Emma Posted February 19, 2017 Share Posted February 19, 2017 So I've been living at tiny house for a few months now and all is going well. The 3HP blender (although it doesn't get used often) works well. The iron - not so great. Even though it's only 1200w it can only be used for a really quick iron of something. Turn it on, iron a dress or two and pop outside quickly to see what the dog is barking at whilst noticing that it's cloudy and then all of a sudden the system starts bleeping consistently, panic breaks loose in my brain and I quickly unplug everything and start doing something cross between sun salutations and a deranged form of dance wiggling my arms around willing the sun come back out and praying that my boyfriend won't notice how low the batteries are when he gets home!!! I promised not to use the iron again (but I now know how to plug the generator in to top up the batteries!!!). So now I want a washing machine. Apparently top loaders use more water than front loaders. A twin tub is not an option as the space I have is too small. The larger the machine capacity the better the energy rating it would seem, however, I only need to do a 5kg or so load once or twice a week. We can figure out how to do a hot and cold fill if necessary although we cannot regulate the hot fill. The hot water we have is via a little gas burner which we light up when we need it. We shower with it and it's generally okay - cold for a few seconds then boiling hot and then hot. I'm wondering whether it would be better just to have a cold fill and allow the machine to heat itself up. I may want to do the odd 60 degree wash but mostly I'd use 30 degree washes. I believe you need heat for a better clean. I also know that quick washes use more electricity than say a 60 minute wash. Any advice on what type of machine to get or to things to consider? Is it essential to get an A+++ model if it means it is a bigger and more expensive machine? Obviously it will need to be run on sunny days or whilst the generator is running. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
___ Posted February 19, 2017 Share Posted February 19, 2017 Top loaders use more water but less electricity. It usually has a hot-fill connection, doesn't heat its own water. Most houses in SA only has a cold connection, we solve the problem by using washing powder that can work in cold water. Front loaders use less water, but they heat their own water. The Enzymes in washing powder wants to be around 30 degrees centigrade to work best. From some superficial tests, on the top loader we peaked around 550W when it was spinning. This was a big LG top-loader (13kg unit). LG does make a smaller one. They work well and I can recommend it. The longest cycle is maybe 35 minutes. We use the Bosch front loader more often now. This one goes up to almost 1kw when spinning, and close to 2kw when heating water. Of course you don't have to use the heating function. Cycles also range between 30 minutes and 2 hours, we generally use the 1:35 mixed cycle. So it does spend a lot more time and electricity doing the same thing, but it does spin at 1000rpm (some models go as high as 1400rpm, but cost a lot of money, diminishing returns above 1200rpm). In our case, this makes up for the extra cost by taking less time in the tumble dryer. And there is the water thing... which is way more important for us. So, if water isn't a thing, get a small toploader. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Hobson Posted February 19, 2017 Share Posted February 19, 2017 HI Emma Welcome back. Heating water is energy intensive so I would recommend using your gas geyser to supply your washing machine so top loader is what I would opt for. Just as an aside we wash our clothes in cold water. I think the idea behind warm washes is to aid the surfactant ability of the detergent. We have a big Whirlpool which uses about 200W and then peaks about 700W for the spin cycle. You could just take a bucket or two of hot water and add it to the cold - let the machine swish the water for a moment and then add your clothes and detergent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
subok01 Posted February 19, 2017 Share Posted February 19, 2017 I agree with Chris. Same procedure followed this side at two properties.Sent from my SM-N910H using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arandoza Posted February 19, 2017 Share Posted February 19, 2017 Hi,To add to the comments we use a LG Direct drive 9kg front loader on a quick wash, on cold water setting only and spin speed 1400 rpm to reduce drying time as well, definitely recommend this it really helps in Winter when nothing wants to dry, without a tumble dryer When running I have never really noticed a spike in consumption, when viewing the inverter it seems to be running around 150 watts higher than usual but with all the other loads running i can't easily say exactly how much it draws, but it appears to be very light on power and no big spikes. It's also a+ rated - by chance . Model F1403FD5If the water temp is increased from cold wash I'm sure the power would spike big time, I expect it has a 2kw heater element.As a plus most of the kids school wear including blazers and sports kit recommends cold wash and I can't say it has adversely affected the cleaning ability. But no heavily soiled clothing or greasy overalls being washed Happy shopping Chris Hobson 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeepBass9 Posted February 20, 2017 Share Posted February 20, 2017 8 hours ago, Chris Hobson said: HI Emma Welcome back. Heating water is energy intensive so I would recommend using your gas geyser to supply your washing machine so top loader is what I would opt for. Just as an aside we wash our clothes in cold water. I think the idea behind warm washes is to aid the surfactant ability of the detergent. We have a big Whirlpool which uses about 200W and then peaks about 700W for the spin cycle. You could just take a bucket or two of hot water and add it to the cold - let the machine swish the water for a moment and then add your clothes and detergent. Ditto the above procedure. Really dirty stuff gets soaked overnight. Otherwise cold water in a top loader. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverNodashi Posted February 20, 2017 Share Posted February 20, 2017 We cold wash as well, in a 7KG top loader (time to upgrade...?) and I can't say that our stuff doesn't get clean cause there's no heat involved. It just works. One of the spin cycles draw about 600W, otherwise it averages on 200W. I want to suggest though, if you can at all, put up a solar geyser - of sorts. The evacuated tube manifolds work really well, even in cloudy weather. It might just help with a lot more than just washing clothes. Chris Hobson 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emma Posted February 26, 2017 Author Share Posted February 26, 2017 Thanks everyone foe all of your advice so far. I'll start investigating top loaders. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clint Posted February 26, 2017 Share Posted February 26, 2017 Emma i hope this helps http://thesweethome.com/blog/should-you-get-a-front-or-top-load-washing-machine/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emma Posted March 20, 2017 Author Share Posted March 20, 2017 I found a Samsung 9kg top loader. It doesn't have much info available in terms of power usage which is probably because it doesn't heat the water. It uses 160 litres of water per wash though! The best front loader that I found was a Bosch 5.5kg. It uses 0.797 kw per cycle and 41 litres of water and that is based on a 60 degree wash. I would prefer to wash my clothes in a 30 degree wash. We are on solar but could plug the generator in if need be. Water is also a concern as we only have rain water. I thought about maybe filling jugs of hot water from the gas geyser and putting them in the front loader as it fills. Any further thoughts on best way forward? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gallderhen Posted March 20, 2017 Share Posted March 20, 2017 1 hour ago, Emma said: I found a Samsung 9kg top loader. It doesn't have much info available in terms of power usage which is probably because it doesn't heat the water. It uses 160 litres of water per wash though! The best front loader that I found was a Bosch 5.5kg. It uses 0.797 kw per cycle and 41 litres of water and that is based on a 60 degree wash. I would prefer to wash my clothes in a 30 degree wash. We are on solar but could plug the generator in if need be. Water is also a concern as we only have rain water. I thought about maybe filling jugs of hot water from the gas geyser and putting them in the front loader as it fills. Any further thoughts on best way forward? We've started to move our appliances to more energy efficient ones, and the washer we got is an 8Kg frontloader from Defy ( code WMY 81443 MLC M). Its got a rating of A+++ and an annual energy consumption of 193KWh (according to their manual). At 40C it says it should only be using 0.7KWh One other thing I found very interesting about the washer, was you can program it to finish at a certain time, so for my wife and I who both work - we can program the washer to run during the day (when our solar-setup is up and running). -G- Arandoza 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
superdiy Posted March 22, 2017 Share Posted March 22, 2017 On 3/20/2017 at 1:32 PM, gallderhen said: annual energy consumption of 193KWh (according to their manual). That is an very interesting specification for the washing machine. So what is that based on? One medium load of washing 12 times per month @ an incoming water temperature of 20°C and a washing water temperature of 50°C? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverNodashi Posted March 22, 2017 Share Posted March 22, 2017 30 minutes ago, superdiy said: That is an very interesting specification for the washing machine. So what is that based on? One medium load of washing 12 times per month @ an incoming water temperature of 20°C and a washing water temperature of 50°C? well spotted! I would love to know how they got to those figures as well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gallderhen Posted March 22, 2017 Share Posted March 22, 2017 1 hour ago, superdiy said: That is an very interesting specification for the washing machine. So what is that based on? One medium load of washing 12 times per month @ an incoming water temperature of 20°C and a washing water temperature of 50°C? The subnote says its based on 220 cycles at 60C on a full load or 40C on a partial load. -G- superdiy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
___ Posted March 22, 2017 Share Posted March 22, 2017 On 3/20/2017 at 11:33 AM, Emma said: It uses 160 litres of water per wash though! Maybe on a full load/fill, but you will rarely do full 9kg loads. You're going to do small loads every second day or so. Can almost guarantee that. One of the big problems we had with our 13kg LG was precisely that: We killed the machine with small loads. It did quarter-sized loads for almost its entire life until the drum dampers were completely worn out (because it is never evenly loaded with just a few items). So you buy the big machine so you can wash large things, but in the end it will spend 90% of its life doing small loads. Not very efficient at all. On 3/20/2017 at 11:33 AM, Emma said: I would prefer to wash my clothes in a 30 degree wash. We are on solar but could plug the generator in if need be. Water is also a concern as we only have rain water. Why bother? You're going to grow tired of manually carrying the hot water and the clothes will get clean either way. Plug in the generator that one time you really need the water to be hot. We actually use one of these 2kw "minigeza" devices (essentially a kettle element in a safety-cage) with our top-loader. If you need the water to be hot (that one time a year), fill it with the lid open (so it stops before washing), then drop in the element and heat the water. Your limited water supply probably makes the case for the front-loader. (Also, I can't get past the mental picture of an actual BEARfoot princess. I think you meant barefoot... but bearfoot is an awesome mistake :-) ). superdiy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emma Posted March 23, 2017 Author Share Posted March 23, 2017 On 22/03/2017 at 2:28 PM, plonkster said: (Also, I can't get past the mental picture of an actual BEARfoot princess. I think you meant barefoot... but bearfoot is an awesome mistake :-) ). It's no mistake. My boyfriend likens himself and his dog to looking like and behaving like a bear. I am in a "bear in training"! I don't wear shoes so instead of Barefoot Princess I decided to go for Bearfoot Princess ___ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
subok01 Posted March 23, 2017 Share Posted March 23, 2017 Glad that was sorted! The bear vs bare irritated me endlessly[emoji6] Sent from my SM-N910H using Tapatalk ___ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
___ Posted March 23, 2017 Share Posted March 23, 2017 43 minutes ago, Emma said: It's no mistake. Previous employer calls me up one day. Him: I see you called the variable where you collect errors "mitsakes". Was that intentional? Me: Yes. Chris Hobson 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.