Wasco Gen 4 water savings..

[jh]

I also have tried 1 wash and 1 rinse wash program for a while. What I have observed is that two spins seem to work well no matter how much sud there is as long as the amount of sud does not stop the machine. When the sud level is too high, my washer will stop during the wash and show an error message. When the drainage is fully or partly clogged, the lint acts like a filter to hold sud inside the basket while most of the water is gone. That's when my washers can generate that error message again. Also, fabric softener is a must to reduce the visibility of the sud. If you don't see it, it does not exist...The only situation I've found that 1 wash and 1 rinse cycle doesn't work well is when there is strong odor in the garments.

[epic02]

Originally Posted by MrMachine

I've had all the machines converted for about 2 months now, and only TWO customers noticed any changes. These two did pick up that the middle rinse was missing...Correction, what they actually noticed was that the middle SPIN was missing. Both those customers have come back, so it's not an issue, especially because they know that the new equipment out there is even more stingy with water.

I'm sorry but I don't know how my mechanics are doing this. It involves opening the timers, altering some of the cams in the timers and also they wire in a small black box on top of each timer. If you are in the NYC area I can hook you up with them.

Something I would be interested in doing is keeping all the rinses but just combining the two washes without the first drain. Customers might not notice as much when they see the soap being washed down from the second compartment. The only problem I might have is when customers put to much soap and without that first drain the soap will come out the soap compartment on the firs spin. On all my Unimac machines I created a duck tape water run off under the soap box. Since doing this I save myself a lot of door lock solenoids.

Don't think I'll be making my way to Noo Yawk any time soon. How much did they charge you to convert each timer? Can you take a picture of one? It's a lot of work to take out a timer and put it back with all the wires. Did they mark all the wires or make a diagram to where they go?

[MrMachine]

Originally Posted by epic02

Something I would be interested in doing is keeping all the rinses but just combining the two washes without the first drain. Customers might not notice as much when they see the soap being washed down from the second compartment. The only problem I might have is when customers put to much soap and without that first drain the soap will come out the soap compartment on the firs spin. On all my Unimac machines I created a duck tape water run off under the soap box. Since doing this I save myself a lot of door lock solenoids. Don't think I'll be making my way to Noo Yawk any time soon. How much did they charge you to convert each timer? Can you take a picture of one? It's a lot of work to take out a timer and put it back with all the wires. Did they mark all the wires or make a diagram to where they go?

Kenny,

Now THAT is an excellent creative fix for the Unimac Doorlocks!!
So simple yet effective (like my laxative, lol)
Seriously, that's a great simple, cheap fix.

I'm telling you, almost no one has picked up that the 2nd rinse is now gone.
I've even watched people stare at the machine all through the rinses and say NOTHING to me!

Virtually no one has picked up the combining of the pre-wash with the wash, and if they do, so what. That's just the way the machines wash nowadays....They still have the pre-wash to wet the laundry before they add bleach, so it's a viable concept. It just doesn't drop the water anymore.
I think no one notices because there was never any spin between them.

My mechanics are charging about $180.00 per Wasco, and a little more for Unimacs. They are also doing all other brands including Continental's.

I could take a photo, but my mechanics don't want anyone to reverse engineer what they are doing, which I can understand. Besides, there is this little black box they add, and they tape it up with tamperproof tape.

I do know this...there is more to this than just the timer. The water level switch has something to do with it as well.

[Howard]

I would bet you Dave L. could reverse engineer this for anyone here!

[Adamski]

Paul,

My guess is your technician is modifying a couple of fiber cams inside the timer ... most likely by filling in (eliminating) a drop-down area on those cams. Since the timer controls all machine functions, I really cannot imagine anything that the mysterious "black box" would do. Could the black box be empty? At any rate, this guessing game is kind of fun. Most importantly, I'm happy that this conversion is working well for you.

[Howard]

Or...., the black box might have some sort of relay in it to bypass the signal from the level control for a period of time.

[epic02]

Paul, does the $180 include the installation? Or do you put in the timer yourself?

Now, if that little black box can allow a customer to pay extra for a prewash or hot water cycle on those types of machines, that would be nice!

[MrMachine]

Originally Posted by Howard

Or...., the black box might have some sort of relay in it to bypass the signal from the level control for a period of time.

Hmmm.....sounds kinda interesting....

[MrMachine]

Originally Posted by epic02

Paul, does the $180 include the installation? Or do you put in the timer yourself?

Now, if that little black box can allow a customer to pay extra for a prewash or hot water cycle on those types of machines, that would be nice!

Kenny,

The $180 includes the whole "Phase 2" conversion, including the little black box AND the security tape, lol.

Seriously, you don't have to do a thing...just tell them what level you want.
You can choose:
Phase 1 - Which is just cutting the middle rinse.
Phase 2 - Cutting the middle rinse and combining the the presoak with the main wash (the most viable option for the public, imo)
Phase 3 - Cutting TWO rinses and combining the presoak with the main wash, basically giving you 1 wash & 1 rinse (good for drop-offs or running a special like Larry does with his E-cycles).

No the little black box can't make someone pay extra.
All I'm looking to do is to get 1 or 2 more years out of my beloved Gen 4's & Unimacs.
The writing is on the wall for them, even I know that.
In a couple of years, I'll break out my wallet and buy some new equipment that brings more flexibility, but I'll miss the Gen 4's.....the best commercial washers ever built.

But $180 per washer is FAR cheaper than buying new equipment. At least for the time being, nest pas?

[MrMachine]

I spoke to Jake, the owner of the mechanical repair service that I use.

He said it's ok for me to talk about the "Black Box".

In fact, here's an email from him:

To straighten out the terminology and give some deserved credit to the "little black box" please call it with its proper name: UCO. Once you grasp
this abbreviation which means Universal Control Overrider, it will be easier to understand its role in the washing machine. It was developed to "override"
controls of the existing pieces of machinery and customize them to the needs and wants of their user.
The device is universal because you can program it by loading the appropriate software for specific type of equipment its working on, that is how
UCO was introduced to the coin laundry market. Hardware is not that complicated - ARM microchip with set of relays, secondary components like low voltage transformer,
resistors, thyristors and auxiliary cables to wire the UCO board into the machine. Software is different from washer to washer because for example
Wascomat Gen 4 washers work differently from Speed Queen B-Micro or Galaxy computer controls. Similarity can be found with the ESD card system where
hardware is essentially the same (card reader, power supply) but software on the card reader chip and wiring is specific to model of the washer/dryer.
Or another example, Ipso Micro20 washers and Wasco Gen 5 Emerald series have a programmable chip on the board that lets the owner/operator
adjust the washing formula.

Like UCO works in other industries it works for all different kinds of washing machines (gen4, gen5, gen6, dexter, unimac, speedqueen, huebsch with timer
and any computer controls, ipso micro20 and much more) Since all the washers and their controls are different: some allow more customizations than
others, some don't allow any customizations at all, - UCO makes different options available. Even if Compass or A-Micro controls already let you customize
the number of Rinses, Spins between them, Wash time and Prewash presence, with UCO we managed to pull out additional 10-15% of water savings and the
washer was working just fine. When water savings and efficiency are not of the essence UCO can be used to increase/decrease time of the cycle or time
of specific cycle segment, or temperature of specific cycle segment, like getting hot water on the prewash for Wascomat Gen4. This require additional
customization of timer wiring and pressure switches but the bottom line is that it all can be done with the UCO. That is why it is important to go through
careful estimate and evaluation process prior to UCO installation to reveal what exactly will be done with this or that laundromat facility because options
and water savings are specific to the equipment installed there and needs/wants of the owner/operator.
Jake Sagalov

Here's a photo of one of their conversions. The "Black Box" (UCO), is mounted on the back wall of the control box. It's wrapped with tamperproof tape.
Also notice the coin sensing drop meter in the front on the right. It works very much like the "World Drop":
http://www.planetlaundry.com/forum/i...attach/jpg.gif