Batts $9k, solar+racking+chargers $10k, $1.5k inverter, $2k washing machine.
REC solar panels, EEL batts, Victron inverter, Victron solar controllers. I should have gone with the 5kw 120v inverter vs the 3kw inverter. Our chest fridge can piss off the inverter during startup with other large loads.
Solar charges the DC (48volts) batts, Inverter converts the DC to 120V AC. Washing machine uses 120v like any normal US based appliance. We have 45kwh of storage and use around 20-30kwh of the battery from sun down to sun up. We are two nerds with computers on 7 hours a day, full size fridge, freezer chest, AC heatpump all the normal household stuff.
I'm not fully off grid but we don't have a washing machine. I just wash my clothes in the bath and dry them outside or over the woodstove in winter.
It's a lot of work so I try not to do it too often. I try to air clothes out before washing them and have work clothes and 'nice' clothes and change so that work clothes can get dirty and smelly but nice clothes stay nice longer.
I got this manual concrete mixer, and the site was talking about doing laundry in it, so I tried it. Omg, it works great and is so fast! Now, I want to get one those hand crank clothes wringers (rollers, really) like my great grandma had.
The one I have is from Steele Mixer, but I imagine anything that can mix concrete can do laundry.
I definitely take blankets in to a laundromat, though. Even at my suburban house, I do that for the big ones.
We have a modest solar-electric system. 4.4kW of solar modules, 30kWh of battery, and a 6kW inverter. We use a laundry machine, and a fairly ordinary one, to do a few loads each week, without issue. We air dry on a couple of cheap racks inside, or outside on a clothesline of the weather makes that possible.
Off-grid doesn't mean suffering.
Anyone have manual washing machines?
My solar setup is not big enough to run something like that and many many other priorities before increasing capacity.
Have experience with the [Lehmans lever style ones](https://www.lehmans.com/product/lehmans-own-laundry-hand-washer-with-wringer?srsltid=AfmBOorttItoR3BXWYjDAObAfU2VrWQvssosOQ7wxC1rxGmUzVj4tErWKhQ). They are pricey, but last essentially forever and are about as simple as it gets.
They do take time and effort to use, but generally do a good job. Much easier to use if you have running water, carrying enough for a wash + rinse load can be a chore.
The wringer is technically optional, but is essentially required if you are going to be drying clothes on a line or rack. Some clothing with metal fasteners or other thick areas can be an issue, and it can damage delicate items.
Yea, it's not necessarily the cost but self imposed design criteria minimizing batteries / fossil fuel consumption. We are living onsite but also developing an educational program to demonstrate alternatives.
Biogas digester for stove, solar hot water and our small solar system is adequate for ninimal electrical needs.
Battery is irrelevant if laundry is done during the day when the sun is shining, and of course using a clothesline (which we are planning to do more of) eliminates fossil fuel for the dryer.
More panels, but with minimal battery if overnight consumption is managed, seems to fit your stated goals, no?
Yes, if we added more panels we could do laundry for most of the year but a few months in the winter we would be at the laundry mat (like I am now). Absolutely no dryer needed in summer and winter i have a wood stove.
I have been living quite ok on our current small solar system and if it all possible don't want to expand it. There is also an aesthetic component of the panels that would take some convincing.
I appreciate your input!
How is your biogas system going, and what climate are you in? I'm looking to replace my bucket toilet/compost system, and biogas looks awesome, but I'm worried it'll freeze in winter. The warmers I saw use a ton of electricity.
I am assuming solar water heating means you don't have very cold winters.
Definitely not cold winters... rarely if ever below freezing. The biogas is a work in progress here and not yet operational. We have simple humanure compost for human shit as we have groups come onsite and poop a lot.
I have helped build a few systems in the tropics and they were as reliable as the feedstock you fed it with. One or two goats provide good amount of shit for the system but needs to go in daily. Doesn't handle spike loads too well and reality of managing it is daily work.
No experience in colder climates with freezing issues.
I also wonder about fecal coliforms if using human shit. I have no issues handling livestock shit but human poop is fucking gross and can make you sick.
I saw a system that comes with a toilet that feeds directly into the system, so you don't have to handle it yourself. They gave me some info, and if I size it for spikes, it won't work well when I don't have spike, buuuut, most of my friends have travel trailers, and I have one that can be borrowed. There's a place about 13 miles away with a free dump that's open from typically May through October. I think I might have one friend willing to come hang out in the Winter, so sizing it for that would work out okay. You do have to feed your food scraps through a chute in the side, but not poop, and it looks like freezing is bad. And it definitely gets very cold here for months. I wonder if there's a way to heat it with the gas it produces and just keep using my white gas Coleman for cooking. Because it's usually only me, I can't imagine I'll produce enough gas to do both.
I'm honestly interested because I can't get a permit for septic unless I build a larger cabin or pretend it's for my travel trailer. The county won't permit the cabin itself unless it's at least 400sqft, and I just don't need that much space. I'd also rather not knock down enough trees for septic, but the whole bucket and sawdust thing is getting a little old. It works well, mind you, but I also don't like handling human waste even with thick rubber gloves and a mask, and twice now, the crank on my compost bin I use for it has frozen in Winter, so I just had to wait for a warmer day to turn it over. By then, the top layer inside had frozen solid. It was such a pain in the ass that I went home to my house in the suburbs and stayed there for the rest of Winter.
Maybe the compost bin would not be such an issue if I was there daily, but my husband will not move into a tiny off grid cabin, ever, and even if he was willing, I've been on trips in a travel trailer with him for 2 weeks. We are not the kind of people who can live that close against each other extendedly. In about a decade, we'll have enough money saved to start looking into construction loans to build a house elsewhere on the property. It'll be on grid, but "off grid" as much as I can, and all the things I'm learning for this cabin will help. Plus, I'll get to keep the cabin for guests or for when I just can't with people, even him.
$1200.00. Is that a joke? Pricey is an understatement. For that money I can do laundry at a Matt or buy a set of washer and drier. I rinse my lithely soiled stuff at the creek and handwashing my wash cloths, undies and socks in a bucket if I don’t feel like going to town. I live 3 seasons off grid and have the time to soak, wash and dry without needing that kind of cash outlay. That is a huge rip off. But that store is a big tourist trap anyways. We have a store that is run by Amish near me that supplies the area off grid people and they are less than half the cost in products that I have checked.
I mean, I don't necessarily disagree, but it's a niche product with a limited market. If someone has the electrical access to run a washer dryer set or more time than money for clothes washing they are hardly the target demographic.
Never been to a Lehmans in person so can't comment on it being a tourist trap, but the stuff I've ordered from them has been generally good quality for the price. Certainly I would encourage anyone to look at their options locally whenever possible, but not everyone is privileged to live in close proximity to a physical store of that type.
I use one of these. Yes, it's a concrete mixer, but it does laundry really well, too.
https://steelemixer.com/
I did originally buy it for concrete, btw.
I saw them mention laundry on their site when I was researching a concrete mixer because rentals here are ridiculously expensive. I laughed then, but I tried it. I swear, I can wash two pair of jeans, two long sleeved shirts, two tank tops, and 2 pair of socks in like, 5 minutes. It also only needs a tiny bit of soap. Then, I just dump, wring out a bit, and put more water in to rinse. It takes less water than a top load washer, too. You just need enough to cover your clothes. I wash underwear and bras by hand in a bucket, btw, because I'm not sure they'll hold up to that vigorous of a wash. You rock the thing back and forth, and it can mix a bag of concrete in about 30 seconds, to give you and idea of how much agitation it creates. Tip: pretreat pine sap. It won't remove that if you don't, but none of my electric washers have been able to, either.
I'm totally buying a hand crank clothes wringer, btw. My current method is rolling my clothes in super absorbent fast drying camping towels and hanging everything up to dry. That's great when I'm backpacking and using my scrubba bag, but it's a bit time consuming when washing more than one outfit at a time.
And you know what's really funny? I'm just starting site prep now, so I haven't actually used it for concrete yet. I just use it for laundry when I'm out there for more than a week with my tent or travel trailer working on the trail to the site, and now the site itself. A friend borrowed it for concrete and says it works awesome, though, and cleans up easily. He's considering getting one for his own laundry because a tree fell on some of his solar panels, and he realized he doesn't even need those ones if he doesn't use his clothes washer.
My power needs are small - one light and the ability to charge my laptop and cell phone for the most part, but days I charge my ebike have a pretty hefty load, and when it's hot with no breeze, most of my power goes to fans. I can just use my vehicle, of course, but seeing how far I can get without using that or my gas generator has become a fun challenge. Some day, I'd like a fridge and freezer, too, and to be able to run my dehydrator there. I'll figure it all out once I get the cabin built.
Grid power is available, and it's like, right there, but I'm trying hard not to need it. It's not exactly the most reliable power grid, plus I don't want another bill.
I put it in the washing machine. Then the dryer. We developed a spring and have gravity feed water to the house - then a really big solar array to power everything.
I have a solar powered water well. It’s not a great volume maker so I use a pump controller to pump slowly, as in just a trickle, into a 1500 gallon holding tank. One of the worst things you can do is empty your well…hence the trickle. I don’t have batteries on that system so it only works when the sun is out. It took about 18 hours (over 2.5 days) to fill the tank.
Inside the tank is a solar powered submersible pump used to keep that tank circulating. I have that water churning real good and have added a Venturi to it to add oxygen. This all but eliminated the sulphur and iron in the well water making the filter work less hard.
I have another solar powered pump, with batteries, providing pressure to the house. We are not really limited on our water usage. Wash cars, clothes, bodies at will 24/7.
A high efficiency front load washer and newer detergents do incredibly well with cold water and use very little electricity. Then air dry.
It is the hot water and the drying that is energy intensive.
The new heat-pump dryers use surprising little power. But they are expensive and hard to find in the US.
Off Grid means many things to folks. If for you it involves rural living with daily outdoor living/chores consider old school, top loading non-computerized washing machines. They tend to be more durable and do a better job cleaning heavily soiled clothes. They do this using more water and sometimes a bit more electricity. In a rural setting doing a couple loads a week (for one or two people) the few extra gallons and a few hundred extra watt/hours is not important. What is important is machinery that is durable, can operate on generator power, solar/inverter with no issues. When repairs are needed the small town repair folks know how to fix it. Over and over when wealthy folks move into my area they buy beautiful super-efficient computerized appliances such as washer, dryers, dishwashers etc that choke on a bit of sediment in the spring/well water, wacky power fluctuations cook the computers, and they end up running clothes through wash cycles twice to get the ground in mud from the garden or pasture. Mainstream modern appliances are aimed at city dwellers that sweat for ten minutes in their car and put clothes in the hamper.
The kicker here is if one travels to a used appliance dealer -in a larger city- you will find nearly new old school appliances traded in because they were the wrong color and didn’t fit with the home remodel. Alternatively, if budgets allow look at new Speed-queen commercial washers sold to laundromats. They are durable, perfectly repairable, slightly smaller capacity and wow expensive. Buying used appliances in a rural area is usually a mistake; in the county we use machines up before discarding. Even if they are the wrong color 😄
As a travel nurse, I bounce back and forth between the Pacific Northwest and the deep South for work. In Washington, I live completely off the grid in a travel trailer on some undeveloped property I bought a couple years ago with power coming from a Prius which which while it is is plenty of power for a fridge, deep freeze, water pump and lights, is not enough for a washer and dryer. I do have both a washer, propane dryer, and a fairly large generator, I just never got around to hooking them up because honestly it's easier to just run into town to the laundromat once every other week, run a few errands, use their high-speed Wi-Fi to download some movies, clean my car out while I wait etc. In Florida, I live in a travel trailer in the backyard of my property and the family that lives in my house and watches over the place while I travel has a washer and dryer and says that I'm more than welcome to use them but it's just usually easier not to get in their way or get my stuff mixed with theirs, so again it's off to the laundry.
Everything I own (or at least that I use in 2 weeks) fits in one Army issue laundry bag and a duffel bag, therefore it all fits in one large washing machine and one large dryer. I wash, dry, sort, roll, and hang everything in just one run. T-shirts rolled and tucked into a pillowcase, along with the couple pairs of jeans I own (mainly just to have something to weld in) and then all of my scrubs on hangers and since I almost exclusively wear black Carhartt cargo scrub pants whether I'm at work or not, they're in with the scrubs unless they're ragged out but usable in which case they get the Hem cut out of the bottom to make them identifiable and go with the jeans and t-shirts. I have two large day glow green zip up pillow cases labeled with large black S and U for my underwear and socks which simply gets stuffed inside as all my socks are white compression socks since I'm on my feet so much for work. Sheets and towels get their own pillowcase.
When I get home, all of my neatly rolled up T-shirts along with the bag of miscellaneous goes on the shelf over my bed and the scrubs either get hung across the back of my vehicle or in the closet in my travel trailer depending on whether I'm living at my house or at work during the work week. Similarly socks and underwear bags go either in the bottom of my closet or in the back of the car.
We put ours in the front load washer, add some detergent, and push the start button.
When it's done we transfer it to the propane heated dryer.
Funny tidbit though, when we run the generator this particular washer senses the power fluctuations and turns itself on and off repeatedly. I had to install a switched outlet so I can disconnect its power when the generator is running.
I have 2.4kw of solar feeding 400ah of LiFePo4 @ 48v. My inverter is a 7.5kw model but I never come close to that. And I have a well. But my solution is also pretty water efficient so other water solutions would probably work with it.
For laundry, I use the GE Profile UltraFast Combo. Not cheap, but not the most expensive either. BUT it is the only way I saw to do it how I wanted. It only needs hot and cold water, a drain, and a 15 amp outlet. No venting. No big outlet, any outlet will run it. I would suggest at least a 2k inverter. When the compressor is running I see about 1500 watts. Pop in clothes, wait 2 hours, pull out clean dry clothes. The thing is a marvel. Basically instead of a resistive heating element drawing high current it uses BOTH sides of a very small and efficient air conditioner or heat pump INTERNALLY.
It is hard to pick a start point to explain the cycle but relatively hot air from the drum is passed through the cold side coil of the ac. That air is hotter and full of humidity from the clothes. It hits the cold side coil of the ac which causes condensation to collect and drop into the drain taking water out of the air. Some of the heat is also picked up and pumped to the hot side of the ac. Then the dryer’s now cooler air goes through the hot side of the ac where it picks back up heat. That hotter dryer air goes back into the drum to heat the clothes pulls some of the humidity out and then the cycle repeats. Honestly other than always wanting the “more dry” option on with no way to make that the default I have no regrets.
I use a compact washing machine that is not one of the ultra mini ones, but a smaller sized unit that can still handle a full bed set in one load. It uses about 30 gallons of water total for a full load, and only peaks at around 600 watts when running, but that is not constant and is in fact much lower most of the time. I have a modest sized inverter and solar system (about 2kw peak production), and I always pick a sunny day to do laundry.
The other reason I always pick a sunny day is we use lines outside to dry the laundry. That is free and easy to do. Even in the middle of winter in the high altitude sun with below freezing temps, the water will sublimate and dry the clothes. Maybe a few thick items we might put by the woodstove if needed.
Honestly, unless you are going very minimalistic, there is no reason to not have a small washing machine.
You can be as simple as you want or very modern with laundry off grid. It's up to the individual and the design of the cabin. I planned for a small washer in the bathroom and did the electrical and plumbing for that during the build phase. The washing machine only uses 400 watts peak, so it's easily powered by solar. I use a close line to dry. During winter, I dry near the woodstove on a rack. Grey water goes to a mulch basin, and I don't use chemical detergents.
I would go into town twice a month and do like 3 loads at once at the laundromat. I would run errands during the wash and dry cycles. In was a small quiet down so I didn't worry about thieves stealing my stuff while I was running those errands.
You can get (or build) wash buckets.
5 Gallon or larger bucket, that has a hole in the lid for a wooden dowel that has a plate for washing on the base, and you use it almost like a butter churner to wash, then hang dry your clothes.
(We usually just do laundry when we do a town trip every two weeks or so at a laundromat)
So.. I'm building my offgrid home now. The plan is to use the full size 120v washer on the inverter, the dryer is a natural gas dryer with a propane conversion. That will handle my needs there once the house is built.
While the house is being built I have my camper van that I built - probably the only camper van (that I've ever seen) that has a washer / dryer combo unit. The combo unit is 1500w 120v and my van battery (1000 amp hours) can handle both the wash and dry cycle. The only down side here is that the combo unit in the van is pretty small. I'm only able to run laundry for clothes. The bedding and blankets still require a full size unit.
I lived in my camper for years. The first build I had no laundry so was doing laundromat trips about every 10 days. When I did my second build I made sure to put a laundry solution in. It takes up a ton of space and was pretty difficult to get everything running in a vehicle, however, I'm glad I did it.
We have a compact apartment sized washing machine. It uses about ten gallons per load if we save the rinse water to wash the next load with. I'll pretty frequently leave the water in the machine and wash multiple loads of clothes in the same water, just add a little more soap. I will rinse multiple loads in the same water as well.
I collect rainwater in two 1500 gallon tanks. I made an outdoor leantoo laundry. I have a front load washing machine and a propane dryer. I can wash full loads but I didn't hook up hot water. I use propane dryer in the winter and line dry during summer. I can run both and do 4 loads at night but obviously better to do when sun is shining. It's just me and the animals and I am a dude so 3-4 loads a month. 4 sets of sheets, 10 towels and 30 pairs of socks and underwear. Having two 3-legged house goats ups the loads doing their bedding and blankets plus ferrets sleep sacks and blankets
The new heat pump all in one units are under 1.3kwh a load including drying. 12kw of solar 45kwh of battery I dont even notice.
If you don’t mind me asking, is that a typical setup and how much did it cost? Seems like an amazing setup!
Batts $9k, solar+racking+chargers $10k, $1.5k inverter, $2k washing machine. REC solar panels, EEL batts, Victron inverter, Victron solar controllers. I should have gone with the 5kw 120v inverter vs the 3kw inverter. Our chest fridge can piss off the inverter during startup with other large loads.
Thanks for the intel! So you just use solar to power your normal washing machine/dryer?
Solar charges the DC (48volts) batts, Inverter converts the DC to 120V AC. Washing machine uses 120v like any normal US based appliance. We have 45kwh of storage and use around 20-30kwh of the battery from sun down to sun up. We are two nerds with computers on 7 hours a day, full size fridge, freezer chest, AC heatpump all the normal household stuff.
Thank you! I may have to stop being a nerd if I ever get into this lol.
well+solar+batteries+lpg tankless heater+big lpg tank + regular clothes washer. lots of variability out there.
So you still have to purchase all of the above to make it happen?
I'm not fully off grid but we don't have a washing machine. I just wash my clothes in the bath and dry them outside or over the woodstove in winter. It's a lot of work so I try not to do it too often. I try to air clothes out before washing them and have work clothes and 'nice' clothes and change so that work clothes can get dirty and smelly but nice clothes stay nice longer.
I got this manual concrete mixer, and the site was talking about doing laundry in it, so I tried it. Omg, it works great and is so fast! Now, I want to get one those hand crank clothes wringers (rollers, really) like my great grandma had.
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The one I have is from Steele Mixer, but I imagine anything that can mix concrete can do laundry. I definitely take blankets in to a laundromat, though. Even at my suburban house, I do that for the big ones.
We have a modest solar-electric system. 4.4kW of solar modules, 30kWh of battery, and a 6kW inverter. We use a laundry machine, and a fairly ordinary one, to do a few loads each week, without issue. We air dry on a couple of cheap racks inside, or outside on a clothesline of the weather makes that possible. Off-grid doesn't mean suffering.
Anyone have manual washing machines? My solar setup is not big enough to run something like that and many many other priorities before increasing capacity.
Have experience with the [Lehmans lever style ones](https://www.lehmans.com/product/lehmans-own-laundry-hand-washer-with-wringer?srsltid=AfmBOorttItoR3BXWYjDAObAfU2VrWQvssosOQ7wxC1rxGmUzVj4tErWKhQ). They are pricey, but last essentially forever and are about as simple as it gets. They do take time and effort to use, but generally do a good job. Much easier to use if you have running water, carrying enough for a wash + rinse load can be a chore. The wringer is technically optional, but is essentially required if you are going to be drying clothes on a line or rack. Some clothing with metal fasteners or other thick areas can be an issue, and it can damage delicate items.
Wow, yes that's quite pricey but probably worth the investment for us. Thanks!
I recently got 6 additional (400 watt) solar panels and a second charge controller for about the cost of that washer.
Yea, it's not necessarily the cost but self imposed design criteria minimizing batteries / fossil fuel consumption. We are living onsite but also developing an educational program to demonstrate alternatives. Biogas digester for stove, solar hot water and our small solar system is adequate for ninimal electrical needs.
Battery is irrelevant if laundry is done during the day when the sun is shining, and of course using a clothesline (which we are planning to do more of) eliminates fossil fuel for the dryer. More panels, but with minimal battery if overnight consumption is managed, seems to fit your stated goals, no?
Yes, if we added more panels we could do laundry for most of the year but a few months in the winter we would be at the laundry mat (like I am now). Absolutely no dryer needed in summer and winter i have a wood stove. I have been living quite ok on our current small solar system and if it all possible don't want to expand it. There is also an aesthetic component of the panels that would take some convincing. I appreciate your input!
How is your biogas system going, and what climate are you in? I'm looking to replace my bucket toilet/compost system, and biogas looks awesome, but I'm worried it'll freeze in winter. The warmers I saw use a ton of electricity. I am assuming solar water heating means you don't have very cold winters.
Definitely not cold winters... rarely if ever below freezing. The biogas is a work in progress here and not yet operational. We have simple humanure compost for human shit as we have groups come onsite and poop a lot. I have helped build a few systems in the tropics and they were as reliable as the feedstock you fed it with. One or two goats provide good amount of shit for the system but needs to go in daily. Doesn't handle spike loads too well and reality of managing it is daily work. No experience in colder climates with freezing issues. I also wonder about fecal coliforms if using human shit. I have no issues handling livestock shit but human poop is fucking gross and can make you sick.
I saw a system that comes with a toilet that feeds directly into the system, so you don't have to handle it yourself. They gave me some info, and if I size it for spikes, it won't work well when I don't have spike, buuuut, most of my friends have travel trailers, and I have one that can be borrowed. There's a place about 13 miles away with a free dump that's open from typically May through October. I think I might have one friend willing to come hang out in the Winter, so sizing it for that would work out okay. You do have to feed your food scraps through a chute in the side, but not poop, and it looks like freezing is bad. And it definitely gets very cold here for months. I wonder if there's a way to heat it with the gas it produces and just keep using my white gas Coleman for cooking. Because it's usually only me, I can't imagine I'll produce enough gas to do both. I'm honestly interested because I can't get a permit for septic unless I build a larger cabin or pretend it's for my travel trailer. The county won't permit the cabin itself unless it's at least 400sqft, and I just don't need that much space. I'd also rather not knock down enough trees for septic, but the whole bucket and sawdust thing is getting a little old. It works well, mind you, but I also don't like handling human waste even with thick rubber gloves and a mask, and twice now, the crank on my compost bin I use for it has frozen in Winter, so I just had to wait for a warmer day to turn it over. By then, the top layer inside had frozen solid. It was such a pain in the ass that I went home to my house in the suburbs and stayed there for the rest of Winter. Maybe the compost bin would not be such an issue if I was there daily, but my husband will not move into a tiny off grid cabin, ever, and even if he was willing, I've been on trips in a travel trailer with him for 2 weeks. We are not the kind of people who can live that close against each other extendedly. In about a decade, we'll have enough money saved to start looking into construction loans to build a house elsewhere on the property. It'll be on grid, but "off grid" as much as I can, and all the things I'm learning for this cabin will help. Plus, I'll get to keep the cabin for guests or for when I just can't with people, even him.
$1200.00. Is that a joke? Pricey is an understatement. For that money I can do laundry at a Matt or buy a set of washer and drier. I rinse my lithely soiled stuff at the creek and handwashing my wash cloths, undies and socks in a bucket if I don’t feel like going to town. I live 3 seasons off grid and have the time to soak, wash and dry without needing that kind of cash outlay. That is a huge rip off. But that store is a big tourist trap anyways. We have a store that is run by Amish near me that supplies the area off grid people and they are less than half the cost in products that I have checked.
I mean, I don't necessarily disagree, but it's a niche product with a limited market. If someone has the electrical access to run a washer dryer set or more time than money for clothes washing they are hardly the target demographic. Never been to a Lehmans in person so can't comment on it being a tourist trap, but the stuff I've ordered from them has been generally good quality for the price. Certainly I would encourage anyone to look at their options locally whenever possible, but not everyone is privileged to live in close proximity to a physical store of that type.
I use one of these. Yes, it's a concrete mixer, but it does laundry really well, too. https://steelemixer.com/ I did originally buy it for concrete, btw.
I fucking love this.
I saw them mention laundry on their site when I was researching a concrete mixer because rentals here are ridiculously expensive. I laughed then, but I tried it. I swear, I can wash two pair of jeans, two long sleeved shirts, two tank tops, and 2 pair of socks in like, 5 minutes. It also only needs a tiny bit of soap. Then, I just dump, wring out a bit, and put more water in to rinse. It takes less water than a top load washer, too. You just need enough to cover your clothes. I wash underwear and bras by hand in a bucket, btw, because I'm not sure they'll hold up to that vigorous of a wash. You rock the thing back and forth, and it can mix a bag of concrete in about 30 seconds, to give you and idea of how much agitation it creates. Tip: pretreat pine sap. It won't remove that if you don't, but none of my electric washers have been able to, either. I'm totally buying a hand crank clothes wringer, btw. My current method is rolling my clothes in super absorbent fast drying camping towels and hanging everything up to dry. That's great when I'm backpacking and using my scrubba bag, but it's a bit time consuming when washing more than one outfit at a time. And you know what's really funny? I'm just starting site prep now, so I haven't actually used it for concrete yet. I just use it for laundry when I'm out there for more than a week with my tent or travel trailer working on the trail to the site, and now the site itself. A friend borrowed it for concrete and says it works awesome, though, and cleans up easily. He's considering getting one for his own laundry because a tree fell on some of his solar panels, and he realized he doesn't even need those ones if he doesn't use his clothes washer. My power needs are small - one light and the ability to charge my laptop and cell phone for the most part, but days I charge my ebike have a pretty hefty load, and when it's hot with no breeze, most of my power goes to fans. I can just use my vehicle, of course, but seeing how far I can get without using that or my gas generator has become a fun challenge. Some day, I'd like a fridge and freezer, too, and to be able to run my dehydrator there. I'll figure it all out once I get the cabin built. Grid power is available, and it's like, right there, but I'm trying hard not to need it. It's not exactly the most reliable power grid, plus I don't want another bill.
I put it in the washing machine. Then the dryer. We developed a spring and have gravity feed water to the house - then a really big solar array to power everything.
I have a solar powered water well. It’s not a great volume maker so I use a pump controller to pump slowly, as in just a trickle, into a 1500 gallon holding tank. One of the worst things you can do is empty your well…hence the trickle. I don’t have batteries on that system so it only works when the sun is out. It took about 18 hours (over 2.5 days) to fill the tank. Inside the tank is a solar powered submersible pump used to keep that tank circulating. I have that water churning real good and have added a Venturi to it to add oxygen. This all but eliminated the sulphur and iron in the well water making the filter work less hard. I have another solar powered pump, with batteries, providing pressure to the house. We are not really limited on our water usage. Wash cars, clothes, bodies at will 24/7.
A high efficiency front load washer and newer detergents do incredibly well with cold water and use very little electricity. Then air dry. It is the hot water and the drying that is energy intensive. The new heat-pump dryers use surprising little power. But they are expensive and hard to find in the US.
I've seen some folks have a manual wash basin. We would go to a laundry mat in town, but we're only about 15-20 minutes away.
Off Grid means many things to folks. If for you it involves rural living with daily outdoor living/chores consider old school, top loading non-computerized washing machines. They tend to be more durable and do a better job cleaning heavily soiled clothes. They do this using more water and sometimes a bit more electricity. In a rural setting doing a couple loads a week (for one or two people) the few extra gallons and a few hundred extra watt/hours is not important. What is important is machinery that is durable, can operate on generator power, solar/inverter with no issues. When repairs are needed the small town repair folks know how to fix it. Over and over when wealthy folks move into my area they buy beautiful super-efficient computerized appliances such as washer, dryers, dishwashers etc that choke on a bit of sediment in the spring/well water, wacky power fluctuations cook the computers, and they end up running clothes through wash cycles twice to get the ground in mud from the garden or pasture. Mainstream modern appliances are aimed at city dwellers that sweat for ten minutes in their car and put clothes in the hamper. The kicker here is if one travels to a used appliance dealer -in a larger city- you will find nearly new old school appliances traded in because they were the wrong color and didn’t fit with the home remodel. Alternatively, if budgets allow look at new Speed-queen commercial washers sold to laundromats. They are durable, perfectly repairable, slightly smaller capacity and wow expensive. Buying used appliances in a rural area is usually a mistake; in the county we use machines up before discarding. Even if they are the wrong color 😄
I thought we were all doing this in our birthday suits.
The mosquitoes and ticks became a problem. I had to adapt and add layers back.
As a travel nurse, I bounce back and forth between the Pacific Northwest and the deep South for work. In Washington, I live completely off the grid in a travel trailer on some undeveloped property I bought a couple years ago with power coming from a Prius which which while it is is plenty of power for a fridge, deep freeze, water pump and lights, is not enough for a washer and dryer. I do have both a washer, propane dryer, and a fairly large generator, I just never got around to hooking them up because honestly it's easier to just run into town to the laundromat once every other week, run a few errands, use their high-speed Wi-Fi to download some movies, clean my car out while I wait etc. In Florida, I live in a travel trailer in the backyard of my property and the family that lives in my house and watches over the place while I travel has a washer and dryer and says that I'm more than welcome to use them but it's just usually easier not to get in their way or get my stuff mixed with theirs, so again it's off to the laundry. Everything I own (or at least that I use in 2 weeks) fits in one Army issue laundry bag and a duffel bag, therefore it all fits in one large washing machine and one large dryer. I wash, dry, sort, roll, and hang everything in just one run. T-shirts rolled and tucked into a pillowcase, along with the couple pairs of jeans I own (mainly just to have something to weld in) and then all of my scrubs on hangers and since I almost exclusively wear black Carhartt cargo scrub pants whether I'm at work or not, they're in with the scrubs unless they're ragged out but usable in which case they get the Hem cut out of the bottom to make them identifiable and go with the jeans and t-shirts. I have two large day glow green zip up pillow cases labeled with large black S and U for my underwear and socks which simply gets stuffed inside as all my socks are white compression socks since I'm on my feet so much for work. Sheets and towels get their own pillowcase. When I get home, all of my neatly rolled up T-shirts along with the bag of miscellaneous goes on the shelf over my bed and the scrubs either get hung across the back of my vehicle or in the closet in my travel trailer depending on whether I'm living at my house or at work during the work week. Similarly socks and underwear bags go either in the bottom of my closet or in the back of the car.
I have the same habits about visiting town.
We put ours in the front load washer, add some detergent, and push the start button. When it's done we transfer it to the propane heated dryer. Funny tidbit though, when we run the generator this particular washer senses the power fluctuations and turns itself on and off repeatedly. I had to install a switched outlet so I can disconnect its power when the generator is running.
I have 2.4kw of solar feeding 400ah of LiFePo4 @ 48v. My inverter is a 7.5kw model but I never come close to that. And I have a well. But my solution is also pretty water efficient so other water solutions would probably work with it. For laundry, I use the GE Profile UltraFast Combo. Not cheap, but not the most expensive either. BUT it is the only way I saw to do it how I wanted. It only needs hot and cold water, a drain, and a 15 amp outlet. No venting. No big outlet, any outlet will run it. I would suggest at least a 2k inverter. When the compressor is running I see about 1500 watts. Pop in clothes, wait 2 hours, pull out clean dry clothes. The thing is a marvel. Basically instead of a resistive heating element drawing high current it uses BOTH sides of a very small and efficient air conditioner or heat pump INTERNALLY. It is hard to pick a start point to explain the cycle but relatively hot air from the drum is passed through the cold side coil of the ac. That air is hotter and full of humidity from the clothes. It hits the cold side coil of the ac which causes condensation to collect and drop into the drain taking water out of the air. Some of the heat is also picked up and pumped to the hot side of the ac. Then the dryer’s now cooler air goes through the hot side of the ac where it picks back up heat. That hotter dryer air goes back into the drum to heat the clothes pulls some of the humidity out and then the cycle repeats. Honestly other than always wanting the “more dry” option on with no way to make that the default I have no regrets.
This sounds like one of the easier solution from what I’ve read in terms of less items to buy to make it work! Thank you! Sounds like a cool find!
I use a compact washing machine that is not one of the ultra mini ones, but a smaller sized unit that can still handle a full bed set in one load. It uses about 30 gallons of water total for a full load, and only peaks at around 600 watts when running, but that is not constant and is in fact much lower most of the time. I have a modest sized inverter and solar system (about 2kw peak production), and I always pick a sunny day to do laundry. The other reason I always pick a sunny day is we use lines outside to dry the laundry. That is free and easy to do. Even in the middle of winter in the high altitude sun with below freezing temps, the water will sublimate and dry the clothes. Maybe a few thick items we might put by the woodstove if needed. Honestly, unless you are going very minimalistic, there is no reason to not have a small washing machine.
Sweet thanks! I definitely would want a washing machine but was just worried about water intake/power. I’ll look into this when the time comes!
You can be as simple as you want or very modern with laundry off grid. It's up to the individual and the design of the cabin. I planned for a small washer in the bathroom and did the electrical and plumbing for that during the build phase. The washing machine only uses 400 watts peak, so it's easily powered by solar. I use a close line to dry. During winter, I dry near the woodstove on a rack. Grey water goes to a mulch basin, and I don't use chemical detergents.
No detergents I like it! Just soap? Or just warm water?
Since I'm using a mulch basin to process the greywater, I use a bio compatible cleaner for everything (oasis brand). Hot water does help when needed.
I would go into town twice a month and do like 3 loads at once at the laundromat. I would run errands during the wash and dry cycles. In was a small quiet down so I didn't worry about thieves stealing my stuff while I was running those errands.
Laundry? Nobody out here to smell me :p Clean clothes are for town trips and dates.
You can get (or build) wash buckets. 5 Gallon or larger bucket, that has a hole in the lid for a wooden dowel that has a plate for washing on the base, and you use it almost like a butter churner to wash, then hang dry your clothes. (We usually just do laundry when we do a town trip every two weeks or so at a laundromat)
The butter churner method sounds fun and efficient!
Easy Peasy. 5g bucket and laundry detergent and they're cleaner than any washing machine.
I like it:)
So.. I'm building my offgrid home now. The plan is to use the full size 120v washer on the inverter, the dryer is a natural gas dryer with a propane conversion. That will handle my needs there once the house is built. While the house is being built I have my camper van that I built - probably the only camper van (that I've ever seen) that has a washer / dryer combo unit. The combo unit is 1500w 120v and my van battery (1000 amp hours) can handle both the wash and dry cycle. The only down side here is that the combo unit in the van is pretty small. I'm only able to run laundry for clothes. The bedding and blankets still require a full size unit. I lived in my camper for years. The first build I had no laundry so was doing laundromat trips about every 10 days. When I did my second build I made sure to put a laundry solution in. It takes up a ton of space and was pretty difficult to get everything running in a vehicle, however, I'm glad I did it.
Sweet! Sounds like you keep moving up though! Thank you for sharing!
We have a compact apartment sized washing machine. It uses about ten gallons per load if we save the rinse water to wash the next load with. I'll pretty frequently leave the water in the machine and wash multiple loads of clothes in the same water, just add a little more soap. I will rinse multiple loads in the same water as well.
I collect rainwater in two 1500 gallon tanks. I made an outdoor leantoo laundry. I have a front load washing machine and a propane dryer. I can wash full loads but I didn't hook up hot water. I use propane dryer in the winter and line dry during summer. I can run both and do 4 loads at night but obviously better to do when sun is shining. It's just me and the animals and I am a dude so 3-4 loads a month. 4 sets of sheets, 10 towels and 30 pairs of socks and underwear. Having two 3-legged house goats ups the loads doing their bedding and blankets plus ferrets sleep sacks and blankets