Installing a Splendide

[Tom McCarthy]

Mike,

When someone suggested that the dryer vent can only be opened with
air pressure up, I tried it. While the switch will move and the
warning light illuminate, it will not open and close without air
pressure.

So, I aired up , opened the vent and tried the w/d that way. Much
faster on the dry cycle but still lots longer than a home dryer.
However, given that we use the w/d occasionally for special loads,
this is much more satisfactory than when the vent was 'closed.'

Tom McCarthy
Poway, CA
'95 PT42


--- In WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com, "Mike Hohnstein"
<MHOHNSTEIN@...> wrote:
>
> I'm sure you will do well, just don't be in a hurry for the "dry"
cycle to end. It never does.MH
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Don Bradner
> To: wanderlodgeforum@yahoogroups.com
> Sent: Wednesday, March 21, 2007 10:34 PM
> Subject: [WanderlodgeForum] Installing a Splendide
>
>
> I've found that having/using a washer/dryer in an RV is somewhat
controversial. Just today, a gentleman I met said that, while his was
plumbed for one, he would never install one because his wife says "I
don't go on vacations to do laundry!"
>
> I suspect my wife would do laundry on a vacation, but we really
don't consider ourselves "vacationers." We spend roughly 6 months out
of each year traveling, and sometimes going home is the vacation!
In any case, Joy says that a washer/dryer is absolutely required. Our
first SOB was plumbed, and we installed ourselves with the biggest
issue being just getting it in. Our second (most recent) had a
factory-installed W/D.
>
> As we looked at PT Birds for several months it appeared that most
had washer/dryers, although the majority were unvented - unacceptable
but an easy swap-out. Some had them in a bay, which I was informed by
SWMBO was also unacceptable. Ultimately we settled on one that had
never had a W/D, and I had explicit instructions that this MUST be
rectified in fairly short order.
>
> Yesterday and today were spent on this task. I wasn't willing to
tackle it entirely on my own, so I engaged a local RV repair outfit,
and they got the sale of the Splendide 2000S as well. I have a good
relationship with them, and they are quite willing for me to work
with them, which both reduces my bill and keeps me completely in the
loop.
>
> I knew there were a lot of complications, primarily just getting
one to fit. The only possible location was the closet in the
bathroom, seen on the left in this picture:
http://www.arcatapet.net/travel/images/9...3725-1.jpg with its
two sliding glass doors. In the back right-hand corner of the closet
is a trace containing the vent for the black tank. Behind the
drawers, the drain from the kitchen enters that vent line, so we felt
comfortable adding the washer effluent to the line as well. The main
problem was clearance, both side-to-side, and front to back. Side-to-
side the door would not open far enough to clear the left side of the
W/D. The left side has to be clear, because the soap tray is flush
against that side and must have room to be pulled out. This problem
was solved by removing obstructions on the left door that stopped the
right from fully opening. A vertical piece of ply
> Front to back clearance was not adequate because of the square
trace around the vent pipe. That was removed and cut off at the top
of the W/D, at which point we could just squeeze the unit in. We
would have preferred the larger Splendide 2100, but the extra inch of
depth was prohibitive.
>
> A 16-inch square hole was cut in the floor of the closet to
facilitate access to the hot/cold water pipes, and braces were added
below to support the cutout when it was replaced. After that is was a
pretty straightforward install of plumbing, wiring, and dryer vent. I
ended up with a cost, including Calif tax, of about $1450 for the
W/D, plumbing parts, and labor. I think I probably saved about $500
by participating, and I know exactly how it is installed if anything
goes wrong.
>
> Don Bradner
> 90 PT40 "Blue Thunder"
> Eureka, CA
>
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> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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