Pros and Cons of Doing Your Own Commercial Laundry

Posted on February 12, 2016 by jenmertz

In today’s heavily outsourced business services industries, it is not uncommon for businesses to outsource as many tasks and services as possible. However, outsourcing is not always the best or most cost-effective option for your business, so you need to weigh the pros and cons when making a decision. For some businesses, it can make more sense to purchase their own washer and dryer sets and do their own commercial laundry in-house, rather than using a commercial laundry service.

Pros

Convenience – You do not have to wait for clean laundry to be dropped off and dirty laundry to be picked up. You can start loads whenever you want and always have clean uniforms, towels, and other items on hand. Plus, you are able to ensure your specific laundry needs are met, which can be a problem with commercial laundry services.
Speed – Commercial laundry services have turnaround times ranging from 24 to 48 hours or longer. By doing your own commercial laundry, you can have clean apparel in about 2 to 3 hours, depending on the cycle settings and soil levels.
Time – It is easy to fit in loads of laundry in between clients and customers. It only takes a few minutes to start a load and transfer loads, if needed, to the dryer. If you have multiple employees, folding loads also takes a few minutes if everyone pitches in and helps.
Affordability – You have complete control over your laundry costs. With a commercial laundry service, they may pick up and drop off daily, and bill you each time they do so, even if you only have a small amount of dirty laundry. With in-house laundry, you have the flexibility to do loads only when it is necessary.
Avoid Errors – Commercial laundry services are run by humans, and they do make mistakes from time to time, leading to you ending up with another business’s laundry, or your dirty laundry getting lost or misplaced. These issues are easy to avoid by washing your own commercial laundry at your business in your own machines.

Cons

There could be a few drawbacks to doing your own laundry over using a commercial laundry service. For instance, if you have large volumes of dirty laundry to do each day, and it would require a large number of washers and dryers, it might not be practical for you. Another potential con is if you lack the sufficient staff to help ensure laundry is being completed and kept up on.

In the end, you are the one who has to determine whether doing your own commercial laundry in-house or outsourcing it is best for your business. In cases where you only have a few loads to do each day, in the long run it can be worth the investment in modern, energy-efficient LG washer dryer combos, with ventless drying. To learn more about LG Washer Dryer sets or assistance in selecting the right sets for your business, contact FJS Distributors, Inc. now at 1-800-875-1533.

What Is the Difference between a Heat Pump Dryer and a Condensing Dryer?

Posted on January 5, 2016 by jenmertz

Before discussing the differences between a heat pump dryer and a condensing dryer, you need to know these terms are fairly new. Manufacturers are starting to use them to describe the differences between ventless drying technologies to help consumers be able to distinguish between the two current technologies used in these types of dryers. Whether you are looking at a new stackable washer and dryer, combination washer and dryer, or side-by-side models, understanding the differences will help you select the model that works best for your home.

A heat pump dryer is one of the new terms being used to describe ventless dryers. Heat pump dryers tend to use what is known as air-to-air condensation drying technologies. The heat pump is designed to recycle and reheat the air within the dryer rather than blowing the heated air outside. By recycling the heated air within the dryer itself, it cuts down on energy usage and is more energy-efficient.

Another term being used to describe ventless dryers is condensing dryer. This term is rather popular in the United Kingdom and other places in Europe, where ventless technologies have been around longer than they have been in the United States. A condensing dryer uses water condensation drying technologies to dry clothes.

Water condensation drying also uses heated air, but, rather than using cool air to remove the moisture from the warm air, it uses cool water. The colder water cools the heated air and causes the moisture within the air to turn into water. The water is then pumped out of the dryer, down the same discharge drain used for the washer.

It is worth mentioning that a heat pump dryer also extracts moisture and converts it into water, which is pumped out the dryer and down the discharge drain. The only differences between the two technologies is how they dry the clothes by either using air-to-air condensation or cool water condensation. Both types of dryers are much more energy efficient than conventional vented dryers, and they do help reduce energy bills.

Why Is Ventless Drying Technologies Better than Vented Drying?

Vented drying is inefficient because those types of dryers require drawing air in from the room, which your furnace or air conditioner has to replace, heating it and blowing it outdoors. Rather than extracting the moisture by converting it into water, a vented dryer has to heat air to higher temperatures to remove the moisture from the clothes. Since it is discarding all of this heated air right out the dryer vent, it has to reheat room-temperature air throughout the drying cycle. As such, it results in consuming more electricity to fully dry the clothes.

One thing to keep in mind when shopping for a new ventless dryer is that some resellers do interchange the terms heat pump drying and water condensation drying to describe dryer models. The best thing to do is to ask questions about how the dryer actually dries the clothes. To learn more about heat pump and condensation dryer models, or for further questions about how these technologies work, please feel free to contact FJS Distributors at 800-875-1533 to speak to a representative today about LG Washer Dryers and other brands.

Tips for Doing Laundry at College

Posted on October 13, 2015 by jenmertz

Exerting you independence is something young adults get to experience firsthand when they leave home to attend college. If you are like most students, you cannot let stacks of dirty clothes pile up and haul them all home for your parents to wash in their LG washer and dryer. At some point, you are going to have to wash your own clothes and figure out how to do laundry. With these easy tips, you are sure to avoid explaining how you turned all your socks and underwear pink.

Buy laundry supplies. Pick up a laundry bag or basket, detergent, color safe bleach, and fabric softener. Keep in mind, chlorine bleach is for solid whites only, and color safe bleach can be used with all your dirty laundry. You are free to choose from liquid and powder detergents—though liquids work better in cold water—as well as liquid or dryer sheets for your fabric softener. Tip: Purchase the same products your parents have at home, because you know you are not allergic to these products.
Get plenty of quarters. You cannot rely upon change machines or other people to supply you quarters all of the time. Some colleges allow students to use their student IDs in college laundry rooms in place of quarters, as long as they have cash in their student account.
Sort your clothes. Sort whites, lights, and darks, and jeans into separate loads. Whites are best washed in hot water, lights in warm water, and darks and jeans in cold water. Refer to the use and care tags in your clothing to see what the manufacturer recommends, too, if you are in doubt.
Select the correct washer and dryer settings. Stuffing a washer full will not get your clothes clean. Ideally, only fill the washer about two-thirds full. Select the right water temperature and size of the load. Add detergent, bleach, and fabric softener, and start the machine. With dryer cycles, never use high heat, as it could shrink your clothes. Remember to check the link screen and clean it before and after the dryer cycle.
Fold clothing as soon as it comes out of the dryer. Taking the time to fold your clothes prevents wrinkles. It is also easier to smooth out any wrinkles in the clothing while it is still warm, which eliminates having to iron your clothes.
Be mindful of others. Whether you are doing laundry in your dorm room or at a local laundromat, everyone has to share the machines and help keep the laundry area clean. In addition, never leave clothes sitting unattended in washers or dryers.
Select the best time to do laundry. If it is busy, you may be stuck with only one washer and dryer or waiting for a machine to become free. Learn when the laundry room or laundromat is the least busy to be able to have access to multiple machines.

Doing your own laundry is not difficult, even if you have never done a load of laundry before arriving at college. For other laundry tips and suggestions, feel free to give LG Washer Dryer FJS Distributors, Inc. a call at 800-875-1533 today.

Different DIY Ways to Organize Your Laundry Room

Posted on September 12, 2015 by jenmertz

The laundry room, in most homes, is typically one of the least organized rooms. You might have piles of dirty clothes on the floor, laundry detergents, and supplies sitting on top of the washer, and an iron board standing in a corner. With a little bit of planning and DIY work, you can turn your laundry room into one of the most organized rooms in your home with any of the following ideas:

Build Laundry Pedestals: Most people have front loading washer and dryer sets. Elevating them on pedestals allows you to utilize the space under the washer and dryer. You can build your own using high quality wood and at least two supports. This leaves three open areas where you can either install pull out drawers or use plastic totes that easily slide in and out.
Stack the Washer and Dryer: If space is tight in the laundry room, you can stack front loading appliances with a stacking kit and place the dryer on top of the washer.
Use a Wooden Ladder to Make a Clothes Hanger: Take a short three or four foot wooden ladder and suspend it from the ceiling with supports on both sides at both ends. You can connect the supports together on the left and right sides of the ladder, with a single support secured into a beam in the ceiling. Now, use the rungs of the ladder to hang up your clean clothes.
Use a Door Rack for Laundry Supplies: For small laundry rooms with a door, pick up a wire door rack and hang it on the back of the door. Door racks have several shelves that are perfect for detergents, fabric softeners, and more.
Build Shelves above the Washer and Dryer: Create storage above your appliances by building shelves. Just remember to use extra supports if you intend to use them to store laundry supplies, to prevent the shelves from sagging.
Build a Fold-Down Drying Rack: Build a rectangular wooden frame with about four cross sections, which looks similar to a very short and small ladder. Secure this to a solid piece of wood using hinges with an attached support arm and mount to the wall.
Build a Portable Laundry Basket Sorter: You are free to build the sorter as big as you want, to hold from two to four laundry baskets. Using plywood, cut three sections for the height and two sections for the depth to build a cabinet. At each level, use one-by-twos to create shelf supports so the baskets can be pulled out for sorting. Lastly, install wheels onto the bottom to roll it throughout the home and presort laundry as you pick up dirty clothes from each room.

By taking the time to organize your laundry room, doing laundry becomes easier and more efficient. For more laundry room tips and suggestions, or for assistance in selecting a new washer and dryer, call LG Washer Dryer FJS Distributers, Inc. at 800-875-1533.

DIY Homemade Stain Removers

Posted on April 20, 2015 by jenmertz

Getting stains out of clothing can seem like a headache, especially if you accidently washed the article of clothing in the wrong temperature water, or worse, set the stain by drying the clothing in a dryer. Fortunately, there are several inexpensive remedies you can try to help get rid of the unwanted stain and save your clothing, whether you notice it before or after running a load of laundry in your LG washer dryer combo.

Direct Sunlight: The UV rays of the sun act as a natural bleaching agent. If the stain is on white or lightly colored clothing, place the clothing in a location where it gets direct sunlight. The process may take a couple of days, but eventually the sun will bleach the stain out.
Hydrogen Peroxide and Dawn Dish Soap: Mix 1 cup hydrogen peroxide with ½ cup Dawn dish soap in a spray bottle. Use this mixture as a stain pre-treatment before laundering clothes. It can help remove food stains, grease, chocolate, blood, wine, and a host of other stains.
White Vinegar and Baking Soda: For tough stains, apply white vinegar to the area to wet it, and then sprinkle baking soda over the stain. You can make a paste and use a toothbrush to gently brush the stain.

With all stain removers, even homemade ones, remember to test a small inconspicuous section of the clothing first. For more laundry ideas, or to learn more about combination washers and dryers, contact LG Washer Dryer now, at 800-875-1533.

Some Laundromats Feature More than Washer and Dryer Sets

Posted on January 26, 2015 by jenmertz

In order to drive customer traffic to your laundromat, you need to come up with creative ideas and offer more than just access to washer and dryer sets. There are several unique laundromats that have taken this approach to keep people coming in and spending their time and money doing laundry at their location. With so many different portable and compact all-in-one laundry options on the market today, laundromat owners need to take their businesses to the next level to keep people entertained as they are doing laundry, just like they would be at home.

Already popular in many European cities, modern laundromats and launderettes (laundromats and bars/bistro pubs in one) can be found all over the place. Here in the United States, this idea is slowly catching on with new and existing laundromat owners. For instance, the LG Laundry Lounge in Harlem, NY, offers the benefit of a home/business office while you do laundry with WiFi access and countertop workstations. As you wait on wash and dry cycles, you are able to take care of your online tasks.

If you are in New Orleans, Igor’s Lounge and Game Room is a favorite among the locals and tourists alike. It is a restaurant, bar, game room, and laundromat in one, which operates 24 hours a day. You can come in and get something to eat, sip on your favorite beverage, sing karaoke, or play a game of pool as you are washing and drying your clothes in their washer and dryer sets.

For more information about LG Washer and Dryer sets for your laundromat, home, or business, contact us today at 800-875-1533.

Choosing the Correct Water Setting on an LG Washer

Posted on January 8, 2015 by jenmertz

Selecting the right water temperature setting on your LG washer is important to ensure your clothes come out clean and stains are removed. You need to use the right temperature setting to remove some types of stains. Otherwise, the stains do not come out, and as the clothes dry, the heat sets the stain and makes it even more difficult, if not impossible to remove later.

Before loading your LG washer, take the time to sort your clothes into whites, lights, and darks. Heavier items, like jeans, hoodies, towels, and sweaters should be sorted into their own loads. In addition, sort dirtier clothing, like those with grease, dirt, and stains from less soiled clothing.

Hot Water Setting: Use hot water to wash white clothes to keep them bright, as well as heavily soiled, greasy, or oily clothing. Hot water is also recommended for killing germs, like washing bedding whenever someone is sick with a cold or the flu.
Warm Water Setting: Warm water is perfect for most loads of laundry and helps reduce wrinkling. Use this setting for non-delicates and light colored clothing that does not bleed.
Cold Water Setting: Cold water should be used on delicates, wool, dark colors, and clothing that shrinks easily. Lightly soiled loads may also be washed in cold water. Use cold water to remove coffee, tea, blood, and red wine stains.

No matter which water setting you select, use cold water rinsing since it helps save on your energy bill. For more information about LG washer settings, or assistance in selecting a new LG washer and dryer for your home, call us at 800-875-1533 now.