washing via engine/invertor/calorifier pre heated water

[Dave_P]

If you're interested in low-tech options too, then this is surprisingly effective at cleaning:

 

Fill bath/hip bath with warm water. Add a good glug of hand wash liquid. Add clothes. Leave for 30 mins. Stir vigorously with handspike for 5 mins. Leave for another 15 minutes. Wring out clothes and hang out in sunshine.

[Arthur Brown]

Hand washing is a viable alternative, There are lidded buckets to be found at places that use bulk mayonnaise in 10 and 20 litre sizes which are convenient. There is usually a 30 litre bucket available from B&Q which is bigger but heavier.

 

Hot washing is sometimes a help, most hospital stuff is washed at 95C for maximum biocidal effect.

 

Assume that any MSW inverter will harm electronics, Some washing machines will not even start on non-mains supplies.

 

IMO if you want the convenience of an auto washer then get a decent genny that will support it's entire function. This may need to be 5 - 10KVA so that high loads and fluctuation loads do not bother the generator. Alternatively find enough places to hookup to shore power for 12 hours.

 

CC'ing I'd assume that a list of every useful supplier within an hours walk of every possible stopping point was an essential. Add launderettes to your list!

[tillergirl]

It was trial and error with our washer. The heater required more than our PSW invertor provided so initially we swapped the hot and cold pipes over. I cant justify the expense of a new PSW invertor just for the washer. But as nicknorman said although this worked the rinses were done in water that was too hot. The result was some garments shrunk and some got too big (don't ask I don't know why). There was also the problem of huge quantities of steam emanating from soap drawer! So in the end the pipes were hooked up properly and I wash when we've cruised and got hot water. I have even been known to pour a kettle of boiling water in the soap drawer to "con" the heater. I've also set the temperature as low as it will go. On a good day engine and solar will run the washer quite happily but we also have the genny as a back up.

Edited May 29, 2015 by tillergirl

[onionbargee]

Get an older electro mechanical controlled machine that will run off any kind of sine wave.

 

Easy to service and repair, last for ages, and spares are cheap.

[Alan Saunders]

I would welcome the availability of 'cold wash detergent' in the UK but I am sensitive to bio detergents and even with non-bio detergents need to set the washing machine to maximum rinse, not 'water saving' to avoid itchy reactions and sores.

 

An initial hot rinse, or two, will be more effective than a cold rinse and a final hot rinse will enable the clothes to dry more rapidly. In winter a small, high-speed spin-dryer is invaluable, maybe more so than a washing machine?

 

Much depends on the 'logic' of your machine. Mine would pump out all the water in the drum before filling with fresh water and pre-wash with an occasional drum cycle until the water reached the set temperature. Thus the above suggestions to add hot water, via the soap drawer, after filling comences.

 

HTH, Alan

[dmr]

The majority of washing machines are now cold fill only (somebody has worked out its more energy efficient but others say it just makes the washing machines a couple of quid cheaper to manufacture).

 

A TravelPower is the best approach but they are not cheap to fit. A big sine wave inverter is also a possibility.

Run the engine every few days to.....:

Charge the batteries

Do the washing

Make Hot water

Move the boat!!!!

 

Hip bath for emergencies only but it does work very well!

A good washing machine with a fast spin makes drying much easier.

 

..............Dave

[nb Innisfree]

We've always run our Bosch auto w/m straight off our 3kva Victron Multiplus. As soon as acceptance voltage has been reached large alternator keeps up during heating cycle (60°)

On the odd occasion after 8pm we've done a full wash from our large batt bank alone then run engine the next day (AMG batts now over 7 years old)

[DeanS]

After giving it all some thought, I think I'm going to build a proper sound enclosure over my gennie..and use it instead of paying for a PSW inverter (at this stage). I'm going to pipe in the hot and cold supplies to the washer, and feed it with hot or cold depending on what's needed...

 

no need to connect a calorifier

no need to buy additional hardware

no need to run the engine when doing clothes washing.

 

might then buy a PSW when I can afford it as another option

[nicknorman]

Fine, but presuming your gennie is air cooled don't forget you'll need to allow lots of cold air to get in and hot air to get out. I speak from experience of a slightly dim gliding club member, back in the days when we didn't have mains power, who decided to lag our gen-set (lister 2 pot air cooled) with lots of glass wool to cut down on the noise, and then wondered why it nearly went on fire.

 

Thinking about it, it's a pity these gennies aren't water cooled as otherwise you could use the waste heat for something useful like... heating the wash water!

[DeanS]

Fine, but presuming your gennie is air cooled don't forget you'll need to allow lots of cold air to get in and hot air to get out.

 

Yep!

[jenevers]

All very interesting. Can anyone confirm that the " water tap" symbol on our Candy Aquaviva 1100 represents " cold wash"? It's in the 12 o'clock position on the temperature dial. With 90 degrees at 11 o'clock and 30 degrees at 1 o'clock.

Also I connected our cold fill only dishwasher to the hot water supply to save it having to waste energy heating cold water when we already have hot water in the calorifier. What if any, harm could that do?

[cuthound]

Put a thermostatically controlled valve set to 40 degrees between your hot and cold water supplies and use that to feed a washing machine with a cold only water supply.

 

My understanding as to why all new washing machines are only fitted with a cold water supply inlet, is to allow meaningful energy consumption comparisons between machines to be made. That way manufacturers cannot "massage" the temperature of the hot water supply to lower energy consumption figures.

 

Edited to remove a spurious letter.

Edited May 30, 2015 by cuthound

[Paul's Nulife4-2]

Well soundproofing your genny will always be a good move, making it less nickable, more weather proof, and ofcourse quieter good luck with that Dean.

It's brilliant reading some of these threads, as it gives a glimpse into how we all tackle the same job, ddepending on our situation and cruising habits. You can then try one way to see if it works for you.

I have to say a water cooled Genny is a much better solution imo, mine (Mastervolt Whisper 3.5kva) is in a sound proof enclosure, and tucked away in my engine bay, works a treat, sips fuel out my main boat tank at approximately 1lt an hr, and you can honestly hardly hear it when running.I must actually start using it a bit more, as I said earlier I tend to use my main engine most of the time. Just Habbit

really from when I was CCing (or my definition of it anyway).

[rupertbear]

Also I connected our cold fill only dishwasher to the hot water supply to save it having to waste energy heating cold water when we already have hot water in the calorifier. What if any, harm could that do?

 

AIUI, dishwashers and dishwasher detergents are designed to wash in stages, firstly to deal with proteins at low temperature then later with fats, at higher temperatures. You risk 'baking on' some material - think poaching an egg.

[tove]

Just wanted to throw my hat into this thread although not sure how helpful it is.

I do virtually all my laundry entirely off the solar.

Clearly I have a monster system (four 250kw panels, Outback regulator, Victron 3k inverter and six 2v 1000ah traction batteries) which wasn't cheap (4-5K) and needs a certain amount of space to house (I'm fitting out a widebeam).

Due to supply problems the system didn't go in until late last year so I had to wait until this spring to see what it was really capable of although it's performance through-out the winter was pretty impressive.

I've been doing all my laundry off it for some time but now that the summer is upon us it's capacity has exceeded even what my electrician thought would be possible.

On a sunny day I can do a 65 degree white wash in the morning and the batteries will have fully recharged inside a couple of hours. Last thursday I did two 40 degree cycles and heated an entire tank of water (I have a 2kw 18 inch immersion element in my calorifier) just off the solar.

I'm not posting this to boast, I just wanted to show what was possible with the right kind of investment. It's obviously also helped a lot that I'm fitting out from scratch not trying to improve a system already installed. It also clearly requires a certain amount of human brainwork. I pick exactly the right weather, forecast and time to attempt anything major.

Currently I'm laundering everything on the boat to within an inch of it's life before the days start shortening.

[dogless]

We've managed for ten years on the Aylesbury laundry list. Surprising how many good laundrettes there are wandering around the system. Why bother

Rog

[onionbargee]

240 w I hope rather than kw, or you have panels the size of Belgium.

[Tom and Bex]

We use a MSW inverter with an old Candy washing machine. We put 2 kettles of hot water in via the soap drawer and set the temp selector to tap (cold) setting then usually run it on a quick wash followed by fast spin.

 

We've been doing this straight from the batteries and due to the 500w of solar not needed to run the generator since mid March. Only thing we have to do is run an old style 100w light bulb (which is hard to get now!) at the same time as the washing machine or for some reason the washing machine will run through its complete cycle without the drum turning!

 

It's sometimes needs careful planning with the weather to make sure there's enough sunshine to recharge the batteries and dry the washing!

 

Tom

Edited June 14, 2015 by Tom and Bex

[jenevers]

Just wanted to throw my hat into this thread although not sure how helpful it is.

I do virtually all my laundry entirely off the solar.

Clearly I have a monster system (four 250kw panels, Outback regulator, Victron 3k inverter and six 2v 1000ah traction batteries) which wasn't cheap (4-5K) and needs a certain amount of space to house (I'm fitting out a widebeam).

Due to supply problems the system didn't go in until late last year so I had to wait until this spring to see what it was really capable of although it's performance through-out the winter was pretty impressive.

I've been doing all my laundry off it for some time but now that the summer is upon us it's capacity has exceeded even what my electrician thought would be possible.

On a sunny day I can do a 65 degree white wash in the morning and the batteries will have fully recharged inside a couple of hours. Last thursday I did two 40 degree cycles and heated an entire tank of water (I have a 2kw 18 inch immersion element in my calorifier) just off the solar.

I'm not posting this to boast, I just wanted to show what was possible with the right kind of investment. It's obviously also helped a lot that I'm fitting out from scratch not trying to improve a system already installed. It also clearly requires a certain amount of human brainwork. I pick exactly the right weather, forecast and time to attempt anything major.

 

 

Currently I'm laundering everything on the boat to within an inch of it's life before the days start shortening.

That's encouraging me to double the size of my existing 300w solar setup. And maybe tripling it one day!

How about the rest of your 230v appliances? How often do you have to run your genny/ main engine?

[tove]

That's encouraging me to double the size of my existing 300w solar setup. And maybe tripling it one day!

How about the rest of your 230v appliances? How often do you have to run your genny/ main engine?

Hi Jenevers

The rest of my appliances (hoover,hair straighters,hair dryer etc) barely make the volt meter flinch. I've been running a compressor for a nail gun and even in the dead of winter it was fine. Obviously I wouldn't try run any of things at the same time but with a bit of management it's not very different from house living.

Difficult to say exactly how much engine running (I don't have a genny) because I have a mooring with a hook up. Over the last year I've been fitting out a sailaway so have had very little time to really study the solar system which went in last September. It wasn't until April that I noticed how much I was getting off the solar and unplugged the mains hook up. I haven't had to plug since. (But as I said in my other post, this does require a certain amount of management and common sense).

That said, over the winter the solar was supplementing my power and even with running the washing machine and heating the immersion element I was only getting through £15 per month.

I think the bottom line is, my system will cope all year round with most electrical appliances but I'll only be able to do hot washing cycles and heat the immersion element (ie anything to do with heating water) for three-quarters of the year.

The only other thing I'd say is that one of the reasons my system is so effective is that it was all designed 'in one go'. It doesn't usually work quite so well if you're adding to a system which has already gone in. I'm not sure what the rules of this site are or where you are but I'd be more than willing to put you in touch with my engineer. Maybe you could message me.

[PSwani10]

What laundry detergent do you think is best in terms of being environmentally friendly. I think there is some sort of eco range but can only find the washing up liquid type.