a totally staffed laundry, am a bit shy on dryers, and since the laundry had extractors before I bought the store, it seemed the right choice for my situation.

The three extractors gross a little over $800 per month, at $.50 per cycle. The electicity to run them costs a bit less than $48 per month. Although I paid more for them than any other machines in the store, I have no other equipment that commands a 1,566% profit margin! Even after considering their share of the variable and fixed expenses, they paid for themselves in two years.

It is a good cost shift from the dryers, prevents dryer bottlenecks, and keeps the gas usage about as low as it can get. I have been slowly retrofitting my store over the last 8 years -- cutting the gas bill and water/sewer usage has been my main priority.

I would not go out of my way to buy "fast" dryers. I just don't see the profit.

[Fred50]

I would like to refer to a thread from a few month's back regarding customer knowledge.

I forgot what exactly was being discussed, but the point was that customers are not as smart as we think they are.

I think Kirby relayed a story about a customer who couldn't tell the difference bet. a washer and dryer. A second story from Ki rby that always makes me chuckle is that his customers didn't realize that he was without hot water for 3 weeks!!

My point is this:

Are customers really going to notice that your new dryers dry 5 mins faster than the old ones did? If they are putting clothes in for multiples of 8, 9 or 10 mins they will never know unless they continually open the door and check. In that case, they will extend drying time!

Lower the temp. and / or increase the cool down time (if possible)., because they will most likely notice a decrease in drying time for their 25 cents.

[JeffLange]

Pete F.

The speed queen dryers uses 73,000 btu per pocket, you could check their website I'm sure its on there. The Dexter stack uses 80,000 btu per pocket. Most stack dryers are in this range. The wasco 530 stack i think was the only one that used 105,000 btus per pocket.

[Gary C]

Jeff, with that in mind why would one buy the Wasco if it goes through 20 to 30 % more gas?

Gary

[JeffLange]

I am not sure why anyone would have bought that stack dryer. Wasco no longer sells it and there new stack uses less btus.

[Kitty]

Customers hate our ADC maytag pocket dryers. They will stand in line for the old huebsch loadstar, even though we add two additional minutes with the maytag. Its bizarre! We have inefficient, gas guzzling old dryers, but if we replaced them, our customers would freak. There will be a day that we must replace, as one store has 35 year old dryers.....

[JeffLange]

If you change the dryers you need to change them all at once. The people will complain for about a month and then you will never hear about it again. Most stores have the newer dryers and if they go somewhere else they will realize that. Those dryers are great for your customers but they killing your bottom line.

[Anonymous]

Kitty - your customers probably will not freak. I was told the same thing by the previous owner of my store. She had old SQ singles and told me these hot dryers where why people came. Well I immediately replaced them with ADC-236 Stacks and people could not thank me enough. They really valued having twice as much dryer capacity in the store.

[Kitty]

Well, I wouldn't say it is killing our bottom line, but, it is certainly a factor in the numbers. If we changed, all of the mats would have the new kind of dryers. THe dryers will eventually be replaced, but that in not on the high priority list right now.....

[Ken]

Why not lower the drying time?
I will not lower the temp,I even increase the the temp.
I want my custemer move in and out my store fast,so other custemers can use the dryers.

[Anonymous]

Lowering the drying time is fine, except it pisses people off. How would you feel if the local gas station decided that rather than raise their prices they would just set their meters so that each unit represented 3 quarts rather than a gallon?

The point is the don't like short cycles. That is why when I last raised my dryer prices I left the time the same and just increased the price by three cents per cycle. People hardly even noticed the price increase, but you can bet your last dollar that if I took a minute or two off the cycle time I would still be hearing complaints.

[pete f]

Hi Jeff,

You are correct. I had to check. I am sure last year they had some quick dry/save gas advertising and were 105,000 BTU's I saw them at the distributor and saw the plate. I guess SQ changed the design. Maybe I am just dreaming.

[Rondo]

I have 8 WascoDry stacks (made by ADC) they are 105 BTU per pocket and they are a little faster then most dryers but i vend them at 6 min a quarter. They are made by American but they have a weekness at the Idler arm, the bearings are under sized and you lose a couple a year. This is not the typical ADC design. The rest of the dryer is well designed. I have two same sized stores and about the same turns at each. The other store has Maytag(ADC 80,000 BTU )dryers and that store uses more gas, so I'm not sure more BTU mean more gas usage. But this is not a scientific study.

I my self will always go with the most energy efficent machine because of my dislike of utility companies and their cost plus opperations.

[Anonymous]

I have not gone through the math yet, but I was doing an analysis of the number of turns my dryers have gotten in the past years versus natural gas usage. The long and the short of it is that they don't use anywhere near the stated 80,000 BTU/HR rated capacity. The rated capacity only represents the maximum burner capacity, but since they are thermastatically controlled they never use that much gas. Thus, efficiency is a factor of load, airflow, temperature, humidity, pressure drop, heat exchange, and maybe a few other things. Bottom line, the dryer that can use 104,000 BTU/Hr may actually use more gas than the 80,000 unit and the 73,000 BTU/hr unit may use the most gas of all of them.

Someone remind me and I'll try to post some actual numbers in a few days.

[Anonymous]

See my post under new thread called Dryer Energy Usage