Bathtub "Shelf" for Portable Washing Machine

[Lis]

I just bought this bad boy, a portable washing machine with a spin dryer. In my building, I don't pay for water, my electricity bill is split with other tenants (how much you pay depends on how many square feet your unit is), and it costs $5 per (not so large) load in our building's (pretty scuzzy) machines. So, assuming it works as well as I hope it will, it should pay for itself pretty quickly.

The one thing I don't love the idea of is figuring out how to drain it. A lot of the reviews recommend (or say that they're going to) putting the unit on a shelf of some kind that'll sit on top of your bathtub and let it drain directly there (thank you, gravity). However, I'm nervous about just sticking a piece of wood on the edges and allowing this electric, plugged in machine that uses water to break the board and essentially just fuck everything up. I'm trying to figure out how to balance cost (obviously I'd love to not spend a lot of money) and safety (and obviously, as previously stated, I don't want to fuck everything up). I'm going to assume it needs a bit more than a cheap piece of plywood from Home Depot, but if I ask my handyman/father, he'll build me some ridiculous contraption that'll cost $100.

The unit weighs about 42lbs (according to UPS that's the shipping weight) and is 24.8"X14"X28.35"(LxWxH). Any recommendations? (I have no issues picking 40ish lbs 3-4 feet off the ground.)

[sokoloff]

If you have room on the floor outside and next to the tub, I think I'd try that first. Most washing machines have an outlet pump that will lift the wash water ~40" to the washer drain stub in a typical installation. I'd assume that a portable would still be similar and that it wouldn't be a simple gravity drain.

In such a case, you just need to confine the drain hose so that it discharges into the tub and doesn't risk falling into the main bathroom floor area.

Building a shelf to sit on top of the tub would be pretty far down my list of things to try first.

[Frugal Lizard]

My washing machine really dances around when it spins so I would be concerned that it dance its way off a shelf.

[Lis]

If you have room on the floor outside and next to the tub, I think I'd try that first. Most washing machines have an outlet pump that will lift the wash water ~40" to the washer drain stub in a typical installation. I'd assume that a portable would still be similar and that it wouldn't be a simple gravity drain.

Alas, it is a simple gravity drain. Apparently the hose is pretty short, so having it on the ground, reach over the ledge of the tub, and still fall low enough for gravity to do its thing is probably not gonna work (it's arriving on Friday so I'll play around with it this weekend, but I doubt it). If I can't raise it above the tub, the only other way is to empty it into a bucket (multiple trips), so I'm thinking getting a shelf type thing is easiest. Also, don't really have room on floor outside the tub :/ It'll be fine the first few times as I figure out a shelf, but if I plan on using this thing often (and I do) it really would be best to have it over the tub.

But it is pretty cheap anyways.  If you are OK doing laundry more frequently it can work.

It's just me in the house (and naked furbabies) so this machine is perfect for me.

Now I'm wondering if I can just sit it in the tub, maybe lift it a bit to drain the water... hmm...