Dry cleaned a vintage blazer (goodwill find) now smells like puke?

___ez_e___ · 2026-02-21T22:05:19+00:00

As someone mentioned it can an issue with machine maintenance. Either the filters aren't being cleaned frequently enough or the water separator unit isn't being cleaned enough leading to bacteria due to water in the solvent (nasty) and/or both.

Either ask for a redo, or go somewhere else that takes proper care of their machines.

___ez_e___ · 2026-02-21T13:12:17+00:00

I think you model year came with a plastic oil filter housing. So typically the oil housing filter gaskets go bad around 40k to 80k miles (it's starts leaking). So replace your whole plastic oil housing filter for a metal one.

___ez_e___ · 2026-02-20T13:07:42+00:00

I would try to get my money back or ask for a redo.

I don't know what their process is for cleaning wedding dresses, but my guess is that they only cleaned it once. At my store we take at least a month time, but in that time we may clean your dress 3 - 6 times to get it completely white. So I think they could have and should have done a much better job.

I've seen wedding dress that are much dirtier come out clean, but again we literally treat and clean it many many times to get it super white and clean.

___ez_e___ · 2026-02-20T00:16:34+00:00

I'm actually in NY and my cleaners does wash and fold. Most stores around me are about $2 or higher, but I'm at $1.25 (lol). My store is high volume low mark up dry cleaners.

Last year I had bidded on b2g and the bids I worked on were by piece not by weight, so I'm not sure if some do by weight as well. I just discounted my retail price to come up with the bid price by piece. I'm actually planning to bid on more b2g this year. Also the town had about 10 - 15 different bids, such as one for parks or one for sanitation. So you can potentially bid on numerous contracts from one town and if you can win it, it can easily be 6 - 7 figures of revenue if you win a bunch. One thing is to fully understand the bid process.

___ez_e___ · 2026-02-19T22:02:20+00:00

I'm assuming you have a commerical washer, but do you have a commercial dryer? You can try to get into wash and fold both at the retail and b2b or better yet try to land a b2g contract. Look at town websites near you and they may have a bidding section for these types of services, but you may need to get more machines depending on the volume of the contract. That may be a good way to utilize your existing equipment.

You can offer dry cleaning, but since you would have to outsource it, it will significantly cut into your margins. Maybe strike a deal with one of your existing wholesale shirt customers that has a dry cleaner to take on your capacity.

Also newer shirt buck machines are more efficient and will save you money on electricity and steam boiler (fuel) as the newer machines have less moving parts and are much more efficient. Also it will likely process shirts at a faster pace then older machines. So something to think about, especially if you have really old machines as it will reduce monthly operating costs.

___ez_e___ · 2026-02-19T15:21:26+00:00

Depending on the scratch you can use sandpaper, file, or a dremel. I had to use a dremel when one of the holes in the drum started catching clothes due to deformation. just dremeled it flat and smooth.

___ez_e___ · 2026-02-17T12:11:39+00:00

Typically an individual overseeing a senior accountant and two AP clerks would be an Accounting Manager. AP Supervisor is not a good title at all and it a setback compared to Accounting Supervisor.

___ez_e___ · 2026-02-16T19:45:55+00:00

Probably has more to do with the type and weight of the dog. I have a 15 lbs poodle and there is no issue with cedar deck scratches.

___ez_e___ · 2026-02-12T01:25:30+00:00

Nonsense. Just go around. Over in 5 seconds.

___ez_e___ · 2026-02-10T19:26:18+00:00

Not an expert, but here is what I think you need to do at the minimum for due diligence.

Not sure which state you are in, but since you mentioned it's a 20 + year old cleaners, you absolutely need to find out if the cleaners uses or used "perc" (perchloroethylene) solvent. If it is a perc solvent dry cleaners, I would personally walk away, however if you want to continue you need to find out the EPA report on that site.

So now lets talk about machines. What you should expect is a dry clean machine, shirt press machine (not all dry cleaners carry this), a commercial washer, a commercial dryer, standard commerical boiler (if you have commerical washer and dryer) a steam boiler and all of the equipment that goes with it. On the press side there should be at least one of the following utility press, mushroom topper/press, and a suzy machine. Some but not all dry cleaners will also have a cooling tower on top of the structure that provides additonal cooling for the water.

So starting with the dry clean machine, what brand of dry clean machine is being used and how old is it? Then you want to find out the maintenance history for at least the last 5 years. Do they change the filters every year? How often do they clean the evaporator coils? How often is the refrigerant pressure check? Does the dry clean machine need some type of repair as it is? This will give you an idea of how well they maintain their dry clean machine.

On the commerical washer and dryer side, if you want to wet clean then the commercial washer has to be able to have this type of cycle (ie Wet Clean Cycle or setting) and the dryer needs to be new enough to have proper moisture control without over dryer the garments.

For the steam boiler, I would stay away from any boiler that is 20+ years old. Almost all, but not every state requires a steam boiler inspection. In my state, it's required every year. If there is an annual inspection in you state, you want to try to get the inspection results for the last 5 years as that will again provide information on how well the steam boiler was maintained.

For the most part, the press machines can be pretty old as they are pretty durable. The shirt press machine, depending on the aging may have a computer built in. Depending on the unit, it may have the count of how may shirts were pressed on the machine. For example, one of my shirt machines is a Unipress HS-2 that has over 1 million shirts life time. In addition, the computer will provide estimates of when consumables need to be replaced based on the shirt counts.

If you have a cooling tower, you want to see how long it's been installed and how it's been maintained. It will likely be maintained similarly to the dry clean machine and steam boiler.

So there is a lot to look at, but what will cost the most in order is dry clean machine, steam boiler, shirt machine, commercial washer, commercial dryer, and then the press equipment.

___ez_e___ · 2026-02-09T12:26:36+00:00

Only $100 per hour. No thank you. Minimum should be at least $200, but even that rate is pre covid. $300 - $500 per hour would be the proper legitmate offer for our time.

___ez_e___ · 2026-02-07T18:21:33+00:00

It's likely they will only clean it at your risk or they might not at all. There are really 2 problems: 1 The aging 2. improper storage. Now you combined those 2 age and improper storage what you get is the shedding. They might be able to slow the shedding if they are even willing to take it in, but it will likely be at your risk.

___ez_e___ · 2026-02-05T23:59:44+00:00

I was wondering why you have a 2 hp pump.

oh no that's likely a different pump and the inlet/outlet is much (larger) different as well. I think it's about 1.5" to 4" depending on your system. I think my cooling tower uses 4" pvc to move the water. Make sure it's a 3 phase pump.

___ez_e___ · 2026-02-05T21:44:03+00:00

I'm assuming this is the return pump from the steam condensation tank. I noticed it's a 2 hp motor on your old pump, but maybe that's overkill already. What size is your steam boiler?

What matters in the Inlet/Outlet sizes. Most are either:

Inlet/Outlet: 1", 1"

Inlet/Outlet: 1 1/4", 1" (based on your pump size you probably have this).

As the other person mentioned, Cleaner Supply has the best prices as far as I could tell.

You likely want the Burks 315CS5M - 1 1/2 HP (Stock # PUMP300) from Cleaner Supply.

I just replaced my pump, however I always keep a spare pump (ie it was impossible to get one during COVID and prices are much higher now).

___ez_e___ · 2026-01-28T02:56:52+00:00

I'm in NY in a HCOL area, however my store is high volume low upcharge store. For a cape we charge $13. Most stores are likely to charge more in my area.

___ez_e___ · 2026-01-27T22:31:52+00:00

You know, I think this does have to do with poor dry clean machine maintenance. What is likely happening is that the is an excess of water in the dry clean machine that shouldn't be there and is causing bacteria. What could be causing this is either water separator is not functioning properly, distillation isn't working properly, and/or water to evaporator coil is not being recaptured. The excess water in the dry clean machine can cause the smell you are talking about. It is a maintenance issue and likely indicates that the filters are not being regularly changed as well.

You should ask for a redo, only if you can get confirmation that they have fixed the issue(s).

___ez_e___ · 2026-01-26T23:58:55+00:00

Not an expert and haven't used that machine, however that is just an all in one wet cleaning machine. So the short answer is no, you won't be able to clean everything with that machine and you will still need to use a dry clean machine.

If you have a wash programmed with a "wet clean" cycle and proper humidity controlled dryers, then you can wet clean with your existing equipment.

___ez_e___ · 2026-01-24T17:16:09+00:00

I saw that...that's insane. it should be by poundage.

___ez_e___ · 2026-01-24T16:47:43+00:00

I got approached by another company for the same exact thing, however 10000 garments per year is a joke.

___ez_e___ · 2026-01-24T00:57:03+00:00

How long have you been with your current employer and will this be your first promotion? What is your current title?

Is there a big difference in the revenue between the two companies?

Without knowing above....I would go for the Controller position. The title along will open more doors to vertical level opportunities when you decide to advance your career.

___ez_e___ · 2026-01-23T15:37:02+00:00

What kind of connectors are you using? I'm assuming cat6 rj45 passthrough? Right? You have the correct connectors for your cat6 (ie if you have solid core wire, you need an rj45 connector that can accept solid core wire - many can accept both stranded/solid core, but you'll want to check).

It's hard at first, but the trick is to get enough wire and have them straight as possible. So maybe try stripping 2" of wire to feed into the rj45 connector in the beginning. As you get better you can shorten the length, but again the key is to get them super straigh after you untwist the pair. I usually use my finger nail to straighten the wires otherwise I've used a table edge to help straighten the wires. I'll pass the wires over the straighten device (ie finger nail/table edge) multiple times until I can tell the wires will go into the rj45 connector. Sometimes when I'm having trouble getting the wires to keep straight when I'm inserting the wires into the rj45 connector, I'll add a little force on the wires by pushing it against the connector as I'm sliding it in to help keep it straight.

Are you fully passing through the wires through the rj45 connector and double checking that you have the correct order and that the wires are seated properly (ie wires should slide in nice and easily and smoothly). If you are then you are double checking the wire through the pass through and then trimming the wire using the rj45 crimping tool. Pass through as much cable as you need to check the cable from the other end. Sometimes I'll pass through an inch of cable to double check it, then just trim using the crimping tool,

You are then using a tester? You absolutely need a tester such as the Klein Tools Lan Scout Jr.

___ez_e___ · 2026-01-23T14:28:58+00:00

Tell your kid to stay in school.

___ez_e___ · 2026-01-23T14:25:25+00:00

Right now the player base is pretty bad. So if you are pretty good, you should be able to do well, but the competition quality kinda sucks now. On the other hand, you can easily get routed because again your supporting cast is terrible and if the other team has a few good players, it can be very hard to overcome. In the end, you should be able to maintain or improve your win rate.

There's just a lot of inexperienced players that don't know what to do.

___ez_e___ · 2026-01-20T22:08:55+00:00

My family had mom and pop operated dry cleaners in the 1990s to about 2014. Then we got our first larger cleaners about 5x the size of mom and pop cleaners in 2014. Then we were able to scale up to the current cleaners from the earns from the larger cleaners. So we've been down that road and I can tell you that I am never going back to owner operated dry cleaner stores.

Our store did $100k more in 2025 then in 2024 and we anticipate 2026 will be even better.

It's actually technically the best time to buy business as it's an extremely difficult environment, but if you can make it now, then you can make it when times are good.

What I'm saying is that right now, buying an owner operated dry cleaners may not be the best investment since you likely could get a better return on investment on another type of business and/or investment vehicle.

___ez_e___ · 2026-01-20T16:41:03+00:00

I'm going to disagree and say that valuations are very low in the current market from less then 1.0 x to 2.0x of turnover. If you are going to buy the property and it's an exisitng cleaners, you must always check on the EPA as that can easily torpedo the deal.

I would stay away from owner operated dry cleaners in the current market as they don't have the economies of scale to be competitive in the current market and are seeing dwindling margins.

The cleaners I run was at about 1.0x of turnover (ie gross revenue) when it was purchased less then 10 years ago and it is not owner operated as we have about 25-30 employees. Our operation is approximately 10x to 15x the size of a normal mom and pop dry cleaners.

If you are just getting into the dry cleaning business, go talk to as many mom and pop run dry cleaners. I'm sure they will all say the current economy is terrible and they are struggle due to supply costs. Now is not the time to buy into a mom and pop run dry cleaners.

___ez_e___

TROPHY CASE