Washers and Dryers - Oh Boy !

[Yachts66]

I'm looking into a washer/dryer for my boat. For those of you who have them, which brands do you like, which don't you like? Why? Comments, suggestions appreciated. I'm in the US so shore power is 110V, but I'd like to find a DC unit for my 24V boat....probably not possible but a fella can dream can't he?

Regards,

TJ

[David M]

I'm kind of wondering if there are washers and dryers specific to boats or if you can use any old washer/dryer from an appliance store on a boat? I hope you don't mind me adding that.

Yachts66...were you wondering if there are 24 volt inverters?...you betcha there are. I found a few doing a Google search.

[Yachts66]

Oh yeah, I know all about inverters (kinda like the new Xantax 24v/4000 watt model myself). No problem running a 110V washer off one, we're doing that now...it's the dryer part that stumps me. Elecric dryers are 220V we have a 110V washer/dryer combo now and the dryer just sucks. Takes for ever to dry the clothes. I'm wondering about propane, but I fear the dryer would suck up a bottle of propane pretty fast....it's a problem. Here in the PNW hanging clothes on the life lines is not an option....too much rain. Were I in the Caribbean it would be a different story, but I'm not, so I'm looking for other solutions.

Regards,

TJ

[David M]

I wonder if it would work to purchase a 220v/50Hz inverter for European current and then import a European washer dryer combo made for recreational vehicles and boats? Obviously you would not be able to power anything but the washer dryer with it but then you could buy a second inverter to power all the other 120v/60Hz loads.

Do you have room for a genset? There are of course 220v gensets. A dryer would suck down even a good sized battery bank pretty quickly. Clothes dryers for the home typically use about 5000 watts. I don't know of any consumer grade 5000 watt inverter either. 5000 watts is a LOT of juice..perhaps there are smaller dryers that draw significantly less power?

[Yachts66]

Installing a very large solar panel array in an attempt to avoid the noise and expense of a genset. The EU option would work, but given the state of our $ would probably drive me to financial ruin. A standard 110V washer will work fine, it's the darn dryer that's giving me fits.

Regards,

TJ

[David M]

I added a little more to my previous post...look up

[Lancerbye]

Hi TJ
We have a 120v washer dryer combo. we find that it works quite well. We have the vented type which we find is a huge improvement over the non vented type that we use in the middle east. They are both made by Splendor in Italy. The non vented takes forever to dry stuff while the vented type drys more like a conventional dryer. Do you have a vented or non vented? We have a 12kw genset so power is not a problem. Some units will not work on inverters that are not true sine wave.

[Yachts66]

No it's vented....I think the problem is it's just old....like 10 years old.

Regards,

TJ

[roverhi]

We have a gas dryer and cooking in our house. A 10 gallon propane bottle lasts us more than 3 months, maybe as long as 6 months. I fill them up so infrequently know it's just a long time between fill ups. I'd expect that a gas dryer would be way more efficient than running an electric dryer off an inverter. Of course, if the electricity is free from the sun, it may not. Do know that the gas dryer gets the clothes dry pronto.

Aloha
Peter O.

[Alan Wheeler]

My wife wants a washing machine. I keep telling her I already have one, why do I need another. But then I get that cold hard glare only a woman can deliver. But my main excuse for not getting one is the water they things use. Fine if you have a watermaker I suppose. But I reckon it is just as easy to do clothes in a sink or bucket and hang them on the life lines to dry. Not good in winter though and certainly not good after watching the news tonight. It's 30DegC here and yet it made me feel cold just looking at all that ice you guys have in the US.

[Lancerbye]

Remember Alan, a clothes washer and a watermaker will allow you to justify a whole lot of toys for the boat. LOL

[Alan Wheeler]

Ooooo, OK, I'm listening :-)

[Lancerbye]

I look at it like a ledger book. On the expense side are the things you want for the boat like a nice plotter, handheld GPS for backup, new 36 mi. radar with LCD screen, new cruising chute ,etc. on the credit side are the things your wife wants, clothes washer, watermaker, satellite TV, a good furnace to keep everything warm and dry, LCD TV, a good fridge, full lenght mirror, queen size bed etc. You might also want some of these things but you can never admit to that. So after 40 years of marriage life is good. LOL

[DWJ]

I've got one of the Splendide combo's (vented). works pretty good but the drum is pretty small. It requires the HE detergents which can be hard to find some times. The one issue with the vented unit is you need to vent it overboard (duh) so in planning the install you need to be able to run a standard dryer sized hose out of the boat simmilar to an engine blower.

I also have the Splendide combo unit.

Any unit you can fit in a boat is going to be small, certainly anything bigger would not ft in my boat.

It will wash a bigger load than it can dry. While away from the dock you aren't likely to be drying by electricity anyway.

If you are going to run it from an inverter, be aware that it does require true sine wave power.

Power use (other than during drying) is very modest, and water use for a load is about 13 gallons. I find it hard to do better than that with a bucket.