RR vs washer/dryer

For those of you whose RR has to share space with your washer/dryer, how much of a problem have you found that to be, especially wrt dust/lint etc.? What have you done to minimize the problem? How well has that worked?

I'm looking at replacing my 14 year old stack washer/dryer with separate units side by side and putting an upper level RR deck over them, so they're gonna be real close to the RR.

Thanks...

Mike

Reply to
Michael Brown
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Reply to
Rob Kemp

It may be trouble than it is worth. But if you really must - Provide a sheetmetal dryer exhaust duct that has all joints sealed (think duct tape), provide easy access to the washer hoses (clearance issues to the track supporting structure), consider a plastic roll-up drape that can be secured over the trackwork perhaps using a magnetic strip along the bottom to minimize dust.

Reply to
Mitch

Mike, I've had one of those air purifier / ionizer things for some time now. Its called a Breeze by EcoQuest. Its about twice the size of a toaster. No filters. It has glass plates that you just remove to clean off once in a while. Since I started using the air purifier the level of dust has been reduced dramatically. I think when the layout is finished the dust level will be almost zero. This thing is fantastic. Don't know where my wife found it but I'm sure you can get them just about everywhere. I run it about an hour a day max and leave it on when working in the shed. One of these might help with your washer / dryer situation. At least the air will smell great........ kind of like after storm with a cold rain. Bruce

Reply to
Bruce Favinger

Is moving the washer and dryer upstairs an option? That's what I'm doing. The wife "appreciates" my consideration for her because she won't have to carry all the laundry down and back up the stairs. (And of course I appreciate not having to deal with the machines in the "layout room"!)

Hint: The older she is the more appealing this option looks to her.

Paul - "The CB&Q Guy" (Modeling 1969 In HO.)

Reply to
The CB&Q Guy

Washer/dryer move is not an option unless they go into the kitchen, but the kitchen is too small already. My house is a 1-story ranch on a slab (no basement or 2nd floor). Washer/dryer and water heater are in 1-car attached garage, which I want to remodel to be another interior room shared by washer/dryer (water heater evicted, replaced by those little on-demand heaters located elsewhere) and layout.

Total space is about 11x25. N-scale layout, to be around-the-walls double deck with helix/staging in adjoining rooms.

Was planning on some sort of air filtration device in the room, maybe HEPA? Sounds like a good idea to also cover the layout when it's not in use.

Mike

Reply to
Michael Brown

I really don't understand why laundries are still in the basement, expect for that's where the builder put the hookups. Back in the days of open-top ringer washers it made sense to have it on a cement floor with nothing underneath. Modern machines mean leaks and floods are rare. Our 1981 house has a ground-floor laundry, and even that's not going far enough: really, they should be as near the bedrooms as possible -- that's where most of the laundry is generated, and whence it returns. And most important: it would leave moire space in the basement for important functions like you-know-what ;-).

-- Kizhe

Reply to
Lt. Kizhe Catson

Leaks/floods rare, but not nonexistent and can make quite a mess when they happen. My washer pump developed a pinhole leak a few years ago that wet the floor. Not a whole lot of water, and only leaked when the pump was operating, but enough to be a nuisance.

I'd be more concerned about a water supply hose breaking/leaking, as that could make a huge mess in a hurry. In the garage remodel, I'm planning to install a valve/timer device on the washer supply lines. With these you push a button on the unit when you want to wash a load and it activates the lines for two hours and then shuts them off. Keeps pressure off the supply lines most of the time and you don't risk the lines breaking when you're away at work when a burst line could flood all day before you return. I think these units cost less than $200, seems good insurance.

Mike

Reply to
Michael Brown
*** Was planning on some sort of air filtration device in the room, maybe HEPA? Sounds like a good idea to also cover the layout when it's not in use.

--------------------------------------------------- An electronic air cleaner is a very good idea. I have one in the 'railroad room' and it has more than paid for itself.

Bill Bill's Railroad Empire N Scale Model Railroad:

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Reply to
Bill

Thanks very much for all the comments on this topic. Looks like I'll need to think some more about this.

One other possibility came to mind as a result of this discussion. If I move the washer/dryer into my guest bedroom, it would be close to the other bedrooms and out of the RR room. That would keep the dryer lint out of the RR room, give me more RR space in that room, eliminate a bunch of obstacles, and let me lock up the RR room when it's not in use to keep out folks who don't belong in there. And I could use the current dryer vent for the paint booth. Downside is I lose a bedroom and rental income from the college students I've been renting to.

Mike

Reply to
Michael Brown

Couldn't the track run through a 4" diameter piece of furnace ducting or PVC sewer pipe? Should be well protected in there.

Reply to
pawlowsk002

Be rather tough to operate inside a pipe, as I was planning to put an upper deck (probably the passenger station) over the washer/dryer, not just a single track from one side of the laundry area to the other. The entire RR would be within about 20 feet of the washer/dryer anyway if I don't relocate the washer/dryer to another room.

Reply to
Michael Brown

Put a sleeping loft over the laundry equipment and reduce the rent accordingly. Or buy one [or more] of those Japanese micro-hotel suite modules - like a modern US Navy berth, only smaller but better equipped.

Reply to
Steve Caple

install a valve/timer device on the washer supply lines. With these you push a button on the unit when you want to wash a load and it activates the lines for two hours and then shuts them off. Keeps pressure off the supply lines most of the time and you don't risk the lines breaking when you're away at work when a burst line could flood all day before you return. I think these units cost less than $200, seems good insurance.

Reply to
The CB&Q Guy

Mike,

So charge them to use your machines to do their laundry instead of the rent! 8^D

Paul - "The CB&Q Guy" (Modeling 1969 In HO.)

Reply to
The CB&Q Guy

a slightly different device is the Watts A2C-M1 Intelliflow. (I have no relationship with this company) it detects the electrical flow to your washer and turns the water on only when the washer is actually calling for water electrically this is about $150 you can get more info at

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machineshutoffvalve.html

Bob

Reply to
Access Systems

So what? The lines are engineered to exist and survive in a pressurized state.

If you turn off the inlet valve, but do not have a waste drain, you do not relieve any pressure on the line. Merely closing off the source does not relieve any pressure. All it does is trap it in the line. If you have a waste drain, then you are using more water than you otherwise would if you simply left well enough alone. Use the proper hose to connect the supply to the machine, and you will have a hose that will tolerate many more times the pressure that any residential water supply system will ever generate.

Having not experienced any water problems with a washing machine during the past

60 years, I wonder why such a device is needed?

It does nothing. Nothing, that is, except relieve your pocketbook of a few ounces of weight which could be put to much better use elsewhere. It is the Emperor's New Clothes. Froggy,

Reply to
Froggy

Can't tell you where to find them, haven't tracked them down myself yet. Saw one installed on TV a few months back on the "Ask This Old House" show. Maybe some info on their web site?

I may have misrepresented how they operate. The important feature is not so much that they keep pressure off the feed hoses most of the time (maybe they don't do that?), but rather that if a feed hose breaks, the amount of water that ends up on your floor is limited to what was in the hose. That's a whole lot less that what might get sprayed out of a broken hose before it eventually gets noticed a few hours or days later if you're on vacation.

Mike

Reply to
Michael Brown

Call it paranoia, Froggy. Maybe it is. Maybe it is a bit of money wasted that could instead buy another loco or two. But...

Hoses can have materials/manufacturing defects, weak spots, etc.

Washing machines can break down and leak as well.

Some insurance companies will blacklist your house if you ever file a claim for water damage, because they're paranoid about future mold claims. Or maybe it's just greed? Nonetheless, it can make insurance difficult or impossible to obtain, or at the least horribly expensive.

So I consider it another layer of security.

I have not personally had any problems with burst hoses, but I know a guy who had major damage done to his house this way. I believe he had to replace lots of drywall on several floors of his house when it happened.

Mike

Reply to
Michael Brown

Reply to
Jon Miller

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