The six week school holiday period is peak season for commercial laundry businesses in tourist hotspots all over the UK. To cope with a huge surge in business, KMD Cleaning & Laundry, based in the seaside town of Great Yarmouth, moved to larger, more modern premises in Spring 2019.
Founded in 2013 by Matthew and Kirsty Curtis, the business was originally cleaning only but the pair diversified into laundry services due to the proliferation of holiday accommodation in the local area. The new unit, based on an industrial estate in the centre of the town, has proved to be the ideal fit for the future growth ambitions of the business, but not without an initial hiccup.
When it came to installing the commercial washing machines in May, the installers soon discovered the drains to the rear of the building were for fresh water only; preventing the drainage of soapy water and effectively stopping the business in its tracks. The installers were keen to install a macerator, but following discussions with the local Plumbase builders merchant on the same industrial estate – and advice from the technical team at Saniflo – a more appropriate solution was found. The Sanicom 2 is a large lifting station that pumps away grey water through small bore pipework. With the ability to be connected to up to three large machines at a time, it takes the soapy water and pumps it up to the next floor, underneath a mezzanine floor and down into the existing waste pipes of a former WC which discharges into mains drains at the front of the building. With large volumes of water generated when all three machines are working simultaneously, the unit features two pumps that can work alternately or together. A hard wired alarm provides early warning in the unlikely event of an issue with the unit.
Matthew was unsurprisingly very happy to have found a very quick solution to the issue;
“The Sanicom 2 from Saniflo has effectively ensured our operation can carry on in this building. When we signed the lease we didn’t know about the fresh water situation, but the advice from our local merchant and Saniflo has enabled us to find a way around this and the unit has not faltered since installation. We knew we didn’t require a macerator, so we’re very happy we double checked and took advice on the correct pump for the job. At our busiest time it is essential that we can operate round the clock to meet our customers’ requirements.”
KMD Cleaning & Laundry currently service 134 holiday homes of all sizes in East Anglia. New premises, combined with an efficient, productive solution for discharging waste water, has meant the owners can further expand the business without issue.