Washing machine from inverter

[Robbo]

I would say that is a very long shot

They do a device to half the wattage of a hot water tank heating element, this device may be able to be used to do the same for the washing machine element.

Edited March 25, 2016 by Robbo

[nicknorman]

A quick google of washing machine heater elements would suggest that most are in the 1700w to 1950w range so I guess that a normal wash cycle would be beyond the capability of my inverter. With a hot fill at 40 degrees though it should be fine with the alternator easily keeping pace with the power consumption. have I got that right?

Yes

[onionbargee]

How many watts does the motor need on a cold wash ?

 

The obvious way forward would be to use ones calorifier tank to feed the washer.

[Taslim]

They do a device to half the wattage of a hot water tank heating element, this device may be able to be used to do the same for the washing machine element.

A suitable diode in the live supply will do that.

[ditchcrawler]

A suitable diode in the live supply will do that.

And probably kill your inverter

[Nickhlx]

A washing machine we had in the past at home had 3 heating elements of about 900 watts each - I discovered this when old age was eating through the element wall and tripping the circuit - taking out of circuit first one, and later the second, kept it going until something else got it ...

 

Also the motor takes a fair surge - our Victron 12/3000/120 Multiplus will not allow it to run. It just sits there, "twitching", and I am sure it's not lack of 12V power, as even with the engine (with a 175 amp alternator) running.

I haven't found out why for sure, but the next thing to try is to see if the power saving waveform modifier is active and needs to be de-activated... Has anyone else found this with the Victron ?

 

Thanks,

 

Nick

[Taslim]

And probably kill your inverter

How so? I use a diode to regulate a big soldering iron and nothing's gone pop (Yet). That said my inverter is a cheap and chearfull box of unknown origin. 'Phaps the diode would upset the sensitivities of a more refined 'pedigre' unit.

[ditchcrawler]

How so? I use a diode to regulate a big soldering iron and nothing's gone pop (Yet). That said my inverter is a cheap and chearfull box of unknown origin. 'Phaps the diode would upset the sensitivities of a more refined 'pedigre' unit.

Because for half the cycle you are still drawing full power. Is your soldering iron 1.5Kw?

[Robbo]

What about replacing just the element bit (so using the same fitting) with a custom one made like from the below guys.

 

http://processheatingservices.com

[smileypete]

Some (most?) machines have a cold wash setting.

 

Can then do the kettle of hot water in drum trick.

 

A small trickle of hot calorifer water would keep the drum hot, providing you don't overfill it!

[valrene9600]

Our candy has a cold wash setting. I have plumbed it to both hot and cold pipes so can have either or a mixture of both going into machine.

[gary955]

I've just returned home and put a wash on. My machine (Hotpoint Aquarius 1000 WM62) does a hot fill on the 40 degree cycle.

Happy days! perfect for the boat.

[Taslim]

Because for half the cycle you are still drawing full power. Is your soldering iron 1.5Kw?

Good question & I didn't know the answer. It's used for working lead sheet. I just pluged it into a landline with a power meter and meter gives 1.6kw without the diode as the iron steadys. Diode in (half wave) confuses the meter.

I've just returned home and put a wash on. My machine (Hotpoint Aquarius 1000 WM62) does a hot fill on the 40 degree cycle.

Happy days! perfect for the boat.

Good news!

[system 4-50]

Waking this thread to ask if anybody knows the electrical characteristics of washing machine thermostats?

My inverter is not big enough to power any wmc water heating. It is cold fill only, and has a cold wash button which is great, but this has to be pressed on every wash, it cannot be left on, so one of my guests is going to get it wrong and blow my expensive inverter fuse. My plan is to modify the thermostat connections to tell the machine that the water is always hot. To do this I need to know how the thermostat works. Espares tell me that 0 ohms is a "good" thermostat and infinite ohms is failed thermostat. What ohms should I set it to to fool it that it is at 90 degrees? Any ideas on how I can find out without removing the device? Can I take it that it is a 240v device? 

The machine is a Candy GOFS 262 which used to be sold by Tesco.

[mross]

disconnect the wires from the thermostat and tape them up and see what happens.  

[vicafloat]

My Candy Aquamatic 10T worked fine in conjunction with my Powermaster 1.8kw pure sine inverter.However,my machine is now

obsolete and parts are unobtainable. Does anyone in the forum have experience of the Zanussi ZWC 1301 which is of similar size

and performance?

[nicknorman]

On 01/06/2017 at 10:49, system 4-50 said:

Waking this thread to ask if anybody knows the electrical characteristics of washing machine thermostats?

My inverter is not big enough to power any wmc water heating. It is cold fill only, and has a cold wash button which is great, but this has to be pressed on every wash, it cannot be left on, so one of my guests is going to get it wrong and blow my expensive inverter fuse. My plan is to modify the thermostat connections to tell the machine that the water is always hot. To do this I need to know how the thermostat works. Espares tell me that 0 ohms is a "good" thermostat and infinite ohms is failed thermostat. What ohms should I set it to to fool it that it is at 90 degrees? Any ideas on how I can find out without removing the device? Can I take it that it is a 240v device? 

The machine is a Candy GOFS 262 which used to be sold by Tesco.

I would imagine that open circuit means hot enough, disconnect the heater. Closed circuit means too cold, put the heater on. If it was the other way round, a wiring disconnect would leave the heater on permanently which would not be good design.

so I'd agree with mr Oss and say open circuit the thermostat and see what happens.

[Nightwatch]

On 01/06/2017 at 10:54, mross said:

disconnect the wires from the thermostat and tape them up and see what happens.  

I don't pretend to understand electricity. Is the above a tongue in cheek comment? Would it be a risky thing to do?

6 minutes ago, vicafloat said:

My Candy Aquamatic 10T worked fine in conjunction with my Powermaster 1.8kw pure sine inverter.However,my machine is now

obsolete and parts are unobtainable. Does anyone in the forum have experience of the Zanussi ZWC 1301 which is of similar size

and performance?

Yes. Very happy with ours. Rarely use the heater as we fill from hot water tap via short hose. Three years old now, liveaboard usage. Bought from AO. Not cheap.

[mross]

Not tongue-in-cheek.  But only as a temporary measure and using electrical tape.  If successful, you could then use a terminal block to secure the unused wires.  Obviously, you would not want potentially 'live' wires floating around.

[Nightwatch]

Thanks.

[WotEver]

On 01/06/2017 at 10:54, mross said:

disconnect the wires from the thermostat and tape them up and see what happens.  

Obviously you tape them up separately so that they're not touching each other. In fact you could simply disconnect one of them, you don't have to have two wires floating around. 

[vicafloat]

Thanks Nightwatch for the info!