Laundry for University of Ponferrada Students

From our laundromat in Ponferrada (in the upper part of the city), I have one thing to tell all students: the main mistake is wasting more time than necessary washing clothes. If you live in a residence like La Tebaida or share a flat in the upper area or downtown, this article is for you. We are going to turn your weekly student laundry into a 50-minute errand that will also help you pass your exams.

The Myth of a Thousand Loads: Everything Fits in One Industrial Load

The classic rookie student mistake is trying to replicate what is done at their parents' house: one load for whites, another for darks, another for sheets... In a student apartment with a small domestic washing machine, that means spending the entire Sunday loading and hanging laundry.

Here we play in another league. My 15kg and 19kg industrial machines are designed to move large volumes of water and clothes. The drum mechanics are different; it beats the clothes more effectively but without damaging them. This allows you to apply the single load strategy:

• Smart Mixing: If you wash at 30ºC/86ºF (the standard temperature of our basic programs), you can mix colored and dark clothes without fear. If you put something white in and you're panicked, use a color catcher sheet.
• Volume, not Weight: What collapses a domestic washing machine is the duvet or large towels. In the industrial one, the duvet fits loosely along with your jeans and hoodies.
• Sheets and Towels Included: Don't separate them. On the contrary, towels help "scrub" the rest of the clothes inside the giant drum.

Sorting Hack: You Only Need Two Bags

Don't complicate your life with five different baskets. For university life in Ponferrada, you only need to differentiate by "real dirtiness", not by color.

Bag A: "The Battle" (Intense/Hot Wash)

Here goes everything that touches sweat or real dirt. Practical training clothes (healthcare uniforms), gym clothes, cotton underwear, and towels. This calls for a program with a little more temperature or power.

Bag B: "The Library" (Normal/Cold Wash)

Jeans, t-shirts, hoodies, sweaters. Clothes you wear to class that aren't really "dirty", just used. This all goes together in cold water (30ºC/86ºF) and comes out perfect.

If you follow this system, you probably only have to come to the student laundromat in Ponferrada once a week (or every ten days) and use a single large machine. Pure efficiency.

Laundromat WiFi: Your Secret Study Room

The wash cycle lasts about 30-35 minutes. Drying, about 15-20 minutes. You have a dead time block of almost an hour.

Many of you come with a laptop or tablet, and you do well. At LaColada you have free WiFi. It's not a noisy cafeteria or a crowded library during exam season. It's a quiet place, with folding tables where you can rest your computer while you wait.

I've seen people finish UNILEON assignments and send emails to professors sitting here waiting for the spin cycle to finish. Use it like a Pomodoro technique: you have 30 minutes of total focus until the machine beeps.

Shared Flats and Residences: The End of Conflicts

If you are searching Google for "University of Leon Ponferrada residence" or accommodation, perhaps you haven't thought about the drama of community laundry. In student apartments, the same thing always happens:

• Someone leaves wet clothes inside the washing machine for two days and it smells musty.
• The filter is clogged and no one knows how to clean it (except me, who does this for a living, of course).
• There is never room on the drying rack in the lightwell.

Coming to the self-service laundry eliminates the argument. You wash your clothes, dry them in 15 minutes in our industrial dryers (which also remove all hair and lint, leaving clothes super soft), and take them home folded to the closet. No one touches your clothes, no one takes your turn. It is the best way to keep peace in the apartment.

Exam Mode: The Emergency Routine

When you are in midterms or finals weeks, time is gold. My technician's advice for those weeks:

1. Don't Iron: If you take the clothes out of the dryer as soon as it finishes, while they are still hot, and fold them immediately ("hot folding"), 90% of wrinkles disappear. You save hours of ironing.
2. Mesh Bags: Use a mesh bag for socks and underwear. That way, when taking them out of the industrial washer, you don't have to fish for sock after sock inside the giant drum. You take out the bag and that's it.
3. Check Pockets: Please, I beg you. Coins, headphones, USB keys... I see it daily in the drain filter. A USB washed at 40 degrees usually doesn't survive, and can clog the pump.