Tips sought on buying a washer dryer

[Alan de Enfield]

23 minutes ago, Machpoint005 said:

But can you still buy them? We inherited one from my Ma-in-law when she bought a new one, but that was in 1982.

Ours was new from a camping / motorhome shop and cost £80.

Uses something like (from memory) 160 watts.

[cuthound]

15 hours 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. 

 

We have one like this at home, it is great, but needs the humidity sensors wiping over with white vinegar frequently to ensure the clothes really are dry when it says they are.

 

On the boat we use a plastic twin tub.

Edited August 21, 2018 by cuthound
To add the last sentance

[WotEver]

2 minutes ago, cuthound said:

needs the humidity sensors wiping over with white vinegar frequently

I’ll give that a try and see if it helps

 

[cuthound]

15 hours ago, 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?

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

 

 

 

We keep our condensing by air tumble dryer in the unheated garage, typically it dries the clothes in 30 minutes or less, but jeans and towels take up to 45 minutes.

[koukouvagia]

I don't want to be facetious or accused of being a luddite, but have you considered using a mangle?  I was amazed to find that clothes came through the rollers almost dry.  They are miles better than spin dryers. 

[Jim Riley]

Also, there's a newfangled wireless dryer, free to run. It's definitely not Cordless, cos that's all it is, a bit of string. See the bunting thread for how to rig. 

[Jennifer McM]

We've had two winters now afloat continuously cruising, and the worse time we've had (laundry wise) was around February this year. After many days of rain, the wash basket was groaning. As we were nearby we booked into Wigrams Marina, knowing they've got excellent laundry facilities. I spent Sunday getting the washing done (electic and water freely available) with the thought of spending Sunday evening in Wigrams laundry (they've a TV in the laundry) drying the washing. Unfortunately, there was a backlog of people waiting to use the driers, 1, it was Sunday and people who worked were trying to get their week's laundry done, and 2, there was one dryer not working. The last time I visited the laundry to use the dryer was at 11pm, at that point I gave up! 

 

One Monday morning it was luckily a dry breezy day when left the marina, and we cruised with the bow doors wide open, windows open, fire alight, the radiators glowing; with the washing hung, and draped around the place. All was quickly dried, without any damp feeling in the boat.

 

We've also got a cupboard next to the water tank that's good for drying (and airing), inside the shower is also surprisingly a good drying place.

 

Perhaps you need to weigh up the cost of a drier, and the cost of pitching into a marina to use their laundry facilites after many days of rain?

Edited August 21, 2018 by Jennifer McM

[cuthound]

We use one of these 5kg jobbies on the boat. You can get a smaller, cheaper 3.5kg version as well. However we are leisure boaters, not liveaboards. 

 

https://www.google.co.uk/search?client=tablet-android-samsung&ei=nB98W_r_G4vDgAbI2JWACg&q=ebay+tkg+twin+tub+washing+machine&oq=ebay+tkg+twin+tub+washing+machine&gs_l=mobile-gws-wiz-serp.3...2563.4056..4411...0.0..0.131.493.0j4......0....1.........0i71j35i39j0i8i13i30j30i10.8P8NbwrK0uk#imgrc=ScM77xvugsXqBM:

 

Mrs Hound says it cleans and dries better and faster than the automatic washing machine at home. However you have to manually fill it, add the washing powder,  wash, empty the washing drum, move the clothes temporarily to the spinner, whilst you refill with rinse water and transfer the clothes back to the wash drum to rinse before emptying the rinse water and finally transferring the clothes to the spin drum to spin them dry.

 

All of the above takes 15 minutes or so, but is labour intensive so you can't do anything else whilst you are operating it.

[Jen-in-Wellies]

18 hours ago, cuthound said:

We use one of these 5kg jobbies on the boat. You can get a smaller, cheaper 3.5kg version as well. However we are leisure boaters, not liveaboards. 

 

https://www.google.co.uk/search?client=tablet-android-samsung&ei=nB98W_r_G4vDgAbI2JWACg&q=ebay+tkg+twin+tub+washing+machine&oq=ebay+tkg+twin+tub+washing+machine&gs_l=mobile-gws-wiz-serp.3...2563.4056..4411...0.0..0.131.493.0j4......0....1.........0i71j35i39j0i8i13i30j30i10.8P8NbwrK0uk#imgrc=ScM77xvugsXqBM:

 

Mrs Hound says it cleans and dries better and faster than the automatic washing machine at home. However you have to manually fill it, add the washing powder,  wash, empty the washing drum, move the clothes temporarily to the spinner, whilst you refill with rinse water and transfer the clothes back to the wash drum to rinse before emptying the rinse water and finally transferring the clothes to the spin drum to spin them dry.

 

All of the above takes 15 minutes or so, but is labour intensive so you can't do anything else whilst you are operating it.

Agree with Mrs Hound. The wash from a camping twin tub is as good as, or better than an automatic and the spin dryer far superior. I finish drying clothes on lines suspended under the bathroom ceiling. The bathroom ended up with two mushroom vents, so they dry very well in there year round as it is so well ventilated. It also has a radiator from the stove back boiler. The typical camping twin tubs seem to last three or four years in year round liveaboard use. There are a number of weaknesses in the design that show up after a few years. I have year round hot water available from a solar thermal collector in summer and the stove back boiler in winter, so it makes sense to use this for laundry, rather than heat water by electricity in an automatic washing machine.

Jen