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Tips sought on buying a washer dryer


PeterCr

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Hi all, I've been considering buying a washer dryer for the boat, to run off a 3kw vetus pure sine wave inverter, only to be operated with the motor running. Cold washing only.

 

I've had the suggestion made that Candy washing machines are the most common washing machines in boats, and are a good option as they are relatively basic so more likely to work with an inverter.  But I don't know if this necessarily means that a Candy washer dryer is the best option.

 

Does anyone have any experience buying a washer dryer and have any good tips to offer, including on brand? Cheers.

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3 minutes ago, philjw said:

The power used by a dryer will be considerable over the time it is in use.  What ampage is your alternator?  Is it able to meet the demands of the dryer without drawing down the batteries?

175 a

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I hate washer dryers, they always seem to fry and crease the clothes. Also worth remembering that in drying mode, many of them use water as a means of condensing the damp air. They can use more water on a drying cycle than they do on a wash cycle.

 

We have a separate compact tumble drier on our boat, which I think is much better, although I appreciate that space might be the priority.

And worth remembering that 175A is around 2kw which means the alternator will be working flat out for an hour or more. It will get extremely hot and may have a short life as a result - a 175A alternator isnt really designed to output 175A indefinitely.

 

As a minimum, ensure the engine bay is well ventilated and run the engine fairly fast (faster alternator fan speed = better cooling).

 

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4 minutes ago, nicknorman said:

We have a separate compact tumble drier on our boat, which I think is much better, although I appreciate that space might be the priority.

 

Yes space is the issue for getting one of each, sadly. And I do believe they use water on the drying too, a little counterintuitively.

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6 minutes ago, Boater Sam said:

175A @12v?

Not enough for a 3kW dryer. Your 175A alternator will not provide that long term if ever through an inverter, you are assuming the inverter and the alternator are 100% efficient and they are not.

Is the heater on all the time in a washer/dryer when drying, or does it turn off whe up to temperature?

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3 minutes ago, Robbo said:

Is the heater on all the time in a washer/dryer when drying, or does it turn off whe up to temperature?

I would have thought all the time as traditional ones heat air to force through the clothes.  This is constant until the end of the cycle when cold air may be used to cool the washing.  Just noticed that some are now being badged as "Heat Pump Dryers" so these could be different.

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14 minutes ago, Boater Sam said:

175A @12v?

Not enough for a 3kW dryer. Your 175A alternator will not provide that long term if ever through an inverter, you are assuming the inverter and the alternator are 100% efficient and they are not.

Our dryer is 2kw but then it’s a compact one

7 minutes ago, Robbo said:

Is the heater on all the time in a washer/dryer when drying, or does it turn off whe up to temperature?

Yes pretty much. The energy goes to converting liquid water to vapour, rather inefficiently. You can’t change the laws of physics!

 

With ours, I know when the drying is ready because the heater thermostat starts to cut off (engine rpm rises) because there is no more evaporation keeping the temperature down.

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18 minutes ago, PeterCr said:

Yes space is the issue for getting one of each, sadly. And I do believe they use water on the drying too, a little counterintuitively.

No ours doesn’t use water. There are two types, condensing ones that don’t require an external vent - these use water to cool the heat exchanger/condenser. And externally vented types that just blow damp hot air overboard. Ours is like that and doesn’t have a water connection.

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19 minutes ago, nicknorman said:

No ours doesn’t use water. There are two types, condensing ones that don’t require an external vent - these use water to cool the heat exchanger/condenser. And externally vented types that just blow damp hot air overboard. Ours is like that and doesn’t have a water connection.

We have a condensing dryer at home and it has no water connection, so not all of the condensing types use water for cooling. 

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13 minutes ago, WotEver said:

We have a condensing dryer at home and it has no water connection, so not all of the condensing types use water for cooling. 

Ok 3 types. Presumably your uses room temperature air to cool the condenser. Does it blow out a fair bit of hot (dry) air?

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17 minutes ago, nicknorman said:

Ok 3 types. Presumably your uses room temperature air to cool the condenser. Does it blow out a fair bit of hot (dry) air?

Yes to the presumption, and no to the question. 

 

It has a large condensate container at the top and a much larger condenser at the bottom. That latter takes the form of a large tube with radiator fins along its length. The air appears to just circulate within the dryer, getting dryer and dryer. It also has a moisture sensor so it can beep at us (sounds like ABBA’s ‘Money Money Money’ to me) when it thinks the contents are dry enough. They never are, first time around. 

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We have a clothes line and some environmentally friendly vegan 'dolly-pegs' bought from a 'lucky Gypsy'*

 

 

(No lectrickery, or water used.)

 

Auto Edit By Auto Correct

* Person of the travelling fraternity, seldom seen in one place for very long

Edited by Alan de Enfield
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4 minutes ago, WotEver said:

Yes to the presumption, and no to the question. 

 

It has a large condensate container at the top and a much larger condenser at the bottom. That latter takes the form of a large tube with radiator fins along its length. The air appears to just circulate within the dryer, getting dryer and dryer. It also has a moisture sensor so it can beep at us (sounds like ABBA’s ‘Money Money Money’ to me) when it thinks the contents are dry enough. They never are, first time around. 

It can only work due to a temperature difference between the warm or hot damp air circulating within the dryer, and the cooler room air the other side of the condenser. The cooler room air must be warmed in the process. So if it doesn’t chuck out a fair bit of heat from the condenser, the process must be very slow. Or am I missing how it works?

1 minute ago, Alan de Enfield said:

We have a clothes line and some environmentally friendly vegan 'dolly-pegs' bought from a 'lucky Gypsy'

(No lectrickery, or water used.)

...and a slightly damp and untidy boat and no clean clothes when it’s bucketing down!

 

Yes I think we can agree that for first several thousand years of humanity, tumble driers weren’t necessary. But they are convenient!

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Just now, nicknorman said:

It can only work due to a temperature difference between the warm or hot damp air circulating within the dryer, and the cooler room air the other side of the condenser. The cooler room air must be warmed in the process. So if it doesn’t chuck out a fair bit of heat from the condenser, the process must be very slow. Or am I missing how it works?

I agree, but I can only report my observation. Our first dryer required an outlet hose and chucked out copious amounts of hot damp air. The subsequent ones (of which this is the second) have no air outlet point and the last time I pulled it away from its little cubby I didn’t find the mounds of fluff behind it that I expected to. 

 

You've made me go Google it now. Here you go, as I suggested, it’s just circulated...

 

Although that can’t be exactly how ours works as the heat exchanger is at the bottom and the condensate collector is at the top, full of warm water at the end of the cycle. 

 

As to time - a full 7kg load takes about half an hour. 

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After a long time reading both here and washer dryer reviews I get the impression that they really don't dry all that well and that even if I got one it would still require some sort of hanging out of the clothing to finish the job. So if we're going to be hanging clothes out to dry we may as well do it from scratch, though I don't like the thought of drying clothes in the boat. Condensation problems perhaps. But unless we're moored up and it's a nice day I don't see too many other options.

 

So considering just a plain washing machine now. 

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2 hours ago, PeterCr said:

After a long time reading both here and washer dryer reviews I get the impression that they really don't dry all that well and that even if I got one it would still require some sort of hanging out of the clothing to finish the job. So if we're going to be hanging clothes out to dry we may as well do it from scratch, though I don't like the thought of drying clothes in the boat. Condensation problems perhaps. But unless we're moored up and it's a nice day I don't see too many other options.

 

So considering just a plain washing machine now. 

I have an old fashioned device known as 'an airing cupboard' with a large hot water tank and lots (for a boat) of shelves. Natural convection draws cool air from the bilge past the tank and washings then out through a mushroom vent.

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Roll up washing lines in the cratch, its always warmer than outside if the sun shines at all. Its fine for smalls.  Giving the wash an extra spin at the end gets rid of a bit more water.

To run any sort of dryer you need a power station rather than a boat.

Most modern fabrics dry faster than old cotton stuff anyway.

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57 minutes ago, Boater Sam said:

Roll up washing lines in the cratch, its always warmer than outside if the sun shines at all. Its fine for smalls.  Giving the wash an extra spin at the end gets rid of a bit more water.

To run any sort of dryer you need a power station rather than a boat.

Most modern fabrics dry faster than old cotton stuff anyway.

We use a twin-tub, the washing comes out after the spin cycle considerably drier than the 'automatic' at home.

Stick it out-the-back to air off and fin al blow thru' and its ready for putting away.

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10 minutes ago, Machpoint005 said:

But can you still buy them? 

Yes. Here are a few from a quick Google...

https://www.lg.com/ae/washing-machines/lg-WP900R

 

http://polartwintubs.co.uk/Twin-tub-Range

 

https://www.thompsons-online.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=74&products_id=195

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