Laundry companies like ourselves have spent decades refining our equipment to be as easy to use as possible, but this can sometimes make a successful wash look far simpler than it actually is. There are four key variables that must be considered to achieve clean and hygienic laundry.
- Temperature,
- Time,
- Chemicals, and
- Mechanical action.
These variables will all alter slightly depending on what is being washed, and your desired level of hygiene, but here are our general suggestions.
#1 Temperature
While all of the factors for washing are equally important, the temperature can significantly influence the quality of your clean. Higher temperatures can increase the effectiveness of your cleaning chemicals, and also reduces grimes ability to stick to a surface. However, high temperatures can cause damage to some garments so you will need to assess this on a case-by-case basis.
The Australian Standards set out the requirements to achieve thermal sterilisation as washing for 3 minutes or more at 71 Celsius, or 10 minutes or more at 65 Celsius. Speed Queen machines make it easy to achieve thermal sterilisation by giving you programming control, so you don’t need to dip your laundry in lava-hot water.
#2 Time
Time is another critical element of successful commercial laundering, as the longer garments spend in the machine, the longer that the temperature, chemicals and mechanical action have to clean! The time spent on each garment will depend on what it is. Some thinner garments like silks may be damaged by a longer cycle, whereas thicker garments such as towels will have no such problem.
#3 Chemicals
The chemicals are where the magic happens. Different kinds of chemicals will have different methods of removing soils, so understanding how each do this, and what garments they are effective on is critical to your ability to effectively clean your laundry. Much like with other cleaning products, you should consider factors such as PH levels, alkalinity, chlorine and iron content, and be very careful about what you mix.
Additional chemicals such as fabric softeners or conditioners can be used in addition to your cleaning products, to protect whatever you are washing and preserve the garments 'softness' from the harsher chemicals.
#4 Mechanical action
The mechanical action simply refers to the circular motions of the washer. This repeated action helps the chemicals in breaking down the soils on each garment, reducing the time needed to fully clean it. Similarly to time and temperature, too much action can damage whatever is in the machine, so ensure that you are using an appropriate cycle for what is being washed.
Finally, you should ensure that your procedures are up to scratch because all the theory in the world means nothing if your staff aren't using the right cycles for the right garments.
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