A washer/dryer in an RV?

Should you put a washer/dryer in your RV?

There are two reasons you might not want to add a washer and dryer to your RV. It takes up valuable space, and it's expensive.

How much space does it take up, and how hard is it to install

I set my washer/dryer combo on a closet shelf at the foot of my bed. That was an area where I stacked junk and misc. stuff, so everything that I would normally put in that space could be placed on top of the washer/dryer.

Looking at it that way, it didn't really use up any space. That was a convenient place to put it. Since it was on a shelf, I didn't have to bend over to get clothes in and out. Also, it was on the opposite side of the wall from my bathroom shower, so it was easy to connect to the hot and cold water.

In the picture below, you can see the red and blue pex plumbing I used to connect to the plumbing under the bathtub.

Rather than cutting into the drain under the tub, I drilled a hole in the shower wall and ran the drain pipe into the shower, as you can see in the picture below.

I ran a separate power line through a circuit breaker from where the AC power enters the RV, and I cut a hole in the wall of the RV for the vent. (If you're going to get a washer/dryer, by all means, get the vented model. It dries so much faster and doesn't put humidity inside your rig.)

Can I justify the cost?

Three and a half years ago, I bought the Splendide 2100XC washer/dryer combo. The regular price was $1,200, but I found it on sale for $1,000. I don't think that model is still available. Newer models I've seen that have a digital readout sell for about $1,500.

Here are the numbers

I stay in Costa Rica now for six months out of the year, but back when I bought the washer/dryer, I was only staying there for about three months a year, so I was in my motorhome roughly for 40 weeks every year.

The cost to do laundry at the laundromat is $2 to wash a load and $1.75 to dry a load. That's $3.75, and I usually do two small loads a week (one white and one colored) for a total of $7.50 a week. I could get by by doing one load a week if everything was the same color.

$7.50 x 40 weeks = $300/year savings

If you could buy a stock for $1,000 that paid $300 a year in dividends, that would be a 30% return on your investment. Even if you only did one load a week, that's still a 15% return on your investment.

If someone lived in their RV full-time, or if there was more than one person, it would be an even better investment.

Most of the complaints I see in the reviews say that you have to do small loads. That's like buying a sports car and then saying you can't get as much stuff in it as you could in your SUV.

Bottom line: All of this is to say that I'm happy with my washer/dryer. The best part is the convenience. I can put a load of clothes in, and in about an hour and a half, they are washed, dried, and folded (well, the folding part doesn't work too well).