The Dry Cleaners Blog

Are Your Dry Cleaned Clothes Clean

2012-02-19T13:02:00.000-05:00

Recently I was in a very busy dry cleaners and while talking to the manager, I observed the drycleaner loading the dry cleaning machine. As I watched, he proceeded to cram about 70 pounds of clothes to be cleaned into a machine rated at 55 pounds by the machine manufacturer. Over the years, I have seen this too many times to count. I can understand why busy plants try to overload their machine to increase production, but in my opinion, the cost of reruns, damaged garments, redeposition and inferior qualtiy far outweighs the increase in production (if it really is an increase).

There are many components of the drycleaning process that come into play when we look at what it takes to produce a high quality drycleaned garment. These components have direct affect on the soils that we encounter in dry cleaning. Soils such as insoluble soils, solvent soluble soils and water soluble soils. One of these components is the load factor.

The load factor is best explained as being the ratio of pounds of garments in a load of dry cleaning to the size of the dry cleaning wash wheel, otherwise known as pounds per cubic foot. Studies have shown that the ideal load factor is 2.0 pounds per cubic foot. At 2.0 pounds per cubic foot sufficient agitation of the garment occurs, allowing insoluble soils to be removed, transferred away from the garment and onto the filter rapidly, minimizing redeposition and the garment greying you can expect with redeposition.

As dry cleaning equipment has evolved, the industry has slowly moved away from machine designs that incorporated the 2 pound per cubic foot standard to a 3 pound per cubic foot standard even though the physics involved in the removing of soils from clothing has not changed. In fact, you may find some manufacturer's claiming a load factor of almost 4 pounds per cubic foot. With that in mind, I would recommend looking at the cubic foot rating of a machine when you are purchasing a new machine. For your existing machines, determine the cubic foot of the wash wheel and load it at a factor of no more than 3 pounds per cubic foot to achieve the highest quality cleaning.

Overloading the dry cleaning machine can result in many problems, such as streaks and swales, poor water soluble soil removal, poor solvent mileage and poor quality cleaning. Overloading has a direct affect on your insoluble soil removal and can result in garment greying and dinginess. This type of redeposition is almost impossible to remove and usually results in garments being permanently damaged by it. Underloading the wash wheel can have its own set of problems as well, usually not as critical nor as permanent as the damage incurred when overloading the machine. You will have less agitation which can result in less soils being removed. Another problem can occur in the very lightweight garments such as silk, that can stick to the wash cage leaving the hole pattern of the wash cage on the garment. This is easily remedied by the time consuming re-cleaning of the garment.

As you can see, loading the dry cleaning machine is more than just filling it with clothes. Loading your dry cleaning machine in the correct load size can go a long way towards improving your dry cleaning quality, preventing dingy garments and keeping white colored garments bright.

Remove Stains Safely and Consistently

2012-02-08T13:37:00.000-05:00

For the professional dry cleaner, the stain removal department is usually the least profitable part of the dry cleaning operation. When you consider the labor that is required to remove stains, the cost of chemicals required to effectively remove stains and the potential for claims resulting from improper stain removal procedures, it is very easy to see that the stain removal part of the drycleaners business can be expensive in terms of the cost involved in order to produce those high quality dry cleaned garments.

Unfortunately, effective stain removal plays a major part in the entire dry cleaning operation and is a "necessary evil". The consumer expects for all professional dry cleaners to be able to remove stains successfully, with maybe the discount cleaners being the exception. The consumer also expects these stains to be removed every time, (which dry cleaners know is not possible, unless they use a pair of scissors to remove those that will not come out after using the most aggressive procedures the fabric will allow ). The consumer also expects the stain to be removed without damage to the garment. Being able to effectively remove stains and "restore garments to like new conditions" can go a long ways towards giving the professional dry cleaner the reputation that he needs to be successful.

One part of the stain removal process that can go a long way towards preventing mishaps and accidental damage to garments during the stain removal process, is to keep your spotting board in an orderly fashion.

Keep the spotting area clean. Wipe it off between use of the various chemicals when removing a stain. Wipe the area clean after completing stain removal of a garment.
Routinely clean under the nose of the spotting board. Often chemical residue and residues of stains that have been removed can be picked up by garments that may be affected by these residues.
Keep the stain removal tools clean. Flushing any chemicals from them between uses.
Keep a good supply of clean towels on hand.
Keep all bottles labeled correctly. If you do not have labelled bottles, request them from your distributor. They usually can provide you with the correct bottles, often at no charge.

Keeping your stain removal area neat and clean, your bottles labelled properly and using correct stain removal procedures, can go a long way towards making this all important, but costly part of the process more manageable, helping to remove stains safely and consistently, trimming some of the cost of producing high quality dry cleaning. Effective stain removal can help the dry cleaner to justify a higher price for his work and help to distinguish himself from the competition.

Is Carpeting Unhealthy

2012-02-01T14:46:00.002-05:00

The statement that carpets are healthy is more or less controversial. This is a not a fact but only a notion. Many doctors say that carpet is the main polluting source that is within a home or an office. A dirty carpet may end up working as an indoor air polluter for your home. Carpets and the products used in installation, like adhesives and padding emit VOCs (volatile organic compounds). VOCs are harmful to small children, toddlers, pregnant women, elderly, and people having weak immune system and respiratory issues.

The America Lung Association says that a new carpet can be a source of chemical emissions. There is an unhealthy emission of VOCs during and following installation of carpet, but if the installers work as per the recommendations like proper ventilation during and after installation, the carpet becomes a benign material quickly. Carpets are made of non-organic material like nylon, polyester. These do not enhance or support the microbial growth, but these are porous and fibrous in texture, which illustrates the fact that carpets absorb anything and everything that comes onto them. If not cleaned on a daily basis, it will go on absorbing soil and dirt for a long period of time. If left unclean for more time, it will become a store house of germs.

Is Carpet Unhealthy

According to a recent study conducted by, the US Environmental ProtectionAgency (EPA), the University of North Carolina (UNC) and the Research Triangle Institute (RTI), a regular vacuuming of a carpet on a regular basis, helped in a significant improvement in the atmosphere within a room and led to a reduction in particles, VOCs, and biological pollutants.

How carpets become unhealthy

The above study has the fact that carpets are not unhealthy but if they are allowed to become contaminated for a long duration of time. Carpets are spoiled by dust brought by shoe-soles, pollen and mold spores which are allergenic in nature. The carpet can get dirty if water stays on it for a long time, as humidity leads to an unnoticed microbial growth. On the other hand it acts as a filter that absorbs are the dirt and filth so that the inhabitants may remain healthy.

To carpet or not to carpet

Carpets do provide that cushioned and cozy feeling, but carpeted floors shelter more microorganisms than any other type of flooring. It serves as a breeding ground for mold, bacteria and other allergy-causing organisms. A dirty carpet exposure would lead to health problems like burning sensation in the eyes, shortness of breath or cough, headaches, asthma, nose and throat irritation and fatigue.

A Carpet Cleaning London company can take care of your carpeting in a professional way. If you have kids or pets at your home you would need to keep a regular check on your carpet.

This article was submitted by guest author Jaspreet Singh - Aussie Clean Team/Cleaning London. For more information on this subject contact Jaspreet at: aussiecleanteam@gmail.com

Maintain Your Additive Dispensers

2012-01-29T11:03:00.000-05:00

Using the proper mixture of additives such as detergent and sizing is one of the key factors in achieving high quality dry cleaning. By using detergents properly you can expect to remove water soluble soils, eliminate static, reduce linting and keep insoluble soils in suspension preventing redeposition. Fabric finish will help to provide the dimensional stability of the garments, make pressing easier and prevent wrinkling during handling of the finished garments.

Process design parameters should be the deciding factor when choosing the type of detergent that you use, with distillation rates being one of the main concerns. With less filteration and higher distillation rates you will almost certainly want to be using a load process detergent. Conversely, with a greater amount of filtration and lower distillation rates, a charge type detergent will offer excellent results and would be my preferred choice. For proper control of the additives when using a load process detergent, you will really want to automate the introduction of them into the machine at the proper point in the machines programming and in the proper amounts, so an additive dispensing unit is a necessity. By automating this process you can ensure that you will receive a high level of cleaning quality on a consistent basis.

While there are a great number of dry cleaning plants that introduce their additives manually, there are an even greater number that use process additive equipment (similar to the picture above) or OEM type dosing units that are available on most machines. Which brings me to the subject I am posting about. Do you check the operation of these dispensing units as a part of your regular weekly maintenance?

Quite often I will be at a dry cleaning plant and notice that the additives pumps are not working properly and have to wonder how long has the operator been doing dry cleaning without detergent. In a recent stop at a dry cleaning plant I got into a conversation about their boiler and type of compound they were using in it. The plant manager told me what she was using and mentioned that she didn't think it was pumping properly though, as the pail had not gone down any in almost a year. I took a look at it and sure enough the pinch tube on the additives pump had collapsed and boiler compound was not being added. In 5 minutes I had repaired the pump and hopefully gained a new customer from it.

There is a very simple way to make checking the dispensing unit a part of your weekly maintenance. It only takes 30 seconds and the only tool you will need is a marking pen.

Simple mark the level of product in the drum and date it. The next week, do it again and each week from then on. You will know exactly how much product you are using and whether the pump is indeed working properly.

If things do not appear to be working as they should, a quick call to your distributor sales rep or your manufacturer's rep should be all that is needed. Problems that occur with this type of equipment can usually be solved very easily, often with nothing more than a slight adjustment to the pump or change of the pinch tubes.

Emergency Dry Cleaning Restoration

2012-01-23T19:54:00.001-05:00

Emergency Dry Cleaning Restoration: Larry Alford, CEO of Emergency Dry Cleaning Restoration , is answering the questions for today’s Small Business Snapshot. What is the primary purpose of your business? We provide emergenc...

New Look

2012-01-22T10:51:00.000-05:00

The Dry Cleaners Blog is in the process of updating its look to a more modern, magazine type template that is sure to make your time spent here more enjoyable. Please stay tuned.

My Dry Cleaner Is Texting Me Coupons

2012-01-21T15:43:00.000-05:00

I received an offer today from the plant that does my dry cleaning, offering me a discount for dry cleaning brought in today. What a great idea! In the past, he had always sent out text messages or email letting me know when my clothes were available to be picked up, but he had never sent out messages with weekly specials or daily offers. I find this a great way to market a drycleaning business as I often receive offers from other businesses such as restaurants that I visit, offering specials and I must admit, I have been persuaded by these offers. So why not the dry cleaners too?

I am far from being a marketing expert, but when you really think about the impact of text messaging marketing, the returns from your efforts have to be one of the best in all of marketing for dry cleaners. In fact, text marketing is becoming more popular than email marketing for many businesses such as dry cleaners, fast oil changes and restaurants just to name a few.

First, the potential database is astounding. Think about the number of cell phone users in the US, it is huge. Secondly, almost every text message that is sent out gets read. In fact it has been reported that text message marketing has as much as a 98% read rate with coupon redemption rates reported to be as much as 9%. How often do you get a text message and delete it without reading it? Then, take into the consideration the relatively low cost of sending text messages. You could text offers for a multitude of different scenarios. Occasions such as a birthday offer or perhaps a discount for those days that you know will be slow or how about a special on comforters, alterations, etc. The possibilities are endless.

It seems that many of the Point of Sale software systems that dry cleaners use do offer an email marketing and management plan. It would also seem that having a texting/SMS marketing plan would be a great feature, however I have not found any of the POS software that have the SMS feature. ( If your software does offer a program such as this, please contact me or feel free to leave a comment).

While doing research on the idea, I found Trumpia a company that does offer sms blast marketing, email marketing, instant message marketing and social network marketing. Trumpia has a list of customers consisting of companies such as McDonalds, Holiday Inn, Gold's Gym, Remax and Jiffy Lube just to name a few.
SimplyCast is another company that has everything to offer including SMS marketing.

So, when you have a chance, take a look at text messaging/SMS marketing. It may be the competitive advantage you are looking for.

OSHA and Dry Cleaning

2012-01-16T19:35:00.000-05:00

Let's face it, the idea of an OSHA inspection scares the hell out of most small business owners and perhaps it scares dry cleaners even more so.

Many of the drycleaners I meet are usually so involved with the day to day issues such as production, payroll, maintenance and managing empolyees that they do not either have the time or take the time to get caught up on the regulations and latest changes to the regulations. I have been there and I know how it is. The boiler is down, your counter person called in sick and payroll must be done today. I know, who has time to look at regulations?

However, when you have the time, educating yourself in regards to the hazards, regulations and operating procedures can go a long way towards easing the anxiety you may face when subject to an OSHA inspection. If you absolutely cannot find the time, hiring a consultant with OSHA and dry cleaning experience may be the best way to make sure you comply.

The U.S. Department of Labor's website for OSHA has many reference aids that can help you to control and prevent many of the hazards we face in our day to day operations. I would recommend taking the time and exploring this highly informative website and remember OSHA is not a small town in Wisconsin!

*If you are an OSHA consultant with experience in working with dry cleaners I would like to offer you the opportunity to share your knowledge and profile your business while being a guest author here on the dry cleaners blog. Contact me at: MichalRMiller@drycleanersnetwork.com.

Water Separator Maintenance.

2012-01-14T11:05:00.000-05:00

The separation of water from solvent is the last step of the drying and distillation processes and is a very common source for odor in dry cleaning solvents. Often when these odors occur, they cannot be removed from the solvent and this can result in having to dispose of all the solvent in the machine. A very high price to pay, given the prices of solvents these days. Thats why cleaning your water separator should become a very regular part of your dry cleaning machine maintenance program.

All dry to dry machines have a water separator. Perc machines are equipped with one separator, while a good number of hydrocarbon and Green Earth machines will have two separators. It is in these separators that the solvent that is recovered in the drying and distillation processes is collected. The solvent that is collected will contain water. The water must be separated from the solvent and disposed of, while the solvent is returned in pristine condition to be used again in the cleaning process. (For those not in the dry cleaning industry, dry cleaners are essentially recycling their solvent and returning it to "like new" condition to be used again. This process is repeated over and over allowing dry cleaners to clean huge amounts of clothes with very little solvent actually being lost in the process).

Solvent and water are separated by the effects of gravity, in which the heavier liquid settles to the bottom of the separator and the lighter liquid will rise to the top of the separator. With the specific gravity of perc being much heavier than water, the perc will settle to the bottom in perc separator's, while in the case of hydrocarbon and Green Earth, these solvents are lighter than water and will rise to the top of the separator.

Some other factors that can affect the separation process are:

Temperature of the Solvent and Water being reclaimed. Separation occurs more efficiently at cooler temperatures. If solvent/water is too warm you may see only partial separation, the separator may look hazy or cloudy and solvent may be lost due to this poor separation. (Note: in machines with two separators, hazy/cloudy solvent is normal in the first separator, but not in the second separator).
Reclaiming too Fast. This is quite often seen as a slight "boil over" of the still. Solvent is being reclaimed so fast that there can be a disturbance in the water layer of the separator. The separator my be filling so fast that there is not enough residence time to allow the solvent/water to separate completely.
Separator is Too Small. There are a few machines that have been manufactured that have a water separator that may be undersized. This does not allow enough residence time for adequate separation and the result is solvent being returned to the machine mixed with a small amount of water.

Cleaning your water separator is not a big job and should be easily accomplished in a short time period. Follow your manufacturers recommendation for frequency and cleaning procedures, and pay special attention to the manufacturers instructions for priming the separator after cleaning. Some separators will need to be primed and some will not. Check with your equipment manufacturer or equipment distributor to determine the proper procedure for your model of machine. Failure to routinely maintain your water separator can lead to unnecessary headache and expense, make it a part of your maintenance program.

Check Out Tri -State Laundry Equipment

2012-01-12T18:06:00.001-05:00

If you are a dry cleaner, laundry or coin-op in North Carolina, South Carolina or Southern Virginia and you are in need of new dry cleaning equipment, used drycleaning equipment, laundry equipment, coin operated equipment or are need of service work, look no further than my friends over at Tri-State Laundry Equipment Company in Greensboro/Winston Salem, NC. These guys are top notch and run a first class organization. With their 55,000 square foot facility as well as their impressive inventory of equipment and parts, as well as the years of experience they have, you definitely will want to talk to them when you are making your next dry cleaning or laundry equipment purchase. Tell them you read about it here on The Dry Cleaners Blog.

The Dry Cleaners Blog is Back.

2012-01-10T21:48:00.001-05:00

A very hectic schedule for the last quarter of 2011 made it tough to keep up with regular postings on The Dry Cleaners Blog. 2012 is here now and it is my plan to keep the blog posts coming on a regular schedule again. Hopefully bringing useful tips, tidbits, insights, information and industry happenings from one fellow dry cleaner to the other fellow dry cleaners that read this blog.

One item of interest here in the South are some very informative customer service seminars. If you are in South Carolina or Charlotte, NC there are customer service serminars being presented this week in several areas and the best part is they are FREE! These are being presented by the Southeastern Fabricare Association and NCALC. The seminars will be featuring industry expert Frank Brierchek of Phenix Supply Company. These seminars are sure to be informative and as if this were not enough, SEFA will be bringing their Management and Customer Service Seminar Series to the Francis Marion Hotel in Charleston, SC this weekend.

So if you can make it or you can send your employees, don't miss out on this opportunity to pick up some pointers from the industry experts at these seminars. Also, stay tuned for the next post here on The Dry Cleaners Blog.

Happy Labor Day.

2011-09-02T22:09:00.000-04:00

I am wishing for all to have a happy, restful, labor day weekend, filled with joy, pride and many special moments to remember on this Labor Day. Especially you dry cleaners!!

Ring Around The Collar.

2011-08-28T17:10:00.000-04:00

Are your shirt collars coming as clean as you would like? Have your customers complained about ring around the collar? If so, you may be in need of a concentrated type of laundry pre-treatment, also known as a collar and cuff spotter.

Ring around the collar may be one the top laundry issues faced by the drycleaner and one of the top concerns of the dry cleaning consumer. Type ring around the collar into one of the search engines such as Google or Yahoo once and you will be surprised at the number of websites, blogs and other information is available on the web addressing this issue and offering home remedies (direct competition for us dry cleaners), more evidence that as a professional dry cleaner, you have to get this right or the customer may decide to process these garments at home.

Even with the most sophisticated laundry processes, using proper detergents, water temperatures, water levels and wash times, there are often garments that come into the dry cleaning plant with that stubborn, oily type of dirt that is most often found on the collars and cuffs of laundered shirts, the type that is not effectively removed in the wash. Now, I am a firm believer in setting up the wash machine and dry cleaning machine to perform as much of the work as possible, but you will always run into those garments that will need some special attention in order to give the garment back to the customer in "like new" condition and unfortunately, collars and cuffs do require some extra attention.

The dry cleaning consumer quite often chooses their dry cleaner based on the quality of their laundered shirts. So returning a nice bright, well pressed shirt, with no ring around the collar is vitally important to the success of the professional dry cleaner. Laundered shirts are quite often priced to attract customers and this often can lead to very low profit margins for those garments. When you have to re-process a laundered shirt due to unsatisfactory results from the first cleaning, you are most likely operating at a loss on that particular piece. Using an effective collar and cuff pre-treatment is important.

My choice for a collar and cuff pre-treatment is made by R.R. Street & Co. Inc. and is called COLLAR POWER.

COLLAR POWER is very concentrated with up to 3 times the active ingredients of similar products.
COLLAR POWER will do much of the scrubbing for you, especially when you use the unique spray applicator.
COLLAR POWER rinses very easily in hot, warm or cold water. This makes it very effective for use in dry/pickup/drop stores and for routes.
COLLAR POWER is very versatile and will work on khaki's and golf shirts. It works well in homestyle washers as well, (my wife uses it as a general laundry spotter in our home).

Here in the south we are still in the midst of a major heat wave. Shirt collars and cuffs are definitely sweaty and grimey. Save yourself some time and labor, use a quality collar and cuff pre-treatment. Keep your customers happy. Save yourself some money and prevent those costly reruns. Try COLLAR POWER in your plant and in your home. COLLAR POWER is available through STREETS authorized distributors.

Change Your All Carbon Filters Regularly

2011-08-16T20:23:00.000-04:00

Over the past year, I have posted several times regarding proper filter choices, the virtues of not using cheap filters and what kind of mileage you should get when using a quality cartridge filter such as a Puritan. Today, I ran into another example of what can happen when your All Carbon cartridge is cheaply made or left in the machine long past the useful life of the filter.

If your All Carbon filters are looking collapsed, such as the one in the picture above, you will probably want to change them more frequently (click on the links above for more information). Or if your filter comes apart, (like those that are using a poor quality glue/sealant to seal the tops on the filter) when you are trying to remove it from the machine (spilling carbon all over the person changing them, the floor and inside the filter housing on the machine), you might want to purchase a better quality cartridge filter. Or if you begin to see granular carbon in the button trap of your dry cleaning machine, you may find you need a better quality filter and change them at the proper interval.

And that is about all I have to say about that.

Dry Cleaner Adds DF2000 Machine

2011-08-13T11:45:00.000-04:00

I recently spent the day working with another new DF2000 user, Villager Cleaners, in Albany, Georgia. They have recently added a very nice Marvel hydrocarbon machine to their operation. Villager Cleaners owner, Stan Cannon, is a dry cleaning industry veteran and has been in business since 1985. With the high quality operation that they are known for and their many years of industry experience, the very minor adjustments needed to effectively clean in hydrocarbon where made quite easily.

My friends at DryClean Concepts Inc. in Dothan, AL, sold and installed the like new, pre-owned Marvel machine. This is a very simply designed machine and is extremely user friendly. The machine was fitted with a total of twelve filters that were mixed with Puritan LF and Puritan Adsorptive cartridges, which offers some of the best filtration you could put on a dry cleaning machine. Twelve filters will give you a ton of filtration and with the mix of LF's and Adsorptives you will have very clean solvent by being able to filter all contaminants (insolubles, dyes and oily contaminants). We are using Streets Everest detergent, automaticallly added to maintain the proper levels. On the spotting board we added Streets Spotless HC and Pyratex Nutec.

It only took a few loads before the owner, Mr. Cannon, stated that he wished he had 3 more of these machines. They really enjoyed the ease of operation, the flexibility of having multiple solvents (hydrocarbon, perc and water) to use, plus the feel of the garments and lack of odor that the DF2000 offers, especially when compared to some of the other hydrocarbon solvents.

Take a look at DryClean Concepts Inc. if you are looking for new equipment or pre-owned equipment. These guys will be able to help you out.

A-1 Products New WebSite.

2011-08-10T19:51:00.000-04:00

I just wanted to give a shout out to my friends at A-1 Products in Marietta, Georgia and Birmingham, Alabama. A-1 Products has recently launched their new website at www.A-1Products.com.

A-1 is a reliable source for supplies in the dry cleaning industry and have been strong supporters of Streets and myself for quite some time. If you get a chance, check out their website and while you are there, take a look at the special they are running on a product that many cleaners in my area are having great success with, MultiSpot.

If you haven't tried Multispot, you should give it a try.

Perc Cleaner Switches To HydroCarbon

2011-08-08T23:48:00.000-04:00

Today, I spent the afternoon working with the fine folks at Nanny's Cleaners in Americus, Georgia. Owners Chris and Sue Weir have just purchased a new 40 pound Union Nova hydrocarbon machine, replacing their perc machine. This Union machine was sold and installed by Trademark Equipment of Bessemer, Alabama and as always with these guys, it was a first class installation.

As with many new hydrocarbon users, the new process was met with excitement and as usual, with a little unnecessary worry over how to clean and spot with the new solvent. I assured them they would find it not much different, as I checked the dosing pump setttings for the Streets Pinnacle detergent being used on the dry cleaning machine. Pinnacle is a proven detergent with excellent moisture handling capabilities. We increased the wash times to give a full 20 minute wash and even with this extra wash time, this machine was still running 1 load per hour, with excellent results. You gotta love Union dry cleaning machines. Each one seems better than the last one. This model had a light that illuminates the wheel, allowing you to see what is going on inside the drum, pretty cool.

The crew at Nanny's does a great job with stain removal and only a couple of adjustments were needed with their spotting chemicals and spotting procedures. They have started using the Streets Spotless HC. Spotless is a pleasant smelling, flexible soil release agent. It can be brushed on or sprayed on as a general spotter or used as a levelling agent after wet side spotting. It will definitely cut down on the re-cleans. Their previous perc POG stain removal agent had been Pyratex. They will now be using Streets Pyratex Nutec in the hydrocarbon machine. Pyratex Nutec is a new technology POG formulated to satisfy the high flash point requirements of hydrocarbon. When you are doing your stain removal procedures correctly, there really is very little that you need to adjust when making the switch from Perc to high flash hydrocarbon.

Here in the state of Georgia, as the perc prices continue their climb upward, we are seeing more and more plant owners that are making the change to high flash hydrocarbon solvents in almost every conversion from perc. Using the proper detergents, fabric finishes, cleaning programs and spotting procedures in combination with a well designed machine, you can easily turn out a consistently high quality product and do it very cost effectively.

Spray Starch or Spray Sizing

2011-07-25T20:00:00.001-04:00

Calling on dry cleaning plants in the south at this time of year you will see many pressers using spray sizing and even more using spray starch to supplement the lack of fabric finish that is being added to dry cleaning machines and to help speed up pressing. Garments could have fabric finish added so much more consistently and effectively by adding it to the dry cleaning machine or wet cleaning machine, but the trend for many cleaners has been to move away from adding fabric finish to the wheel. I would like to add that this is a disturbing trend, as those dry cleaners move further away from the standards of quality dry cleaning.

(Click here for another posting regarding Fabric Finish)

While both spray starch and spray sizing have a place in the professional dry cleaning plant, they also need to be used correctly in the professional dry cleaning plant. Quite often what I see happening is the spray starch being used on all garments both laundered and dry cleaned. I suspect this boils down to economics, spray starch being considerably less expensive than spray sizings. But, as a professional dry cleaners our goal should be to try our best to restore garments to "like new" condition for our customers. Newly manufactured garments are almost always produced using a sizing to give the garment dimensional stability, so that the garment doesn't hang loose, limp and lifeless, providing a nice hand/feel and to help maintain the shape the garment was intended to have when designed. Furthermore, make a little closer inspection of your spray starch and you may find that is labelled as follows: "Do Not Use on Dry Clean Only Garments".

The advantages of using "Spray Sizing" are:

It makes pressing easier.
Works on both wet cleaned and dry cleaned garments.
It restores fabric hand/body to "like new" condition with out excess stiffness.
It won't scratch or stick to fabrics.
Is safe on all fabrics.

The disadvantages of using a "Spray Starch" are:

It clogs fabric and irons.
Scorch marks can occur.
Garments can feel stiff or sticky when worn.
Built up starch residue on iron soleplate and press pads, shortening life of pads.

Aerosol sizing gives clothes a crisp and fresh “like new” appearance that makes that all-important difference. Professional dry cleaners should use a premium formulation that provides superior results on drycleanable, wetcleanable and washable garments like Finishing Touch. Finishing Touch quickly helps garments look their best, even in the fast-paced production environments of the professional dry cleaning plant.

Haiti Mission Trip with The 410 Bridge

2011-07-23T12:29:00.000-04:00

I am going to take a break this week from the normal dry cleaning stuff I usually post about to tell you about a mission trip to Haiti my daughter is planning to take with The 410 Bridge in October of this year. She is an outstanding young lady that we are very proud of and The 410 Bridge is an outstanding organization. Currently she is in the fundraising phase of the project. I have included an excerpt from the email she has sent that better explains their mission.

"I wanted to let you know about and exciting opportunity the Lord has given me to go on a service trip to Haiti with the 410 Bridge.My team will be working on a variety of projects in the Haiti deaf community, such as educational games focusing on communication skills, Vacation Bible School activities, vocational training, etc. This deaf community is made of approximately 200 deaf and 200 hearing impaired people, who were displaced from their homes after the earthquake. They are currently living in temporary homes constructed by the International Federation of the Red Cross. The 410 Bridge, our church partners and other foundations are working towards the building of a permanent community for the deaf.

My purpose in this email is to ask you to prayerfully consider how you can get involved, through prayer and/or financial support. The total cost for the trip is $900 and I would appreciate ANY contribution you feel led to give. Please consider partnering with me in this mission."

To make a donation please follow this link to her fundraising page.

How Does Your Dry Cleaning Smell

2011-07-16T13:43:00.016-04:00

Recently , I ran across a thread on one of the dry cleaning forums that was discussing the new Solvon K4 drycleaning solvent. Those who posted were giving their opinions of the smell of the garments that were cleaned in it, comparing it to perc, hydrocarbon and the alternative solvents. It was very apparent that when it came to smell, there were many varied opinions, not only on the Solvon K4, but in regards to all the solvents that are used by dry cleaners. This got me thinking. At what point in our industry, did having any smell left in the finished garment become acceptable?

I may be wrong, but I have always understood that one of the componenents of high quality dry cleaning is that the garment was returned to the customer in as close to "like new" condition as possible. This included odor. If you look at the IFI quality rating forms from several years back, one of the items included on the rating form was odor. Garments should be returned with no odor or smell. When you go back over the last 15 years or so, it appears that in the opinions of some of those in our industry (this includes manufacturers and dry cleaners alike), the idea of odor free cleaning no longer applies.

Fragrances have always been used in the dry cleaning industry. Mostly this was used to cover up poor housekeeping conditions that resulted in bad smells in the finished garments and only used until that problem could be corrected. Sometimes when doing restoration dry cleaning a fragrance would be added to help those garments that had odor that couldn't be totally removed. But in the mid 90's we started to see detergents imported into the U.S. with strong fragrances added. The marketing that accompanied these products seemed to insinuate that this "fresh" smell could be equated to a garment that was actually cleaner even though the actual soil removal was not any better than those products without fragrance added and in many cases was worse. This proved to be a good marketing tool for those with the products with fragrance added and soon all manufacturers were offering a product that had a fragrance added. So now we have detergents with fragrances added, additives that can be used to cover smells and solvents that have their own particular smell.

As a dry cleaning plant owner, all of this talk about smells would make me very nervous. What smells good to one person does not always smell good to the other. (For a great article on why we like different smells, check out The Dana Foundation website). In fact what smells good to one person can be downright offensive to another. Can you afford to offend those customers who may not like the smell of your finished garment?

Whether you add a fragrance or not is a business decision that you must make. I know what I would do. If you do use a detergent or additive for the fragrance, I would never rely on this to cover up poor housekeeping and maintenance procedures in your dry cleaning plant. Distill your solvent, change your filters regularly, clean your water seperators, clean your base tanks and make sure you are reclaiming as efficiently as your equipment will allow.

One of the Merriam-Websters dictionary's definitions of smell is "to have an odor or scent". My question to all dry cleaners is how does your dry cleaning smell? Is it an odor or scent?

Watch Out for Dye Fading In Laundry

2011-07-14T00:47:00.000-04:00

I was in a dry cleaning plant today that had just ran a load of laundry that had dye fading. Apparently a multi colored shirt, which you wouldn't expect to fade on itself, did. Not only did it fade on itself, but it also got wrapped up with the other shirts and the cleaner ended up with about 20 shirts coming from the machine with varied degrees of dye transfering from the problem garment to the others.

When damp garments come in contact with one another, either before or during processing, dye transfer from one garment to another can occur. This is a frustrating and potentially expensive problem. Experienced spotting professionals know that the only way to solve this problem is through the use of bleaching products and advanced techniques.

Use a titanium stripper like Ready-Strip, which has been formulated to remove fugitive dye without harming fabrics. When used as directed, it can even remove fugitive dye from colored garments. Proper use of Ready-Strip will help avoid expensive claims due to dye transfer.

For Removing Fugitive Dye in the Laundry Wash Wheel

1. Make sure the chemical
addition port is clean and free
of any additive residues.
2. Rinse the load thoroughly
using water (room
temperature) and then drain
and extract.
3. Fill wheel to low level with
warm water at 120° F - 140° F
(50° C - 60° C) or to suit fabric
conditions.
4. After low level has been
reached and while the wash
wheel is turning, add 1-2 oz.
(30-60 ml.) of Ready-Strip for
every 1 gallon (3.8 ltr.) of
water.
5. Run the load until the
unwanted dye disappears, or if
there is no window to see
through, run 10 minutes, then
drain.
6. Rinse the load thoroughly with
cool water.
7. Remember, the hotter the water
temperature, the more
aggressive Ready-Strip
becomes. If necessary,
use higher temperatures
when removing unwanted
dye from white fabrics and
lower temperatures when
working with colored fabrics to
protect original base color(s).

Check Dry Cleaning Performance.

2011-07-01T11:06:00.001-04:00

I was surfing the internet and ran across an interesting You Tube video that I felt compelled to share with those that read this blog. The video was produced by DLI and offers a brief explanation of the Dry Cleaning Performance test. The cleaning performance test is designed to give an overall evaluation of your dry cleaning system.

Watching this video made me start to wonder about how many plant owners have actually used the cleaning performance test and if they have not, why wouldn't they? After all, aren't we in the business of cleaning clothes and what better way to show your customers how good you truly are?

Lets face it, a visual audit of cleaning quality isn't always the best indicator of your true cleaning performance. The human eye cannot always detect some of the cleaning issues that a CPT will uncover. Also, you may not have a good standard to which you can compare your cleaning quality with. The CPT can do this and more. It will tell you what areas of your dry cleaning process are lacking, eliminating the guess work and giving you the tools to which you can tune your dry cleaning system in order to produce the best quality of dry cleaning. And better yet, it will offer you a great way to quantify the true quality of your dry cleaning.

What a great marketing tool this could be. A dry cleaning plant owner could post these results in their lobby for their customers to see, similar to the way a restaurant does for their health inspections. Be proud of all the hard work that is invested in doing the best quality dry cleaning, do not just tell the customer you are better than the competition, prove you are better and seperate yourself from the competition!

If you are a dry cleaner that already uses the dry cleaning performance test, I invite you to post your plant name and website to my blog and tell the world about yourself.

Focus on Energy Savings and Maintenance.

2011-06-28T20:10:00.000-04:00

Here in the south, we are moving into the dog days of summer. Its been hot, families are taking their summer vacations, the general public is wearing less dry cleaning and many cleaners are starting to feel the pinch of all of this. Not to worry though, in a couple months things will be going wide open again and you will be wondering when you will have the time do many of the necessary maintenance items, let alone those items that are not as critical and are easily put off for another day. That is what I say now is the time to focus on those energy saving and money saving ideas that are often put on the back burner and in the end, continue to nip at those profit margins.

A few items you might want to consider to save you $$$$.

Check all the insulation on steam pipes and hot water pipes, making sure all are insulated. Not only can this save greatly on energy, but it can also cut down on the temperature inside the plant. This is a very easy, less expensive approach to saving energy that will definitely pay you back.
Check your steam traps to make sure the are working properly and not blowing through.
Check for steam leaks and repair or replace leaky valves. Often, all it may take is just a little turning of a pipe or packing nut around a valve stem.
Check and clean condensing coils on your dry cleaning machine. A clogged condensing coil can drastically reduce your solvent mileage.
Check the drying times, dry control and drying temperature on your dry cleaning machine, making sure all are operating properly. These can help to conserve energy and increase solvent mileage.
Clean the base tanks. Especially you hydrocarbon guys. Nothing can ruin your day worse than a bacterial smell developing in your dry cleaning machine. This can lead to lost production, angry customers, discarding of solvents, filter changes and can often be easily prevented. The base tanks are very often the culprit and are quite often overlooked when doing routine maintenance. It isn't a fun job, but it sure can save you the dollars in the long run.

The slower months also offer a good opportunity to do some housekeeping. Cleaning the lint and dust off the overhead piping is a nasty job and easily put off, but with the slower summer months this can be a good time to do this and a good way to give the employees some extra hours. This is also a great time for a fresh coat of paint, wallpaper or rejuvenating of the lobby. Nothing says "do business here" more than good curb appeal. Summer can be a slow time for us dry cleaners, but is also the perfect time to take advantage of this slowdown, in order to get ready for the busy months that will soon be on us.

Hot Solvent.

2011-06-20T23:07:00.000-04:00

Its mid June and the heat has been turned up a notch, here in the South. The Atlanta area has been averaging temperatures above 90F everyday this month. As I passed through Montgomery, AL today, the dashboard thermometer was registering 103F and just think, the summer is just getting started.

Days like this can wreak havoc on cleaning quality and solvent conditions, especially in those plants not using solvent coolers and those whose solvent coolers are not working properly. Regardless of whether you have a solvent cooler or not it is a good idea to make sure you are keeping your solvent in that ideal 70F to 90F temperature range. The following are several reasons to keep your solvent temperature in this range.

Hot solvent can create excessive wrinkling. Even though no extra moisture is being added in the cleaning process, natural moisture is always present in textile fibers. When solvent is hot this natural moisture and the heat of the solvent combine to produce creases and wrinkles which are difficult to remove.
Wrinkling also occurs due to hot solvent when processing heat sensitive synthetic fibers or blends containing synthetic fibers.
Hot solvent causes the bleeding of solvent soluble dyes, particularly in perc. This creates a solvent color control problem with the resultant dark solvent and shorter cartridge filter life.
Hot solvent sometimes results in the removal of color from garments containing acetate material that have been pre-spotted.
Hot solvent contributes to the formation of objectionable solvent odors.

All of the newer machines utilize solvent coolers, some of the older transfer units may not have one. If you have one, check your solvent temperature during the wash cycle to make sure it is maintaining a good temperature. If you do not have one, it is a little more difficult, but one of the methods that I have seen used, is to do the dry cleaning at night when temperatures are cooler or invest in one. It may just save you on claims, improve quality and extend the life of your cartridge filters.

Changing All Carbon Cartridges.

2011-06-15T21:35:00.001-04:00

Quite often one of the comments I hear in the field is regarding the misconception that because you have a light tank and dark tank or light machine and dark machine, you can let the solvent in the dark tank/machine get as dark as black coffee. Well, maybe not that dark, but pretty dark. While I would have to agree, that the dark machine or dark tank, does not have to be as clear as the light machine (which I would try to keep "water white"), the dark machine does have to be in such a condition that it is at least acceptable by DLI standards for solvent clarity, in order to prevent problems like the one I am about to explain.

Why do I say this? Today I was in a plant and a customer was complaining to the plant owner about the condition of the black pants he had just picked up. And while these black pants where just fine in appearance on the outside, on the inside where the waist band used to be white, he now had the prettiest shade of pink, something he had not requested. Which brings me to, are you changing your All Carbon cartridge filters enough?

While there could be a multitude of things that led to the dye problems that this plant experienced, for now I want to just focus on the life of an All Carbon Cartridge. I also want to tell you that the machine filter configuration was a spin disc filter with 2 All Carbon Cartridges on each tank.

Several factors affect the dye removal capacity of a cartridge filter. These can be 1) the actual carbon volume, 2) the type and quality of the carbon and 3) the design of the cartridge. (Puritan All Carbon cartridges exceed all the others in these 3 areas). So the first thing this plant owner could do is to make sure he is buying a premium cartridge filter.

Secondly, many equipment manufacturers recommend changing the "decolorizing" (all carbon) filter at a rate of every 3 months. While this sounds good and is easy to remember, you should actually be changing the filter based on the number of pounds of garments that are processed through that filter housing. This means you will need to be keeping track of the weight of the garments processed for both the dark tank/machine and light tank/machine. Using this method you will know when the approximate time comes due to change the filters, thus eliminating the guesswork. During this time you should always monitor your solvent clarity as the pounds of garments processed between filter changes can fluctuate slightly depending on the degree of loose dye you have entering your machine.

How many pounds will you be able to do with an All Carbon Cartridge filter? Based on research that was done quite a few years ago, it was determined that one (1) pound of activated carbon would be able to effectively control dye for every 280-300 pounds of textiles cleaned (when supplemented with at least 6 gallons of distilled solvent per 100 pounds of textiles cleaned). However, with the way today's garments are manufactured, there is more dye being released and in my opinion the actual life of carbon has been reduced because of this excess dye and the fact that only darks are being processed along with smaller base tanks on the machines (less dilution), to possibly as low as 200-250 pounds of textiles per pound of carbon and that is with the 10-15 gallons of solvent being distilled with the 2-bath processes that are so commonly used. Having said that, with an All Carbon cartridge having approximately 8 pounds of carbon, I would expect the life of that cartridge to be around 1800 - 2400 pounds of garments cleaned per cartridge on the dark tank. On the light tank, because of the lack of dye being introduced to the system, filter life can be significantly greater.

The good news is, there are a few things that can help to extend the life of your All Carbon cartridges:

Running a 2 bath program can help to remove a large amount of loose/fugitive dye and send it to the still, before the filtered wash, thus lengthening the life of the filter.
Pre-testing garments for loose dye and then running those garments in a "bleeder load" (off filter) or wetcleaning them, can help to prevent large amounts of dye from being introduced.
Using effective detergents can manage moisture in the dry cleaning machine better and cut down on the amount of water soluble dyes being released.
Maintaining a solvent temperature of no more than 80F.
And never believe that distillation is a substitute for carbon filtration. Distillation does not occur during the cleaning cycle. Only your All Carbon cartridge will remove dyes being released from garments during the wash cycle of the dry cleaning process.

The actuaI length of time an All Carbon cartridge filter lasts, is not etched in stone. There are many variables that can affect the mileage you experience from your cartridges. If you ever have questions regarding the life of your cartridge filters, contact your distributor/supplier or your manufacturers rep. Find out what you can do to get the most out of your filters and do not forget to change them regularly for the best possible quality.