cost per wash

feastoffood

could anyone tell me the approximate cost of a wash in a normal front load washing machine, on a 30 degree cycle?
many thanks!

roses

Hi, I used one of those energy plug monitors from Lidl. I plugged it into my machine and it uses 2.5kwh per wash. It is a hot and cold feed ie so it draws water from the combi boiler too which wasn't taken into account in the energy measuring.

csnann

I have just bought a new machine, cold fill only, that uses 0.6kwh on a 30 degree wash. the cycle takes 1 and 1/2 hours so that is less than 1 unit of electricity.

moonrakerz

roses wrote: »

Hi, I used one of those energy plug monitors from Lidl. I plugged it into my machine and it uses 2.5kwh per wash. It is a hot and cold feed ie so it draws water from the combi boiler too which wasn't taken into account in the energy measuring.

You either misread that or the monitor is completely useless ! It should be nowhere near that.

rosekitten

cold fill on mine is 14p on
a half hour wash rinse & spin
1600 spin speed.

Cold fill is much cheaper than
a hot fill

roses

moonrakerz wrote: »

You either misread that or the monitor is completely useless ! It should be nowhere near that.

Nope, it was pretty clear and I didn't misread it. I tested about 10 washes using it.

It worked fine on things like the kettle, tv etc and read exactly what I expected it to.

Also it seems to tie in with other people about 10-15p per wash.

System

ive ordered one of those plug in monitors you set it to your particular providers tariff so is will give an accurate reading , i just wish it would hurry up .

moonrakerz

roses wrote: »

Also it seems to tie in with other people about 10-15p per wash.

If you are getting 2.5kWh for 10-15p could you tell me, and the rest of the planet, who your electricity supplier is please ?

An average washing machine heater (the bit that uses the most power) is about 1700W.
Your machine is hot/cold fill, so it unlikely that the heater is used at all in the majority of your washing. Even if you do the odd wash on 60 or 90 the heater will not be used for long.
The motor consumption will vary enormously, but most motors are rated at around 250W max.

On this basis I would expect your macine to use well under 1kWh for a load, even at a higher temperature.

I would hazard a guess and suggest that you are reading an instant power consumption and not reading what it actually consumes to do a whole load taking, say, an hour.
I'm afaid that using a TV or a kettle as an accuracy check is very misleading as they will use the rated power all the time they are switched on - a washing machine doesn't.

mrs_tiggywinkle_3

So, what is the conclusion about the rough cost per wash of a machine? Anyone know how to find this out?
Is it pence, tens of pence or hundreds of pence?

moonrakerz

10P approx (electricity only, cold fill only)

To get the true cost you would also need to consider the cost of:
Detergent
Fabric softener
Water
Sewerage
Depreciation on WM
Loss of interest on capital used to purchase WM

mrs_tiggywinkle_3

thanks very much. I am borrowing a friend's washer and want to know how much it costs to run: water and electricity. I am providing the soap. I want to reimburse them to cover my costs per wash. I don't want them to be out of pocket, but don't want to pay ridiculously over the odds myself, either.