Which Choice for Dryer?

[NoDirectionHome]

Propane, 220V electric, 110V electric?  Trying to decide which.  I'll only use it when on a 50 AMP hook-up.  Wondering about performance and propane consumption.  I'm strongly leaning towards electric.  What are your experiences?  (no combo units)  27" max width. 

[Yarome]

In order of preference, 220v, 110v, LP. It's "really" good you have those 27in's. That will open up your selection pool quite a bit. 

220's are, of  course, going to dry the quickest. The main drawback there is that they draw a pretty heavy load (~30amps). 110's can take quite a bit longer.. more than double and some even longer to dry a load. LP... IMHO, is a no starter in only but the very rare conditions. They typically burn a LOAD of fuel, still require 110v and plumbing the air intake and exhaust is a bit of a PITA. Possibly if you were in a location tied in to a 100#+ tank and power availability was limited. An emergency load while boondocking.. maybe. On a regular and ongoing basis.. Nu Uh.

The main point being that if you generally CG with hookups, and the electricity is not metered.. a dryer load is essentially 'free'. Why pay for LP? Even metered though it would be a bit of a toss up as to which was more economical, 220v or LP.

Just my personal opinon.

[Jack Mayer]

You will have to go fullsize if you want propane. As far as I can find there are no 24" separate propane dryers any more. At least I could not find any. 

Our plan on the next rig is to do 27 inch units....BUT that does have implications on interior design. They require more hall space to get them to their "home", and they are a little deeper. So you have to design for them. Just keep that in mind and it should not be an issue if you are building custom. But on production units it may not work. Just depends on the unit.

Those who have the propane say they do not use "much" propane. I'll likely go that route, since I don't mind getting propane occasionally.

The issue with 240 volt is that you are using dual 30 amp loads (30 on each leg, out of 50 available). When I did the energy map on the rig we are currently in it would have required managing power either manually or with an EMS. I chose not to go that route, for various reasons, but it is viable for some. On our next coach I will be using a LARGE LFP battery bank to drive the coach and probably don't want to do electric dryer on that. So I'm likely going to do propane. It really depends on what your lifestyle and goals are. But 27" is the way to go if you can.

[NoDirectionHome]

I'd love to have an all electric trailer with substantial solar, but I don't think it's at all realistic (economically) if you do an energy study.  I've never seen a breakout of the volume of propane or NG required for a given load of laundry which makes it tough.  I also don't have the nerve to not have propane on board if only for those really cold days or for that really hot shower.

      Thank you for your inputs guys.

[Lou Schneider]

It's easy to figure out how much propane or natural gas any appliance uses.

To find the hourly consumption, just divide the appliance's BTU rating into the 91,000 BTU delivered by a gallon of propane.

For example, G.E. rates their gas dryers at 16,000 to 25,000 BTU.

http://products.geappliances.com/appliance/gea-support-search-content?contentId=18416

A 16,000 BTU dryer will use about 0.2 gallons of propane per drying hour while a 25,000 BTU dryer will use about 0.3 gallons per hour.

Since most RVs carry anywhere from 14 to 40 gallons of propane storage, that sounds like "not much" to me. 

Natural gas is sold by the Therm, which is 100,000 BTU worth of gas.  The calculations are the same, only substituting 100,000 for 91,000.

 

[NoDirectionHome]

Thanks Lou

     Apparently not all companies supply those numbers.  I've only seen the yearly cost which includes the electrical side as well.

[oldjohnt]

 For me the decision would rest a lot on how much if any extended dry camping you do. If you dry camp and must use the dryer Id opt for LP gas (but still wow takes a lot of your stored water to do laundry) but if your usually plugged to 50 amp shore power Id opt for electric, preferably 220 if such units are available ?? For extended dry camping an electric unit would suck up so much battery power and you would need one HUGE expensive solar and energy storage system plus a ton of water for the washing.

 

 John T

[Yarome]

19 hours ago, Lou Schneider said:

Since most RVs carry anywhere from 14 to 40 gallons of propane storage, that sounds like "not much" to me. 

True. Everyone's definition of "a lot" is going to be different. If you look at it in terms of 1 load in the dryer (0.4gal) is the equivelant of 10 1/2 hours of stove top cooking.... That seems like a lot when you can just spin dry, hang, and be ready for folding just after lunch.