Community Forums

bertschb · 01-27-2016, 07:18 AM

My wife and I are going to get a washer and dryer for our new Grand Design 318RST 5th wheel. Camping World wants $300 to install them and I'd prefer to do this myself if possible. I have no problem cutting the hole in the side of the RV for the dryer vent and I think I can figure out how to muscle the 75lb dryer into place. But, I'm not sure how difficult it would be to get the 150lb washer in there. For those of you who have done this - how did you do it? How many people helped? Did you use ramps or lifting harnesses or?

jdpm · 01-27-2016, 02:24 PM

When we ripped-out our NO-cold from a one year old Lifestyle fiver and replaced it with a 200lb Samsung refrigerator, we pulled the trailer right up to the Home Depot loading dock and THEY loaded the new fridge into the trailer. We secured into place well enough to make it home and then finished the install once back at the house. Good luck.

Mr_D · 01-27-2016, 02:39 PM

If your door is wide enough you should be able to bring it in through it and two people should be enough.
We put a Splendide in out MH with just the two of us. I did have to remove the passenger seat but you shouldn't have that problem. Just the two of us and no lifting straps or anything else.

I did have to remove the door holding strap and the screen door at it's hinges.

Nana25K · 01-27-2016, 03:28 PM

We have installed our whirlpool washer and dryer in both our 5 th wheel and then moved it to our MH. In both instances we removed the top hinge on the outside door so that it opened completely out of the way and removed the screen door. On the 5th wheel Ron used wide boards to slide it up the steps. When we moved it to the MH we parked the 2 rigs door to door and used wide boards to straddle the steps. In the MH we moved the passenger seat back as far as it would go, arms up out of the way. We had to wiggle a little. The hardest part wash installing into the closet of the MH The dryer vent was placed such that it had to go in first up on the shelf. That meant some long reaching to get the drain hose of the washer into the pipe. To make sure that we would not have an issue with it popping out Ron attached an extension to the drain hose which allowed us to shove it farther down the drain pipe. We had to find the friend with the longest arm to reach back and install it. There are some pretty funny pictures of that event in

wingnut60 · 01-27-2016, 08:24 PM

Took out old W/D and installed new units in our Suites--stacked. Had neighbor help me with the removal/placement of washer----dryer was not a problem except to get it up above the washer area, put rear bracket in place and we lifted it up and got it on rear brack, then slid front bracket under it. In spite of my poor abilities, they are both still in place...
Neighbor was a big guy, tho.
Joe

Ultratravler · 01-27-2016, 09:10 PM

Nana, where did you purchase your Whirlpool's? I don't see them advertised anywhere. Thanks.

Dave

wingnut60 · 01-27-2016, 09:37 PM

You can go thru the Sears Kenmore online store to find them. Kenmore and Whirlpool used to be the same, not sure any more. Look for 120volt dryers or also apartment units==the size is 24" width. Splendide may be the only other line that addresses the smaller units.
Try these Whirlpool numbers: Dryer LDR3822 PQ1
Washer WFC7500VW1
Joe

Ultratravler · 01-27-2016, 09:56 PM

Thanks Wingnut, I'll give it a try.

Dave

okraman · 03-20-2016, 07:15 PM

GE did make apartment size washer and dryers (at least they did a couple of years ago). If I remember correctly, my daughter ordered from Best Buy.

wingnut60 · 03-20-2016, 07:37 PM

Another trick to getting the washer in the trailer--get it over to the door area, lay a heavy blanket (I used UHaul blanket) on the steps and threshold, lay the washer onto the blanket/steps with one person inside and one outside. Then the inside person pulls the blanket into the trailer while the outside person lifts/pushes the washer from the outside.
If the blanket won't slide, then just slide the washer into the trailer over the blanket. Worked well for me.
Joe

Nana25K · 03-21-2016, 06:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ultratravler

Nana, where did you purchase your Whirlpool's? I don't see them advertised anywhere. Thanks.

Dave

Somehow I missed your question. We ordered ours from Lowes. When we bought ours they had 2 apt size sets. The front load washer came from one set and the dryer came from a pair that had a top load washer. They had them in their warehouse so we had them in for us in a couple days. That was 9 years ago