Washing Machine thread

NorthGuy

Re: Washing Machine thread

waynefromnscanada wrote: »

Awesome! And that's not taking into consideration the extra running of the water pump to fill the top loader

Yeah, and every gallon of water is approximately 4-5 Wh!

Volvo Farmer

Re: Washing Machine thread

I finally got around to measuring one of these. The machine is a Whirlpool Duet Sport. I don't have the model number handy though. I never saw a draw over about 900W I washed a medium size load of washcloths and towels with the "normal" cycle on Hi speed spin. Total energy consumed, .13KWhr.

westyd1982

Re: Washing Machine thread

I tested my washer with my Kill-a-watt. I have a Maytag Neptune MAH3000AWW. On its label it is rated at 7A at 120V. I ran two tests.

1. Max Extract and Extra Rinse - Warm Wash/Cold Rinse - Sturdy/Cotton cycle.

0.18kWh - peaks of about 800W and average of about 500W during Max Extract spin. - I ran this test plugged into the grid - the Max Extract will trip my SureSine300.

2. Normal wash - no Max Extract and no Extra Rinse - Warm Wash/Cold Rinse - Sturdy/Cotton cycle.

0.10kWh - peaks of about 500W and average of 300W during final spin. - I ran this test plugged into my SureSine300.

One downside is that this washer draws about 13W when it is plugged in and doing nothing. If we open the door, it draws nothing - the door stays open when not in use.

Does anyone know of a gas dryer that runs at around 300W? Ours draws about 700W continually when in use. We use a outside line in the summer, but it doesn't work in our winters.

Washer on the left. Gas dryer on the right.
Attachment not found.

NorthGuy

Re: Washing Machine thread

westyd1982 wrote: »

Does anyone know of a gas dryer that runs at around 300W? Ours draws about 700W continually when in use. We use a outside line in the summer, but it doesn't work in our winters.

Mine draws around 250W continuously except for about 20 seconds in the behinning it goes to 900W. I measured a drying cycle at 0.15kWh. However, I didn't check it over a range of loads. I guess bigger loads would draw more. Model is Samsung DV350AGP.

inetdog

Re: Washing Machine thread

westyd1982 wrote: »

Does anyone know of a gas dryer that runs at around 300W? Ours draws about 700W continually when in use.

Don't know, sorry. Some things to thing about while looking though:

Is that 700W or just 700VA?

The draw will probably have three major components:

1. Drum motor
2. Fan motor (if separate)
3. Control system and igniter or glow bar to light the gas flame as needed.

For a given size machine, the amount of energy to spin the drum will be hard to reduce, as will the energy needed to blow the air through. But the power factor of the motor(s) may vary with the design.

vtmaps

Re: Washing Machine thread

inetdog wrote: »

igniter or glow bar to light the gas flame as needed.

I think that will make a huge difference in electric consumption. I recall a thread that discussed glow bars on kitchen ranges... they draw hundreds of watts whenever the oven is on. Are there any gas driers that don't have a glow bar? I think that would be key to finding an off-grid drier. --vtMaps

Volvo Farmer

Re: Washing Machine thread

The ignition systems on ranges and dryers are totally different. They both use a silicon carbide ignitor, but on a range, the current draw through the ignitor is used to hold the gas valve open. On a dryer, there is a sensor that turns the gas valve coils on and turns the ignitor off simultaneously. For every heat cycle on the dryer, the ignitor is only on for ten or fifteen seconds, so it does not make a huge difference in electric consumption.

BB.

Re: Washing Machine thread

I think I read it here--But somebody asked why waste so much power on a glow bar for dryers and got the answer that folks did not like the clicking sound of spark ignition. A little less noise at the cost of 500+ watts load to light the flame. :roll: I don't think I have ever seen a gas dryer that did not have a glow bar ignition system.

-Bill

Ralph Day

Re: Washing Machine thread

My clothes drying is accomplished with a sustained thermonuclear reaction roughly 93 million miles away. In the summer I put clothes out on a line and the radiation or the wind caused by the radiation dries the clothes. In the winter stored radiation in the form of carbon is released through thermal consumption in a controlled combustion device and drys the clothes in the basement of the house (wood stove). No tumbling, non-renewable heat sources required. Clothes lines inside and outside. (can you tell I had 2 cups of coffee this morning?)

Ralph

Skippy

Re: Washing Machine thread

Cloths dryer - ? ?

1 - 15' line strung up indoors, right in front of the washing machine. . cloths come right out of the washer and hung on the line. That's it. In the winter, it helps humidify the house, in the summer, I don't notice it that much, since I don't use the A/C till it's over 100.... in my area, 2 or 3 days a year, or you wait till a cool night to do the laundry, and leave the windows open. . .

just starting

I have 80' of close line inside 7 11.5' runs at the washer no dryer we use all 80' every load