Well, it’s been a dream of mine for 30 years and I finally did it! I have acquired an industrial washing machine! I have vivid memories of watching Wascomat W74s, 35/40lb Milnors, and hard mount Speed Queens at the local laundromats when I was very young. My first job was at the local YMCA washing, drying, and folding towels in a 50lb Dexter machine. Changed jobs to a fancier gym near the end of high school washing towels in bigger 80lb Unimac machines. Even helped them decide on replacement washers after the 80lb machines they had suffered bearing support cracks from chronic overloading. After I graduated college, I started my career at Whirlpool.
When I was laid off from Whirlpool, I was training for a vertical axis cycle design engineer role which gave me the ability to write my own cycles for topload washers. Aside from missing all of the great people I worked with, no longer having access to write my own custom cycles has been a large void for me recently. Getting this machine allows me to have a piece of that back.
I knew that I wanted something that was soft mounted to ease the installation, but I also wanted something that was at least 3.5 cubic feet. The allure of a touch screen was also something that was hard to say no to! Finally, I needed to be able to get the machine through my doorway (less than 29in in width or depth) and down my basement stairs (460lbs!!!). The machine that fit the bill was a Unimac UYT025. It’s 3.7 cubic feet (rated for 25lbs, drum volume of 105 liters).
I was originally told that it would take 12-16 weeks for the machine to arrive. So, I began to plan for the machine’s arrival in January/February. 10 days after the order was placed, I got a call from the shipping company asking if they could deliver my washer in the next 30-45 minutes. Turns out they had one that was built in March at Ripon, WI and I guess the order had been canceled or something, so it was sitting in storage. That caused me to have to kick everything into overdrive a bit and while I ran into many obstacles, which I will get into at some point here, ultimately, the machine is here and I’m just getting it up and running! With the help of my incredible husband and one of my closest friends Lindsey, we got it down to the basement (with a non-zero amount of damage to the doorway…) and it sat there for a week or so while I figured out mounting the riser to the floor, grouting the riser, running power, and getting the drain set up. I ended up buying an electric stair climbing dolly to take it down to the basement (could not have done it without that) and I think that will end up being a great investment for moving other machines as well.
I’ve managed to get everything to come together enough to finally power the machine on and run it empty! The level of joy I felt (despite my very very sore back) was indescribable! I still need to do a lot of finishing touches like putting away my tools (I’m notoriously unorganized and messy lol) and peel the remainder of the protective film off the cabinet. I absolutely cannot wait to get some cycles of my own loaded onto it and continue to share updates, photos, and videos with you all!
When I was laid off from Whirlpool, I was training for a vertical axis cycle design engineer role which gave me the ability to write my own cycles for topload washers. Aside from missing all of the great people I worked with, no longer having access to write my own custom cycles has been a large void for me recently. Getting this machine allows me to have a piece of that back.
I knew that I wanted something that was soft mounted to ease the installation, but I also wanted something that was at least 3.5 cubic feet. The allure of a touch screen was also something that was hard to say no to! Finally, I needed to be able to get the machine through my doorway (less than 29in in width or depth) and down my basement stairs (460lbs!!!). The machine that fit the bill was a Unimac UYT025. It’s 3.7 cubic feet (rated for 25lbs, drum volume of 105 liters).
I was originally told that it would take 12-16 weeks for the machine to arrive. So, I began to plan for the machine’s arrival in January/February. 10 days after the order was placed, I got a call from the shipping company asking if they could deliver my washer in the next 30-45 minutes. Turns out they had one that was built in March at Ripon, WI and I guess the order had been canceled or something, so it was sitting in storage. That caused me to have to kick everything into overdrive a bit and while I ran into many obstacles, which I will get into at some point here, ultimately, the machine is here and I’m just getting it up and running! With the help of my incredible husband and one of my closest friends Lindsey, we got it down to the basement (with a non-zero amount of damage to the doorway…) and it sat there for a week or so while I figured out mounting the riser to the floor, grouting the riser, running power, and getting the drain set up. I ended up buying an electric stair climbing dolly to take it down to the basement (could not have done it without that) and I think that will end up being a great investment for moving other machines as well.
I’ve managed to get everything to come together enough to finally power the machine on and run it empty! The level of joy I felt (despite my very very sore back) was indescribable! I still need to do a lot of finishing touches like putting away my tools (I’m notoriously unorganized and messy lol) and peel the remainder of the protective film off the cabinet. I absolutely cannot wait to get some cycles of my own loaded onto it and continue to share updates, photos, and videos with you all!
