Material solutions

Setting out the basics for productive ironers

1 May 2009



Regular checks on the ironer will help to prevent faults that can lead to poor quality and even to damage to the ironer. Ian Harris explains


The laundry industry has done a magnificent job in improving washroom productivity and lowering energy and water consumption and is now turning its attention to the ironer line.

Three factors are driving this move: customer complaints about the quality of the finished sheet or pillowcase; the cost of the energy used and wasted in the ironer line and hotels’ increased use of duvets and therefore more duvet covers being sent to the laundry.

However, attention to basic details and making sure that laundry staff can recognise and correct ironer common faults will make the ironer line more cost-effective and help to avoid complaints.

Good taping is vital

Single-roll ironers do not need guide tapes but they are essential for multi-roll machines. Without tapes to guide the damp linen, it would stop dead after passing the first roll and then concertina up until there was sufficient material behind to push the large wad of hot damp fabric into the next roll.

This would lead to the drive gears on the rolls getting stripped, the springing being flattened and the ironer bed becoming warped and twisted.

The guide tapes are normally placed at regular intervals

(250 – 300mm apart) across the width of the ironer. This provides just the right amount of resistance on the linen’s surface to stop it from catching on the horn of the bed between each of the rolls as it passes through the ironer.

However, even with the guide tapes in place, the damp material can still catch and stick on the horn of the bed between the

first and second roll.

This could be caused by any of the following factors.

The bed could have cool spot, caused by wet steam or faulty air-vents or faulty steam-traps.

There are deposits on the ironer bed, resulting from hardness salts, poor rinsing, dressing from new fabrics or from the excessive use of starch.

The steam pressure is low. This can occur when too many machines are drawing steam simultaneously or if the boiler’s capacity is insufficient for the plant.

The vacuum venting on the first roll is poor. This could be due to poor waxing procedures, old ironer clothing and debris blocking the roll, the vacuum not being turned on or the adjusting plates for the vacuum flow not being set correctly.

The individual guide tapes should be evenly distributed across the entire width of the ironer roll to ensure that even larger items, such as king and queen-size sheets, will pass through the ironer with straight leading edges.

Even one or two missing guide tapes across the width of the ironer roll will lead to localised dragging on items and “wine glass” creasing that can run into the sheet for a metre or more. This applies especially to high-speed production units handling more than 1,000 sheets per hour.

Even if all of the guide tapes are in place, creasing can still occur if the tape is not correctly tensioned.

Take a close look at the guide tape bars and you will normally see a counter-balance weight on each of the tape guide-rollers. This counter-weight will compensate as the tape stretches with continued use and the tensions placed upon it during the ironing process.

Reducing risks of creasing

Each successive roll on the ironer should be running marginally faster than its predecessor (by about 5mm per turn for an 800mm diameter roll). This ensures that the item being fed into the ironer is pulled out flat and reduces the risks of creasing.

As the guide tape is continuously under tension hour after hour, it will gradually stretch and become slack. Ironer supervisors should be trained not only to look out for missing tapes and ensure they are replaced as soon as possible but also to check the tension weights on the guide tapes to ensure that tapes have not become too slack.

To avoid tape faults therefore managers should routinely check that all ironer guide tapes are in place and that the tension is correct.

Strange brown marks

In theory, “ironer sweating” should be a problem of the past. It used to occur because laundries did not fully understand the importance of factors such as vacuum performance, moisture retention and consistency of steam pressure. However, it has started to become a problem again, often because supervisors do not have sufficient experience.

This problem will normally produce a brown, rust-coloured, watery stain and the imprint or pattern of the ironer clothing or spring padding is often clearly visible in some or all of the stained area.

The problem occurs when the vacuum system has failed to remove the dampness from the ironer clothing before the roll has completed its turn and is entering the in-running nip to process the next damp item.

The item being ironed then immediately comes into contact with saturated fabric, rather than with dry porous fabric as it should.

As well as being saturated, the clothing is also fairly heavily contaminated with hardness salts, residual alkali and rust from the spring padding underneath.

This contamination then transfers to the clean item being ironed, producing brown/yellow/beige “sweat” marks. These not only spoil the appearance but can also be difficult to remove.

Technical managers can test whether a mark is caused by ironer sweat by using a proprietary rust remover (a solution of either hydrogen fluoride or ammonium bi-fluoride in water). Taking the proper precautions for handling rust remover, they should put a droplet onto the mark. If it contains rust it will change from brown to colourless.

When starting the ironer, especially in the morning after the line has cooled down overnight, the machine must be allowed to run at full steam pressure and without any linen for 10 – 15 minutes. This will ensure that the clothed rolls and all surfaces have reached the optimum working temperature and that any condensation from the atmosphere (attracted into the roll clothing overnight as it cools down) evaporates effectively.

The vacuum on the rolls should also be running during this

warm-up period so that any moisture is sucked through the clothing and vented to the atmosphere, so that the rolls are completely dry and have the maximum porosity.

Smoother leading edge

Not only does this improve drying performance but it will also improve the leading edge. If the roll surface is still wet going into the in-running nip, the coefficient of friction between the roll surface and the item being ironed is low and the edge will not be taken-up smoothly. The corners of a hemmed napkin will fold over.

If the ironer is not warmed-up adequately before the line starts production, the damp rolls will immediately start to become wetter as the first items are fed into the ironer and the moisture from these items will evaporate and soak into the roll clothing. The clothing will become saturated to the point where the moisture starts to mark-off onto the linen going through the ironer.

This type of sweating can also occur if the beds are not waxed correctly.

The perforations in the roll (through which the moisture is drawn by vacuum) gradually become smaller and smaller as the wax builds up around the edges of the hole.

The perforations will become clogged up and the airflow reduces dramatically and eventually stops completely.

As a result, the moisture evaporated from the damp items being fed into the ironer cannot be exhausted to atmosphere and the roll clothing becomes wetter and wetter until it again starts to mark the items going through.

Periodically examining the ironer clothing will identify the problem.

Turn the ironer on and set it to the lowest speed that allows a visual inspection of the roll clothing surface.

If the clothing is “screwing-off” the roll where it has not been anchored properly, the fault must be corrected immediately as the uneven roll diameter can severely damage the roll driving gear. In extreme cases it can also warp and twist the bed.

The result will be costly replacements, reduced quality leading to customer complaints and a loss of production.

If the ironer is sweating, close inspection of the roll clothing will normally reveal rusty coloured “water marks” at patchy intervals over the clothing. If this is happening, the rolls should be completely stripped of clothing to check that the perforations are clear. This is also a good time to check the condition of the spring padding on the rolls and replace any springs that are missing or damaged.

If the perforations are clogged, check the air-flow through the roll vacuum exhaust ducting.

Blockages of wax in the ducting are a significant fire hazard and they can also lead to the ironer sweating.

This inspection may also be a good time to re-clothe the rolls.

When doing this it is essential to use the roll girthing tape – a metal strip that is calibrated and fits perfectly round each roll so that laundries can check that the rolls are all correctly supplied. These strips will be supplied with most new ironers.

Over- or under-clothed rolls will not only reduce quality and production but also lead to excessive friction causing strain on the driving gear and bed damage. Over-clothed rolls are especially prone to this problem.

Making regular checks on the ironer will ensure efficient working, reduce its maintenance costs and improve quality.




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