| Author | Message | ||
| doug (66.82.9.80) Rating: |
I need a washer/dryer combo unit. Thoughts on the best one? We are full timing with three small kids, so the laundromat is not an option. Thanks in advance, dug | ||
| bruce king (67.170.101.3)
Rating: N/A |
Think about the thor regular, or thor softline combo wa/dryer. Softline has bigger capacity. | ||
| CoryDane RTSII (66.155.188.47) Rating: N/A |
OK, questions.... How much space can you give to a washer dryer combo??? "thinking that W/D combos' come in many flavours and sizes" cd | ||
| Henry R. Bergman, Jr. (Henryofcj) (63.224.197.10)
Rating: N/A |
We finally had to delete the washer and dryer from the possible floorplan. Could have found the space/cubage, but the required extra water and holding did us in. We plan on extended drycamping which means just the capacity on board. If YOUR coaching style includes frequent full hookups, by all means go for the washer and dryer. We wish we could. Had a long hard look at the compact apartment sized Sears/Kenmore Stackmate 115 vac model(s). About 24" W by 28" D by 66" H. Unknown weight. We were going to ad an exhaust fan on the dryer vent to... ... help out the drying cycles on vac generator power. Diesel electric coach with no propane. If you have propane, we were told the gas dryers works MUCH better than electric. We were leaning towards Sears because of their networking and warranty, plus the somewhat ease of service and spare parts. Others may have a better choice. Or....even with small kids, one could consider just packing along a TON of extra clean clothes if away from a washer and dryer. We are considering this. Good luck.  | ||
| John that newguy (199.232.240.157) Rating: N/A |
The big question? Are you planning to use it only when at a full service campground? The amount of water, both fresh and waste, has to be considered as well as the electric needs. A small top loading washer (to avoid water spills) and a propane dryer should suffice (electric if 220 is available both aboard and at site). The standard home units would work as well in a bus, as they would in a home. With both in a bay, I would opt for a front loader, but they use more water. But the home units take up an enormous amount of room. The RV types are generally too small for any practical "normal" use. With three kids, I seriously doubt you'd be happy with a small RV type that's designed for simple, and small quantity, travel wear. Since beginning our bus project, and having lived full-time in an RV, my wife and I discussed the need for our own laundry. We've come to the conclusion that it's less expensive to carry twice as many clothes and do the wash in a laundromat. Sure, it sounds handy to have a washer/dryer at our disposal, but with all the associated problems and demands to the "portable" system, it's a whole lot cheaper and easier to make the weekly run. | ||
| James Maxwell (Jmaxwell) (66.81.32.141)
Rating: N/A |
When and if u look at Splendide, look only at the vented model, which I think is the model 2000. Space rqd.: 24x24x36h | ||
| William R. Graf (Billfrombrazil) (66.115.246.189)
Rating: N/A |
We, my wife and I, have a Splendide 2000. It is small but is one of the best washers I have had the pleasure of using. It does take a fair amount of water and will not do you when dry camping. It is vented and will dry clothes at 110v in approximately twice the time of a 220v house dryer. It is undoubtedly the easiest washer on clothes I have seen and does a good job of cleaning. When washing my work clothes I put two pairs of jeans and two heavy shirts per load. I can do a week's worth of underwear for us both per load quite easily. I try to hang our clothes out whenever possible because I like the fresh smell when I get them in. I am the authority because my wife can no longer carry any loads of any kind and manage her walker. | ||
| dug (66.82.9.64) Rating: N/A |
Bruce: I haven't heard of the Softline. I'll check it out. Cory: Space is an issue. I want to put it in the bay. I have an apartment size W/D set, but the washer is a top load, and is too tall to fit in the bay. John: 95% of the time we will have electric/water hookup, but no close laundry mat. Thanks for all the input, I appreciate your time. --dug 75 MC8 | ||
| Tom Caffrey (Pvcces) (65.74.66.104)
Rating: N/A |
dug, we have a set of Kenmore portables in our coach. They were installed by 1989 and we bought the coach in 2001. We/ve never had a lick of trouble with either. Ours take about 3/4 of the load of Speed Queen commercial machines that we use at home and the dryer is about as fast as the home machine. The Kenmore set was intended for use in an RV; the owner's manual has instructions for winterizing. The washer has a manually settable water level, so you can use anywhere from 20 to 30 gallons per load. The only design limitation that we noticed was that the lint filter in the dryer is small, so if you forget to clean it, drying time increases dramatically. The dryer(propane) takes very little power from the inverter. I think that it might have been as little as 250 watts or so. In fact, we used to run both machines at the same time on a mid-eighties 1200 VA Heart inverter without it tripping off until we turned on something else. Ours is a top load washer, so you will need to find out if a front loader is available. You may want to use a combined machine just because you will want to preserve all the bay space that you can. However, the cost of electric drying will be much higher than propane in almost all cases. If you like to wash with hot water, you will need to have about 15 gallons of hot water heater. We have a 10 and we solve that problem by heating a big pot of water before we start the washer. For what it's worth. Tom Caffrey PD4106-2576 Suncatcher |
