Average drying time for average load?

[Kitty]

With todays utility crisis I suspect many of you will be having a mild coronary over your gas/propane bills that you will be receiving or have recently received.

We have had some Polls on dry times, however the information was misleading as the polls are outdated. Certain polls need to have an ending date has , such as this type of poll has. It will close on 12/31

Please take the time to vote again and please take the time to comment. I'm positive there are many feeling the pain of the gas bills out here in laundry land....

Kitty

[troy]

Currently 8 minutes

Going to change to 7 soon

[anonymous]

Currently at 9 minutes. Went from 10 to 9 two months ago. Rumor has it (from the local distributor) that many of the other mats in town will be soon going to 7 minutes. I'd like to go to 8 minutes soon, however the mat down the street is still at 10.

[anonymous]

My Last gas bill was $2.01/therm, I was 10min/30 cents change to 10min/33 cents,I know store that charge 10min/50 cents

[Anonymous]

My October gas bill was at 98 cents per therm... and I am at 7.5 minutes per quarter.

[Kitty]

Continue to vote, please. More votes, better the results..There are still many that have yet to vote...
This is a NEW poll. While you may have recently voted in another simiiar poll, those results are not accurate as the polls included information too old, to be good today. This Poll will close on 1/1/06.

Members will have a total of 45 days of voting time for this POLL and then it will close.
Kitty

[Anonymous]

Hey Kitty
Didn't see 4 mins
I give 4 mins for 25 cents on my 75#
6 mins on my 30 #
7 min on the bottom pocket on stacks

[kbc747]

I was at the Wascomat dealer yesterday picking up some parts and the I asked what he was seeing around Calgary(Alberta, Canada) for dryer times and he said about 50% are at 6 minutes about 30% are at 5 minutes and 20% are at 4 minutes(mostly ones buying new machines). He then added that he had sold new dryers to a laundromat about 150 south of Calgary in a small town of 3000 people and get this 2 minutes for a .25 and it gets better he still has 1 minute of cool down. Somehow I don't think he cares about his gas bill. Also in Canada we have a dollar coin(no dollar bill for about 10 years now) and Wascomats new dryers have a dollar drop on them. Also a new drop hit the market this summer that accepts .25, $1 and our $2. coin all in the same slot. It also uses a infrared light to detect whos coin it is and rejects all but those you wish to accept. ie we still love American coins in our machines. But I sure can see a day when we are going to run out of minutes for a quater start and a larger coin will have to be used. Then again I bet there are some folks out there that have counted a few dimes from dryers in thier day I wonder what they thought when the dime gave way to the .25 cent start.

[Glenn]

Good to see so few 10's. But those 8's should all be 6's. Now is the time. The cost of natural gas will be exploding in the media in the upcoming weeks. Local propane powered taxis in my area charge a $1.00 fuel surcharge per fare.

[quartercounter]

bumping dryer times from 7.5 to 6 tomorrow

[Kitty]

Pete this poll started 11/18 to run through 12/31, there after we will run start new polls on 1/1/05 until then please continue to vote.

[Kitty]

8-6 minutes seems to be the range. Is 8 minutes a good vend rate considering todays NG rates?

http://www.bloomberg.com/energy/

[laundryboy]

It is interesting to see the percentage of 6-7min votes are increasing

[laschmove]

What size machine are we talking about? Iam a 8/qtr on the 30# but 11/qtr on the single stacks.

[laundryboy]

What is a single stack?

[laschmove]

2 single load dryers stacked on top of each other.

[Kitty]

Your talking the old family style laundromat dry loads? Single dryer loads? Correct?

[laschmove]

Yes ala http://commercial.maytag.com/cmths/products/productFamily/productFamilyMain.jsp?cs=0&BV_UseBVCookie=Yes&category=Products&domain=STACKED&family=Coin-Operated+Laundry%2fStacked+Units/Single+Load+Stack+Dryers&familyName=Single+Load+Stack+Dryers

[Kitty]

Not many stores have those models anymore. Would your store warrant an upgrade to more up to date efficient equipment?

[DuboisLaundry]

I have 5 stacks of those, not exactly the current model shown in the link, but older ones with a rectangular door with a knob. the knob on the lower door gets broken off by laundry carts. these are all slide operated, 75cents for 30 minutes. One of them runs a few miutes and stops, so it won't dry unless you stay there and push the START button every time it pauses. Very few people use them unless all the others are full. Theres another one at the end of the row that people say doesnt get hot, but it tests OK. I think it gets starved for gas when all the other dryers are turning at the same time, so I just leave the OOO sign on it. The end of the row ( 2 single load stacks and 2 30# ) is getting cut off soon as part of a remodel, so I'm not concerned about the gas starvation issue.

[laschmove]

Not many stores have those models anymore. Would your store warrant an upgrade to more up to date efficient equipment?

We have the bigger dryers in the stores but the majority are single load stacks for many reasons:

1) Our original business plan was a pick-up and delivery w/d/f service for the college students in our town.

2) We purchased the mats soley to support the college laundry service after it grew too large. As long as our coin customers pay rent and bills, we get a free roll on the laundry service. So far, they've paid rent and bills + 3000 a month. We're not huge on a coin-op basis, but we don't have to be.

3) We prefer the small dryers for wash/dry/fold for a few reasons:
a. Each small dryer burns about 25k btu/hr
b. The big ones burn about 90k btu/hr
c. To dry 20 lbs clothes (an avg college kid's weekly amount) we can burn 50k/hr in two small dryers or 90k in a big one.)
d. Plain and simple the clothes come out softer, less wrinkled, and more scented out of single load dryers, which is good because I HATE hanging, steaming, un-hanging, and folding a wrinkled load. And I or an employee WILL do it if it is even remotely wrinkled.

4) There are 48,000 college students in our town. It is a public university. Add on young professionals, etc.; these people aren't doing 75-80 lbs at a time. Most of them probably don't even own 50 lbs of clothes total. They prefer the single load equipment.

4) These are 1400 sq ft stores w/ approx. 20 tops, 5 35# fronts, and a ton of folding space. To starting subbing in big dryers would be extremely capital intensive.

5) Closest competitor to either store is almost 7 miles away. If customers hate our mix that much, I hope the door doesn't hit 'em where the Lord split 'em. That being said, one mat has been open since '94, the other since '01. The previous owner simply wanted more time to devote to his other business in town. I think this particuliar model is working well.

Love,
Chris

[Sunflower]

I ran what I consider to be a small cotton load in our 30# dryer the other day and it took 28 minutes on medium heat (160) with a 1 minute cool down. Does this seem normal?

Fluffed, the load would have fit in a 16 x 16 x 16 box.

[goingtoarizona]

An adverage size load of cottons, spun out at 80-100G in our frontloaders usually takes 28 min (3 X .25 X 7 minutes) Some heavier loads take an extra 7 minutes.I had one complaint from an unimformed teenager, who thought that a LOAD of wet jeans from his home washer would dry in 14 minutes.His parents only gave him 4 quarters to dry two big loads...

[goingtoarizona]

An adverage size load of cottons, spun out at 80-100G in our frontloaders usually takes 28 min (3 X .25 X 7 minutes) Some heavier loads take an extra 7 minutes.I had one complaint from an unimformed teenager, who thought that a LOAD of wet jeans from his home washer would dry in 14 minutes.His parents only gave him 4 quarters to dry two big loads...

[anonymous]

Test it on high heat. I've never seen anyone use anything other than high.

[Cranky Bait]

How many people program cool down time as part of the cycle for their dryers. I am wondering if I give people 8 of time on my dryer and program 2 minutes for cool down is this a good idea or just a ridiculous idea.

[pete f]

How many people program cool down time as part of the cycle for their dryers. I am wondering if I give people 8 of time on my dryer and program 2 minutes for cool down is this a good idea or just a ridiculous idea.

Most my dryers set fior 1 min cool down, cust feels hot, but not dry they complain less. most could care less about wrinkles, and thier fabrics. keep the fire ins current.