Trip Through Some German Waschsalons

[launderess]

Mention of Nyborg dryers in another thread piqued one's interest as never heard of brand before. So decided to have a peep at various laundromats in Germany to see what's on offer.

Nyborg is well represented but so is IPSO and Electrolux equipment.

One big difference from American laundromats is spin dryers are still commonly found in German waschsalons, but long since gone from USA.

Germans seem big on ironing and mangling so laundromats have coin operated huge ironers. Again you've never seen such things in USA nor would ever. Liability issues are just too great.

Am fascinated by laundry product purchase systems in various European laundromats.

Here in USA you simply go over to attendant or a coin vend machine and buy little packets of product. In France and Germany (maybe elsewhere?) they still cling to old way. One purchases products that are dispensed into a teacup.







Two entrepreneurs and their new laundromat:



Miele baby!

 

[launderess]

Would kill to find one of these extractors.

But don't understand, don't these modern washers in Germany laundromats spin faster than machines of old? If so why need for extractors still?

 

[henene4]

Extractors are getting rarer.

The laundromat back home I take large things to had until 2-3 years ago an insanely old 18kg Wascomat that only spun with 400rpm.

That since has been exchanged with a newer 180l Wascomat with 1000rpm spin speed and with that, they removed the extractor.

They tore out their 24 normal sized timer based Wascomats that were all hard mount with W455H-s about 10 years ago.

Then they changed the large Wascomat.

Next should be the dryers since they are getting on, but not to long ago instead they added one of the huge stacked Ipso dryers to finally match the larger washers.

But yeah, that was the only extractor that I knew of in laundromats and that has been made obsolete by exactly what you mentioned.

 

[launderess]

Also find interesting many places in Germany like France and elsewhere in Europe still use a central payment system. One pays at a machine, then selects which one from list or board which starts said machine.

IIRC some laundries in apartment buildings in USA had similar system. Paying at a central meter or whatever started power to whatever machine was selected.

 

[henene4]

Another rarety

I actually had a mix up.

In the US, Wascomat is a sub brand of ELux.

Over here ALL ELux industrial laundry appliance were Electrolux Wascomat with Wascomat being basically a series name, not a brand.

Nyborg was a purely ELux owned brand.

However, Miele later owned Cordes from what I understand.

Another rare brand mostly found in laundromats though they had home appliances.

And while SpeedQueen machines are near nowhere to find, IPSO branded machines and rebrands of those are relatively common.

Though I have to say reliability wise, especially looking at what everything retails for, I have seen both IPSO and ELux machines go out of service way more often then Miele.

Don't think I ever saw a Miele commercial machine going straight up out of service.

 

[launderess]

Wascator - Wascator/Electrolux - Electrolux.....

Wascomat begun by an immigrant to USA who saw Wascator machines onboard ship Stockholm that was damaged by colliding with Andrea Dora (the latter sank).

He had the idea of bringing those washers to USA and installing them in coin operated laundries. This area was previously domain of Bendix and a few other American makers.

Wasco came from "Wascator"

Mat - From "Automat" restaurants that sold food "automatically".

Wascomat is now "LaundryLux" and either way many commercial laundries don't have good things to day about modern machines. Wascomat washers and dryers once dominated many coin laundry markets in USA, now it's more Speed Queen or Dexter.

https://www.liherald.com/stories/inwood-based-laundrylux-succeeds-in-a-unique-industry,111868

https://www.wsj.com/articles/bernar...nded-firm-to-equip-coin-laundries-11547825400

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrolux_Laundry_Systems

 

[launderess]

Alliance Laundry Systems owns both Speed Queen and IPSO brands of commercial laundry equipment. Until recently Alliance sold both brands in North America, but now only Speed Queen remains. IPSO however is marketed and sold worldwide presumably where Alliance Laundry Systems does not also sell SQ.

https://americanlaundrynews.com/articles/alliance-discontinue-ipso-equipment-sales-north-america

Besides SQ and IPSO Alliance Laundry Systems also owns UniMac, Huebch, and Primus.

Alliance Laundry Systems got their mitts on IPSO and Cissell by buying them from Belgian based Laundry Systems Group.

https://ipso.com/about-us/

Alliance Laundry Systems to Acquire Cissell, IPSO Brands

americanlaundrynews.com

 

[rolls_rapide]

Broadbent spin dryer

It appears Broadbent as a company is still operational as part of Broadbent Group.

The laundry division is under Vega Systems. Not much Broadbent historical info at all - it's all modern corporate biased.

As others have said, spin dryers have gone from their catalogues too. The modern washing machines are more capable spinners these days.

Look under 'Products' to see a list of machine types.

- Broadbent

Broadbent Laundry Services: laundry products that will serve you well for years, delivering excellent cost savings & superb productivity.

broadbent.co.uk

 

[launderess]

Was leafing though old issues of "Which?" online reading about spin driers.

When the things first arrived Which? thought they were a godsend. And they were compared to mangles and washing machines with poor extraction. But as years wore on and washing machines upped final spin speeds Which? seemed to have less use for spin dryers.

If one could lay hands on a commercial type extractor like what Martha Stewart and one member have (Motex), then might be inclined to love spin driers more.

As things stand while my spinner is fine for certain things, find it a bother for larger linens. That and it creates creases something awful in jeans and some other fabrics.



Where modern washing machines have it over spin driers is their extraction profile.

All that messing about with short spins, tumbles, spin again, tumble, then getting on with final extraction while maddening to us waiting does serve a purpose.

Extracting, stopping and fluffing, extracting, stopping and fluffing allows for more water to be removed and done so evenly. If you've taken things that have not been wrung or spun previously (such as washed by hand), and placed into spinner you'll often notice things emerge rather wet in some area, but nearly dry in others.

Due to small diameter of domestic spin dryer drums everything is smashed together at once. In such tight quarters water does not pass through fabrics at even rate.

To get round this some will leave things going in extractor longer than they should. Result is laundry with horrid creases that often no amount of ironing or tumble drying will totally erase.

 

[peterh770]

Wascomat vs. Elux

Wascomat is now the more economical choice for laundries. Less flexibility with programming, and the good old fashion 100g spin. Wascomat dryers are very gas efficient but only allow 1-way tumbling,

Elux is upscale, with hardmount 200g and softmount 300g spins. They are also completely programmable, with internet connections for remote monitoring and alerts, both for the owner/manager and for the customer. Elux dryers are reversing, and can dry big loads in under 30 minutes.

Elux has also developed a washer that weighs the load while loading, and changes price depending on the weight. These are very new, and I have not seen much info on them.

 

[peterh770]

Huebsch vs. SQ

The same can kinda be said for Huebsch and SQ machines. Huebsch is economical entry; SQ is upscale. But I have not found that much of a difference between these brands other than programmability.

 

[iej]

The detergent dispensers are probably about reducing packaging waste.

 

[launderess]

Electrolux text messaging coin op laundry appliances.





Nice laundromat with mix of things for variety to suit customers needs.

 

[adam-aussie-vac]

Reply #8

I currently own a Bock extractor, I tend to use it for all of my loads of laundry because without it laundry takes over an hour to dry While it can normally be done in about 30 to 40 minutes using a 240v 3 kW dryer which is either my American GE or my German Miele