Washer/Dryer stacks revisited - RV-Dreams Community Forum

snowman8 · RV-Dreams Family Member

Washer/Dryer stacks revisited

Racerguy · RV-Dreams Family Member

You're not going to get 220 service at any campground I know of so you will have to get the 110 version.

snowman8 · RV-Dreams Family Member

Thanks for that, we're FT but stationary. How long on average does it take to dry, and how much, by volume, is being dried? For those stationary, are you doing laundry ALL day?

-- Edited by snowman8 on Thursday 27th of October 2011 08:58:31 PM

Terry and Jo · RV-Dreams Family Member

Kevin,

Jo and I are "static" full-timers ourselves. We purchased a Whirlpool washer and Whirlpool dryer. They sit side by side in our coach in a compartment designed, wired, and plumbed for both units. Both are also front loading units.

When we were looking at the units, the Whirlpool that had been recommended was one with a glass door. There is a matching washer for it, but the one with the glass door was 240V only. We elected to buy a different, non matching, dryer that Whirlpool made that is 110V. That dryer does not have a window in the door.

Jo does the washing, so I am totally guessing. Her wash cycles are roughly 30 minutes on almost (if not all) loads. The dryer takes longer because of the 110V and takes roughly 45 minutes or so to dry a load.

Jo has a tendency to do two or three loads (remember they are small) a couple of days during the week and then washes the bedding on Saturday or Sunday.

Hope this is helpful to you. Jo likes the Whirlpools and should you take an interest in that brand, I'll look up the model numbers for you. One thing about this model of washer, it does NOT have a buzzer for "end of cycle" notification. The dryer does have a buzzer though.

Terry

dream reachers · RV-Dreams Family Member

We too have the Whirlpool washer and dryer but ours are stacked. They work on 110 . They do not have the large capacity as some home models. Jeanne says that she can wash 3 pair of Jeans and a couple shirts in a load or 1 kingsize flannel sheet if that helps you get an idea. We have been fulltiming 4 1/2 years and on the road 4 years and have used stacked setup all the time. We started off with an offbrand and smaller capacity and are much happier with the Whirlpool units. We bought a motor home in April with a combo w/d. We removed it and put the WP units from our old fifthwheel in it. Working great.

The Bear II · RV-Dreams Family Member

Our stacked Whirlpool units are 110V and keep up well with our laundry needs.

I haven't timed it but the dryer doesn't seem to take any longer than the gas dryer in our house... 45 minutes to an hour depending on the load.

A typical load in the RV will be 2 blouses, 2 shirts, 2 pants, 2 unmentionables, and socks, a days worth of clothes. Or 2 swimsuits, 2 large towels, tee shirt, shorts and 2 washcloths plus miscellaneous other items from the day.

It's well worth the investment and saves a lot of time vs. going to the laundromat every few days.

snowman8 · RV-Dreams Family Member

Thanks for all the information, it does help....I get that the favorites here are Kenmore, Whirlpool, and some like the Splendide. I have a q. to our Montana dealer about the plumbing, we have the set-ups in the closet, so I would imagine it would be hook-up and go.

Did any of you opt for changing your dryer to be vented to the outside of the unit?

Terry and Jo · RV-Dreams Family Member

Kevin,

Yes, ours is vented to the outside. While I don't know for sure the details, but some have had issues with some of the vents being easy to clog with lint. If you put one in, make sure that it is fairly easy to clean the vent system, either from the outside or inside.

Jo uses her vacuum to clean out ours.

Terry

Delaine and Lindy · RV-Dreams Family Member

We have the Whirlpool W/D and they set side by side, and we have also owned the Splendide Combo and the Splendide Ariston Stackable, highly recommend the side by side or the Stackable. The negative about the Splendide Combo is you can't wash and dry at the same time. The Whirlpool dryer if its 220 volt will match the Washer. There are some who do have the 220 system. I believe you said you have a Montana and if so you will have to go with the Stackable W/D. If your a member of MOC, they are Montana owners and just ask who is using the 220 Volt dryer. There is a Guy there who stayed on our RV site at our home base for a winter and he installed a Bosch W/D while living there. There is a way to install a 220 volt dryer. And yes thats a fact no RV park I have ever been in has a 220 Volt hooks ups. But there is a way to wire the Montana to handle the 220 system. And I highly recommend that the Dryer be vented to the outside. We used Camping World twice to install the W/D and they did a wonderful job.. Happy Trails...

P.S. The Montana owner on the Montana Owners site name is Dave B. He will be more that glad to give you the information on installing the 220 system. Dave actuarially installed the 220 at our RV site, I helped him put the W/D inside the Montana. He also can also recommend moving the plugs to the proper place because the closet is very tight..

snowman8 · RV-Dreams Family Member

Thank you for that info... aww I do belong to MOC, so I'll look him up, we have 50 amp service at our base campsite. Will followup on everybody's imput and hopefully not ahve to go to the town laundry anymore.

Well.....went to the website.....in the immortal words of Cheech and Chong.....

"Dave? Who...? Dave's not here man....."

-- Edited by snowman8 on Friday 28th of October 2011 01:42:55 PM

bjoyce · RV-Dreams Family Member

50AMP is supposed to be 220volt, with two 110volt 50AMP legs to provide a total of 100AMP of 110volt. (Yes, 50AMP has over three times the AMPS of 30AMP because 50AMP is measured at 220volts). But to get 220volt the two legs need to be 180 degrees out of phase. (I am sure I just lost a bunch of people.) But since most 50AMP RVs do not have 220volt, there are many campground outlets that do not have the two legs out of phase so you get only 110volt. If you hook to 30AMP you only get 110volt. A lot of generators only put out 110volt.

Me, we camp in many places we only have 30AMP and we do do laundry at them. Of course we have a Spendide combo and are fine with it and don't want to give up the space for a stackable set.

PD CFK · RV-Dreams Family Member

We have the Whirlpool washer and the Splendide dryer, both front load with the windows. Couldn't find the Whirlpool to match when we were looking. Had the 220V to match, but we didn't want to go that way, so opted for non matching...not a problem, they are behind louvered doors anyway. I love them and use them frequently to keep up with laundry...don't like it piling up as there's not much room for that. The dryer is a bit noisy and we get a little thrill when the washer is spinning. Makes life interesting :) BTW, I use Purex Complete, 3-in-1 laundry sheets. Figure the sheets are for regular size machines,
so I cut them in half, doubling the number of loads per box. No measuring or pouring. Neat. Our dryer is vented to the outside also. PK

adeline and ed · RV-Dreams Family Member

I'm with bill we like the extra space we gain with the combo unit. We find it works very satisfactory

with the cleaning job. As with any 110 dryer its going to take more time, but you learn how and when to do loads,especially when there is only two of you

Delaine and Lindy · RV-Dreams Family Member

Snowman look up xnavydiver, on the MOC, his name is Dave Blair... He is at his home base for the winter??? Happy Trails...

Delaine and Lindy · RV-Dreams Family Member

Just a comment on the dryer being clogged up, I have not seen one yet that don't clog. It clogs up near the end to the outside pipe. I did the simple fix, I done as suggested by Drv I cut a hole in the vent screen which is plastic. End of problem. Ours had a large ball of lint. I have no idea how to use a vac without sliding the dryer out and thats not a easy solution for us. Happy Trails....

Jack Mayer · RV-Dreams Family Member

Bill, have you experienced many campgrounds with 50 amp power not being out of phase? I've never seen that....but I'm not looking for it, either. It certainly has not been the case anywhere I worked. The new NEC does require out of phase....but it is often not followed.

We have the Splendide stackables in our New Horizons. 120-volt dryer. It takes 100 minutes to dry a full load of 2 pairs of jeans and the rest T shirts and cotton underwear. Not so bad, IMO. I've thought of propane next time...but I'm pretty happy with the stuff we have. (And yes, ladies, I do my own wash :) )

-- Edited by Jack Mayer on Monday 31st of October 2011 01:16:59 PM

bjoyce · RV-Dreams Family Member

Jack: My information came from someone I met a few years ago who changed out their 220volt stove in their bus conversion for one using propane. They had encountered the 50AMP being in phase more than once.

-- Edited by bjoyce on Monday 31st of October 2011 06:36:12 PM