Here is the senario:

The house we have moved into has plumbing for a washer in a closet in the living room, electrical outlet for the dryer is in the second bedroom. There is no room in the closet for the dryer.

We have a garage with a sub-panel in it, what I would like to do is:
1) Plumb the washer into the garage (this is not a problem, and no problems with freezing as garage will be winterized - I will be plumbing in the cold and hot taps as well as waste, possibly a laundry sink as well but this is still to be decided).
2) Wire the dryer into the garage as well.

Now the wall that the washer and dryer will be on is the same wall as the sub panel, on the other side of the wall, is where the current dryer receptical is located (not directly on the other side, but same wall about 10 ft down).

What I would like to know is:
1) How far away does a laundry sink / washer have to be from the sub panel to be safe and to reduce the risk of water and the panel meeting.
2) Can I wire the new plug for the dryer to the sub panel, or would it be better to use the existing and relocate it (means ripping walls apart etc). The current dryer is wired to the existing panel.
3) I will have to wire an outlet for the washer to be plugged into, is there any specail precautions I should know. (Going through walls is not an option unfortunately).

Also, with the laundry facilities now in the same proximity as the sub panel, should there be an enclosure around the panel? (The panel is currently mounted onto the wall, there is no cover on the panel the breakers are in the open.. no door - the wiring inside the panel is enclosed)

Hopefully I have detailed this enough, but if I haven't, please let me know and I will try to give you a more detailed picture...

Also, please use layman terms, I don't know the electrical terms... yet... but I am learning :-)

Thanks in advance,

SB

1) There is NO distance limitation. The panel can be right next to the sink, as long as the panel has 30" wide clearance side to side. The panel can be anywhere within that 30" wide space.
The proximity to "water" is NOT an issue with regard to a panel.

2) Depends on the feeder rating to the sub-panel. If it is 40A it is questionable whether you will be OK doing this. If it is 50A or more you should be fine.
It all depends on the feeder and other loads in the sub-panel.

3) ALL readily accessible 120v, 15 & 20 amp receptacles in a garage must be GFI protected. Also any of the same receptacles that are within 6' of a laundry sink must be GFI protected.
So the only limitation is that the washer receptacle must be GFI protected.

Get a cover for that panel! The breakers should NOT be exposed. Building a wood box around it would be worse than leaving it the way it is.

OK cool, lots of good information there, now how can I tell if it is 40A, 50A +?

Just to clarify the panel, the inside of the panel is totally enclosed, sides rear front. Just the area where you "flip the breakers" is open with no door, or a place for a door...

The sub panel also supplies 3 240v recepticals (seperate breakers) and 4 120v receepticals also on separate breakers. 30amp breakers for the 240s and 15 for the 120s (I think this is standard... )