Waywest Mechanical services commercial laundry equipment for hotels, motels, care homes, strata laundry rooms, laundromats and institutional laundries in Nanaimo and across Vancouver Island. Work covers commercial and coin-operated washers and dryers that will not heat, drain, spin or fill, along with the gas supply, dryer venting, make-up air, water lines and drainage behind them. Because Waywest holds Technical Safety BC gas licence LGA0004592 and is a licensed plumbing contractor, the whole laundry room is one call rather than three.
Monday–Friday, 7:00 AM–4:30 PM · quotes within the hour
Who we work for
- Hotels, motels and resorts — on-site laundry that cannot stop in July
- Care homes and seniors' facilities — where linen turnaround is a health requirement
- Strata and apartment laundry rooms — shared equipment, shared venting, one property manager
- Laundromats — banks of machines where downtime is lost revenue every hour
- Institutional and campus laundries
- Restaurants and pubs with on-site linen
What we repair
Washers
- Will not fill, drain or spin
- Drain pumps, inlet valves, pressure switches and water levels
- Drive belts, bearings, motors and control boards
- Door and lid locks, seals and leaks
- Vibration and walking caused by loading, levelling or suspension
Dryers
- No heat or low heat — gas valves, igniters, flame sensors, thermostats, elements
- Long drying times — almost always airflow
- Tripping on high limit, which is a safety device telling you airflow is restricted
- Drum rollers, belts, bearings and motors
Everything behind the machines
- Gas supply, sizing, connections and leak repair
- Dryer venting, lint removal, duct routing and exterior hoods
- Make-up air for the laundry room
- Hot and cold supply, isolation valves, drains and floor drains
Why the venting matters more than the machine
A commercial dryer is an air-moving appliance. If it cannot exhaust, it cannot dry, and no amount of work on the machine changes that. In older buildings we routinely find vent runs that were extended during a renovation, shared ducts serving several units, crushed flexible duct behind the machines, or a laundry room sealed up tight with nowhere for replacement air to come from.
That is a ventilation and sheet metal problem, and it is work Waywest does in-house — we have our own sheet metal shop and fabricate duct to suit the room rather than forcing a stock part to fit.
It is also a safety issue. Restricted venting makes dryers run hotter, trips high-limit switches, shortens equipment life and builds lint in exactly the places a fire starts.
Preventive maintenance
For a laundry running daily, scheduled maintenance is straightforward and pays for itself: vent cleaning and inspection, gas connection checks, belt and bearing inspection, water connection and drain checks, and airflow measurement. Frequency depends on how hard the room runs. Call 250-729-2394 to set up a schedule and pricing.
Service area
Commercial laundry service in Nanaimo, Parksville, Qualicum Beach, Lantzville, Nanoose Bay, Ladysmith, Cedar, Duncan, the Comox Valley and across our Vancouver Island service area.
What happens when you call
- A person answers
You talk to the Nanaimo office, or our own crew on the 24/7 line — not a call centre.
- You hear the rate first
We explain the service rate, or the emergency rate after hours, before anyone is booked or dispatched.
- A licensed technician arrives
A Waywest technician with a stocked vehicle diagnoses the problem and explains your options.
- You approve the work
Repairs go ahead once you agree. Larger jobs get a written quote you can take time to consider.
Quick facts
- Emergency service
- 24/7 at 250-616-1446 — typically on site within an hour in Nanaimo
- Office hours
- Monday–Friday, 7:00 AM–4:30 PM, 250-729-2394
- Service area
- Nanaimo and Vancouver Island, Victoria to Port Hardy
- Licensing
- TSBC licence LGA0004592; licensed, bonded and insured
- Quotes
- Reply within the hour during business hours
- Page updated
Common questions
Why do our commercial dryers take two or three cycles to dry?
Nine times out of ten it is airflow rather than the dryer. Long or crushed vent runs, too many elbows, lint accumulation inside the duct, a blocked exterior hood, or a laundry room with no make-up air all choke the dryer. A sealed laundry room competing with an exhaust fan can starve the dryers of air entirely. Waywest measures and corrects the venting as well as servicing the machine.
Is lint buildup in commercial dryer venting a fire risk?
Yes, and it is one of the more common causes of commercial laundry fires. Lint is highly combustible and accumulates fastest in long runs, elbows and shared ducts. Commercial laundries running continuously need the venting cleaned and inspected on a schedule, not when someone notices a problem.
Do you service coin-operated and card laundry equipment?
Yes, for the mechanical side — heating, motors, belts, pumps, valves, drive components, gas and venting. Payment systems and card readers are usually handled by the vendor who supplies them, and we work alongside them rather than replacing them.
Can you install a new laundry room for a strata or care home?
Yes. Waywest handles the full installation: gas supply and connections, venting and make-up air, hot and cold water, drains and floor drains, and setting the equipment. We work from drawings with contractors and property managers, or directly with a strata council on a replacement.
Our washer will not drain or spin. Is that repairable?
Usually. Drain pumps, blocked drain lines, lid and door locks, pressure switches, drive belts and motor control boards are all routine repairs. On a commercial machine it is often worth checking the building drain as well, since several machines discharging into an undersized or partly blocked line will back up no matter how healthy the pumps are.
Need this sorted out?
Call the Nanaimo office and talk to someone who can tell you what the work involves and when we can get to it.