Portable gas dryers taken to the next level?

[roto204]

I remember someone posting a thread regarding apartment-sized washers and dryers, and the possibility of running a little gas dryer off a propane tank.

The idea sounds marvelous--and I was thinking about it because, as my collection grows, I'd like to acquire a gas dryer (perhaps the 1971 Kenmore 70 lurking around my grandparents' place) to supplement things. Right now, you can do wash for days, but there's only one dryer, and two loads need three hours to do from start to finish. Another dryer would help immensely.

Can you connect a propane tank to a regular gas dryer? Do you need special equipment, such as a special regulator or such (I know they have one kind that comes with your average-issue barbecue grill...would that work on a dryer)? The reason I ask is that I've lived in places where the piped-in gas is LP, and others where it's methane. I'm guessing the dryer's methods for interfacing with both would have to be different, e.g., using different regulators.

Does the ignition and burner equipment inside the dryer remain the same? And has anyone tried this for a while? I wonder how much life you get out of a propane tank. I think it'd be a neat idea, but not if you have to swap tanks every dryer-load.

Thanks in advance to all of you for your help and information! :-D

 

[coldspot66]

Hey Nathan,

Rec'd your check the other day....thanks. You have to convert a natural gas dryer to propane by putting a blocking pin in the regulator and changing to a smaller orifice on the burner. There are kits available by brand and model #. I don't think it's a good idea to have a propane tank indoors; though you can run a dryer from it with the right fittings. Before I had an extra gas hookup in my basement, that is how I tested the LP gas dryers that I fixed. I'm sure a 20lb gas grill tank would last 3 or 4 loads. Hope this helps!!

 

[roto204]

Thanks!

Thanks, John, that's good info. I always wondered how even-across it would be to do that!

 

[kenmore1978]

propane

So are you saying there's no gas in your house? If not, is it because there is no natural gas in your neighborhood, or they just didn't equip your house with gas? If so, you could always do it the proper way, which is to install an outdoor tank that is refilled by the local propane compnay, and run plumbing inside. The good thing is that even propane is probably cheaper to run than electric.