Washing on the road
Sphere 3.3kg Automatic Mini RV Washing Machine - 240v
I LOVE this washing machine, our new caravan didn’t come with a washing machine and we opted to keep the 3 storage draws inside and just use this Mini Washing machine under the awning when we need it.
It travels in the boot of the car and we set it up if we are staying more than 1 night at a caravan park. It weights 18Kg (front loaders are approx. 47kg). The Sphere washing machine is 3.3kg capacity, which is about 4 towels at a time in it, I also do all our sheets in it too. I generally do a washing day every 4 days.
This washing machine is the same as a standard house one, clothes in, laundry liquid in, turn it on and forget it, it will do the full wash cycle and spin cycle automatically, then sing you a song when it’s ready. The “quick” cycle takes around 20 mins.
Why don’t I use the caravan laundromat?
I have in the past, many times, but I found waiting around for other people washing to finish a pain, I also had a bad run of coins being jammed in the machines or them not working and having to unload and move machines. Having my own machine just means I am in control of my own schedule and I know what has been in this machine (i.e. no dog beds).
How is it plumbed?
We swapped the standard inlet hose for a short drinking hose and standard hose connections. This gave us a water tight seal into the machine.
In this photo you can see the grey power cord goes into that hatch which has a TV power point. The water IN comes from a rear tap outlet under our van. The drain OUT goes from the washing machine hose, into a standard caravan black drain hose and into the sites water drain. So I have 2 drain hoses at a time, one from the van and one from the washing machine.
I have a small piece of rubber mat to level the feet if our slab is uneven.
Can you wash off-grid?
- Plug your inverter into your 12volt socket.
- Plug the washing machine power cord into the inverter.
- Connect the water hose to your vans tap like usual, (our van has a tap outlet under the van).
- Turn on your vans water pump.
- To use the LEAST amount of water set the machine to WASH only, and use Wool Wash laundry liquid. This will stop the machine rinsing the clothes, as wool wash doesn’t need rinsing out of fabric.
- Once the wash cycle is done, select SPIN only.
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