Laundry Equipment Brands and Why We Use Wascomat
For those who own or operate multi-family housing, commercial residential buildings, or laundromats, choosing the right commercial laundry equipment is key. There are a number of commercial laundry equipment brands on the market. Selecting the one that best meets your needs can help you establish (or reestablish) your laundry business on the right foundation.
To help you to make the best choices, we’ve put together a breakdown of some of the best commercial laundry equipment brands.
Speed Queen
Speed Queen has been in the laundry business for over a century. They offer a wide range of commercial washers and dryers for multi-housing laundry rooms and on-premise laundries. They are a leading hotel laundry equipment brand, as well.
Speed Queen offers a generally high-end product, and as a result, features a high-end price tag. On some models, the coin box is sold separately.
Maytag
Maytag’s commercial laundry equipment line includes front-load and top-load washing machines, a range of dryers, and stackable options. According to their website, with Maytag washers and dryers, you get durable equipment that stands up to frequent use, and they get reliable equipment that’s there when they need it.”
While we like the Maytag equipment, their more affordable options feature a smaller capacity than competitors. Their 27-inch model, for example, comes in at 3.1 cubic feet.
Whirlpool
Like others, Whirlpool offers a variety of commercial laundry equipment. Their website describes a product that can withstand heavy use, and that can be configured “to fit any need.
Non-pay, coin drop, and coin slide options are available in traditional top-load, front-load, and space-saving combination washer/dryer and stacked dryers.”
Whirlpool features one of the shortest warranties on the commercial market, at just 2 years. Their most affordable washing machines have a very small capacity–coming in at only 2.9 cubic feet.
As iPropertyManagement puts it in a systematic review, “The washer capacity is the smallest of all offered. The whirlpool warranty isn’t the worst offered, but it’s pretty close.” On the other hand, they do include the coinbox.
Electrolux
Laundrylux makes two lines of commercial washers and dryers. These include the Wascomat equipment line that we’ll discuss below, and Electrolux.
Electrolux splits its product line between laundromats and on-premise laundry solutions. Electrolux prides itself on producing the “most advanced commercial washers and dryers ever made — with owner profitability and customer satisfaction designed into every feature.”
According to the Laundrylux website, Electrolux commercial laundry equipment includes features like:
Load weighing and water adjustment
Advanced water savings in the drain valve
“The highest extraction speeds in the industry.”
Consistent power balance
Reverse drying cylinders
And more.
Like Speed Queen, Electrolux is a high-end brand, with a high-end pricing structure.
Wascomat
Electrolux’s sister company, Wascomat is the brand of choice for SelfOp Laundry. Like Electrolux, Wascomat offers a wide range of professional laundry equipment for both laundromats and on-premise laundries. And like Electrolux, Wascomat prides itself on top quality, high-tech equipment.
According to Wascomat’s website, they have “developed intelligent software which increases the wash performance and extends the machine’s lifetime.”
But the reason that SelfOp Laundry prefers Wascomat over their competitors is that they also feature a range of high-quality equipment that is considered semi-professional. The Encore line is built with the same exacting standards as the full professional line, and features:
A longer warranty than Whirlpool
A larger capacity in a 27-inch machine than Maytag or Whirlpool
A lower price tag than Speed Queen or Electrolux.
As Wascomat explains on their website, “Our semi-professional machines are painstakingly built from the ground up with superior design, engineering, and professional-grade components. The end result is a line of machines built to endure 15,000 cycles, providing our customers with two to three times more value than the competition.”
The Encore line is “Built with professional-grade components and loaded with premium features, Encore offers strength, durability, and performance to achieve optimal business results.” Wascomat says that it is “ideal for laundromats, multi-housing laundry rooms, hotel guest laundries, healthcare facilities, and much more.”
At SelfOp Laundry, we believe that “A laundromat or commercial laundry is only as profitable as its equipment will allow. If you want to see the highest returns, you need the best coin-operated laundry equipment available. You need Encore.”
