Drainage Basins are probably the 2nd best invention to be used by the Laundromat industry (the 1st being Laundry Card Systems). There are huge advantages for using Drainage Basins in Laundromats.
Drainage Basins minimize or even eliminate several problems associated with Laundromats. Drainage Basins can help solve the following issues:
The Drainage Basin provides a place for the suds to bubble up. Better to have the suds zone in the basin than the pipes.
Reservoir - Drainage Basins hold all of the washers drain water until the main drain can handle the excess water. The washing machines keep on moving through the cycle and are “happy” to be free of the waste water. Old pipe systems would have water filling into other washers due to the slow drain, but with a Drainage Basin the wash cycle continues on its merry way.
Commercial washers leak all of the time. Clamps are loose or water lines condense in the hot humid summer days. If you have a concrete washer slab you can pitch the concrete towards the drainage basin and any water that ends up underneath the washer will end up going down the drain.
Drain Basins have lint filters to catch the lint before it ends up in the main drain line. This filter keeps the maintenance and snaking of the main drain line to a minimum. Local plumbing inspectors love the lint filter and some states actually require a lint filter on the washer drain line.
Drainage Basins are expensive but the cost of the investment is offset by the reduction in plumbing costs to hook-up and connect all of the commercial washers.
Karl Hinrichs, President of HK Laundry Equipment Inc. has over 30 years of experience in the Coin Laundry industry in selling and operating Laundromat businesses. Karl brings a tremendous amount of "hands on experience" to the video below. Drain Troughs should be standard equipment in every new Laundromat store.