Cleaner, greener, dryer

Ian Juleff’s clothes dryers have been doing a roaring trade after all the rain.

Blainey Woodham

TERRIBLE weather for drying clothes means business booms at the Clean and Green Laundry in North Lismore.

Owner Ian Juleff said his Terania St store had attracted customers from as far away as Pretty Gully, Tabulam, Jiggi, Dunoon and The Channon.

"Our business has increased fourfold in the wet weather," he said.

"Business is usually dead during the flood because people are not able to get in, but as soon as the roads open we are flat out. The machines have to be up and running in record time because the dryers have to go all day."

Mr Juleff said the persistent rain over the past week let him collect two month's worth of water for the laundromat's washing machines.

"The tanks are overflowing but the rain hasn't been too good for the solar hot water system," he conceded.

He has a 3.5kW solar power system and a 1000 litre solar hot water system.

Mr Juleff said in wet weather people sometimes needed to visit a professional laundry, but customers today were also conscious of their energy use.

"The alternative communities like us because we're clean and green and have a good reputation," he said.

"A lot of people just stay here and have a chat to me and because I'm always here people are also happy to leave their clothes and I'll have them ready to go when they get back."

Lots of people accidentally leave coins in their pockets, which Mr Juleff returns to them after he finds the coins in the washing machines.

Once he found an envelope containing $7000, which a customer had left in their jeans.

"It was like one of those game shows with thousands of dollars flying around in the dryer," he explained.

"I packed all the money up and when he came back in, I said, 'Have you lost something?'."

The wet weather has also led to increased dryer sales.

"We've had people both making inquiries and purchases," Harvey Norman Lismore sales manager Matt Topper said. ."

Simpson and Fisher and Paykel were propular brands for dryers.

"There is the traditional dryer which runs on a timer but there's a better model now which has a de-humidifying centre which doesn't over dry or under-dry your clothes or waste power," Mr Topper said.