Laundry Shop Must-Read: Dry Cleaner Safe Restart After Long-Term Shutdown

For any laundry shop, dry cleaning machines are the core equipment. After a long period of shutdown due to a long-time holiday, renovation, or business adjustment, directly starting up and running hides huge risks. From pipeline blockages, solvent leaks, to mechanical failures, all can lead to expensive maintenance costs and safety hazards. A standardized and thorough pre-startup preparation is not only the cornerstone for ensuring the stable operation of equipment, but also the crucial first step for laundries to avoid unexpected shutdowns and ensure production safety and efficiency. This guide will systematically sort out the core precautions for restarting a dry cleaning machine for you.

● Clean the dust on the surface of the machine

People should not use a damp cloth to come into contact with the computer board, electrical accessories, and the electrical control box of the dry cleaning machine.

● Check the high and low pressure gauges

Check if there is pressure on the high and low pressure gauges of the dry cleaner’s refrigeration system. 

In areas where the indoor temperature is below 0 degrees Celsius in winter (such as cities in northern China), if dry cleaning machines are not used for a long time, the cooling water pipes on the dry cleaning machines may freeze and crack.

If there is no pressure on the refrigeration high and low pressure gauges, the pipelines inside the condensation collector may freeze and crack. At this time, people should not supply circulating water to the dry cleaner. Otherwise, if water enters the refrigeration pipelines, it will not be easy to repair thoroughly, which will seriously affect the subsequent drying efficiency. People should contact the manufacturer’s technical personnel to confirm whether the refrigeration water pipes are frozen and cracked.

If the ambient temperature of the dry cleaner is below 0°C for a long time, and the cooling water is not blown dry before the dry cleaner shuts down, it may also cause the distillation condensation coil to freeze and crack.

● Check before restarting

If the dry cleaner is not used for a long time, staff in dry cleaning shops should check the joints and valves of the cooling water, high-pressure air, and steam pipelines connected to the dry cleaner before restarting. Especially the valves of the cooling water and steam pipeline joints, each must be manually opened slowly. Staff should carefully observe whether there is water leakage or steam leakage at each connection. Otherwise, once the machine is started, excessive water pressure and steam pressure may cause water or steam to splash onto the electrical accessories and electronic control system of the machine, resulting in unnecessary losses.

● Before powering on the dry cleaner after a long shutdown, people should first check if the air leakage circuit breaker is sensitive, and then confirm whether the phase sequence of the power wiring is correct and if the external line has been adjusted. Also, they should check and confirm whether the rotation direction of the solvent pump on the dry cleaning machine is correct to verify the correctness of its wiring.

● When restarting the dry cleaner, staff should manually operate each pneumatic valve to check if they all work normally and if each air valve opens smoothly. If there is anything abnormal, staff can disassemble it and add lubricant.

● If the fully enclosed petroleum dry cleaner has been shut down for too long, when restarting, it is necessary to confirm whether the solvent has an unusual odor and perform a thorough odor prevention process.

Conclusion

Following the standardized startup process seems cumbersome, but it is actually the most efficient investment for a laundry shop to achieve long-term stable operation. It can not avoid business interruption and economic losses caused by sudden equipment failure, extend the service life of dry cleaning machines, and ensure consistent washing quality. 

Kingstar always places the safe operation of the equipment and the high-efficiency operation of offline stores at the core position, and has a deep understanding of the risks and key points of restarting core equipment, such as dry cleaning machines, after long-term shutdown. In the equipment research and development and service support, it not only focuses on improving the stability and durability of the equipment itself, but also provides laundry shops with full-cycle support covering daily equipment maintenance, long-term shutdown maintenance, and restart inspection through a professional technical guidance system. Kingstar uses professional strength to build a solid defense line for the laundry shops and make a good hardware basement.