Portable washing machine
- Value for money - good, but shop around
- Easy to use - can be time consuming, but it's fun to do!
- Worth having?
Summary
The portable washer is one of our favourite accessories in the ‘van. Do you use a twin tub when travelling? Why not add a comment or click on the USER STAR rating and share your thoughts with others! We love to hear from you.
User Review
( votes)Our portable washing machine has been a faithful friend and travelling companion for several years. It’s probably one of the few motorhome accessories that saves us money, rather than costing us money!
Camping twin tubs are available in various sizes. Over the years, we have tried a few different models.
The first portable washing machine that we owned had a two kilogram wash capacity. This allowed easy washing of garments such as a pair of jeans or a duvet cover. The spinner was a similar capacity. From memory, the washing tub took about twenty litres of hot water to fill it. This machine was compact in size, fairly lightweight at around seven kilograms, and did a decent job of laundry. Due to taking longer holidays, we sold the twin tub whilst in Spain a few years ago, as we had purchased a larger model. The caravan washing machine with a two kilogram wash capacity is hard to find though – our advice – if you see one, get it!
Our twin tub washing machine lives in the rear locker.
The present motorhome washing machine is a larger design. It washes 3.5kg of laundry and has a 2 kilogram spinner capacity. The wash tub will take a duvet cover and pillow cases in the same load or a couple of bath towels. To fill the tub requires about 25 litres of water. The machine is approximately sixty centimetres wide, fifty centimetres tall and forty centimetres deep. For a caravanner with an awning, or a motorhome with a large rear locker, this is probably the best choice of machine.
Click here to view a selection of twin tubs on the Amazon website.
Finally, we were given a blue coloured portable washing machine. This featured a 1.5 kg wash capacity and it wasn’t really usable, other than for smalls, tee shirts and so on. A heavy bath towel caused the machine to shake and shudder. Consequently, we think that this smallest of machines is just that – too small. If you still have to use site laundries because the portable twin tub washing machine that you have is too small, is it really worth carrying one?
How to use the portable washing machine.
There are probably no hard and fast rules, but this is what we do.
- Fill the wash tub with hot water – collected from the site shower block using our bucket!
- Load the whites and detergent, set the machine going
- When the wash cycle has ended, place the whites in the spinner
- Spin the clothes, then place to one side
- Place darks in the wash rub and then repeat the above
- Drain the wash tub using the built in water discharge pipe
- Fill the tub with cold water
- Add the whites to the tub, rinse and then spin
- Repeat with the darks
The decision to carry a portable washing machine is all about horses and courses. When away for extended periods, laundry bills can soon rack up. We tend to use the twin tub every second or third day to keep on top of the laundry. The washing machine is not only practical but it is often a great conversation starter, especially when overseas.
This website features a user guide for twin tubs.
Having been given access to the washing machine facility more than once, we can concur, that if you have the room to store/transport one, it is a great facility to have available whilst on tour.
Jock & Rita.
Yes, the advantage of travelling in a group. One has a barbecue, one has a washer!
I’ve only just heard about these and started investigating. Posted on Wildcamping.com to ask about them and everyone who has one says the same as you … excellent bit of kit. Like the idea of the the 3.5kg machine …. having just taken an Ikea bag into a service wash – 11.5kg cost EUR13! 🙁 I do a LOT of hand washing too. BUT we wild camp mostly, so are off grid. We can usually find sufficient water, but would you mind answering a couple of questions?
– Would the 3.5kg load machine run on a pure sine wave inverter – 700 watts , so long as leisure batteries are fully charged?
– How long does a cycle take?
– The hot water goes into tub 1 and washes – do you then have to manually add the water to rinse?
– We would sometimes not want to use the LPG to heat enough water and would look to do a cold wash. Other than sheets and towels, I tend to let clothes steep in a bucket with detergent for a days or so to let the chemicals do the hard work before rinsing … if I carried on doing this, would a cold / luke warm wash be sufficient for normal soil?
Hope you don’t mind all the questions!!!
Katherine
Hello Katherine.
Thank you for getting in touch.
I do not know much about inverters I’m afraid, but from memory, the washer uses about 250 watts when on the wash cycle, and about half that on the spin cycle. The specs of the models are available via the Amazon link on the sellers page.
The wash cycle has a timer on, so you can set it to suit. Our model has a maximum of 15 minutes, which is usually enough. If we are just “freshening up” towels etc, about five minutes is enough. We usually spin clothes for about one minute. The spinner is very fast.
You can either drain the tub of warm water and fill with clean cold water to rinse, or, use a bucket with cold water in.
In respect of hot water…. If you are overseas, you can get free hot water. You will need a few plastic milk cartons or pop bottles. Fill these with cold water and leave in the sun, with the tops loosely on – not tight! You will be amazed how hot the water gets. It’s free and it’s green. We have however used cold water in the past just with a kettle full of boiling water added. Many modern detergents are geared up for lower temperatures. We use liquid detergents. People have laughed in the past when I have mentioned doing this, but it works, it’s free and it’s harmless to the planet!
The 3.5 kg version is a bit bulky compared to others, but you can use that to your advantage. We store the detergent, jerrican and a couple of other bits in it!
Please feel free to ask anything else and thank you for reading about the Motorhome Voyager.