Jump to content

Washing Machine

Kharikola

By Kharikola
in Boat Equipment

 Share

Featured Posts

Alan de Enfield Veteran II

Alan de Enfield

Posted
Posted

We went for a twin-tub.

 

Does the same job as a Washing machine and only uses 180 watts.

 

Washing machines - heating water - boats do not really go together unless your whole electrical system is built around them.

Just trying to 'use what you already have' is fraught with problems, not least of which is how are you going to replace the 'loads' of amps used by the washing machine.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
OldGoat Veteran II

OldGoatDonate to Canal World

Posted
Posted

potentially - more and more folks coming on here (OP excluded) wanting domestic resources and conditions but on small off grid resources.

That's not a criticism of such folk - it's just translating what's available from 'normality' (= urban) to a mobile lifestyle.

Generating a 'reasonable' amount of AC power from a very small battery bank is just not practical - people just do not realise that detail especially if you can't run some power generating capability at times that suit you.

 

We have a small twin tub that consumes not-a-lot. Copes with underwear, socks, a couple of shirts, but not a lot more. Jeans have to be washed individually. Then how do you dry the blurry things??

 

The washing and spinning part for a proper washing machine don't consume a lot of power - but the water heating does. Time was when you could buy a hot and cold fill machine - but not any more. Daft, because many land based folks water heating is cheaper if it's not electric.

 

Government rubbishes on about people being green - then market forces and regulation seems to do it's best to negate that.

 

Doomed, we're doomed.

 

Sorry to rant on but I find it very frustrating that it's difficult to lead a lifestyle that equates in some measure to what many - even frugal - folks could expect. In theory not too difficult, but in practice.....

 

Discuss.

 

End of rant. Thanks for reading.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Guest

Guest

Posted
Posted

Ok, thanks for your replies! Much appreciated!

A typical machine draws 10 amps for heating and I have five 110a

Leisure batteries. Will that be ok or will that suck my batteries dry?

Our washer used to hammer the battery bank on hot washes. We started using it on cold wash, adding hot water manually to the drum at the start (not possible on some machines.) This saved loads of battery power.

Our Candy washer is also extremely fussy about the waveform from the inverter or generator, and doesn't like anything except pure sine wave.

Great machine though now 12 years old. We wouldn't be without it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
BEngo Veteran II

BEngoDonate to Canal World

Posted
Posted

Ok, thanks for your replies! Much appreciated!

A typical machine draws 10 amps for heating and I have five 110a

Leisure batteries. Will that be ok or will that suck my batteries dry?

That is 10 amps at 240 V. At 12 V it is 100A and will flatten your batteries smartly.

Gibbo always said that heating anything with batteries was a mugs game.Believe him!

N

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Wanderer Vagabond Influencer

Wanderer VagabondDonate to Canal World

Posted
Posted

Our washer used to hammer the battery bank on hot washes. We started using it on cold wash, adding hot water manually to the drum at the start (not possible on some machines.) This saved loads of battery power.

Our Candy washer is also extremely fussy about the waveform from the inverter or generator, and doesn't like anything except pure sine wave.

Great machine though now 12 years old. We wouldn't be without it.

We've also got a Candy, this one http://www.candy-domestic.co.uk/Products/details.aspx?Pid=147mainly because it is small and fits into the space that was created for it. We are on our second one as the first one burned out the bearing after 14 years (things just ain't made to last these days are they? rolleyes.gif ) . Very happy with it although we do need to run the engine (or be travelling) when is use as it consumes 1.3Kw but our 1.6Kw inverter copes with it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Loafer Veteran

Loafer

Posted
Posted

We use one of those 'doll's house' camping washers. Twin tub, not much power at about 300W with all of it running. Cant find the name from where I'm sitting, and it's too early to get up out of my chair, but it's about £100 and sits in our shower cubicle.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
by'eck Veteran

by'eck

Posted
Posted

That is 10 amps at 240 V. At 12 V it is 100A and will flatten your batteries smartly.

Gibbo always said that heating anything with batteries was a mugs game.Believe him!

N

 

Well generally yes, but you need to be realistic. A low wattage kettle, toaster, microwave or even dare I say it, the heating element of a washing machine, especially if engine is running to reduce inverter battery drain I would suggest would/should be acceptable. A well engineered system should comfortably cope with such given they are only short term high loads.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
bizzard Veteran II

bizzard

Posted
Posted (edited)

Feed too much electricity into it and it might go berserk, become malignant and turn into a Squashing mashine, spinning about all over the shop and squashing everything in sight.

Edited by bizzard
Link to comment
Share on other sites
rgreg Experienced

rgregDonate to Canal World

Posted
Posted

We have an auto washer. We put in hot water via a hose connected the the sink tap. The rest, rinses are cold. I'm sure your inverter would cope.

 

Twin tubs are good though.

We have a Zanussi.

 

Martyn

Likewise, we have a full size Indesit auto with a 2kw inverter. When off grid we just pour in hot water to start and let it run through the cold wash programme.
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Claude Collaborator

Claude

Posted
Posted (edited)

Time was when you could buy a hot and cold fill machine - but not any more. Daft, because many land based folks water heating is cheaper if it's not electric.

 

Government rubbishes on about people being green - then market forces and regulation seems to do it's best to negate that.

 

Is the demise of hot & cold fill washing machines really due to govt regulation? I've no idea, but it seems more likely to have happened as a result of market forces as you say. Presumably then if lots of people still wanted cold fill machines they'd still be around?

 

Also, if other forms of heating water are cheaper than electricity that doesn't necessarily make them "greener". The amount of energy used to heat a volume of water to a certain temperature will be more or less the same irrespective of the heating source. It's how that energy is produced and the emissions that it generates that will determine how green it is. Energy cost is a related but a slightly different issue. Cheap doesn't = green.

Edited by Claude
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Claude Collaborator

Claude

Posted
Posted (edited)

Look for launderettes and keep all your wet washing out of the boat

 

I hate launderettes. Bloody depressing places most of the time. One of the best things I installed on my boat was a washing machine.

 

In the long run a washing machine is a lot cheaper than going to launderettes as well.

Edited by Claude
Link to comment
Share on other sites
system 4-50 Veteran II

system 4-50Donate to Canal World

Posted
Posted

 

I hate launderettes. Bloody depressing places most of the time. One of the best things I installed on my boat was a washing machine.

 

In the long run a washing machine is a lot cheaper than going to launderettes as well.

Every time I go to the laundrette it takes a couple of inches off the draught of the boat, - just the quantity of little round metal bits it uses up.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.