washing machine, low power consumption

[CampinGazz]

I want to put a washing machine in my motorhome, i have a couple of solar
panels on the roof, and will be running it off my inverter (antares 1600
watt soft start, 230 volt as i'm in the UK)

The washing machine i have in mind is a compact front loader, mechanical
timer so it should run on the inverters output which is a modified sine
wave.

The washer will most likely be a Eudora euronova or mininova, made in
austria, and popular in europe in small appartments as well as motorhomes
and caravans.

Now this washer has a heater element in it, takes about 2 killowatts, the
motor and pump only pull about 250 to 300 watts depending on if it's
spinning or just tumbeling.

Obviousely it's daft to run a heater element off an inverter, not that i can
anyway, does anyone know if a washing machine will throw a wobbely if the
heater element is disconnected?

i.e. does it take a resistance reading when it switches the element on, and
if it's not present shuts down??

I know the machine will have the element on untill the water temp comes upto
the pre set level, unfortunately most of these machines are cold fill only,
i plan to fill it with warm water, i have hot water at 80 degrees C
available, and will use a thermostatic mixer valve to set the temp to what
ever the temp on the machine dial is... i.e if doing a 40 degree wash, i'd
set the water inlet temp to just over 40 degrees,

anyone know if this will work in fooling the machine into going onto the
next step of the wash without trying to power the heater element up.. which
wont be available anyway?

Anyone done this before?

i know the ideal solution is a hot and cold fill washer, but it's very hard
to get any compact sized washer over here, let alone be picky about things
like hot and cold fill options. so it looks like i'll have to adapt the
machine to suit my needs.

 

[Anthony Matonak]

CampinGazz wrote:
....

Now this washer has a heater element in it, takes about 2 killowatts, the
motor and pump only pull about 250 to 300 watts depending on if it's
spinning or just tumbeling.

Obviousely it's daft to run a heater element off an inverter, not that i can
anyway, does anyone know if a washing machine will throw a wobbely if the
heater element is disconnected?

....
Doesn't it have a 'cold' setting? Most washers allow you to wash clothes
in cold water. Presumably this would turn off the heater element.

Anthony