Washing clothes while underway

[garyemunson]

Those of you with washer/dryers in their RVS, while a dryer usually needs a lot of electricity, are RV inverters usually big enough to run the washer while underway? Seems like that would be a good use of washer time if it was possible... Start the day with enough water in the tank for the wash cycle then dump when you arrive at your destination.

[scabello]

Do not run while underway. I used to do it ... then one day the belt broke! What a pain to go in there and swap it. Pull that heavy equipment out and open it up in the middle of the coach...

The new belt was wider — so i thought the original was a defective design. So back to using washer and dryer on the road. Then the belt slipped off! Not worth the effort to repair. Dont do it.

[Edd505]

Alan_Hepburn wrote:
When we bought our RV I read all the manuals - the washer/dryer manual said it uses a maximum of 14 gallons of water per load so we figured it would work well while we were driving. So, one day we decided to try it: put a small load in and hit the road. Everything went well - we even forgot the machine was running. That is until it started its high speed spin cycle: while it's trying to balance the load in the drum it can cause quite a vibration - we were sure we just blew a tire or something, until we remembered the washer was running!

[Rice]

garyemunson wrote:
Those of you with washer/dryers in their RVS, while a dryer usually needs a lot of electricity, are RV inverters usually big enough to run the washer while underway?

I, like others, am uneasy about how the spinning of the washing machine would interact with the RV jostling down the road.

But to answer your question, I used a Kill-a-Watt to measure the electrical draw of my old Splendide 2000 combo unit. The most it used while washing was during the super-high spin at the end of the cycle, with the pump running (the pump runs only intermittently during spinning). That was about 400 watts.

During the regular spin cycle, it used 240 watts when the pump was also running. The pump itself uses about 100 watts.

The wash cycle, where the drum turns one way and then the other, maxed out at 150 watts.

For the full 1 hour and 15 minute cycle (one wash, three rinses), it used 0.210 kilowatt hours. That would be about 18 amp hours out of the batteries.

When washing, the Splendide is not a high-amp appliance like a microwave or hair dryer.

[Mile_High]

We like to do laundry while running down the road. If I remember correctly, we have to run back and restart the washer and/or dryer if I happen to shut the generator off and restart it for any reason.

[All_I_could_aff]

I don’t like leaving wet clothes in the washer longer than necessary, but to each his own. I’d wash an hour before bed, then put in dryer at bedtime.

By the way, I aspire to one day have a big Diesel pusher with 4 slides and washer/dryer, but for now, it’s just a 20 year old 17 foot hybrid trailer!

[Executive45]

I put a load in before going to bed at night. Next morning, clothes are ready to be dried and put away. Easiest way to do laundry..Mine does not go through the inverter...Dennis

[dougrainer]

time2roll wrote:
I can't imagine any issue with a sine wave inverter or running the washer in general... or the dryer for that matter. Grey tank would be my only concern.

The issue is simple. You can only run so many hi amp appliances thru an Inverter. When NOT Inverting, you have pass thru 120 power going thru your Inverter. There is a limit to how many appliances can be run thru an Inverter. That limit is the SIZE of the Pass thru Inverter 120 breaker/s AND its Transfer relay. Yes, no RV Washer/Dryer will overload a 2000 watt or larger Inverter. But why make the Inverter work that hard? Run your Genset. It needs regular running also and most RV'ers never run their Genset enough anyway. Doug

[Bird_Freak]

My wife always did the laundry on the way home in the mh. I left with a empty grey tank and plenty of fresh water. Fired up genny when she started.
Eight years with no problems.

[js218]

150 gallons fresh, 125 gallons gray,75 gallons black no problem doing wash rolling down the road with gen set on.

[time2roll]

I can't imagine any issue with a sine wave inverter or running the washer in general... or the dryer for that matter. Grey tank would be my only concern.

[PNW_Steve]

It sounds like the power issues have been addressed.

What about water? Grey tank capacity?

I have had two rigs with washer / dryer. I wouldn't buy a third.

If you spend a lot of time in RV parks with full hookups laundry is not a big deal.

I found that doing laundry in the RV doubled our water consumption.

[jorbill2or]

All of the rv washers I’ve had are not wired through the inverter. Like the AC they are shore power or generator only.
We used to run it while driving a few times in our old Winnebago. That is until it was running and I hit a rough patch of road. The washer tub somehow hit one of the electric circuit boards in the bottom of the tub area. Several hundred bucks later and the repair guy said not to run it while moving. We haven’t since. All it took was some good bumps.

[All_I_could_aff]

First world problems

[Alan_Hepburn]

When we bought our RV I read all the manuals - the washer/dryer manual said it uses a maximum of 14 gallons of water per load so we figured it would work well while we were driving. So, one day we decided to try it: put a small load in and hit the road. Everything went well - we even forgot the machine was running. That is until it started its high speed spin cycle: while it's trying to balance the load in the drum it can cause quite a vibration - we were sure we just blew a tire or something, until we remembered the washer was running!