Using Mental Energy to Cut Energy Bills

Among variable costs in a coin laundry are water, gas and electric, known as utilities. The combined utility costs are one of the highest expenses a coin laundry faces. Depending on what financing arrangements a laundry has, utilities rank second among the total payouts an owner needs to make each month. Successful laundry operators strive to achieve the lowest reasonable gas, electric, water and sewer charges possible. Reasonable means high enough to do the laundering job right, but not so much as to create waste. Following are some suggestions that some successful operators use to keep their fingers on the pulse of utility expense. PLEASE, NOT TOO HOT! Depending on the style of water heating system, ambient temperature of the water from the pipes, and the overall volume, a laundry''s cost for heating water is around fifty percent of the gas bill. The first thing to recognize is that the water temperature needs to be warm enough to satisfy customers, but low enough not to be wasteful. Find a thermometer, fill up a washer furthest from the heaters, set it at the hottest setting then check to see what the temperature of the water in the wash basket is during that part of the cycle where the hottest water is used. If the water temperature is hot enough to do the job, fine. If it''s really hot, go back to the heater and adjust the heat setting just a bit lower. A few days later, check temperature again using the same washer with the same setting. You need to determine if it still feels OK to you for people to wash in. Repeat this process, dropping the water temperature slightly until such time as both you and your customers feel that the water is too low. At that point, tick up the water temperature setting a little and leave it there. You should recheck the temperature of the water periodically to make sure that it remains at a level satisfactory for customers, but not wasteful. Lowering the water temperature on a gradual basis permits regular users to get used to it. They mostly will not notice the change. Toward the end of the process, you may get a complaint or two. That''s really when you quit and tick the temperature setting up. Some operators have been able to drop gas bills ten percent and still have happy, satisfied customers. That ten percent means you''ve reduced the cost for heating water twenty percent. How will that affect your gas bills? If your heaters are not set on timers and run all day long, you are wasting a lot of gas. Put in timers. If you already are on timers, check to see what time of the day they actually turn heaters on and off. Timers should be set to turn on the heaters a few minutes before your laundry opens for daily business. The water in the heater is kept warm by the pilot, so the first customer may get a warm, rather that a hot wash. Timers should shut the heater down about a half hour prior to closing. That way you will be using the last of the hot water that would just otherwise go to waste cooling down overnight. Don''t forget to readjust the timers when it''s spring forward and fall back time. Also, don''t assume that your heaters are turned on at a certain time, check to be sure. Could there have been a power outage that retuned the timers? Also, every hot water line in the coin laundry should be as well insulated as the storage tank. A two inch copper hot water line that runs for twenty feet will be the equivalent of removing about four square feet of insulation from your hot water storage tank. BLOWING TOO MUCH HOT AIR. Another thing that''s counterproductive to the bottom line is having the dryers work too hard to dry the clientele''s clothes. When there is insufficient make up air, or when the vent lines are clogged, dryers have to work harder. Sure, the longer it takes to dry, the more quarters customers have to put in, and at first glance that''s good for you. The problem with that is if you are wasting gas, you''re really not making more money, and putting in more coin is something customers notice and tend to complain about. How does one know if the dryers are short of make up air? One of the oldest and surest methods of determining that is to open up the fireboxes to view, with the dryers going. Open and close the laundry doors. If you open the front door and see the flames get stronger, you have a make up air problem. Recognizing that weak flames burn even more gas than strong ones, you''ve got to get sufficient make up air to save money. It may require cutting bigger openings or bringing in make up air vents from the roof to a foot or so above the floor behind the dryers. Then there''s the matter of keeping the dryer exhaust air ducts clean. A dryer is really an air pump. It draws in air, heats it crossing the flames, goes through and around the clothes, then up the stack. It''s really air flow that dries the clothes. The flame is only to heat the air so it will draw out more moisture more quickly. Anything that causes the air to slow down costs the laundry owner money. Lint on the dryer screens and lint built up in the exhaust vents will slow down the air flow. So cleaning the lint should be a high priority for every laundry operator. Over time it saves money and keeps customers satisfied. Remember, air is basically free. So, use the free stuff and not the gas you actually have to pay for. THINKING ABOUT THE FUTURE Cutting your natural gas bills is important now, but will prove even more important in future years as those costs rise. Saving 10% of a $500 gas bill today could mean saving 10% of a much higher gas bill in years ahead. Gas costs won''t fall and prices won''t go down. In fact, it is estimated that natural gas bill will more than double in the foreseeable future. Costs for tank and hot water line insulation, as well as the investment in timers will pay for themselves over and over. Be smart, pay attention to utility costs, especially gas. It can do great things for you and your coin laundry''s bottom line. Good business people plan for the future and will protect their profits by using as little energy as possible while still growing their laundry operations.