I finished my solar panel installation and have settled into a routine that lets me make good use of whatever electricity I can store in my battery to run my refrigerator and microwave and still charge my phone and electronics. It is not efficient to power things with the battery 24/7 since it uses 30 watts just to operate and only collects maybe 1500 watt-hours. So almost half of the power is just wasted. Lately I haven’t had enough power to run the fridge all night, so that saves me 240 watt-hours of waste and means I am only wasting about a third of the power.
In reviewing my daily consumption of electricity to see what kind of results I am getting, I noticed that some days had big spikes of usage, especially pronounced in the Fall since I have a very low baseline of 4-6 kilowatt-hours a day. For instance last week I had a day where I used 17 kwh. It turns out that was laundry day. I got a new LG washer and downloaded their app that lets me know when a cycle is complete, but it also tracks how much power is used. To run a load in the washing machine, surprisingly, only takes 100 watt-hours, not very much. But to dry that load takes anywhere from 1000 to 2000 watt-hours even though the high efficiency washer is supposed to spin as much water as possible out of the clothes first. Even if the battery had enough power stored to run the dryer (which it usually does not), the dryer runs on 240V AC, and the battery can only go up to 120V. My goal with the battery is to generate and use 2000 watt-hours per day, but I realized that if I just used a clothesline for drying, a $25 investment could save as much energy as my $1600 solar panel system. So I started thinking about that. I remember Mom and other people in our neighborhood hanging clothes out to dry in the backyard and I found remnants of what I think were clothesline posts in my backyard.
Someone in my neighborhood was throwing away their trampoline and there were a bunch of big springs in their trash pile, so I took a couple of handfuls because they might they might be useful for keeping a clothesline tight. Somebody else was throwing away some 2×4 boards that they had used for a Halloween display, so I got some of those for possible use. I thought I could stand up the posts (2×4’s) and tie them back to the chain link fence posts and go all the way across the narrow part of my backyard (about 30 feet). The problem was there was privet growing up next to the fence so I had to clear out most of that until I realized that the trunks of the privets were already pretty good posts as long as I got rid of the brush. Just getting easier and easier all the time.
I did some research about using a clothesline and then found some decent line at Walmart for $8 and 50 clothespins for $2. I could tie a loop in the end of the rope and loop it onto the spring. Then use a short piece of rope with loops at each end to go around the back of the posts and loop into the other end of the spring. I still had to make some adjustments to get the loop in just the right spot to keep it all as tight as possible, but it seems pretty good and it is easy to take down and put back up.
I wash a lot of comforters because I use comforters as dog beds, so I washed one first thing yesterday morning so I could have it ready to put out on the line knowing it would take a long time to dry. Then I did another load to fill up the rest of the line, quickly running out of room and clothespins. This is the perfect time of year for line drying because it is sunny and the air is dry plus there is a nice breeze. The crappy modern clothespins are worthless and I needed as many as ten to hold up a wet sweatshirt. So I need stronger clothespins, but I think it would be better for shirts to just hang them on hangers. I could tie loops in the line for the hangers so they don’t shift around. Not sure what I will do with jeans and shorts.
It is a learning process. I bought some more clothespins, but really I need better ones. When I went out later in the day to gather my dry clothes I shook the wrinkles out and dog hair flew off, and I realized the tumbling dryer and lint screen have an advantage there. Another yucky part was that a bird pooped on a pair of shorts I had out there, so I had to clean that by hand and put it in to be washed again. The next day I did another load of laundry in the morning and still ran out of all 100 pins (99, because Buddy Baer chewed one up), spending almost half an hour setting pins. Unless I can get better at putting clothes up, this system might work best just for comforters and towels, which are easier to put on the line quickly.
I wound up buying some stronger stainless steel clips at Amazon that I think will work well for pants and shorts and got some more plastic hangers for shirts. I still need to use 3 or 4 metal clips for a pair of pants. Then for socks and light stuff, I can still use the wooden ones. It was faster that way, but the next load I was washing 12 pairs of socks I had just bought, so that was a little tedious. I think socks dry better if they are inside out, meaning an extra step, but maybe not necessary.
I did some calculations. So far I have spent about $33 on my solar dryer system (the metal clips were $20, but I got 40) and I think I can save at least 6 kwh of electricity per week at 16 cents per kilowatt, so a dollar a week. That means everything will pay for itself in less than a year. The payoff for my solar electricity system is more like 12-15 years. But this week, I feel like I have saved more like 7 kwh in just 5 days.