I still have a working 1950’s vintage wringer washing machine out in the barn. I use to see them on boats, but not anymore. They were tough and reliable any weather washers.
Household type washers and dryers are designed to be use in a stationary position in a house by one family that learns how to operate them and uses them for years. They are not designed to be used on a boat, or be used by a lot different crewmen that change constantly.
I would like to have laundromat commercial front loaders onboard. That’s the right tool for the job. They are designed to be used by a lot of different people for many years, and they are also designed to be repairable by the laundromat owner. However, I’ve never seen laundromat quality machines on a tugboat.
Very few tugboat engineers can reasonably be expected to repair laundry machines onboard. No spare parts. No troubleshooting experience with the particular make and model of machine. No special tools. Unless it’s a power supply problem to the machine, cost effective repairs are unlikely.
This is what we did. As the machines on board broke down instead of repairing the chief replaced them with SpeedQueen commercial units.
This was the chief’s argument for the SpeedQueens. Not that they would necessarily go longer between breakdowns but the engineers would be able to quickly and easily fix them with a small inventory of parts.
Try your absolute darndest to always order the same machines. Before you toss the old machine away strip them to bones & now you have spares. For a washer, try to keep a spare pump, belt & turning knob mechanism. For the dryer, the small thermostats & coils. If your engineers can keep your generators, main propulsion engines, winches & gear boxes turning they should be able to keep the simple type washer & dryers turning. Sorry bro, but if they can’t, then they are lazy, stupid or have some hi-tech washers & dryers.
In my experience, washers and dryers tend to be bought by office staff at big box stores based on one criteria —- what is the cheapest model on the shelf? Usually it will be a top loader with a concrete counterweight.
Or they are bought by the Captain at the first port of call after a failure based upon, what’s available off the shelf.
I’ve seen $800 washing machines come to the boat with a $1500 air freight bill.
I’ve seen new top loaders shake themselves apart in as little as three months.
Here is an idea for ship designers: create washing machine “buckets” connected to the mechanics of the ship, so they turn the drums with minimal parts.
I noticed all the megaychts I worked on had Meile machines, they run all day everyday for years and you never need to touch them.
On the offshore vessels I worked on they always blew up as we had 220 60hz single phase and nobody makes machines for that power.
The Miele machines are expensive but quality wise the very best. I have one for already 32 years and it never failed - knock on wood - apart from the motor’s carbon brushes that I replaced myself about ten years ago.
Ditto about the Miele machines. I worked on a new AHTS for nearly 5 years that had Miele washer/dryer stackable units & the only problems we had were minor & caused by operator errors. In your picture you’ll see a small door on the lower left corner. On our units, that door was for the drain filter that prevented trash from getting into the pump from the drum. Sometimes the crew wouldn’t secure it correctly & small sharp objects left in pockets would get through the filter & puncture the rubber bladder bag that housed the filter. It took our purchasing department forever to get replacement bladders & we started using regular simple superglue to seal the punctures. Never had a repaired hole leak again but new holes would happened frequently depending on how lazy & stupid we were while doing laundry. We replaced the bladder bags every year or two just to be safe. Good machines, the best IMO.
Yeah, I got both Miele washer and drier because I tried other brands and they were total crap. We decided to go ahead and get the one with the soap and softener dispenser. It’s actually cheaper that way in the long term and absolutely no mess. The investment is worth it.
I can’t say anything about a residential Miele washers and driers working in a ship, though. I would think they have commercial units for sale, but I’m not sure.
I’m currently reading a book called “Introduction to Light Microscopy”. In it, the author states:
“I have seen scientists sitting in front of their multi-million euro imaging systems, complaining that it’s not working, only to find out that they were putting the slide upside down.”
You can also drain the water from the machine by pulling the little rubber plug when the machine gets stuck or something like that. Otherwise you will have a flood of soapy water coming out when you open the door… Another solution is to install the machine in a drain pan. A must if you have a wooden floor.
On the units I worked with, the door on the bottom left corner for the twist out filter folded down acting somewhat as a drain funnel when removing the filter. If the filter became clogged the drum wouldn’t drain & we had to drain it from the filter housing to open the door. The 3A/E made up a contraption that fitted under the filter to a large shop-vac. If the drum wasn’t too full we could drain it all out without spilling a drop. On ships, washing machines & dryers are usually bolted down or secured to a bulkhead so it was easier to do everything from the front, we never messed with the plug in the back.
This conversation brought me on an idea. It was already sometime ago that I cleaned the filter so I decided to do it now. The result is shown including some missing items… The holes of the filter were all blocked by black stuff, not nice. The filter is shown cleaned. I used an oven tray for the exercise.
The filter on the units I worked on looked the same but much smaller & could be accessed from the front. The steward department & sometimes QMEDs had to clean the filters a few times a week. Paper, disposal earplugs, small screws & ink pens left in pockets gave them a hell of a time.
It happened once that after leaving dry dock in Càdiz, Spain it turned out that the drinking water was brownish. The idea was that the coloring would disappear after some time but it didn’t. Sample taken from the tank was also brown. We radioed the office who contacted the yard. The tank was cleaned by the yard and treated with some protective paint or what, but it was supposed not to be poisonous. Nevertheless we were advised to boil all drinking water first. Nice. In any case it increased the beer consumption considerably.
As it turned out all white clothing came out the laundry with a brown hue. Everybody furious and this color never really washed out entirely. After that the laundry boss put up a sign on the door of the laundry saying: Have your white goods made khaki here. And underneath: At no extra charge! That wasn’t appreciated and the next day the signs were torn off…
Miele washers and dryers are available as 3 phase 440 volt commercial units. They complete a wash and dry cycle quicker than the domestic models but are hard to source outside of Germany.
They are worth it for a new build for crew’s personal laundry.
For galley and linens where there is a large number of personnel and dedicated laundry staff, there are large commercial machines that are more suited. The new ones have detergent and other chemicals in seperate dosing tanks that are automatically added by the wash program which guarantees a hygiene outcome.
