[labnetwork] launderable cleanroom clothing

Fri Sep 22 12:18:21 EDT 2023

It was a waste of money. A standard but quality washer with a stainless drum is more than sufficient unless you are doing thousands of garments a week. With an off the shelf washer, you can get parts anywhere and any local repair shop can handle it. I also looked at it this way. If a good whirlpool lasts you 5 years at 800$ your $ up. An industrial washer can cost you $6000 easy. At that price you could replace the washer every 5 years and still be money up after 30 years. I would assume a good Maytag/Whirlpool/Kitchen Aid(all the same company) will last 10 years on RO water. DI water may shorten it life due to ION leaching in the plastics and seals.

Deon D. Collins

FACILITY MANAGER
The Grainger College Of Engineering UIUC
Holonyak Micro & Nanotechnology Lab
208 N Wright St Rm. 1114 | MC-249
Urbana, IL 61801
217-300-7531 | deonc69 at illinois.edu<mailto:deonc69 at illinois.edu>

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Under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act any written communication to or from university employees regarding university business is a public record and may be subject to public disclosure.

Life is not about watching other people live it. It’s about you living your own!

From: Brian K. Olmsted <olms0025 at umn.edu>
Sent: Friday, September 22, 2023 10:47 AM
To: Aebersold, Julia <julia.aebersold at louisville.edu>; Fab Network <labnetwork at mtl.mit.edu>
Cc: Ryan R Anderson <rrand at ucdavis.edu>; Kurt Kupcho <kurt.kupcho at wisc.edu>; Collins, Deon <deonc69 at illinois.edu>; Dennis Schweiger <schweig at umich.edu>
Subject: Re: [labnetwork] launderable cleanroom clothing

Hi everyone,

This has been an insightful and fascinating thread to follow. I've had the opportunity to talk with a few of you about our garment situation, and the outcome of those conversations has me looking into what it would take to get set up with our own washing machine and racking equipment, too. With the hope that I'm not shifting the conversation too much from the original post's topic, what is your experience or recommendations for what to look for in an industrial washing machine?

Thanks,

Brian K. Olmsted
Associate Director of Laboratory Operations
University of Minnesota | Minnesota Nano Center
cse.umn.edu/mnc<https://urldefense.com/v3/__http:/cse.umn.edu/mnc__;!!DZ3fjg!9cPE-epDgUps87TiABmgQgqSuDUpIs684UrVef7Cqh3jx6A9EuVcOmzDZpQArPAwdaf2ABYw2Nidns_cTZfdJA$>
612.626.3287
olms0025 at umn.edu<mailto:olms0025 at umn.edu>

On Thu, Sep 21, 2023 at 4:15 PM Aebersold, Julia <julia.aebersold at louisville.edu<mailto:julia.aebersold at louisville.edu>> wrote:
We do the exact same process here at the the University of Louisville.

Cheers!

Julia Aebersold, Ph.D.

Manager, Micro/Nano Technology Center

University of Louisville

2210 South Brook Street

Shumaker Research Building, Room 233

Louisville, KY  40292

(502) 852-1572

http://louisville.edu/micronano/<https://urldefense.com/v3/__http:/louisville.edu/micronano__;!!DZ3fjg!9cPE-epDgUps87TiABmgQgqSuDUpIs684UrVef7Cqh3jx6A9EuVcOmzDZpQArPAwdaf2ABYw2Nidns_9BW0i3A$>

________________________________
From: labnetwork <labnetwork-bounces at mtl.mit.edu<mailto:labnetwork-bounces at mtl.mit.edu>> on behalf of Ryan R Anderson <rrand at ucdavis.edu<mailto:rrand at ucdavis.edu>>
Sent: Wednesday, September 20, 2023 6:58 PM
To: Kurt Kupcho <kurt.kupcho at wisc.edu<mailto:kurt.kupcho at wisc.edu>>; Collins, Deon <deonc69 at illinois.edu<mailto:deonc69 at illinois.edu>>; Dennis Schweiger <schweig at umich.edu<mailto:schweig at umich.edu>>; Fab Network <labnetwork at mtl.mit.edu<mailto:labnetwork at mtl.mit.edu>>
Subject: Re: [labnetwork] launderable cleanroom clothing

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We do our own cleanroom laundry here at UC Davis too.   We use our own washing machine and student assistant labor; except we air dry the garments.  Much cheaper and much less of a headache than our previous relationship with Aramark.

Best,

Ryan Anderson

Manager, Center for Nano-Micro Manufacturing

1209 Kemper Hall
University of California Davis
One Shields Avenue
Davis, CA 95616

Phone: 530-601-3943

Email: rrand at ucdavis.edu<mailto:rrand at ucdavis.edu>

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________________________________
From: labnetwork <labnetwork-bounces at mtl.mit.edu<mailto:labnetwork-bounces at mtl.mit.edu>> on behalf of Kurt Kupcho <kurt.kupcho at wisc.edu<mailto:kurt.kupcho at wisc.edu>>
Sent: Wednesday, September 20, 2023 11:35 AM
To: Collins, Deon <deonc69 at illinois.edu<mailto:deonc69 at illinois.edu>>; Dennis Schweiger <schweig at umich.edu<mailto:schweig at umich.edu>>; Fab Network <labnetwork at mtl.mit.edu<mailto:labnetwork at mtl.mit.edu>>
Subject: Re: [labnetwork] launderable cleanroom clothing

At UW-Madison we have done something similar.  We have a SS industrial washing machine hooked up to RO water and an industrial dryer with HEPA filter.  We pay student hourlies to do the laundry, fold it, and put in gown room racks.  With laundry detergent and student hourlies we are probably under $1K a year on garment logistics.

Best

Kurt

Kurt Kupcho

Materials Science Engineer

Nanoscale Fabrication Center (NFC)

University of Wisconsin

1550 Engineering Dr.

ECB 3110

Madison, WI  53706

E:  kurt.kupcho at wisc.edu<mailto:kurt.kupcho at wisc.edu>

T:  608-262-2982

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From: labnetwork <labnetwork-bounces at mtl.mit.edu<mailto:labnetwork-bounces at mtl.mit.edu>> On Behalf Of Collins, Deon
Sent: Wednesday, September 20, 2023 9:03 AM
To: Dennis Schweiger <schweig at umich.edu<mailto:schweig at umich.edu>>; Fab Network <labnetwork at mtl.mit.edu<mailto:labnetwork at mtl.mit.edu>>
Subject: Re: [labnetwork] launderable cleanroom clothing

Good Morning,

Holonyak lab used a cleaning service until 2021. It was never a good solution. We continually had item lost, damaged,  mixed in with our returns and lost/damaged shipments. On top of that the manpower it took to manage the shipping deliveries and inventory moving around does not pay off. We ended up buying a quality top loader washer with a SS drum. We also ended up installing a small but effective RO on the water supply line, a bag sealer, properly sized bags, and a set of nice SS racks. We hang the cleanroom suites up to dry on the racking in the same space as our washer. Our washing machine is in a storage room which is within our clean room. As the garments a not porous there is little to no water, they dry quickly.  We also bag them for storage till they are required for swap out. Our losses have gone to near zero and we feel there is a better product provided to our cleanroom users. As we already owned our garments it was a no brainier. Our lab assistants process the laundry in the evening. We were spending thousands just for laundry services a year. On top of that the loses, damages and shipping were all recouped in a matter of months. Granted you will need a little assistance from the staff but it is worth it.

Hope this helps.

Deon D. Collins

FACILITY MANAGER

The Grainger College Of Engineering UIUC
Holonyak Micro & Nanotechnology Lab
208 N Wright St Rm. 1114 | MC-249
Urbana, IL 61801
217-300-7531 | deonc69 at illinois.edu<mailto:deonc69 at illinois.edu>

[cid:image003.png at 01D9EBC7.4684D530]<http://illinois.edu/>

Under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act any written communication to or from university employees regarding university business is a public record and may be subject to public disclosure.

Life is not about watching other people live it. It’s about you living your own!

From: labnetwork <labnetwork-bounces at mtl.mit.edu<mailto:labnetwork-bounces at mtl.mit.edu>> On Behalf Of Dennis Schweiger
Sent: Tuesday, September 19, 2023 12:59 PM
To: Fab Network <labnetwork at mtl.mit.edu<mailto:labnetwork at mtl.mit.edu>>
Subject: [labnetwork] launderable cleanroom clothing

Good afternoon all,

Here at the University of Michigan/LNF we've been using launderable garments for many years (Cintas is the provider).  We've had mostly good success, and our vendor has helped us to incorporate a simple suit modification to allow for better identification of individuals when they are in full garb.  As part of our due diligence for keeping costs under control, we'd be interested in comparing notes with other Universities that are also using an outside company to provide your laundry service.  Currently our laundry costs run us about $52K/year and we're laundering roughly 500 pieces of clothing every week.

Thank you,

Dennis Schweiger

University of Michigan/LNF

734.647.2055 Ofc

"People can be divided into 3 groups - those that make things happen, those that watch things happen, and those that wonder what happened."  Within which group do you belong?
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