AtlSoapGuy
Atlanta, GA
Male, 52
I have worked in the dry cleaning industry for almost 30 years. I worked in my family's dry cleaning operation as a manager and owner. Currently, I write a blog for those in the dry cleaning industry, as well as work for a manufacturer of dry cleaning chemicals. Over the years I have spent in the dry cleaning industry, I estimate that I have been in over 2000 dry cleaners in the US.
The owners of dry cleaners hours tend to vary. I see some owners that will work upward of 80 hours per week and then there are the absentee owners who are rarely in the plant. I have seen dry cleaners be successful either way. With that in mind, I also find that the owners of dry cleaners tend to get trapped into the labor end (pressing, assembly, etc.) of running the business when they should be concentrating more on the management side of running their business. I feel that this is the bigger problem.
Most dry cleaners are open for 60-70 hours per week, so I do feel that good employees can be hired that will allow the owner to comfortably work a 40-50 hour week. Training your employees to know their jobs and provide the service that you are looking for, using your time to work on managing and marketing your business, and not allowing yourself to become tied to a production job in the plant will all help to move you towards making a profit.
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I wouldn't do anything else, take the garment out and allow it to hang dry, then take it to your drycleaner on Monday. Soaking in cool water and a detergent will be okay and can have some positive results from time to time, however, I would recommend that when stains occur, the best thing to do is to blot the stain with a dry cloth and then take it to a professional.
Hair dye can be a very difficult stain to remove, but it is fortunate that this is on a white garment. This will allow your cleaner to use more aggressive methods than if it were on a colored garment.
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I would do a couple things. First you want to make sure that your solvent has not become acidic. I would take a small amount of distilled solvent from the machine and an equal amount of distilled water. Mix them up, allow them to seperate and then check the PH of the water portion to make sure you do not have an acidic condition , usually less than 6 ph will be problematic. Personally, I have only seen this happen a couple of times, so i doubt that this will be the case, but it is a good starting point.
I would check the steam pressure on the still, making sure that you are not distilling at more than 50psi. Distilling at higher steam pressures could allow contaminants to come over in the distilled solvent.
Review spotting procedures making sure that whoever is doing the spotting is using correct procedures, rinsing out wet side spotters and levelling. Use POG's correctly, either using no flush POG's, rinsing them with VDS or at the least, using POG's sparingly.
Inspect the condensing coil on the reclaiming portion of the dry cleaning machine, making sure that it is clean and that air flow is not impeded.
Inspect the still condensing coil. This is one area that is often overlooked on machines with a little age on them and especially those machine using spin disc filters. In PERC machines especially, I find this to be the biggest source of odor. Over a period of years, contaminants such as lints, fibers, hair, etc. can accumulate on the condensing coil. These contaminants can be breaking down, carrying over to the water seperator and giving you a foul odor in your distilled solvent. Often your seperator water will have the same smell as your solvent. I would recommend pulliing the coil out, inspecting and cleaning it.
Once you have the coil cleaned, start cleaning up your solvent by distilling the DISTILLED tank first (you need to have an empty tank to send your newly distilled solvent to so that it will not mix with solvent that may have had some odor in it, that is why I start with the distilled tank). Distill all the solvent in the machine and the filter housings. I would add a charge detergent just for the first week (helps with any free moisture that may be in the system), then go back to whichever type of detergent you were using. You may also want to add a product like Freshtex to add a fragrance to the solvent.
I know that sounds like a lot, the distilling will take the most time, but I am pretty confident that your problem will be taken care of.
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Oxidized oil stains can be a very tough stain to get out. In fact, the vast majority of dry cleaners do a not have much success with these types of stains. Typically, they cannot be removed with wetside stain removal agents or bleach. They will require a dry side approach.
I would first pre-test the colorfastness of the garment in an un-noticeable area using the procedure I am about to outline, prior to actually using the procedure on the stain.
I would start out by applying a VDS and then tamp the stain with a brush. I would reapply the VDS and repeat this step. Next I would apply a POG and again tamp the area. Be patient and allow a little time for the POG to loosen the oils. Then flush the POG from the area with VDS. If this does not remove the oxidized oil stain, you will have to move on to a more advanced spotting technique using KOH (a chemical derived from the mixture of butyl alcohol and potassium hydroxide). KOH will work wonders on oxidized oil stains, but you will definitely need to do your homework and learn how to use it, as well as the safety factors needed before you start using this chemical.
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The dry cleaning operation is a production environment, not much different than a factory that produces goods. The clothes come in dirty and need to be tagged in for identification. From there the garments will have stains removed, then be cleaned, pressed, inspected, bagged and then placed on the conveyors for the customers to pick up. In most cleaners this will be the process for several hundred pieces each day. So as you can see, this salsa small factory that takes a dirty garment and turns it into a "like new" garment.
The front counter or point of sale is just that, point of sale or customer service. This position can often assist those in the production department, too.
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I suspect that the discoloration and subsequent dye transfer to another garment was either a result of improper stain removal procedures or failure to pre-test the stain removal agent used for safety on your dress.
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A hand pressed shirt will cost you between $3.50 and $5.00 in Atlanta. I would expect a press only shirt to cost you about the same. Laundered with starch is running from $1.25 to $2.25.
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