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Speed Queen washer

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koolcatjoe40

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Feb 15, 2024
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mobile alabama usa
Has anyone use a Speed Queen washer on their solar system? The Speed Queen classic (TC models ) seem to be like the old school washers. I have a GE washer. The agitate cycle is changing voltage in quick pulses several time a minute. My inverter doesn't seem to like it at all. So I use the washer on power company power.
 
A LF inverter will handle those motor surges better than a HF inverter. Which model inverter do you have?
 
koolcatjoe40 said:
Has anyone use a Speed Queen washer on their solar system? The Speed Queen classic (TC models ) seem to be like the old school washers. I have a GE washer. The agitate cycle is changing voltage in quick pulses several time a minute. My inverter doesn't seem to like it at all. So I use the washer on power company power.
Click to expand...
Love our Speed Queen washer for sure. I only just yesterday tried running our TR7 off the 6000XP. No problems.
 
koolcatjoe40 said:
Has anyone use a Speed Queen washer on their solar system? The Speed Queen classic (TC models ) seem to be like the old school washers. I have a GE washer. The agitate cycle is changing voltage in quick pulses several time a minute. My inverter doesn't seem to like it at all. So I use the washer on power company power.
Click to expand...
I purchased a Speed Queen before installing solar, they would have to pry it out of my cold dead arms before I'd give it up. Very efficient operation, it has a transmission and agitator unlike the reversing drum type that will suck way more power everytime it reverses the drum.

I could go search from posts about a year ago but we discussed the topic of washing machines causing light flicker and inverter output voltage fluctuations. The Speed Queen will not cause this problem, the reversing drum type will.

Buy the Speed Queen and give the GE away to your kids or parents.

What do you use for a dryer? I've considered the heat pump units now that larger sizes are available and the tax credit applies. But really the old style dryers could have usage covered by a few 500W panels added to a system with a cheap MPPT if you add a little battery capacity. I'm still debating..........
 
Zwy said:
I purchased a Speed Queen before installing solar, they would have to pry it out of my cold dead arms before I'd give it up. Very efficient operation, it has a transmission and agitator unlike the reversing drum type that will suck way more power everytime it reverses the drum.

I could go search from posts about a year ago but we discussed the topic of washing machines causing light flicker and inverter output voltage fluctuations. The Speed Queen will not cause this problem, the reversing drum type will.

Buy the Speed Queen and give the GE away to your kids or parents.

What do you use for a dryer? I've considered the heat pump units now that larger sizes are available and the tax credit applies. But really the old style dryers could have usage covered by a few 500W panels added to a system with a cheap MPPT if you add a little battery capacity. I'm still debating..........
Click to expand...
Actually our TR7 Speed Queen washer IS the reversing drum type. I never saw it add more than maybe 600 watts to the load on the inverter.
 
AZ Solar Junkie said:
Actually our TR7 Speed Queen washer IS the reversing drum type. I never saw it add more than maybe 600 watts to the load on the inverter.
Click to expand...
The TR series might be, they do run an agitator however and that will have some type of transmission.

I bought ours probably 4 years ago or longer and it has a transmission, I was in there looking for a water leak because my wife most likely over filled the washer and told me it leaked. I believe it doesn't have the circuit boards like the TR series.

Our old Maytag is in a storage shed, I have about 3 of those as I had them in my rentals. Ours would get out of balance and my wife kept complaining about it so I got the Speed Queen. Push come to shove, one of the old Maytags will be coming back into service.
 
Bought my mom a set last year with the TC washer.

No issues on the SMA setup (24kish watts).

On her old system (Outback 3000 watt), she would have to reset it every so often. Which includes unplugging it for 15 minutes and raising and lowering the lid six times

Edit (after asking more questions): the reset thing pretty much happened only when she ran her (old and crappy) batteries out of power.
 
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Newer washers eliminated the complicated reversing agitation transmission and just forward and reverse the drive motor.

Constant pulsing motor startup surge loading.
 
I did have a board in my Speed Queen go out that required replacing under warranty by a service person. He thought it was power related. I since then added special power protection to it to hopefully prevent future occurrence. That was at least couple years ago now so still good.
 
Forgot to mention as a side note, I have the front load version and it has what I would consider a maintenance design flaw. The pump that drains the water out has a coarse filter before it to prevent any large objects from getting caught in the pump. This filter has a plug that is easily unscrewed by hand so you can pull the filter out to clear whatever is clogging it up. You'll know when it is clogged up because the water in the tub will not drain and display will give an OF error indicating "over flow" and you can see the water is too high. The problem is is if you pull that plug out to clear the clog all the water from the tub will instantly drain out all over the place. I've resorted to using two pieces of small wood with a C clamp to clamp close the hose under the tub so that the water won't pour out when I have to clear the filter out. Super annoying.
 
rhino said:
Forgot to mention as a side note, I have the front load version and it has what I would consider a maintenance design flaw. The pump that drains the water out has a coarse filter before it to prevent any large objects from getting caught in the pump. This filter has a plug that is easily unscrewed by hand so you can pull the filter out to clear whatever is clogging it up. You'll know when it is clogged up because the water in the tub will not drain and display will give an OF error indicating "over flow" and you can see the water is too high. The problem is is if you pull that plug out to clear the clog all the water from the tub will instantly drain out all over the place. I've resorted to using two pieces of small wood with a C clamp to clamp close the hose under the tub so that the water won't pour out when I have to clear the filter out. Super annoying.
Click to expand...
I'll agree, this is super annoying, but common to all front loaders.
 
Zwy said:
I purchased a Speed Queen before installing solar, they would have to pry it out of my cold dead arms before I'd give it up. Very efficient operation, it has a transmission and agitator unlike the reversing drum type that will suck way more power everytime it reverses the drum.

I could go search from posts about a year ago but we discussed the topic of washing machines causing light flicker and inverter output voltage fluctuations. The Speed Queen will not cause this problem, the reversing drum type will.

Buy the Speed Queen and give the GE away to your kids or parents.

What do you use for a dryer? I've considered the heat pump units now that larger sizes are available and the tax credit applies. But really the old style dryers could have usage covered by a few 500W panels added to a system with a cheap MPPT if you add a little battery capacity. I'm still debating..........
Click to expand...
Just a plain Ole electric dryer. I pretty much just run lights ceiling fans tvs on solar. But I have frig freezer and microwave wired to run on solar if we loose power. This whole solar thing started by wanting to have some power if a hurricane comes though and takes out power. Like most people I really like fooling around with solar. It is one of my hobbies . Expensive hobby .
 
rhino said:
Forgot to mention as a side note, I have the front load version and it has what I would consider a maintenance design flaw. The pump that drains the water out has a coarse filter before it to prevent any large objects from getting caught in the pump. This filter has a plug that is easily unscrewed by hand so you can pull the filter out to clear whatever is clogging it up. You'll know when it is clogged up because the water in the tub will not drain and display will give an OF error indicating "over flow" and you can see the water is too high. The problem is is if you pull that plug out to clear the clog all the water from the tub will instantly drain out all over the place. I've resorted to using two pieces of small wood with a C clamp to clamp close the hose under the tub so that the water won't pour out when I have to clear the filter out. Super annoying.
Click to expand...
I just put a towel under there and accept the flood.

I have mixed feelings about my SQ front load. The washing quality is not so good, I hear they had to restrict the rinse cycles is the problem and one guy fixed this by finding the rare old true analog front load cycle controller. But with extra rinse on every time it works ok enough and I am happy with the repairability and reliability, mostly, my door closed trigger is finnicky and I never bothered to investigate, just gotta push it shut hard.
 
koolcatjoe40 said:
I have an Amis 3000 watt industrial 24 volt inverter
Click to expand...
That unit does have surge capability. Have you checked for a loose neutral connection on the outlet the washer is connected to? I had flickering lights when my Maytag Commercial washer was agitating and it turned out that the neutral coming into the house from the utility had to be replaced. I also had a poor ground connection from my panel to the incoming water line (clamp was loose and corroded). Since washers are usually 120VAC, they can load down one of the legs of your electrical service and you need a real solid neutral to handle the return current.

If you can measure the voltage on the washer line, you can see if it is fluctuating a lot during the agitate cycle. If you see more than a 1-2 volt swing, then I'd check the wiring and grounding.
 
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