Washing Machine and Power

[twistedtree]

Originally Posted by noelex 77

Thanks everyone for their answers.




Disconecting the heating element sounds like a great solution.Candy have been recommended what model is it?

I don't know much about washing machines I am afraid to say. Even my wife has never used a front loader, so we are not sure how long the high power draw goes for and how much of the wash cycle is the machine pausing with low power draw.

Could anyone provide a ballpark figure for the energy consumed for a 3KG cold wash and spin.

I am thinking 15mins actual washing at 40A. 20 mins pausing using say 5A, and 5 mins spinning at 60A. (@12v)

This would be 10AHrs + 2AHrs+5AHrs=17AHrs.

Are these sort of numbers roughly correct, or totally wrong?
This seems low, but even doubling it or more it's still viable from solar and large enough inverter and battery bank.

It's a really good question, and one that manufacturers almost never answer. As usual, all they provide is a max power figure. It's very rare to see published figures for kwh per load of laundry, or whatever the appliance does. The best I've seen in the US are the EnergyStar ratings which actually do give the number you are looking for, but it's just for one operating scenario to make numbers comparable across different.

I confess that even though I have a killawatt meter on my boat, I've never measured power consumption for a wash cycle, or a dry cycle, or any cycle, mostly because I only run the washer off shore or genset power so it "doesn't matter"

[twistedtree]

Originally Posted by speciald@ocens.

The Splendide non-vented combo uses a lot of water in the drying cycle - more than in the washing cycle. Unless you have a large production water maker, it is not practical. The vented model uses a lot of watts in the drying cycle - too much for an inverter.

Yes, thank you for adding the waster-consumption-while-drying feature of the Splendide, or any non-vented "dryer". I believe they all work the same way, and it's quite counter intuitive that drying should consume water, but it does to create a cooler surface to condense moisture from the clothes in it's feeble attempt to dry.

As for running the dryer off an inverter, it certainly is possible, but should be done only with some careful planning and a little engineering. 1300W is well within the operating range of many inverters, so that part isn't a problem. What IS a problem is a sustained 1.3kw load load for 2-3 hours (typical drying time for a splendide) on your batteries. But, if your engine is running and your alternator(s) can produce 100A sustained without overheating then you would be fine. Just don't leave the dryer running if you shut down the engines.

And of course you can always just skip the drying cycle and hang your clothes to dry.

[noelex 77]

Originally Posted by twistedtree

And of course you can always just skip the drying cycle and hang your clothes to dry.

Yes I don't think heat drying is an option on solar. It would be nice to have the clothes spun to get some of the water out and to make the clothes easier to hang out, but I understand this is part of the normal wash cycle anyway.


Large solar arrays are relatively new on boats and all the boats I have met run their machines on generators or shore power. I think it should be feasable to run a small domestic machine from solar, but we need some hard numbers on power and even water consumption.

[noelex 77]

Originally Posted by bouncingyellow

Hi nolex 77, I have a washing machine story I love to share, I bought a new portable twin tub washing machine from eBay

MINI WASHING MACHINE 2.5KG TWIN TUB 240V PORTABLE | eBay

For $80 and quite frankly I still can't believe the value, I normally store it in my aft cabin and when it's full of dirty washing I bring it up to the cockpit to wash , I hook it up to a 300 watt inverter and I think it uses about half of that, living on a sailboat I must be mindful of water use while out at sea. I have two buckets one with soapy water and one for the rinse. No water goes to waste as it finally is used to wash the decks, it's light and non intrusive. My work invokes me to travel large parts of Australia and washing is such a chore am seriously considering putting some straps on it and making it a backpack, cheers.

Yes this sort of machine is a fall back position. Most people seem happy with them although they don't look very durable. I am crusing full time so the machine will get a lot of use. It looks to me like they were designed for occasional use during holidays etc, but I would love to hear if anyone has had good life out of one. They use much less power so if they last they would be great option, but getting bulky items like this delivered to out of the way places is not easy so I would rather have a domestic machine if possible.

Has anyone installed a larger domestic twin tub, like my mum used to have?

[twistedtree]

I'll try to remember to plug in my Killawatt meter the next time I run the laundry, but I'm down to short trips for the rest of the season and it's unlikely I'll run the washer again until next year.

[K_V_B]

Originally Posted by twistedtree

Yes, thank you for adding the waster-consumption-while-drying feature of the Splendide, or any non-vented "dryer". I believe they all work the same way, and it's quite counter intuitive that drying should consume water, but it does to create a cooler surface to condense moisture from the clothes in it's feeble attempt to dry.

Non vented dryers are the norm where I live, but none of them consume water. They do produce water though, so you need a runoff. The more modern ones on sale here (I have one like that in my apartment) use a heat pump to both heat and cool air in a closed loop, so they are very energy efficient.

However, they seem to all have in common that they need to be perfectly level to work properly. I don't see that happen on a boat.

[Jimbo485]

How did you go, Noelex77, with the onboard washing machine?

[dohenyboy]

There is a company called laundry alternative which sells a spin dryer. The spin dryer takes your washed clothes and removes so much water you hardly need to dry them at all. Its about US $120.

[noelex 77]

Originally Posted by Jimbo485

How did you go, Noelex77, with the onboard washing machine?

No washing machine yet. Except my wife

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by noelex 77

No washing machine yet. Except my wife

In your climate, I would think you could get along without a drier. Surely there exists a very small, very efficient wash only device. Or in a real pinch, a laundry spinner (amazing devices; I first used one when I was a student in Germany years ago).

Spare your wife for more important things - like tying knots.