Some Simple Tips For Keeping Laundry Lighting Costs Down

Perhaps the greatest variable expenses in a coin laundry are its utility costs. The more business a laundry does, the greater the bills for gas, water and electric service are likely to be. And, that can be a good thing because we want our utility costs to be high since that should mean we''re doing more business. Yet, we have to do everything possible to make utility usages as efficient as they can be so that we avoid waste. Wasting utilities only means that we are wasting money. Our own money! Being a professional operator doesn''t mean that you have to have a special degree in laundry operations. It doesn''t mean you need unique special training. It means applying brain power and using common sense solutions to solve the laundry''s problems. Common sense that will allow us to keep more of the money we make. One of the surest ways to stay profitable is to be efficient with your money, not waste it. Look at your utility expenses. It is said that about one third of electrical costs for a laundry go toward lighting the premises. The rest is used for operating equipment. There''s not many ways to save on operating your washers and dryers, but there usually are ways to reduce the costs for lighting. For an example, applying a coat of white paint might be a good money saver. Laundries which are decorated with dark paneling, sixties style wallpaper and old paint are much harder to keep bright appearing during the day. The only way that can be done is by keeping the ceiling lights on during daylight hours. Lightly colored or white painted walls will reflect more light and allow at least a portion of the ceiling lights to be turned off during daylight hours. If a laundry''s lighting is controlled with timers, and some lights are allowed to be unlit during the daylight hours, the lighting should be more efficient and economical. If your lights are not controlled with timers, where have you been for the past forty years? For example, during daylight hours, having a bright white back wall allows the rear interior lights to keep the back bright and cheerful while only natures ambient light is being used to illuminate the front. The more natural light a laundry can take advantage of, the lower the lighting bill. In the example, a coat of new paint coupled with dividing the ceiling lights into sections, controlled by timers, allows less than half the fluorescent tubes to burn during daylight business hours. That could reduce the electric bill for the laundry by one sixth, or more. How much will that cut your utility bills? If a laundry''s lighting system has been in place for a number of years, chances are that it will not be nearly as efficient as those being installed today. Even the fluorescent tubes, if they are a few years old, are highly inefficient compared with the energy saving tubes on the market today. In order to lower lighting costs, it might be a good idea to check out your fixtures and the fluorescent tubes. While you''re up on the ladder, take some rags and spray to clean the fixtures so they will reflect all of the lighting you are actually paying for. When you need to replace fluorescent tubes, don''t just buy the cheap ones. They''ll cost more in the long run. Buy the most efficient ones available and save money. If your light fixtures are quite old, you may have to replace the ballasts, because if they start to go, you''ll have less illumination from your fixtures even though you burn the same amount of electricity. Paying attention to little things like lights can help bring you business success.