Daily — 10 minutes
Every day
- ✓Clear every dryer lint screen
- ✓Wipe washer door seals and glass
- ✓Check for any machine displaying a fault code
- ✓Empty and check coin boxes on schedule
Weekly — 30 minutes
Every week
- ✓Open and vacuum the full lint chamber on each dryer
- ✓Inspect door seals for tears, hardening or trapped debris
- ✓Check drain troughs and floor drains for standing water
- ✓Test one machine on each bank through a full cycle
Quarterly — half a day
Every quarter
- ✓Clear inlet valve screens on every washer
- ✓Inspect drain valves for debris on the seat
- ✓Check belt tension and look for glazing or cracking
- ✓Verify gas connections with leak detection solution
- ✓Confirm each machine is still level on all four feet
Semi-annual
Twice a year
- ✓Clean the complete vent run to the exterior hood
- ✓Inspect the exterior vent hood for damper damage and nesting
- ✓Check burner flame quality and colour on every dryer
- ✓Test high-limit and cycling thermostats
Annual
Every year
- ✓Check cylinder bearing play on every washer
- ✓Inspect and re-torque electrical connections at the terminal block
- ✓Replace worn door seals proactively rather than after a leak
- ✓Clean inverter heat sinks and cooling paths
- ✓Review repair spend per machine against replacement cost
Spare parts kit
Keep on the shelf
- ✓Door seal and glass for your most common washer size
- ✓One drive belt per washer capacity on the floor
- ✓One inlet valve and one drain valve
- ✓Limit and cycling thermostats, plus an igniter
- ✓A coin acceptor
- ✓One washer controller if the floor is over ~15 machines
The three things that actually kill machines
Restricted venting. Every dryer failure mode traces back to airflow eventually. A vent run past its rated equivalent length, or one that has never been cleaned past the lint trap, will cook thermostats, igniters and eventually the drum bearings.
An out-of-level machine. A hard-mount washer that is not level puts the entire out-of-balance load into the bearings on every extract. Floors settle. Check levelling annually even if nothing seems wrong.
Deferred bearing replacement. Bearings announce themselves — a rumble on extract, then play at the cylinder. Replaced at that point it is a $52 part and an afternoon. Left alone it takes the shaft and the seal with it.
A machine-days-lost figure of more than about 50 per year on a 20-machine floor usually means maintenance has slipped, not that the equipment is finished. Run the retool calculator before you assume you need new machines.
Straight answers
Maintenance questions
Lint screens every day. The full lint chamber weekly. The complete vent run, from the machine to the exterior hood, at least twice a year — more if the run is long or has multiple elbows. Restricted venting is the single most common cause of dryer high-limit trips and the leading fire risk in a laundromat.
Door seals wiped and inspected weekly, inlet screens cleared quarterly, drain valve inspected quarterly, belt tension and bearing play checked annually. Levelling should be re-checked annually because floors move and an out-of-level machine destroys bearings.
Blue Whale USA machines are rated for a 200,000-cycle / 20-year design life. Reaching it depends almost entirely on venting, levelling and whether bearings get replaced at the first sign of play rather than after failure.