Speed queen 30# gas dryer

[repairguy]

Hi everyone, I have the opportunity to buy a speed queen 30 pound commercial gas dryer that I’m told is new and never been used. I may be wrong but I believe it is a 2011 model. I have 2 questions about this dryer. How much would a brand new one cost? From a little research I’ve done, it looks like you have to be a speed queen dealer or have an account with a distributor in order to get pricing. What would be a reasonable price to pay for an unused 2011 model? I don’t have the ability at the moment to post any pictures. Thanks in advance for your responses!

Model: ST030NQTB2G2W01
Serial: 1101002837

 

[lorainfurniture]

30# dryers are pretty expensive. I don’t remember how much they were new but I sold a very used Maytag 30# gas like 5 years ago for$850.

I would easily think $1k without even looking at it

 

[repairguy]

I found a new 30# electric one from an online store for $3500 plus shipping. I know residential gas dryers have been more expensive than electric for many years so I assume it’s the same with commercial. The seller is at $2000 and I was thinking more like $1500. $2000 is probably a deal but it has been sitting for 7 years unused in conditions unknown to me. I am supposed to go look at it Wednesday.

 

[combo52]

Large commercial dryers are usually more expensive in electric than gas, but only about 10% more, to get a price call a commercial SQ laundry distributor, we use Hynes&waller in Upper Marlboro Maryland.

 

John L.

 

[mrb627]

Wow!

I didn't know they made an all electric 30# commercial dryer.
What is the airflow requirement for this beast?

Malcolm

 

[launderess]

Don't know about SQ

But Unimac and others offer dryers using electric for heating up to around 75lbs or 120lbs. Anything larger usually is steam or gas heated.

http://unimac.com/products/heavy-duty-tumble-dryers/industrial-tumble-dryers/75-lb-capacity.aspx

Offering such models likely has to do with same reasons domestic/residential dryers come in either gas or electric. Utility rates vary across the country, and or not everyone has access to natural gas.

Growth of renewable (solar and wind) power opens up a world of other possibilities as well.

 

[supersurgilator]

I'm wanting to say I saw them around $2500 to $3000 but that was several years ago. I couldn't even imagine the amount of electricity to run a 30# let alone anything bigger. I've always wondered how the dry times compare between the electric and gas tumblers?

 

[lorainfurniture]

I think a 30# unit has to run on 3 phase. I remember the gas one I sold having something like a 170k btu burner or something crazy like that. I just can’t see how it could work with single phase 240v.

 

[launderess]

Electric Models - 30 kW


200-208/60/3 89 88
240/60/3 79 78
380/60/3 47 48
480/60/3 38 38
200/50/3 84 85
230/50/3 73 75
240/50/3 79 78
380/50/3 47 48
400-415/50/3 43 44
440/60/3 41

http://unimac.com/products/heavy-du...ble-dryers/50-lb-capacity.aspx#specifications

At least for Unimac line we're talking all electric heated dryers are three phase 21kW or 30kW. Yes, they pull lots of power!

http://docs.alliancelaundry.com/tech_pdf/Production/70532401en.pdf

 

[combo52]

At .14 cents per kilowatt [ the average cost in the US ] these dryers would cost $3-just over $4 per hour to operate, you can see why that most commercial laundries use natural gas for dryers which at average US rates would cost only 1/3 to 1/2 as much to run an hour.

 

There is no place in the US where it is less expensive to run an electric dryer than a natural gas heated dryer.

 

We have enough NG for well over a hundred years in North America and it makes sense to use it for certain uses, even solar and wind energy is much too valuable for use in resistance water heating, space heating and clothes drying, However using a heat-pump for space heating, water heating and clothes drying can be very competitive in cost to NG and often makes sense where NG is not available.

 

John L.

 

[launderess]

Think we all understand the economics of gas vs. electric

Dryers for both domestic or commercial use. However it all comes down to what it usually always does; what power source is readily available.

Price of natural gas could be zero for all the good it would do if someone cannot get access.

 

[lorainfurniture]

Electric varies wildly

The only reason I know this is from mining bitcoin. I currently pay 12.4 cents delivered here in Cleveland. There are two places that I know of , near Niagara Falls and somewhere on the west coast near some dam. The town near those plants pay something like 4 cents delivered. Everyone on the east coast pays a bit more

 

[launderess]

Then you have something like this

Which takes things to a totally different level.

http://speedqueencommercial.com/vend/en-ww/products/heat-pump-tumble-dryers.aspx

 

[henene4]

Professional HP dryers are kind of a catch 22

A commercial enviroment is all about overall economy.

A laundrette has to do as much laundry with as little resources (time, work and money) as possible.

While a HP dryer is super efficent (the Miele one I linked uses only about 4.7kWh for 16kg of laundry) some factors make them an insanely bad investment in most cases.

Cycle times double and scale verry poorly. And while they use about a quarter the energy, they cost double and you need 2 machines to have the same hourly capacity as 1 gas or electric vented dryer.

That would make them a 0 sum investments.

BUT 2 machines mean twice the failures and failures here often mean machine death as working on refrigeration systems is astronomicly expensive.

Further any downtime means high losses.

So unless there is no way to get venting or the price comes down, these will remain a bit in the future.

What I do wonder is why there is no central heatpump based drying system.

Would only be suitable for new installations, but basicly moving all the heat exchanging to a central huge unit and the dryers vasicly being only tumblers with a hot air feed and a moist air vent back to the central unit, much like refrigeration systems for big freezer sections in supermarkets.

http://https//www.miele.co.uk/professional/tumble-dryers-467.htm?mat=07964900&name=PT_8337_WP_[PTM]

 

[tomturbomatic]

Some places in Indiana have fabulously low night time electric rates.

 

[launderess]

Commercial Heat Pump Dryers

Electrolux has one as well, and it seems like the SQ above they are meant for OPL and or multi-family housing such as an apartment building.

http://speedqueencommercial.com/files/speedqueen/pdf/specsheets/AI14-0066_en.pdf

Electrolux promises to do dry a full load in 51 minutes.

 

[combo52]

Heat-Pump Dryers Are Comming

Due to their lower cost of operation and flexibility of installation in many buildings.

 

Unfortunately they have not been taken seriously because most of the ones produced so far are small [ only 24" wide and less than 4 CF capacity ] and they again are very slow drying because again they are modeled after European sized small low powered [ usually around 3000 watts ] dryers where long drying times were tolerated.

 

A HPD should easily dry as fast as the best electric vented or gas dryer and somewhat faster than an air-cooled condenser dryer.

 

The biggest challenge with building a great performing HPD is it will have to be much larger than a similar sized non HPD. The refrigeration system needs to be at least 18,000 BTUs for a full sized machine for a compact European sized machine it should be 12,000-10,000 BTUs not the current 5000-6000 BTUs. In most cases this will require the dryer to be built on a permanent pedestal type design.

 

With a refrigeration cooled condenser a HPD should be very fast and be able to dry clothing without problems of excessive heat on the clothing.

 

While HPDs will cost more to build they should be very reliable, refrigeration systems in the home whether in refrigerators, freezers or air-condition systems routinely last many decades without any maintenance and a clothes dryer only runs a few hours a week in most homes.

 

John L.

 

[repairguy]

Thanks for all the input. I had no idea that there is a heat pump clothes dryer. I’m supposed to go look at the dryer again Wednesday. When I looked at it once before it was used unlike the way it was advertised as unused. Also said it was a 70 pound machine and it is only 30. I’m still interested though. I’m told it an be hooked up so I can see it operate. We will see. The machine is not in bad shape. It was bought in a school auction and I’m just really concerned as to why the school got rid of it.

 

[launderess]

"I’m just really concerned as to why the school got rid of it."

Federal and or local government agencies/offices get rid of things all the time, and in many instances fairly new inventory.

You can scour the internet for things like "military surplus" and find things barely five years old or less that were sold off.

Things like this happen when people are spending someone else's money.