Hotel laundry capacity calculator
Turn pounds per day into the machines that have to move them. Enter volume, cycle times, usable fill and the hours the laundry is staffed, and this returns required pounds per hour plus the washer and dryer count that keeps up on a peak day.
Volume and operating window
Occupied rooms × pounds per occupied room
How much heavier your busiest day runs than the average
Sorting by classification means loads rarely hit rated weight
Equipment
Include load and unload time
washers
dryers
- Design volume (peak day)
- 2,131 lb
- Required throughput
- 152 lb/hr
- Usable washer load
- 54 lb
- Washer turns per hour
- 1.7
- Per-washer throughput
- 93 lb/hr
- Usable dryer load
- 67.5 lb
- Per-dryer throughput
- 90 lb/hr
- Wash loads on a peak day
- 40
How hotel laundry equipment sizing works
Sizing is a throughput problem, not a machine-count problem. A washer’s real output is its usable load weight multiplied by how many cycles it completes in an hour; the laundry needs enough combined output to clear the peak day inside the hours somebody is there to run it. Everything else — number of machines, pocket size, cycle selection — follows from that one comparison.
Where the volume comes from
Pounds per day is occupied rooms times pounds per occupied room. If you are still establishing that figure, weigh carts for a week alongside the day’s room mix from the staffing calculator, then check whether your linen PAR gives the laundry enough slack to run full loads instead of chasing the floors.
How this calculator works
| Output | Formula |
|---|---|
| Design volume | Pounds per day × (1 + peak uplift %) |
| Required throughput | Design volume ÷ staffed laundry hours |
| Usable load | Rated capacity × usable fill % |
| Turns per hour | 60 ÷ cycle minutes |
| Machine throughput | Usable load × turns per hour |
| Machines needed | Required throughput ÷ machine throughput, rounded up |
Assumptions and limits
- Cycle time must include handling. A 30-minute wash program is not a 30-minute turn once loading, unloading and transfer to the dryer are counted.
- Operators are the other constraint. Machine count assumes someone is there to turn them. Check the labor side in the laundry cost calculator, which reports pounds per operator hour.
- Utilities and installation are not modelled. Gas supply, electrical service, water pressure, drainage and floor loading decide what a room can actually hold; treat this as a shortlist, then confirm with a distributor.
- Defaults are illustrative. Rated capacities and cycle times vary widely by machine. Enter the specifications of the equipment you are actually considering.
Laundry capacity questions
Related hotel operations calculators
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