What is a commercial washer?

Commercial washers are different from home washers.

First, commercial washers have a larger capacity. A typical home washer is 12 lbs. in capacity. Commercial washers start at 18 lbs. in capacity and can range up to 600 lbs. The two most popular capacities are 45 lb. and 60 lb.

A home washer from a big box store is lucky to last eight years. With heavy use they usually last under four years. Commercial washers are built to last much longer, typically 15 to 20 years. The bearings, motor, frame, and other parts are built to a higher standard and meant to last and be serviceable.

Commercial washers have specialized programs such as “white sheets”, “mops and rags”, or “terry” based on the industry that is using the washer. These programs are highly customizable. Each step such as prewash, wash, rinse, extract can be set with time, chemical injection calls, spin speeds, fill levels, and drain operation.

You’ll find these washers used in hotels, nursing homes, athletic departments, laundromats, gyms, and dry cleaners.

Commercial washers are either “soft mount” or “hard mount”. Hard mount machines are bolted to the floor. With the weight of the water and linen inside a commercial washer exerts a tremendous force as it spins. Imagine swinging a bucket of water around on a rope. Soft mount machines use shock absorbers and do not have to be bolted down.

Where as your home washer has a drain about hip height on the wall where the water is pumped up to a commercial washer does not have a pump drain. It has a gravity drain that comes out close to the floor in the back of the cabinet. The washer must be placed above a trough or hard piped into a plumbing drain with plenty of fall. It is common to use a metal base of around six inches in height to build enough fall for the drain.