So, we went for it and finally purchased a washing machine. It’s energy efficient (Energy Star certified!), uses a comparably small amount of water, and will really save us money on laundry costs – both money-wise and time-wise. It seemed like a really good thing.
We brought it home and I thought back to my Habitat for Humanity days of hooking up this kind of stuff. We made it level, pretended that we were plugging it directly into a wall-socket (close enough), hooked it up with hot and cold water, set up the drain to go into a bucket so we can use the water, and loaded it up with dirty stuff.
We waited for full sun because we weren’t totally sure how much electricity it would use and whether or not our solar system could handle it. When we started it, we checked our magic number (which tells us how much electricity we have and can use), and all was well. Success!
Ten minutes later I walked by the machine and it was off. Brian checked on the fuse, everything was fine, so we started it up again.
And, another fifteen minutes later, it shut off again. This time we had blown the fuse, which inspired this video.
We quit for the day. The next day, the washing machine wouldn’t turn on using the solar power. It worked great, however, with the generator. So for now, until we get someone here who knows more about electricity and solar systems than us, we’ll stick with burning a little gas to do laundry.
Kind of a bummer; I had such high hopes! But eventually I know we’ll figure it out, and be able to do a load or so a week using the sun. For now it won’t be available for guest use. Since we go through so many sheets, dish towels, actual towels, and cleaning rags when we have a lot of folks around, being able to quickly wash some things will help us out a lot.
An aside: I had never realized how much water a washing machine uses for just one load! A medium sized load used 30 gallons of water. We’re going to use earth-safe soap so we can use our water for plants in the orchard nearby; but for those who want to use their grey water from their washing machine, be aware of your detergent. A lot of detergents can be horrible for plants.
Another aside: We’re still hoping for a pedal-powered machine in the future. Anyone with plans, we’d love to hear about them!
Leave a Reply