A more aggressive chemical process including an alkali, detergent or oxygen bleach, can mean less processing time and lower re-wash percentages for high-stained items.

For cotton linen that’s low-to-medium soiled, it’s possible to load your washer with a degree of loading (DOL) of 1:10 (1kg per 10 litres dry volume), and for high soiling 1:12 (1kg per 12 litres drum volume). This means you need to underload by 20% for high soiled items, in order to increase mechanical action and improve cleaning performance.

Making use of a five-stage wash is recommended for flatwork, i.e. a pre-wash and main wash of 65C for ten minutes, then three rinses – meaning the full cycle will take up to 60 minutes to complete. The pre-wash, along with an alkali, is used to remove sediment before adding temperature, detergent and/or bleach to the main wash. This main wash is where the majority of cleaning occurs, and to ensure thermal disinfection the ten-minute program time should only start once 65C is reached.

High temperatures ensure the quickest possible dry times.

To ensure the best possible flatwork ironer performance, bed linen requires a specific moisture content – meaning it’s critical to use a dryer with a residual moisture control (RMC). This stops at the ideal moisture content – ensuring low labour and best ironing results are achieved.

Large flatwork needs to be processed in a dryer with a reversing drum, as this stops “knotting” and “balling” – improving energy efficiency and saving 7-10 minutes of drying time.

To ensure the best possible results and lowest processing times it’s best not to fold flatwork, so it’s important to communicate linen sizing with your equipment supplier. For smaller applications or where space is limited, a smaller ironer may be the only possible solution and a fold may be needed – however, often linen must be processed twice, and this labour component must be factored in.

Normally mops and cloths can’t handle temperatures above 70C, so it’s recommended to wash at 65C for ten minutes in order to ensure the best possible cleaning and thermal disinfection.

Over time, an alkali will cause damage to microfibre, so less aggressive chemicals must be used – ideally, only detergent.

A washer shouldn’t be loaded to capacity, and normally a DOL of 1:15 is recommended. A 2/3 load is needed to maximise mechanical action and compensate for simpler cleaning chemistry.

It’s recommended to use a 5-stage wash process for low-to-medium soiled items, with a 6-stage process being used for high soiling, i.e. two pre-washes, a main wash and three rinses. Always using high water-levels to achieve the best results.

To avoid damage to fibres it’s important to use lower temperatures.

To avoid over-drying items and damaging fibres, only choose a dryer with RMC.

This is less critical for smaller cleaning items, though it’s still recommended to break-up the bundle and shorten dry times.

For PPE and uniforms your temperature should be garment-specific, i.e. it should be tailored according to the care label and supplier recommendations. It may not be possible to achieve thermal disinfection through these means, and you may need to rely on chemical disinfection using bleach or ozone.

Again, this is garment and soil-specific, i.e. a low-soil garment may only need a detergent, where a high-soiled butcher or miner uniform may need the use of aggressive chemistry to remove protein and grease stains.

Light-to-medium soiled items can be processed at 1:12, and high-soiled items at 1:15. PPE is generally made of synthetic materials that need a higher level of mechanical action, and high-soil levels in uniforms need a more aggressive wash action to clean effectively.

A five-stage wash cycle is most common for PPE and uniforms – however, this can also increase to seven stages as many high-soiled items need two pre-washes for pre-sluicing and sediment removal, then a main wash with a detergent, a main wash with an oxygen bleach and three rinses to effectively remove chemistry.

Normally a medium-to-high temperature is used for PPE and uniforms, though this again depends on the fabric type and care label.

Use of an RMC is less important for PPE and uniforms, as uniforms with varied thickness – areas like collars and cuffs, for example – will often confuse an RMC system. This is therefore normally run on a time-based cycle, in order to ensure all areas are dried effectively.

It’s important to use this when processing PPE and uniforms, in order to ensure items are evenly dried.

For front-of-house staff, uniforms may need professional finishing with an ironing board or press. Both of these will achieve a satisfactory result, but a press is often quicker for high volumes. A steam boiler is often needed to relax the fibres of completely dry items, and a vacuum motor is used to remove moisture and keep items dry.