Anyone put washer/dryer in under-bus storage?

[AlbatrossCafe]

As title says - I have 8 "outside" storage compartments under my bus. I was wondering what the feasibility is of putting a washer/dryer in there. I don't want something I would use maybe once a week to take up room in the main cabin.

Each compartment one is pretty big. Certainly wide enough. Might be deep enough. Height would be the biggest problem.

Anyone have a compact washer/dryer that they have put in a storage compartment like this?

I'm talking about the 4 doors you see in the bottom of this pic:

[cadillackid]

LG makes that mini washer in a drawer... that might fit nicely in there... its not big enough for sheet sets and such but a few clothes at a time are not bad in it.
-Christiopher

[milkmania]

I bought one of these brand new off of Craigslist for $65, but I doubt it'll fit under storage bin



https://www.amazon.com/Panda-Portabl.../dp/B0092JSGXI

[DoubleO7]

When looking at that amazon link, look at the "suggested products".
There are some W/D's that might work too.
Especially if they were mounted on a slide out and then tipped up for use while outside.

[milkmania]

Truth be told.... the dryer I bought had a small shipping dent that I was able to hammer out from the inside, so I pulled the drum to access the front panel from the back. I did not see anything that would prevent this thing from working on it's side, except the door would open downward.

[DoubleO7]

must not be like a cheap conventional where the drum is resting on rollers.

[milkmania]

Originally Posted by DoubleO7

must not be like a cheap conventional where the drum is resting on rollers.

front hub bushing around the front opening like typical dryer, the the back has a vertical bar with a center bearing

bare in mind, there's nothing heavy duty about it.... it would be a stretch to call the stainless steel 20 gauge material.
I mean shoot, it's a 110v dryer

[PNW_Steve]

I put one of the Splendide "combination" washer/dryers in my last bus. It was a $1400 unit that I bought with a cosmetic blemish for $900. It did not perform well and after less than six months I took it out and put a for sale sign on it. Two years later I hauled it to the dump.....

My current travel trailer has an "apartment style" stacking washer/dryer (120v dryer). They work fine however..... As sparing as I can possibly be with laundry the washer still accounts for 50% of our water consumption. As we rely on rainwater collection here for domestic water that consumption is a big deal.

It is VERY unlikely that I will put one in my next rig.

If you decide to put one in and plan on any boondocking be sure and look VERY close at water usage.

Not quite what you were asking about but I know some folks that use this manual machine on their sailboat and love it: https://www.amazon.com/Laundry-Alter...=wonder+washer

[milkmania]

This one will go in the back 4' of my bus, behind my fake wall. $75 maytag from craigslist
I bought the smaller 110v unit for backup

[Geo Jeff]

I to have had this washing drying on my mind. I have in my drawing the apartment style stack-able set up propane. I also have 200 gallons of water in my plans and I'm a single guy. It makes no sense at all to have the machine on board but for some reason I cant seem to scratch it off the design.
For those with a family like Good News Bus they use a laundry mat. I'd like to know why they didn't put one in. If its not a heated dryer I don't think they work worth a dam and hanging clothes might not be all that convenient all the time.
If you were using a flushing toilet you could drain your wash water to a separate tank and use it just for flushing. A dry toilet seems to be so good though that i don't see why any one would have a wet toilet.
I think I'm going to build in and plumb for a washer but try going with out it and see. I can use a closet now in my design. Unless you can use the shoe rack that sets in the middle of dryer while its running to cook pizza? Dryer slash/convection oven I could do that.

What does a stacker unit use fro water on a large load.

[PNW_Steve]

The pic that Milmania posted is near identical to the one that I have. I use 25-30 gallons of water per load and they are relatively small loads.

I carried a bit over 200 gallons of water in my Eagle. 1700 lbs of water in a 40,000 lb rig was not a huge deal. In a skoolie the weight may be more of a concern.

[Geo Jeff]

25 to 30 gallons? i thought it would be like 5 max. I don't plan on traveling full of water but as I approach my destination I'll take on water.
With that amount in a washing load i may have just talked my self out of that. I can always wash clothes in my kitchen sink or buy a new $3 Walmart t-shirt if need be. I just don't want to cut into my showering. I like to shower when i wake up and plan on working in my shop so a shower after work wouldn't be out of line.
Another Rv thing were there is no middle ground for a reasonable cost.

[PNW_Steve]

Originally Posted by Geo Jeff

25 to 30 gallons? i thought it would be like 5 max. I don't plan on traveling full of water but as I approach my destination I'll take on water.
With that amount in a washing load i may have just talked my self out of that. I can always wash clothes in my kitchen sink or buy a new $3 Walmart t-shirt if need be. I just don't want to cut into my showering. I like to shower when i wake up and plan on working in my shop so a shower after work wouldn't be out of line.
Another Rv thing were there is no middle ground for a reasonable cost.

The tub in the washer is notably larger than a 5 gallon bucket. I would guess it at closer to 10 gallons capacity. It fills twice during a load and runs rinse water during the first spin cycle.

I was shocked when we started using it. When I was here by myself I went to town and used the laundromat. When my wife arrived our water usage doubled. Make sense, twice the people, twice the water. Then we started using the washer and our usage doubled again....

I can store over 700 gallons of water and I still have times that I have to tell my wife "no more laundry until it rains". That goes over really well.........

Take a look at this: https://www.amazon.com/Laundry-Alter...=wonder+washer

[AlleyCat67]

I'll probably still go with the electric stackable units like these.... I am a single guy too so I'll probably only be doing laundry once a month or so (I have a lot of clothes so I can go a month between loads).... so 20-30 gallons once a month won't be a big deal.

[PNW_Steve]

Originally Posted by AlleyCat67

I'll probably still go with the electric stackable units like these.... I am a single guy too so I'll probably only be doing laundry once a month or so (I have a lot of clothes so I can go a month between loads).... so 20-30 gallons once a month won't be a big deal.

I wish I could do that. I have plenty of clothes but they will not all fit in one load. I could go for a couple of weeks without doing laundry but would have multiple loads to do. Instead of 30 gallons once a week it would be 120 gallons once every 4 weeks.

I used to wear a pair of jeans for two days before putting them in the laundry. Now I wear them until they are visibly dirty before washing.

[prof.fate]

from google...

Most high-efficiency washers use only 15 to 30 gallons (56.8 to 113.6 L) of water to wash the same amount of clothes as older washers (29 to 45 gallons per load (109.7 to 170 L). The most efficient washers use less than 5 gallons (18.9 L) per cubic foot of capacity.

It'd be a lot more efficient to carry double the clothing and hit a laundry mat less often.

And the dryer..just as easy to hang it outside or even inside..the energy usage of a dryer is a lot.

Even dish washers use a good bit of water, compared to what you CAN do manually -some people use a lot of water dishwashing.


The average dishwasher uses 6 gallons of water per cycle; the average Energy Star-rated dishwasher uses 4 gallons per cycle, and their energy use ranges from 1.59 kWh per load down to 0.87 kWh per load.Jan 22, 2009

As for showering...(google know almost everything!)

Showering to Savings. In an average home, showers are typically the third largest water use after toilets and clothes washers. The average American shower uses 17.2 gallons (65.1 liters) and lasts for 8.2 minutes at average flow rate of 2.1 gallons per minute (gpm) (7.9 lpm).

So two showers a day and a load of dishes..35-40 gallons. Plus some for the toilet maybe, but i don't think camper toilets use nearly the water of a home unit.


In our camper we've showered maybe 3 times - it's just a lot more convenient to use the campground showers. They never run out of hot water, no tanks to fill or empty.

Our camper has a 6 gal propane only water heater..the pilot is manual and goes out of a raccoon sneazes in 20 mile radius. Tried a camco elec add-in and that lasted one trip and burned up. HOt water is one thing I'm not satisfied with in our camper that I want to change in a bus.

[AlbatrossCafe]

Thanks for the replies. A washer/drier is something I would only use while on RV hookups. If there was something I could stuff in an outside-storage (and not worry about taking up space when not on hookups) then I figured that would be great. But I unless I get that manual washer it looks like everything is going to be too big. Oh Well!

Originally Posted by prof.fate

Our camper has a 6 gal propane only water heater..the pilot is manual and goes out of a raccoon sneazes in 20 mile radius.

[mikeypj]

Originally Posted by milkmania

I bought one of these brand new off of Craigslist for $65, but I doubt it'll fit under storage bin



https://www.amazon.com/Panda-Portabl.../dp/B0092JSGXI

Good buy, those are close to a grand

[Geo Jeff]

Putting a washing machine under the bus? Ive been thinking about this for a few days. I ran down to home depot this after noon to look at some appliances. I cant find any thing small enough to fit under a full size bus. you have about 2ft from the skirt to the frame rail and two feet to the bottom of the sheet metal skirt to the floor joist. But I'm not sure about the weather and road debris so they would have to be in sealed boxes. So the dryer would do this? I have taken some washers apart over the years and if you have your drain pump on the lowest part which is usually true. you could install a valve there to drain the washing machine totally for say winter. Then I think this would work. I'm not seeing a set that is less than 24" deep. wider is okay and you could even extend the skirt a few inches to cover a taller unit. It has to be a front loader on both.

Just spit balling but so far on the out side the best idea I could come up with is a rear deck that you sheet metal in a box big enough to hold the two machines and maybe some gear for other things. Done right some one might think its storage for the band or foot ball team from the factory.

If you have a rear engine building a deck on the front with the bumper re located out. then build a nose out of sheet metal to match the rest of the bus as a engine cover might look if a RE had a engine out front. I think this would be the most practical and cleanest way to add out side space to a bus. There are so many bus styles no one but a skoolie would even notice. I can see dryer and washer on each side with a big BBQ in the middle and it sticking out 5ft giving you a ton of room for storage behind the appliances for folding tables and chairs or Honda Spree Scooter or bikes that are all locked up and out of the weather.
Its not like your going to kill the aerodynamic design.
Plus its easy to build all open and out front. Take grinder and cut out the head light buckets and weld up that hole with new sheet metal and install them right in the front of your storage compartment. Then your just doing a pig tail extension for getting the power out there. The only thing i can really think of you would build around the front wiper doors so they open up. just frame around them on the inside and bottom.
Just have to make that bus sheet metal follow the same lines around and i think you would have a solid shed on board.
Make the rinse cycle spray on the from windshield for a good cleaning going down the road.
Also your drain pump line would be above any tank you had to hold gray water so you just pump it up and let it flow down where it has to be getting to the grey water tank. if from routing some ones stuck in the hose from drooping it would get pushed to the tank next time. and for inter install a tee and valve at that point. or that could be where you discharge your wash water in the right places.

If i had a whole bus for living quarters i would just make room for a stacking system myself. Water isn't that hard to find and dumping gray water is easy. Running the units on a small genset and propane is not expensive or hard on equipment. Plus you probably already have these things. Running it while your driving opens it up to your inverter.

I have left my self so little living space that not having the washer stack in there gives me a giant storage closet for supplies like can foods. I have even decided to go away from a full size fridge to a small dometic style 3 way power unit. I'll raise it up to the ceiling and leave the under space i pick up from not having a full size fridge for even more storage. I have a few years on my boat with the small fridge so I'm use to it. Its not what i want but what i think will work best. It also cut costs buy a lot maybe $1000 going with a small 3 way over a big 3 way. An of course not buying a dryer and washer. Funny thing is all i really want is my ice maker and water filter to be working and top notch. I'm hoping the new small dometics offer a ice maker now days or I'm buying a old used unit.

[Geo Jeff]

Originally Posted by mikeypj

Good buy, those are close to a grand

Is it heated or a condensing unit.