Laundry time at the Wilderness Territory in Wisconsin Dells, America’s largest water park resort, got a whole lot more economical, greener and cleaner with the installation of cold-water ozone laundry systems.

The EcoWash Premier Laundry System, manufactured and installed by the Ozone Co. LLC of McFarland, at the resort’s Glacier Canyon Lodge this spring will save more than $54,000 in laundering the 8,000 to 10,000 pounds of laundry washed every day for the lodge condos, says Peter Tennis, the resort’s executive housekeeping manager. Much of the savings comes from reducing the energy used to heat water, an expense that accounts for as much as 40 percent of an average hotel’s energy bill.

Prior to putting in the system at Glacier Canyon, the Ozone Co. installed another ozone system for towels from the Wilderness Hotel and Golf Resort. That’s now saving more than $34,600 a year, Tennis says.   

Energy savings is not the only advantage. The ozone systems reduce chemical and detergent use by at least 35 percent and water consumption by 35 percent, says Joe Eck, general manager of the resort. Adds Andrew Rupnow, president of the Ozone Co.: “The EcoWash system provides additional advantages such as reduced wash and dry time; superior disinfection and extended textile life and quality.” Textiles also last 20 percent longer when cleaned with ozone instead of chlorine.

Ozone is a molecule made up of three linked oxygen atoms. It is not combustible and converts back to pure oxygen shortly after use. It is far more effective and quicker than hot water or chlorine bleach in killing bacteria.

The EcoWash system involves three small units usually mounted on walls next to the washers. An air preparation system takes air and concentrates it to more than 90 percent oxygen. Ozone cells separate the oxygen atoms using an electrical arc and reassemble them into groups of three oxygen atoms, which is ozone. The third component, an ambient ozone safety monitor, can temporarily shut off the generator keeping workers safe in the unlikely event of high ozone levels.

What makes the EcoWash System better than other ozone laundry systems, Rupnow says, is an ozone diffusion system that supplies 400 percent more ozone throughout the washing process than other systems and allows the ozone to more easily dissipate into oxygen. The system also uses a plasma cell in the oxygen concentrator that generates ozone concentrations of up to 7 percent more consistently than cells in other units.  

The savings the Wilderness Territory enjoys from the ozone systems pays for the  investment in much less than a year, Tennis says. The Glacier system cost a little more than $45,000, and the payback will be in less than 10 months. The $34,600 savings from the Wilderness Hotel system, which cost $15,900, is paid back in 5.5 months.

The Ozone Co. has a shared savings program with interest rates of 0 to 2 percent through Alliant Energy that eliminates the need for capital and the risk of installing the systems for Alliant customers, according to Rupnow. Under the plan, the purchaser pays off the cost of the installation with money saved on the energy bill it pays Alliant.

Rupnow, who grew up in the Milwaukee area, entered the ozone business with his family in Florida in 2005, and returned to his native state in 2007 to start the first ozone laundry company here. Over the years his company has installed some 2,700 ozone systems and now has annual sales of about $250,000.

This year, the Ozone Co. used the know-how from working with the products of three other manufacturers to perfect its EcoWash system. It now produces these systems in Milwaukee. 

Looking to the future, Rupnow says he wants the emphasis for his company to be on manufacturing ozone systems, rather than installing the systems of other companies. The firm also installs ozone units for cleaning dairy equipment, disinfecting swimming pools and purifying the air.

By John Hill

You can contact John Hill by e-mail at jhoythill@sbcglobal.net.