Your Opinion -- Washer/Dryer?

Trigger Happy wrote:
Can the washer dryer units be used while going down the road?

They need plenty of water and 120VAC to power it. If you have those two things I guess it is possible.
Its been said before, but I will say it again.
Yes, the Splendid combos do a small load, they also use a small amount of soap, and are a true load, start and forget until dry clothes come out. There is no need to sit around some sleezy laundrymat waiting for your stuff. We camp hosted for 7 years, mever went to a laundrymat. Start a load in the morning and go to work. Come in at lunch time, take out clean dry clothes, start another load, eat lunch and go back out to work. If we had a lot of clothes, or bath towels, maybe run another load in the evening. Personally I have more to do with my time than sit and watch clothes dry.

Trigger Happy wrote:
Can the washer dryer units be used while going down the road?

Some are plumbed to the gray tank, some have their own tank and some are plumbed directly to the sewer pipe. I wouldn't run it on the road if it dumped directly to the pipe.

We have never used ours.

Can the washer dryer units be used while going down the road?

If it's a combo unit, make sure it's vented to the outside.

We discovered that the seedy underside of campground living was the laundry. It seems to me that the seasonals consider it to be theirs and the transients are merely allowed to use the facilities at the discretion of the seasonals. If you're not there EXACTLY when the washer or dryer stops, your stuff gets dumped (sometimes on the floor) and they commandeer the machine.

It's worth getting a washer dryer just so you have to deal with that drama. The Splendide was the second most useful appliance on our six month winter trip.

The counter top ice maker was #1.

The Splendide combo unit does a good job IF you read the directions and learn a new way to do laundry. However, it does very small loads. I felt like all I ever did was wash clothes because of the very small load size. I much prefer to wash normal loads at a laundromat...use two or three washers and dryers at a time an have it all done in an hour or two.

We talk numerous 10 day trips, and it is great to come home with laundry all done. And this does not take time away from our RVing on the road.

FIrst do you have a gasser or a Diesel? In a gasser the Cargo Carrying Capacity is often less than 1,000 pounds. and adding a couple hundred pounds of washer/Dryer cuts into that BIG TIME.

When We got our MH. Wife and I considered the cost of a Washer/Dryer v/s Park Laundry.. Based on the anticipated life of a Splende W/D we felt it was right close to break even.. Just had to help another RVer diagnose his W/D (Bad drain pump) So I think we got it close.. Plus the park machines are much larger than the RV machines. Bedding for example would be two loads. v/s one and I toss in some towels to equalize the 3 machines I use once a month.

That said. I am considering a portable.. Sometimes I just need to wash a few things.. Currently when that happens I hand wash but it would be so much easier with a portable machine.> But NO ROOM AT THE INN (portables are even smaller but are also lighter).

It really all boils down to your style of camping and how you use your RV if a washer and dryer are important enough to have. If you are a week-end warrior and a 2 week a year vacationer then it doesn't make a lot of sense to have them. On the other hand, if you are a full timer, anchored in one spot for lengths of time at a time, and you have a sufficient power, water, and sewer connection, then it makes better sense to have one.

FYI, in my opinion, any laundry mat just sucks! But we are not full timers on the road, have access to our washer-dryer at home, so for us, it makes no sense to have one in the camper.

dcmac214 wrote:
Soliciting opinions about whether or not it's worth having a combo clothes washer/dryer in an RV.

Or is it more valuable to you to have that little bit more storage space?

we looked hard and fast at this when we were shopping for a new MH in 2015. we ultimately decided against it because:

- very low capacity compared to commercial/campground laundry. that meant doing either some laundry every 1-2 days or spending a whole day doing laundry. it now takes abt 2-hrs to do laundry every 8 to 10-days

- the cost as compared to a commercial/campground laundry. we spend anywhere from $9-$10 per occurrence to do laundry roughly every 8 to 10-days. on our last trip we did laundry 10-times or $100. on shorter trips (usually 7-10 days) we just do laundry when we get home. we did the math. at $1000+ for the W/D option we could do laundry for at least 5-yrs and likely much longer before breaking even.

- we needed the extra storage space a lot more than the W/D.

we did decide that IF we did go for the onboard washer/dryer option we would get the twin units and not the combo. capacity is further reduced and drying times extended with the combo. whichever you choose be sure the dryer is vented to the outside.