Laundry Equipment

[James E. Braun, CMI]

Been asked to inspect laundry equipment at a hotel. It is a first for me.
If anybody can give me some pointers it would be greatly appreciated.
Also a copy of an inspection would be great. I planning on building a template in HIP.

[Brian K. Doles]

Don't mix the lights with the darks!

[Marcel R. Cyr]

Originally Posted by jbraun

Been asked to inspect laundry equipment at a hotel. It is a first for me.
If anybody can give me some pointers it would be greatly appreciated.
Also a copy of an inspection would be great. I planning on building a template in HIP.

James;

First you go in and activate the first washer and throw in Dale Duffey, Carl Brown, Barry Addair, and Paul AberNathy, oh, and I almost forgot G- Man Beaumont, then put them in the dryer and if they come out all wet, Call MCHammer.

Could not resist.

Anyways, what is it that the Client wants you to inspect? Curious and willing to help.

Hope in the mood for laughs.

Marcel

[Scott Gilligan]

Commercial laundry equipment can be pretty hard to check out every little detail. As with any kind of commercial inspection, you have to know the information the client wants to gain from the inspection. If you have never worked on these machines it is going to be a little hard to tell you things to look for without describing things in great detail. There are typically two major manufactures of commercial laundry equipment that most hotels use. Speed Queen and Milnor are probably going to be the two big ones you will come across. You will also encounter chemical dispersing equipment as well. Machines can either be single phase or three phase electrical and you should be able to identify one from the other. You might encounter water filtration systems installed as well.

As far as mechanicals, you probably want to check the bearings for any kind of play. Usually a grinding sound as the basket is turning is a dead give away that a bearing needs to be replaced. You can check for excessive bearing play by inserting a prybar between the front cover and basket lip and try lifting it. If there is a significant amount of movement, the bearing might be in question.

Drain lines should be sufficiently sized for the machines.

As far as dryers, most are gas fired and have burner elements mounted on top. It is a good idea to check the insulation panels inside the cabinet to make sure they are intact. Filter screens should be free of holes. The basket should turn freely without grinding. Belt or chain drives should be checked to see if they are in alignment. Idler arms should be checked to make sure they are tight and not bent. Electronic spark controls should provide a clean spark and be able to ignight the burners. Thermocouplers should be clean and free of corrosion. Computer controlled fire suppression systems should be funtioning. Most insurance companies will void a policy if these systems are not funtioning properly or are disabled. Dryer vents should be cleaned regually and free of lint build up. Rooftop mounted dryer vents should have a cap that prevents rainwater from entering but allows lint to escape. Lint buildup around caps should be routinely removed.

These are a couple of things that I can think of off the top of my head. If you are unsure of what to look for, it might be a good idea to contact a service company to come out with you and do the inspection. Charge the client on a cost plus basis. Have the service company explain each and every thing they are looking for to you so that way you know for the future. It may cost you a few bucks, but you are paying for an education on a specific subject manner by a professional. Biggest thing to remember though is to find out exactly what the client wants to know and is going to do with the information. In some instances you may be in way over your head, in others you will be able to fill their needs. Know your ablities and have resources to pull from when things get into that unknown area.

Hope this helps.

[Dominic J. Maricic]

Hey James,

That would be a cool template to see when you're done. You would just need to figure out all the parts you need to inspect and add them to one section then you can copy that section for each machine. I don't think I've seen anything similar coming across the upload service for me to point you to someone.

[Marcel R. Cyr]

Well, not everybody is humorous I guess. ha. ha.

http://video.yahoo.com/watch/1505072



Marcel

[Barry Adair]

Originally Posted by mcyr

James;

First you go in and activate the first washer and throw in Dale Duffey, Carl Brown, Barry Addair, and Paul AberNathy, oh, and I almost forgot G- Man Beaumont, then put them in the dryer and if they come out all wet, Call MCHammer.

Could not resist.

Anyways, what is it that the Client wants you to inspect? Curious and willing to help.

Hope in the mood for laughs.

Marcel

Anyone else feeling like they've been thrown under the bus?

[Scott Gilligan]

Originally Posted by badair

Anyone else feeling like they've been thrown under the bus?

I think Marcel hung you out to dry Barry.

[Marcel R. Cyr]

Yea, but he came out wet out of the dryer.

[Martin A. Jorgensen]

James, don't assume that just because it is a hotel inspection that the laundry equipment is anything more than residential equipment with a coin mech., card reader attached. If so, treat is as you would a washer/dryer inspection in a residential home inspection.

IF you can find out IF it is some type of central laundry heavy duty commercial 250 lbs. 500 lbs./1K or 2k cap. stuff you can probably find out what you need to know with a few bucks, a free lunch and a ride along with the local equipment tech.