Project: The Making of a Rug Plant

[T Monahan]

There is more than one camel. Humphrey makes the move too:

 

[T Monahan]

First day arrival:



Clothes on to meet the twins:

 

[Kevin B]

Thanks for sharing. Care to share a work flow map, or did I miss it?

 

[Onfire_02_01]

I wouldn't want to be the guy pushing!

 

[T Monahan]

Thanks for sharing. Care to share a work flow map, or did I miss it?

There was a previous video that explained it briefly. I will detail that out later once the room is done and all the equipment is in place. This video shows we have a lot to do before installing the machines. The room first shown is the Tumble Duster chamber and the larger room is for the Rug Hanging System or what we call the Drying Room:

 

[T Monahan]

My thanks to Mr. Mann for selling this to me at a reasonable cost. It will serve as a great conversation piece where rugs are dropped off.

 

[Cleanworks]

Is your drainage system tied in to the sanitary sewer? What kind of permits or approval did you need

 

[T Monahan]

Is your drainage system tied in to the sanitary sewer? What kind of permits or approval did you need

Gratefully, the building came with an appropriate sanitary sewer and oil separator already in the floor. . Those details were part of the building requirements approved by the previous owners who had needs to wash in the warehouse. Washing that included trucks. Dumping waste tanks from their on-location cleaning trucks, etc. The previous owners were in the cleaning business as well as a vendor for equipment and chemistry in our industry.

As a precaution, I spent the funds and got an Environmental Study before buying the property. (Since buying the property and making improvements, we received our Certificate of Occupancy already)

This following video shows the location of these and how we intended to use the space as we proceed with how we would use the space

 

[Cleanworks]

That's something anyone wanting to establish a washplant needs to take into consideration. Although you are putting in a lot of work for your drainage system, I am sure that it is a rare building that already has the infrastructure installed. I love the size of your wash floor and the ability to get things wet without worrying where the water is going to go. Will you be using any wash down hoses and if so, what size and flow will you have and do you have to add any extra capabilities to the plumbing system. I am asking as I saw a video of a company using 1 1/2 inch hose to rinse their rugs.

 

[T Monahan]

Will you be using any wash down hoses and if so, what size and flow will you have and do you have to add any extra capabilities to the plumbing system. I am asking as I saw a video of a company using 1 1/2 inch hose to rinse their rugs

I have a 1" water supply off the meter from the city. It should be sufficient for all needs with the techniques we will likely employ.

Now let me comment philosophical and give you my opinion on big flow water pumps and hoses to flood "rinse" a rug. A lot of those big water flow systems are impressive to watch. However, much of the water is glancing off the rug and missing the purpose intended. Why? Because large volumes of water going down the drain never making contact with the rug. Much less going throw it. This would be problematic for me for at least three reasons. 1) The water bill will be unnecessarily high; 2) It may challenge the water conservation concerns of my clients in the community; 3) the ineffectiveness of rinsing with the big water volume splash approach that sees the highest percentage of water flowing never coming into contact with the textile, and obviously not even going through it.

In short, I believe it to be time and money wasted if that was the intention to accomplish.

So how does one start to insure rinsing through the textile occurs? That is, entering right into the pile, down into the foundation and out again?

With this objective in mind, I submit my opinion is as follows:

1. Rinsing with a MOR rinse/wringer has value for production plants processing many rugs a day. The compression will help drive the rinse water throw the rug. All the rollers act like a squeegee.

2. The Rug Sucker device used for rinsing is really effective. The vacuum draws the water through the rug. You can flush water through with a pump in a water pit as a rinse too.

3. The best option in my opinion, is rinsing in a spinning centrifuge. The G-Forces drives the water through the textile while conserving amounts of water introduced while spinning to reach the objective.

Each of the above techniques use varying amounts time to accomplish the tasks. From minutes of rinsing to only seconds using centrifugal rinsing, and this with less water usage.

Please note: These are just my opinions based on my experience as a rug washer.

 

[Nate The Great]

In your professional opinion, how much water does @rmann MOR rinse wringer use per minute? The reason I ask is that our building we own is shared and the water meter going through our neighbors before it gets to us... I'm been contemplating getting a storage tank with a pump to "wet out" rugs faster... We can only rinse what out spigot puts out... I've been using RubberMaid trash cans to wet them out and flush them faster... My pops tells me I'm one of the most impatient people he knows...

Hence the reason I'm looking into speeding up our rug washing process... Yes it takes time, but like @rhyde said, make the wash floor as big as you can and wash multiple rugs so you not wasting time doing 1 rug at a time... Space is a high priced commodity here in the land of the pineapples...

 

[T Monahan]

Good questions!

The original design of the 16' Moore Machine (Roll-A-Jet) came equipped with water manifolds and jetting/nozzles that deployed approximately a 100 gallons a minute when all opened at the same time. The machines we made for Robert Mann, Joe Gabel, and Edmond Hagopian featured nozzles on a moveable spray bar that were dialed down to give less flow but at higher pressure to simulate power washing. The other spray manifolds had adjustments in g.p.m. and p.s.i. too. These newer machines give the operator control valves to conserve water usage depending on the width of the rugs being conveyed through the machine. Perhaps you can get Joe or Robert to divulge their water usage with the changes made to their newly built machines.

Now concerning wetting out a rug: I agree that it is wise to have as big a wash floor as possible. This allows for operating on multiple rugs at the same time.

However you said, "Space is a high priced commodity" and that you are "impatient."

May I suggest in an effort to conserve floor space that you should consider acquiring a Wash Tub. We have over a hundred clients that find this to be a practical part of their rug care processing to save space and time. The Centrum Star Wash Tub has the ability to wet out a rug thoroughly and do much preliminary cleaning without human labor and precious space. You can trust the appropriate chemistry we suggest with putting multiple rugs in simultaneously.



[Note: I have a client that has 3 wash tubs in use before running those rugs being processed that way before he sends them rinsing through his two Moore Roll-A-Jets working in sequence. One 16' MOR behind the other]

By the way, I would be very happy to help set things up over there for you. I am always looking for excuses to go to the Islands.

 

[Chris A]

Very cool Tom. We recently purchased a 6200 square foot building this winter and will be (slowly) converting 2500 square foot or so into our long term rug cleaning operation. It looks like we will be doing many of the same upgrades

 

[T Monahan]

With 2500 square feet one must do a study of space and time. I hope you have higher ceilings than I do.

 

[Chris A]

I don't, 11 feet at the most

 

[Ron K]

With

Hey Tom "Lurkie" here what is the brand of epoxy you're using? And how high are you ceilings?

 

[T Monahan]

Click to expand...
Hey Tom "Lurkie" here what is the brand of epoxy you're using? And how high are you ceilings?

http://www.tnemec.com/

Product Description: Tneme-Fascure (Tnemec White) 0161-00WH 9

Ceilings are only 10'

 

[West]

Hi Tom,
This is a great thread, as I am on the front end of building a new shop! I do have a few questions:

-Could you please let me know the interior measurements of your drying room?
-how many poles system you are using (is there space to walk around all 4 sides of racks(?), or is it up tight to the wall?
-explain the heating/dehumidification system possibly for this area?
-curious of the amount of electrical outlets you put in for blowers to assist in drying?
-Size of door opening?
-kind of door used for dry room?

-Also if you had to build a shop from scratch, what height ceilings do you think would be ideal for a rug washing plant. BTW I live in a small area and we will never be a super high production plant, like in the big cities.......

Sorry so many questions! Thanks!

 

[Chris A]

With 2500 square feet one must do a study of space and time. I hope you have higher ceilings than I do.

We're doing it now in about 700, and parking our trucks there also so the new space is a huge improvement

 

[Cleanworks]

I have about 1100 sqft with junk occupying a lot of it. I use about 4-500 sqft for cleaning. I have 9 ft ceilings which allow me to hang a 10 by 14 rug without touching the floor. I have 4 - 12 ft poles and am about put in a 5th. I used to work in a shop with 20 ft ceilings. It was a real luxury to be able to work beneath the rugs.

 

[Nate The Great]

My rug tower has 13 poles 18' in length that hang about 23' in the air..

They used to be longer but wouldn't fit our new shop.. We were able to go higher, but had to shorter our poles..

We also have the problem with junks taking up much of the space..

 

[Cleanworks]

My rug tower has 13 poles 18' in length that hang about 23' in the air..

They used to be longer but wouldn't fit our new shop.. We were able to go higher, but had to shorter our poles..

We also have the problem with junks taking up much of the space..

That's some nice capacity. I did a bunch of rugs today but still had one left over. I would like to get a better shop but my rent is really good where I'm at

 

[T Monahan]

Hi Tom,
This is a great thread, as I am on the front end of building a new shop! I do have a few questions:

-Could you please let me know the interior measurements of your drying room?
-how many poles system you are using (is there space to walk around all 4 sides of racks(?), or is it up tight to the wall?
-explain the heating/dehumidification system possibly for this area?
-curious of the amount of electrical outlets you put in for blowers to assist in drying?
-Size of door opening?
-kind of door used for dry room?

-Also if you had to build a shop from scratch, what height ceilings do you think would be ideal for a rug washing plant.

Please note my disclaimer: The design is per my ideas based on the building size, dimensions and intended work flow in 8 hour shifts.

Dry Room: 20' X 17'
The Dry Tower will have 16' poles. There will be 14. The cabled free standing structure is designed within a footprint of 17' X 17'

There is currently 5 circulating fans within the 3' space along the one side of the Drying Tower. These are hard wired in with a dial timer on/off switch outside the room. That same sidewall will have duct work delivering hot air near floor level from our specially design Cambridge Unit that Centrum Force collaborated the custom development use for drying rugs predictably for their customers. It will be showcased at my facility. Part of the system has an evacuator fan to be installed near the ceiling on the opposite side of the room to release humid air rising to the exterior/outside of the building. The unit will deploy about 160°F into the room and will maintain a constant temperature between 125°-140°-ish. There will be a timer to custom control the drying time.

The room design is to maximize space without waste. NO intention was in the design to walk around the structure except for maintenance needs on the 3' X 17' sidewall where the fans and ducting are located.

The door opening is 7' high and 12' wide. An insulated commercial door on rails will be used. (A common garage door)

Various 115/120 volts wall outlets will be installed on perimeter walls. This will be used for additional fans, vacuums and other tools if needed.

If I had a choice, I would love to have at least 20' ceilings.

 

[T Monahan]

The Cambridge unit as it operates: Make up air comes from outside. Outside air then passes through motor and then through proprietary stainless steel burner into the drying room.

The dimension of the unit is only 55" in length by 21 1/4" height and 21 1/4" depth.
12.3 amps
Weight: 235 lbs.
1200 CFM
Input 250 MBH
Output 230 MBH

 

[Chris A]

Looks spensive!

 

[T Monahan]

Looks spensive!

Is a $6500 unit really that expensive for what it does predictively for rugs? This is often a choke point for plants. You want the rugs dry overnight. This insures this. Actually faster.

 

[T Monahan]

Dry wall work done in warehouse! Working on priming ceiling:

 

[T Monahan]

Needed to make sure there would be NO bleed through from what may have been in the ceiling paint. Soot and oily stuff from over the years. Used an oil base product before doing the texturing technique, the 'knock-down' look, tomorrow.

 

[Chris A]

Is a $6500 unit really that expensive for what it does predictively for rugs? This is often a choke point for plants. You want the rugs dry overnight. This insures this. Actually faster.

Not really, I'm on a Coors light budget at the moment though!

 

[Nate The Great]

Champagne dreams on a coke-a-cola budget........ I feel your pain...