How useful is a washer/dryer

[Unicorn1108]

We're shopping for a motor home, and evaluating the utility of various features. If you have a washer, do you use it often, or do you end up at the laundromat anyway? Has anyone replaced a motor home that had a washer with one that didn't? Did you miss it terribly? Apologies if this has been addressed; I searched the forums and didn't find this topic.

Bob and Betsy

[washley1]

Our rig only had room for the combo unit, so that is what we put in. If you are a week end or short vacation camper, you may never use it. But I can tell you for us on our 4 month journey back in 2012 we loved it. We hate laundromats! Also, ours is set up to drain into our bathroom grey tank, so we do not have to be connected to sewer.

[Dustytuu]

As I have stated before I love my washer and dryer. We had them in last two 5th wheels. It is big enough, I can wash a quilt in them. Quick drying. My husband is a retired Electrician and he wired the dryer to 220 so it works quickly and great.
Those using public laundry facilities whether in RV park or town laundry, You do not know what was washed in those machines. Friends have told us they have seen people putting dirty diapers in them, poop and all. Also dog blankets with lots of dog hair. One lady put several horse blankets in two machines! Not all laundries have attendants in them.

[paulcardoza]

We just took delivery of our Cyclone and negotiated a stacked W/D as part of the deal. All I can say is that is is a HUGE improvement over the combo unit we had in our previous coach! The new stacked units are also Splendide models. Capacities are much higher and drying is much more efficient, even at just 110v.

[FrontierJoe]

We have a small portable washer from base camp and a portable spin dryer. The washer does a good job and the spin dryer gets about 98 % of the water out. We then we just hang every thing up for about a hour to get it fully dried. They are small and compact which we store in the overhead bunk of our class C. It has saved us a ton of money from using the laundry mats and having our stuff ruined. Both items are small so we wash every other day. And if we are going on a trip in our car we take them with us and do our laundry in the motel room! IMHO well worth the $300 bucks we spent for them. Just another option to look at.

[2gypsies1]

MTPockets1 wrote:
Seems that most responses are in favor of on board W/D. We full time now for 2 1/2 yrs. and do not have them, nor can we imagine having them. We do laundry every two weeks and takes less than 3 hrs to wash, dry, fold. We always do lunch out that day and sometimes groceries. Then, for two weeks absolutely zero bother with doing one load at a time nearly every day, the messing with soap and sorting on board. It kinda ties you down if you need to do laundry Tuesday, then something comes up?... We like the freedom 'from' laundry, but since it's a necessity we get it done in one short time period instead of taking a coffee break from laundry on board. But, to each their own. Having the machine on board, instead of a convenience to us they are a nuisance.

X2 🙂 We rarely use full hookups - boondocking/dry camping is our favorite. Every 2 weeks we do laundry. Simple.

[MTPockets1]

Seems that most responses are in favor of on board W/D. We full time now for 2 1/2 yrs. and do not have them, nor can we imagine having them. We do laundry every two weeks and takes less than 3 hrs to wash, dry, fold. We always do lunch out that day and sometimes groceries. Then, for two weeks absolutely zero bother with doing one load at a time nearly every day, the messing with soap and sorting on board. It kinda ties you down if you need to do laundry Tuesday, then something comes up?... We like the freedom 'from' laundry, but since it's a necessity we get it done in one short time period instead of taking a coffee break from laundry on board. But, to each their own. Having the machine on board, instead of a convenience to us they are a nuisance.

[John___Angela]

JimM68 wrote:
We had a splendide combo in motorhome #1. It might wash one pair of jeans, but then would dry it (in about 4 hours) into an impenetrable wad of blue cotton.

Running it without hookups (drain valve open) would flood the motorhome in one "load."

Current motorhome has a HUGE cabinet where the w/d could have been.
We miss it not.

Wow Sounds like you had major problems with your machine. They are actually fairly cheap to repair. We can easily do 3 or 4 pairs of jeans and a few other things. Seems to dry just fine in a reasonable amount of time. Takes about 12 gallons per load and we quite often will do a load when dry camping for 5 or 6 days. Soundsike the timer was getting stuck on rinse cycle or something on yours.

[JimM68]

We had a splendide combo in motorhome #1. It might wash one pair of jeans, but then would dry it (in about 4 hours) into an impenetrable wad of blue cotton.

Running it without hookups (drain valve open) would flood the motorhome in one "load."

Current motorhome has a HUGE cabinet where the w/d could have been.
We miss it not.

[Mr_Mark1]

We find a washer and dryer in the motorhome a must. So convenient. Once in a campground, we took our brand new towels to wash them in the campground laundry. They came out spotted from someone leaving bleach in the washer. The towels are fine but ugly. LOL!

Nothing like starting a load early in the morning, then put in the dryer, then go site seeing. I don't like leaving the washer running alone although we've never had a problem in 7 yrs. It's nice to be totally self contained not needing any campground services unless we choose (laundry, bath house, or even utility connections).

MM.

[Dustytuu]

We have had stack washer and dryer in last 2 of our 5th wheels. They are not the tiny kind. I can get 2 sheets, 2 pillow cases, a blanket and all washes well. The dryer holds all of this too.
I would not do without them. I also have a dishwasher in the 5th wheel and would not do without that either. My dinner and breakfast dishes are washing right now.

[Unicorn1108]

Thunder Mountain wrote:
The answer depends on your personal situation...

Our MH has a washer dryer and our previous fiver had one. There was a

Off topic, but are you happy with the switch from fiver to MH? I'm thinking MH since I don't already have a truck and my car would make a pretty good tow.

Bob

[Thunder_Mountai]

The answer depends on your personal situation...

Our MH has a washer dryer and our previous fiver had one. There was a time when we were still working and didn't have a washer dryer. We had to pack enough clothes for 10-12 day trip which meant two days of washing when we got home or take a "break" at the Laundromat during the trip. You waste a good half a day watching out of control children run around, reading three year old magazines, getting you clothes ruined by 700 degree dryers or using a washer last used by the local mechanics wife. Been there done that.

We are now retired. With a washer, we can pack three days worth of clothes and stay out for a month. We can even run the generator going down the road and do a load. We usually do a load a day. We wash the towels and sheets before coming back and only have the dirty clothes on our back we when we come home. We are minimalists. We don't do fancy restaurants. We hike, bike, ATV and Jeep. I personally don't care if the guy next door sees me in the same clothes for several days in a row. Unknown to him they are clean every day.

[John___Angela]

Full timing for 11 years. We have the splendide combo. The first one lasted 10 years doing one load every day. Still worked when we changed it out but the timer needed replacing. Hope this one lasts as long. Can't even imagine not having it. Suspect we will be in this coach for another 10 to 20 years before we go back to stick and bricks so I suspect we will be changing it out once more.

JMHO.

[mr__ed]

I wouldn't want a washer/dryer in my RV. I've always used commercial laundomats and find them satisfactory, although I have to check the water temp first since some of them skimp on hot water. I live by myself so this works for me. YMMV....