Washing Clothes and Washing Machines

[Rvrratt]

Thanks yogao,
On their website WW claims to have recently made durability improvements to the unit. Thanks for the warning, I will use cautiously.

[barnakiel]

Ask the Scandinavians - they have a 99.9% biodegradable stuff (I saw it available in NZ too, so I believe there is a distribution network)..

b.

[s/v Jedi]

Bob,

The machine is in it's own cove in the forward head. We have a tiny hatch there: we open the hatch and put the hose out, let the hatch rest on top of the hose, that's all.

The drain is tricky. The drain-hose must come up 50-60 cm (about 2') or so from the "floor" that the machine is standing on. So first, the hose runs down from machine to the floor, and next 2' up again, where it normally (in a house) discharges in a standpipe. We did it wrong and had trouble. Our final solution will be a 1" or 1-1/4" PVC pipe running from 2' above the "floor" down through the floor (this "floor" is 3' above the real floor in the head) into a cabinet and then a 90 degree turn and through the bulkhead just above the shower-sump. So, we discharge into our (central) gray water tank. An alternative is to connect it to a thru-hull just above water line.

cheers,
Nick.

[bobfnbw]

Thanks Nick.
I would vent out a 5x14" port, so that is ok.
Our grey water tank is 10 gal, with a whale gusher pump... should be ok as well..

I should be able to do something like that once it is installed.

Bob

[Sea Wolf]

We have a Splendide vented and it works very well, but we rarely use it while traveling. Only use the dryer to heat up the towels for after shower.... decadent, I know, but what a joy when it's cold outside!

We use liquid detergent. Have for years. My brother worked for a big soap manufacturer that detergent to hotels & laundries He told me that the powders are mostly fill and that we should use a liquid, if only for the fact that it didn't have to 'dissolve,' in the water. Made sense, so I started using liquid.

Loree
Aboard SeaWolf
CruisersLife.com

[CaptRehab]

Does anyone have experience with the ultra compact washers such as the Panda 1.6 cu ft unit which draws less than 4A. Looks like one could run most of the ones I found off an inverter. I would rather increase my solar and wind power generation and add to my battery bank than install a genset just to do laundry.

44 ft catamaran
3x 180W solar
Planning to add 350W wind generator
Have 4x 100AH AGM in house bank
Will determine if more needed when I determine my daily load
Two 12V refrigerators
Water maker

[a64pilot]

We have a Haier of about that size, and yes you can easily run it off an inverter, it only pulls a couple of amps at 100 VAC.
However it goes thru water like a Camel, so beware of that.
I run a Honda to run my 30+ gl an hour Watermaker when we do laundry, but then we usually do at least three loads maybe four.

[zeehag]

after flap n folds near marina mazatlan destroyed half my clothing wardrobe by installing holes and rust stains i broke down and bought a washing machine. ok. to see if the idea would work i bought a huge PINK 21 kg size and washed all my everythings on dock. as it was semi automatic hahaha i had to add water and drain it myself, and stomp on clothes to squeeze out water to rinse.
dockmaster didnot see the humor in my efforts and declared m e unable to use such a huge washing (and OBVIOUS) machine on dock hahahahaha
so i went out and bought a smaller 8 kg koblenz which actually fits into my shower for passages, and i use that on deck. it is light and easily carried by a l.o.l. of about 70. as cats wear fur year round i use on deck to let the tons of cat fur flow overboard for birdees to use for nests.is a bit much for my bilge to handle.
to date i have removed most of the rust stains installed by flap and fold and cleaned many boat towels bubba uses for puke pads. yup hairball hell.
i dry em on lines on my boat. this saves time and energy.
had a wonder wash and i was not impressed with needing to grind it around for 30 min to clean clothes. when it broke it vanished, about 5 years ago.
something about a garbage pile in colimilla.......
when anchored i send my laundry to flap n folds, not in mazatlan or la cruz.

[a64pilot]

We did a load today, it seems to use 1.4 amps and does so in surges as the agitator cycles back and forth, and when it hits spin it will use about 3 amps till spin up then it drops to under 2.
These are of course amps at 120 VAC, so multiply by about 10 to get to DC amps with an inverter.