New Part To My Job......Working In The Laundry!

[markt5004]

Hi guys

I work in a care home for the elderly and had some great news a couple of weeks ago. My boss asked me if I wanted extra work alongside my current job and asked if I fancied working in the laundry as one of the girls was leaving at the end of the month. I didn't need to think about the answer and she guessed I would say yes as she knows somewhat of my laundry fascination and laundry machines.

I did a 3 day induction last week and so now can officially work in the laundry...yey! It will end up being 8 days per month plus cover for any holiday the lady has who works there full time.

I am already doing some bits in there as I tend to put the residents bibs onto wash after supper and also the tea towels and cloths from the kitchen at the end of my shift.

I should start the beginning of June and have just chosen a new uniform for when I do the laundry.I will be working by myself which is great as like to work by myself but will still be interacting with staff and residents. Its all very exciting and im over the moon and thought I would share.

Mark

 

[tomturbomatic]

Congratulations Mark

I'm very happy for you, but bits must mean something different over there than here.

Can you tell us a little about the equipment?

 

[ozzie908]

Nice one

Well done to you its great to have a job you are really going to enjoy. years ago when I worked in a Nursing home I did the same as you and covered holidays in the laundry it gave me my first taste of static electricity in the nylon nightgowns lol.

Austin

 

[cleanteamofny]

This is great!

When you do the thing that you love, it's always performed at your best!
Congrats!!!

Larry

 

[electradeluxe]

i used to love doing the laundry shifts at work in my last job!

 

[paulc]

Mark,

As i said to you the other day, you have a dream job for many of us!!!! I used to love helping out in that laundry of various nursing homes I have worked in over the years although the 1st nursing home I worked in the laundry lady did a pretty shoddy job. We had Miele commercial machines from the 80's and she used to was EVERYTHING on number 4 ( synthetics 50 deg ) and ruined quite a lot of personal clothing! She even washed towels and so called "bum cloths" on this setting until I pointed out to the manager this was HUGELY unsanitary and ran an enormous risk of cross infection. As a result she had to wash all towels, face cloths and the offending bum cloths at 95 deg. Now, of course, such cloths do not exist as disposable wipes are used. I used to love being on night shift and spending time in the laundry at quiet times. After my nocturnal laundry shifts the staff used to remark how much cleaner and fresher the laundry was!

Anyway, congratulations again Mark. Look forward to hearing about the equipment you will be using. Am so pleased that life is good for you but on a selfish note I do miss our mini wash-in's and your 1509!!! xxx

 

[whirlcool]

I filled in for staff sometimes a few years ago in the laundry room of the Animal Shelter I used to work at. It was a lot of fun too. But the "regulars" in the laundry really had no idea how to use the equipment. These were usually teen age girls that worked in there.

They'd overstuff the machines (I think it was a BigMac or something like that) and then they'd literally throw the powdered detergent in the dispenser. When I mean throw I meant throw, the tops of the machines were covered with powdered detergent.
And they would never clean the lint filter in the dryers. I tried to show them how to do it properly and all they would say was "That's not the way we were shown how to do it and were are not changing the way it's done.".
But like the poster above said, the kennel staff used to comment about how clean and fluffy the kennel beds and blankets were after I worked a shift or two.

 

[miele4life]

Hi, there, I've been working in a laundry 4 over 2 years now and it's absolutely fantastic, it's part of a housing scheme 4 old people and I regularly get incotinence laundry on the 3 days I work here but I don't mind it 1 bit lol, the machines are from JLA, there's 1 Schulthess made machine and 2 Ipso machines with the OTEX system, as well as 2 Maytag gas stack dryers which all work great most of the time.

 

[seamusuk]

Laundry at work?

As some of you know I work in a residential setting supporting adults with learning disability and challenging behaviour. Im quite often found in the laundry oddly enough- we have a set of these

Seamus

Washer.....Dump valve version as we need the sluice facility!

http://www.mieleprofessional.co.uk/gb/professional/product/142_613.htm

 

[seamusuk]

And the dryer.....

Vented....

http://www.mieleprofessional.co.uk/gb/professional/product/142_635.htm

 

[ozzie908]

Same as mine

Brilliant machines !

I am fortunate I don't need the sluice cycle its there and it works I used it for dog bedding to get the hairs off Mines pumped not dumped !!

Austin

 

[mattywashboy]

Haha

How many of us work in the care industry? lol

I also work as a carer for people with disabilities in a residential home of 5 people.

We have a Simpson 9.5KG top loader that is a WaterAid machine made by Electrolux. The idea is to put a small amount of holes in the drum so that the machine holds the most of the water in the drum. Any water that trickles through into the outer tub is caught by a recirculation pump and sprayed back into the main tub.

Cool idea and washes well, it just takes a long time to drain the tub as its all got to trickle out of the main tub lol.

I'll find some pics of it...

We also had the matching dryer for a long time (5kg) version but that packed up and we have recently got a Haier 6kg vented dryer, great little dryer

Matt

 

[mattywashboy]

The washer bowl, notice the number of holes...

recirculation flume is at back right

 

[mattywashboy]

Washer Controls 1

Note this is not a commercial machine, its sold in the stores as a regular domestic machine, lasted a while though while doing 3 loads minimum a day

 

[mattywashboy]

Washer Controls 2

That's all folks, the dryer is in the first pic.

Great thread, congrats on the extension of your job Mark and anyone who works in the disability or care field is a very special person so kudos to you!

Matt
x

 

[qualin]

I'm surprised they wouldn't use commercial machines for this kind of work.

 

[mattywashboy]

I would have thought so too Qualin but I guess as the company i work for is a non profit organisation they might not have the money to afford commercial machines, a machine like this would have cost around $800 when bought new...

 

[markt5004]

Hey Matt/Paul and all you other guys!

Thanks very much for your comments.
Im going to thrown into the deep end as they say as when the other girl leaves at the beginning of June the main laundry girl is going on holiday so I will be working in there for a solid 10 days which will be fun. Ill be in there every Friday and every other weekend after that.

With regards to laundry equipment there are 3 washers and 2 dryers:

X2 Electrolux 10kg load / High spin machines (1000rpm)
X1 Electrolux 6kg load / High spin machine. (1000rpm)

All washes have a sluice cycle and they are all dump drain.

X1 Electrolux 10kg Load dryer - This machine has sensor drying.
X1 American Dryer Corporation (ADC) 11.1Kg dryer.

2 of the electrolux washing machines are dated 2005 and the other 2003.
The frustrating thing about the 2 machines dated 2005 is that the 40degree wash is only a "delicate" wash where the older machine has a 40 degree "warm" wash setting which washes with a decent drum rythmn. The newer machines have the following cycles...All have a prewash built into the cycle.

Sluice
30 Delicate
40 Delicate
50 Synthetic
65 Synthetic
71 Cottons
93 Cottons

The older machine has the following...Prewash can be selected or de-selected.

Sluice
40
50
60
90

I will try and take some pictures of the laundry at some point.

Mark