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Month: April 2024

George Barclay

Whether it’s a high street launderette or a closed-doors commercial facility, quality equipment is central to any laundry business. But what’s the right setup for a new laundry business? And is it possible to find the right balance of durability, cost and energy efficiency, and user-friendliness? Let’s take a look at what every laundry business needs to succeed.

Clean towels in a commercial laundry room

The right building and location

Before anything else, you’ll need to make sure your building itself is fit for purpose. This means the building meets all building and health and safety regulations, has a suitable and efficient layout, and offers enough space for your staff and/or the public to do their laundry safely. (For more on how we design and fit out a new laundry, check out our laundry room animation here.)

Health and safety is, of course, critical. At JLA, we provide an extensive range of fire safety products ranging from detection systems to fire doors, along with regular servicing and certification to keep your operation safe and compliant.

When you’ve ticked all your building boxes, you’ll also want to make sure that you have an energy-efficient boilers in place to keep your laundry business running effectively operation. As with our fire protection solutions, JLA offers a range of wall-hung and floor-mounted commercial boilers that suitable for the demands of commercial businesses, and ready for future advances including hydrogen.

Durable washing machines

Commercial and industrial washing machines are the backbone to any laundry business, and for good reason. Unlike domestic machines, commercial washers are designed for robustness, larger capacities, and more reliable performance over thousands of cycles. When some commercial laundry machines end up running almost constantly, it can make all the difference.

At JLA, we’ve brought together clever features and innovative design to make our JLA SMART washing machines faster, greener, stronger and smarter. These machines combine industrial-strength build quality with state-of-the-art digital intelligence to deliver truly optimised, next-gen performance that’s perfectly suited to the tough demands of a commercial setting.

If your laundry business features a front-of-house launderette, you’ll want to consider coin-operated washers and contactless washing machines for your customers’ convenience. (Contactless, however, is likely to be the future.)

Commercial tumble dryers

Teamed with your washing machines, commercial tumble dryers bring reliability, durability and efficiency to your operation, cycle after cycle. Again, modern dryers come in various capacities and sizes, with many of them stackable to save extra space. JLA’s dryers also use large doors that make them quick and easy to load and unload.

To see JLA’s range of efficient gas and electric dryers for commercial laundries, head over here.

Professional finishing irons

Professional clothes irons are usually used back of house in laundry businesses to finish clothing to a high standard and deliver those all-important premium results for your customers.

Built to last, and designed with constant use in mind, JLA’s commercial irons have been developed to help businesses process their laundry quickly and efficiently. Why not explore our ironing range?

Fixtures and fittings

Alongside your core washers and dryers, getting your laundry operation up and running will need a whole set of fixtures and fittings. These might include commercial-grade furniture to create a comfortable waiting area for your customers or staff. By investing in detergent dispensers (sometimes called auto-dosers), you’ll enjoy a more streamlined workflow and help your customers and staff minimise waste and cost. And with easy-to-understand signage in place, you’ll make sure your machines are used properly, minimising potential downtime.

Elsewhere, a commercial boiler will deliver the high-volume hot water you need for effective cleaning. And then you’ll most likely need sturdy laundry carts, baskets and storage solutions to make sure you’re safely moving and holding large quantities of laundry.

These essential fixtures will all play an important role in ensuring you can run a professional laundry service from day one.

For more advice on choosing the right commercial laundry equipment for your laundry business, feel free to contact JLA’s friendly experts.

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What is CQC Regulation 9A, and what does it mean for your care home?

The CQC has introduced Regulation 9A to make
sure residents in care homes, hospitals and hospices enjoy the right to visitors and accompaniment.

This fundamental standard came into effect on 8th April 2024, and recognises that visits and quality time spent with loved ones are essential for the emotional wellbeing of residents – particularly after the extended periods of isolation we saw during earlier stages of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Care home staff and visitors

However, guaranteed visits also bring potential risks in the form of colds, coughs and other airborne illnesses, which is why Regulation 9A puts a lot of emphasis on care homes taking proportionate steps to reduce exposure and make sure visits can go ahead, even for the most vulnerable residents.

This means that taking a fresh look at your home’s personal protective equipment should be a critical part of your infection control strategy.

Proactively achieve Regulation 9A compliance with JLA air filtration units

JLA’s air filtration units offer a powerful, proactive solution for care homes looking to create a safer environment and help protect vulnerable residents, staff and visitors alike.

Our units use medical-grade HEPA 14 filters, the gold standard in air filtration, to constantly remove viruses, fungi, bacteria and other harmful pollutants from the air. The unit works away quietly within the room to continuously and proactively remove bacteria and viruses from the air.

What’s more, every unit includes an activated carbon filter to remove odours and give communal spaces a welcoming fresh-air scent, even with the windows closed.

We’ve even found that our air filtration units are helping providers to reassure their care staff that they’re working somewhere that prioritises their health.

Enhance your care home’s infection control with JLA’s filtration unit

Here’s what makes JLA’s filtration units the perfect choice for making the air safer in your care home:

  • Enhanced filtration – JLA units boast 40-50% extra filter media compared to comparable air purifiers, which means they more efficiently capture airborne contaminants.

  • Lasting power – JLA filters last up to twice as long as competing models, reducing waste and generating cost savings in the long run.

  • Energy-efficient by design – JLA units use up to 50% less energy than competing models, adding up to lower energy bills and a smaller carbon footprint.
Ailr filtration unit
  • Guaranteed peace of mind – thanks to clean room-standard HEPA 14 filters, our units remove a staggering 99.995% of harmful particles, including the coronavirus.
To learn more about how JLA can support your care home and help you navigate new CQC guidance, simply contact us today.

CQC Regulation 9A webinar for care homes

Helen Buchan, Infection control expert webinar

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George Barclay

It’s easy to see why so many ask if a domestic washing machine can be used in a commercial setting. After all, they both wash clothes and often look indistinguishable from one another, but the truth is you’d be mistaken in thinking that a washer you’d find at home will have the robustness needed for industrial facilities.

Let’s take a look at the key reasons you should be choosing a commercial washer over its domestic counterpart.

Touch dryer

Built to last

Commercial washers are strong by design and specifically built to cope with the high demand of continuous laundry. Whilst many domestic washers can withstand daily use trying to keep up with family life, they may only amount to 5,000 cycles of laundry in their lifetime which cannot service the needs of a commercial enterprise. JLA washing machines are tailored for this longer lifespan and can offer up to 30,000 cycles of commercial washing.

Cost savings through large scale laundry

Commercial washing machines are usually much larger than domestic ones, and when it comes to the likes of care homes or hotels for example, scale is everything.

The larger drum capacity and higher spin speeds of commercial washers makes it easy for businesses to wash en masse and ensure quicker drying times, reducing energy costs.

For comparison, a typical family-sized domestic appliance will have a 10 kg drum capacity. JLA washing machines range from 7 kg to 180 kg to cover both lighter commercial laundry needs all the way up to industrial-sized washers.

Same day repairs

The benefit of specialist laundry equipment is that there are specialist engineers to go hand in hand, ensuring you never experience downtime for long. Due to the relative low cost of domestic washers, engineers are not very common for repair works with many providers choosing to simply replace rather than repair. With JLA Total Care, if your commercial washer needs a hand we can send out an engineer within 8 hours to investigate.

Pre-programmed cycles

Commercial washing machines often have more advanced controls and settings than domestic ones, which allow businesses to customise their washing processes. Commercial machines benefit from the ease of pre-programmed controls, including sluice cycles for environments where there may be soiled laundry. Domestic washers do not have this functionality, giving little choice but to opt for hand sluicing at a greater labour cost.

Hygienic technology

Commercial washing machines have thermal disinfection properties, not found in domestic appliances, which are particularly important for care homes and healthcare environments. JLA’s washing machines have thermal disinfection solutions and OTEX, which disinfect laundry on a low temperature providing reassurance at a low, energy-saving cost.

Business regulations compliance

Not only does using a domestic washing machine in a commercial environment invalidate the appliances warranty, this will also mean you’re not covered for insurance or repair purposes if you experience any issues.

In keeping with safety and industry standards, businesses are required to meet WRAS (Water Regulations Advisory Scheme) standards when it comes to laundry. Category five is required particularly in health and social care environments where foul and infected laundry is present. This is to mitigate the spread of infection, and it’s a standard that simply isn’t met in domestic appliances.

If you’d like to find out which is the right washing machine for you and your business, talk to our commercial laundry experts today or visit our commercial laundry equipment section for more product information. 

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Commercial equipment: Domestic vs commercial guide

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Here’s a look at why schools and colleges are reconsidering outsourcing to explore the benefits of an on-site laundry room – and its potential savings.

When’s the best time to install new equipment at your school?

Having worked closely with hundreds of schools and other education settings we know how challenging it can be to plan and carry out major works without disrupting your students’ learning. It’s why, whether it’s kitchen, laundry room or heating system upgrades, timing is everything when it comes to installing new commercial equipment.
Helen Buchan

JLA’s Infection Control Expert, Helen Buchan, explains the importance of air filtration in care homes. The energy efficient air filtration units are designed to reduce airborne infection transmission using medical-grade HEPA filters. This reduces the need to open windows, saving on energy bills and keep staff, visitors and residents safe.

Watch our video to learn how your care home can benefit from air filtration units

Limiting the spread of infection

Helen discusses the following benefits within a care home environment to limit the spread of infection, protect care continuity and improve energy efficiency.

  • Reduces the need for residents to isolate or avoid social contact to reduce the transmission of infection.
  • Manges the risk of visitors in communal spaces who could bring in and spread bacteria and viruses by creating ‘clean air spaces’ whereby relatives are still able to visit.
  • Ensures windows don’t need to be opened as frequently in order to save energy and subsequently reduce bills.

Discover JLA's range of air filtration units

JLA’s filtration units proactively reduce the spread of infection and the cost of managing outbreaks in a way that does not negatively impact on the quality of residents’ lives with medical-grade filtration technology.

Thanks to cleanroom-standard HEPA14 filters, which work to quickly remove germs from the air, our filtration units are highly effective against all airborne viruses and bacteria, including coronavirus.

Picture of Helen Buchan, Infection control expert
Helen Buchan, Infection control expert

Helen has been with JLA for seven years, and makes sure our customers enjoy the right mix of products and support, from installation right through to planned maintenance.

Learning, research and development are central to Helen’s role – having led extensive testing of our products, she has an unrivalled understanding of what works best for our customers.

Helen also has deep insight into the ever-shifting regulations that impact all the sectors we serve. Working closely with our sales, marketing and operational colleagues, she understands customers’ needs and makes changes or introduces new products where necessary.

Awards and accreditations
• Panel member for BIM4Housing
• Nominee for Influencer of the Year at the Women in Fire Safety Awards 2023
• Won the Spirt of JLA Award 2022

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Any horse owner will know that to promote excellent skin health, manage infection and maintain excellent care standards, good stable hygiene is absolutely essential.

Invest in a horse rug commercial washing machine, and you’ll not only have a reliable way to tackle heavily soiled laundry, but will maximise the life cycle of your expensive rugs and blankets.

Equestrians and stables

Commercial washers are better for clean laundry in stables

During day-to-day use, hair, sweat, dirt, dust and bacteria regularly come in to contact with horse rugs, blankets and other stable products. These products can then cause horse skin irritations, fungal infections or more serious infectious diseases like strangles if they aren’t cleaned properly.

While you can obviously wash horse blankets and other items in a cheaper domestic machine, it will be unlikely to keep up with the weight and size of your heavy items, or the disinfection needs of your operation.

A commercial horse rug washing machine, on the other hand, is purposely designed to handle heavier loads and consistently achieve disinfection, making it a better, more hygienic and longer-lasting choice.

Equine laundry equipment for busy stables

Whether you’re looking after a stable, showground or tack shop, you’re likely to have a huge variety of laundry items that require regular cleaning and disinfection.

Wondering what size washing machine is best for horse rugs? Well, with a larger capacity commercial unit installed, you’ll be able to tackle everything from blankets, rugs and boots, to head collars, risers and numnahs, as well as your riders’ clothing and general stable attire. In the largest units – some of JLA’s handle loads up to 100kg – you’ll even be able to clean your half pads and saddle pads, quickly and efficiently.

JLA SMART washing machines are also robust, energy efficient and have smart features that allow them to achieve the optimum water, energy and detergent consumption on every cycle.

Controlling infectious diseases with OTEX

Infectious diseases like strangles can seriously endanger a stable if they’re not identified and addressed quickly, with linens and other cleanable items easily transmitting dangerous illnesses.

JLA’s ozone OTEX ozone disinfection system is trusted by equine facilities all over the country as an energy-efficient alternative to traditional thermal disinfection. It uses the natural power of ozone gas to destroy 99.999% of harmful bugs and diseases, and does this on a cool wash.

This means you benefit from cost-efficient hygiene and infection control that saves you energy as it works. And because OTEX is gentler than thermal disinfection, your disinfected items will not only smell like fresh air, but will last even longer.

Read our full article on how OTEX can help to manage an equine disease out break.

For more about JLA’s equine commercial laundry equipment, why not speak to one of our experts?

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George Barclay

George Barclay

Laundry Expert

Head of Installations George joined JLA as an apprentice service engineer in 2011. With years of experience in plumbing, engineering, electrical and mechanical engineering, he oversees the delivery of safe, compliant installations.

George is Gas qualified for both laundry and COMCAT 1, 2, 3, 5, and holds IOSH Managing Safety and 17th edition accreditation.

Read George's full profile
Helen Buchan

Helen Buchan

Infection control expert

JLAs infection control expert, Helen is always seeking ways to bring new solutions to infection control challenges, and is also passionate about sourcing the best range of products to help customers stay compliant, reduce energy consumption and costs.

Learning, research and development are central to Helen’s role – having led extensive testing of our products, she has an unrivalled understanding of what works best for our customers, as well as the ever-shifting regulations that impact them.

Read Helen's full profile

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