Laundromat in Holland

[toggleswitch]

Hi louis!
(Again a novel, damn it!)

While visiting Amsterdam I needed to do laundry. So off I went to find a laundromat.

Mind you, I went from London to Paris to Amsterdam, and the further I got from home, the more things changed (compared to what I was familiar with) as far as washers and dryers go. In England there were some T/L water hogs in the laundromat.

But in Amsterdam...there were no coin slots. The attendant asks how many loads you are going to do and you pay up front. (S)he then starts the machines for you.

Now this goes back to 1985 so the look and brand of the machines is fuzzy. But they were beautiful all-stainless steel front-loaders. I got the first three machines in the place near the shop's window. (The first few machines were in English [instructions and timer dial]; the balance in Dutch)

Anyway I happened to go outside for a spell, and saw the rear of the machines through the window with FIVE connections to pipes plus electricity. After the mantra of "Hot, cold, drain,..... hot, cold, drain" I was stumped.
Then it hit me. The washers were getting live steam and a "return" to create either their own hot water or to heat the water further. EUREKA!!! I WAS SHOCKED.

Then came the time to dry. Again the sounds of a gas burner igniting were not there! But I did hear clicks and pops of a solenoid valve SON OF A GUN.. the dryers used steam as well as a heat source.

It made perfect sense. What do you do if you are in an urban setting and dont' have natural gas, and storing propane is either dangerous or expensive or both. Use an oil-burner to heat the washers and the dryers!!!

It was quite interesting mechanically.

But nothing beats the young people in Paris from an American suburb who had never seen a laundromat. They had to ask which machines were the washers. (Front-load what's a front-load?) Needless to say there were suds all over the place. The detergent dispensing machine freaked tehm out. It spilled soap into a tin cup, which was then replaced after filling the machine with vended product. Watching them see something that was not triple-wrapped and pretty-packaged and was actually conserving of resources was amazing. I was SO GOOD though.. I did not laugh when I overheard them discuss plugging their (120v) hairdryers in with a plug/pin/prong adapter, but not a voltage converter. Well it was the 4th of july for them in June. LOL MEMORIES!

 

[petek]

Toggle

You say you went out for a spell? Do you get them often, is it accompanied by dizziness? Was it the sight of all those foreign machines? People want to know.

 

[appnut]

Steve, don't apologize for your novels. It gives us a little bit of a view of yourslf Us old timers did it too in the early days. We were so glad to finally have an appreciative audience for our appliance stories.

 

[toggleswitch]

Enquiring minds want to know.

LOL I can only take the light-hearted teasing/mocking as a sign of affection/friendship... LOL ROFL..

Dizzy spells:

Hmmm. Of all the things I miss in life I think I miss my mind the most. Hitting 40 can only be appreciated by experiencing it. SIGH... I can deal with the grey above the neck but below; NO NO NO NO. LOL It was not the foreign MACHINES, by the way, that was dazzling me. The sights, and smells and tastes across the pond are QUITE different.

Peek-a-boo

Yes, I was told I have become a bit exhibtionistic these days. Ah so these are my "early-days." Nice to hear I am finaly acting as expected. Yes this is all very cathartic.

But seriously though I enjoy my new club friends with whom I correspond "off-line" I do look forward to their insights in my male-box. Oh, wait <blush> I meant mail-box.

I intend to get to the '05 convention, in that associating a face with a name will help me keep everyone "straight" (EYES ROLL) Pardon the expression. LOL

I tell ya this beats an AOL-chat room!

And now to end humorously. I saw in a thread that one club-member believe T/L-ers are male, and F/L-ers are female. Well I am wondering if they are like people... Put any two in a room long enough and they will do the horizontal tango.
What would a T/L and a F/L reproduce to create? a Herm-aphroditic Hoover (twin tub?) Or better yet that Speed Queen twin tub (like the pic that was posted ont he site) that has an agitator in one tub and has a spin tub over a few inces? LOL ROLF

You guys crack me up!!!
Thanks for the laughs.

 

[frigilux]

toggleswitch-- You mentioned the American kids in Paris who had to be told which machines in the laundromat were washers and which were dryers; that reminded me of something I once witnessed.

Every three years, I spend a week at Disney World in Orlando, FL (work-related). Some kids came in to the laundry room with beach towels, swimwear and a couple of pairs of sneakers. I watched them load up a FL washer and start it up. I noticed they didn't add detergent. Boy, were they shocked when they saw water entering the machine! They thought they'd put their clothes in a dryer----they had no idea FL washers existed!

 

[foraloysius]

Hey Steve,

Great story. I bet that laundromat has changed after twenty years!! Steam laundries were quite common in earlier years, but I think most of them had disappeared by then. In the seventies the father of one of my schoolfriends had a Miele laundromat, most appliances were gas I think.

I agree, the sights, smells and tastes are really different. I had the impression even the dust looked different!

Keep on writing!

Louis

 

[petek]

Turning 40

Nothing wrong with 40 I've done it a few times. Honestly, I think my late 30's and 40's were the best, I wonder what the 50's will bring, won't be long now. Got my teeth, got most of my hair and a box of Just for Men..lol

 

[MrX]

Laundromats

I've used a couple of laundromats in Ireland and they've all been totally different.
The term "laundromat" generally isn't used. "Self-service laundry" or even "washateria" is used.
Unfortunately, genuinely commercial laundromats are rapidly disappearing here. I guess there's no demand other than by backpackers

One had Electrolux front loaders, all stainless steel and seemed to complete the wash really fast with deep fills of water (half way up the glass or more!)
The dryers were also electrolux.

One had all miele commercial machines, quite large ones.

One had SpeedQueen toploaders and dryers

All of the above used a central "computer terminal" that collected the payment (cash or credit card)... you just keyed in the machine's number and inserted the correct amount of cash / a credit card. The system then started the machine.

The weirdest laundromat I used was part of the Shannon-Erin canal system (an inland waterway used by pleasure boats). You purchased a pre-paid smart card, similar to a phonecards used in europe, this operated the locks on the waterway, pumpouts (for boats), fuel pumps and the washer and dryers located at each "stop" along the canal.

These were Asko units, about the same size as a normal european residential machine.

You just put your card in, selected WASH or DRY and the card had 1 unit debited for the dryer/washer as appropriate. Then you just set the programme on the washer / dryer. There was a note up warning that you should clean the dryer's filter before you started it along with instructions for clearing it out in multiple languages.

 

[toggleswitch]

LAVANDERIA

Self-service laundries are still are a necessity here (in/around my city) in that rental apartments do not usually have provisions for home machines.

The landlord pays for water and hot water, so they don't like letting tenants have washers and dryers. Sometimes for an addtional monthly charge/rent of $20 they will allow them in larger buildlngs. This is especially true in high-crime areas where a lanlord supplied laundry room in the basement is a liability/risk.

Normally in laundry rooms in larger buidlngs, the third-party vendor collects the money from the machines and maintains them. Frequently the rent to the vendor is a symbolic $50 per month for using the space and utilites. Once in a while the laundry room has separate electric and water meters and generate their own hot-water. (relatively rare)I have also seen rent @ $1 per month in exchange for lower prices on the machines.

The landlord's motivation is to keep washers out of the apartments to avoid floods and damage from the humidity generated by drying laundry indoors.

[This is known from my job as a commercial real-estate appraiser.]

Also, in many two-family homes (lanlord in main apt and basement..rent producing rental apartment above) the construction is of wood and the vibration of the machine is pronounced.

One CSC – CSC ServiceWorks

Welcome to CSC ServiceWorks. To simplify how you do business with us, we have combined into one unified brand and website.

www.coinmach.com

 

[toggleswitch]

WASCOMAT

Commerical washers and dryers.

WASCOMAT.. an industry standard.

http://www.wascomat.net/docs/sect02/coin_clndries.jsp

 

[toggleswitch]

Frid-GE-more

Recognize these?

Frid-GE-mores with a Wascomat badge. If wascomat is willing to put their name on them they HAVE to be decent.

Meant to replace T/L in laundromats in that they have a drain pump, and are approx. the same size and "soft-mount" (no need to bolt down)

Wascomats do not have a drain pump.... they drain by gravity.... I believe they drain automatically in a power failure, and the door unlocks as well.

Commercial style dryers here take 1/2 an hour (and fade your darks to H@##.) Resdiential-style commerical dryers [controls in the back..] still take one hour just like a residential use machines.

This particular dryer is the one-hour variety based on watts and BTUs (gas input) stated.

http://www.wascomat.net/docs/sect02/coin_cwetd16.jsp

 

[lavamat_jon]

Hey guys,

Here in the UK our launderettes tend to have the same kind of machines as American laundromats, but are much smaller - they tend to be a small shop, with washers down one wall and dryers on the opposite wall. Here's what launderettes in my town have in terms of equipment:

My local launderette:
2 x 1980s baby blue Primus 7kg/16lb washer extractors
4 x 2004 Ipso WE131 13kg/30lb washer extractors (replaced 4 avocado green Duplex 10kg washer extractors)
4 x 1970s avocado green Schulthess 6kg/13lb washer extractors (these are so cool - they start spinning with the tub 3/4 full of water!!)
6 x "laundromat yellow" Speed Queen 30lb tumblers from the 70s

Washers along left wall, dryers along right wall.

Launderette a mile down the road from me:

4 x Ipso WE73 stainless steel 7kg/16lb washer extractors
2 x Ipso WE131 stainless steel 13kg/30lb washer extractors
1 x Ipso WE181 stainless steel 18kg/40lb washer extractor
6 x ADC 30lb tumblers

Same layout, washers on left wall, dryers on right wall. Equipment is about 5 years old.

A launderette in town (my favourite in particular)

4 x Ipso WE73 7kg/16lb washer extractors
3 x Ipso WE95 9.5kg/20lb washer extractors
2 x Ipso WE131 13kg/35lb washer extractors
2 x Ipso WE181 18kg/40lb washer extractors - these ones are haeted aswell so instead of 30 min cycles like the other washers, spend an hour doing a cycle with wash temperatures of 60 or 95*C (user selectable) specifically for duvets. How cool is that??
1 x Ipso WE234 23kg/50lb washer extractor

6 or 7 ADC stack dryer units, and 2 50lb ADC dryers. All washer and dryers in stainless steel. Has an L shape format rather than machines on opposite walls. The Irish attendant there is the friendliest of people, always gives you a cup of tea and a biscuit!!!

This launderette was remodeled only about 2 years ago; before that it had a combination of 1970s Ipsos, Speed Queen toploaders and Speed Queen computer control dryers. All in laundromat yellow

The other launderette at the opposite side of town to me has 5 Maytag toploaders; 2 Maytag Neptunes, and an Ipso WE131 13kg washer extractor; with 6 Warwick Dryers drying tumblers. Again washers and dryers are on opposite walls.

Wascomat is actually the name Electrolux puts on their commercial washers in America - therefore they don't "rebadge" another brand, Electrolux just take their 18lb home washer from the US and stick a coin slide on it; much like what Speed Queen and Maytag do . I've given a link to the Electrolux Professional website.

Take care all

Jon

http://www.electrolux-wascator.co.uk

 

[toggleswitch]

DUH! same company

WASCOMAT IS ELECTROLUX!

KEWL. YOU GO SWEDEN!!!!

 

[kenmore1978]

laundry sizes

Sounds like the luandries you have are about the size of the laundries in older large crowded cities like San Francisco or New York, where they tend to be in little converted "storefronts". Laundries in Los Angeles are often in "strip malls" in spaces originally designed to be laundries, with at least 50 TL machines, and several small and large FL machines in rows in the center of the space, with dryers on opposite walls.

 

[spiralactivator]

The coolest laundromat I ever used was a little storefront place with avocado and gold Maytags. The place I use regularly has '80s Maytags and a few big Speed Queen dryers. The place I can't afford to use has a veritable timeline of SQ washers (no solid tubs, though), Wascomat FLs, and Norge dryers. Another local 'mat had Blackstone dryers and "EconoDryers" in coppertone, but replaced them for no good reason.

 

[westytoploader]

There's a neat "Washateria" here with a few old Helical Drive Maytags (probably had all Maytag to begin with, but most have been replaced with DD Whirlpools). Very fun, open 24 hrs, and when I'm the only person there I bring my yardstick and throw in a load!

 

[toggleswitch]

Cool 'tags!!

Nice machines!

The one-minute-long deep-rinse I could do without!

 

[toggleswitch]

DD whirlpools

Speaking of Direct-drive Whirlpools, how do they transition form neutral drains to spin?

What does that momentary pause do? And why, at times ,does the tub spin while draining, before it's supposed to?

I sincerely doubt that there is a tub-brake solenoid like on the old Norges..

Tks.

 

[DADoES]

A somewhat simplified explanation . . There are cams and springs and other such mechanisms in the transmission that presets it during agitation so that the next time it starts in reverse, there is neutral drain. Then when it pauses and restarts again in reverse, neutral drain disengages and there is spin. When the parts wear, the presetting process fails and spin is immediate during the first restart in reverse.