Hand Crank Clothes Washers?

[big brown horse]

In my area too.....not enough folks giving away stuff around here. I tried to give away a car on there and no one would take it! It was in excellent shape(body and interior) but needed engine repair....had new tires and battery, new exhaust and everything......no takers! I finally gave it to the guy at the garage where it was parked and he hauled it off for scrap metal.

That would have atleast made a fine coop!

 

[Beekissed]

If this wasn't a rental and I was back from public view, it just might have become something like that. The boys wanted to fix it up for the demo derby but it was much too pretty for that......mint green metallic Olds with a "cherry" interior....I loved that car! LIttle old lady owned it.......

 

[Lovechooks]

Whoah, that machine is tiny! I think I'd be spending who whole weekends doing that wash with that! I can do up to 3 big loads a day which I think would be about 8-10 in that thing!

Be good for 1-2 people I guess if you didn't mind washing a lot.

 

[thewarriorchild]

I too would be doing wash all day and there are only two of us, teens breed dirty cloths apparently.
I think you should hang the cloths on hangers on your super duty cloths line, get out the hose with the attachment to add (soap,pesiticide, or whatever) something to the water and spray it with the soapy water then spray it with clean water. It could even water your garden
It would be a lot faster anyway...:bun

oh and you leave it to dry and take it back in and hang it in the closet

 

[2dream]

I too would be doing wash all day and there are only two of us, teens breed dirty cloths apparently.
I think you should hang the cloths on hangers on your super duty cloths line, get out the hose with the attachment to add (soap,pesiticide, or whatever) something to the water and spray it with the soapy water then spray it with clean water. It could even water your garden
It would be a lot faster anyway...:bun

oh and you leave it to dry and take it back in and hang it in the closet

Now theres is a time saving idea. LOL Hang, wash, drip dry all in one trip. No carrying laundry to the laundry room, taking out of washer and hauling to clothes line.

 

[noobiechickenlady]

Yes, but what would you use to agitate & scrub the dirt out? It is really friction that gets most of the dirt out.

Hmmm, though. Thinking on the wild side here. What about a kiddie pool, add soap & clothes & let the kids stomp around winemaking style? Its be entertainment even if the clothes didn't get clean

 

[big brown horse]

Yes, but what would you use to agitate & scrub the dirt out? It is really friction that gets most of the dirt out.

Hmmm, though. Thinking on the wild side here. What about a kiddie pool, add soap & clothes & let the kids stomp around winemaking style? Its be entertainment even if the clothes didn't get clean

Then the kids get clean too!!

 

[dragonlaurel]

I too would be doing wash all day and there are only two of us, teens breed dirty cloths apparently.
I think you should hang the cloths on hangers on your super duty cloths line, get out the hose with the attachment to add (soap,pesiticide, or whatever) something to the water and spray it with the soapy water then spray it with clean water. It could even water your garden
It would be a lot faster anyway...:bun

oh and you leave it to dry and take it back in and hang it in the closet

Warrior- I used to do something very similar. If anybody wants to do it:
I soaked the clothes in soapy water in a big plastic bucket, then wrung them out some, hung them on the line and used the hose with a sprayer nozzle to rinse them. Use strong clothespins or they will fall!
It took a while to get all the soap out. Use less soap than you are used to. Rinse till you don't have bubbles running down the clothes. This was fun in warm weather. You get wet pretty easy doing this. The lawn loved it too. This uses lots of water.

The kiddie pool is a good idea. Let them clean their dirt out.

 

[Wolf-Kim]

My mother recently updated to the new frontload washer and dryer. She thought it was broken it was using so little water. It uses just enough water to have a couple inches in the bottom of the barrel on a large load and it just cycles the clothes through that tiny bit of water. HUGE difference between the older top loading washers, that have to fill the whole drum to submerge the clothes. She says that her new washer gets her clothes cleaner than ever, which I guess makes since. If you are using that little of water, you can change out the dirty water for cleaner more often and still conserve water.

Of course these wouldn't work in a nonelectric circumstance.

 

[noobiechickenlady]

I've been tossing around a couple of ideas. I have lots of those, but not the building experience to pull some of them off

Anyways, I have an idea on this that might just work. If you hooked a bike up to a chain or belt that was in turn hooked around the edge of a barrell, or to a rotating gear on the barrell, which would pivot (sort of like the compost tumblers) it would agitate the clothes in as much or as little water as you wanted to use. Then you could open a draincock on the barrel and spin them to drain. You could keep your washing water & reuse it, as in the older washing machines. Just pour it back in with the next load.

Rinsing would work the same way.

Right now we are using the kids & ourselves in the bathtub to wash clothes. Its working, and even though the clothes are really wet when they come out of the rinse, its still okay, because we hang them out and it matters not at all if it takes a little longer to dry. At least, we do when its not raining. When it is, we take a little more time & re-wring the clothes to stick them in the dryer.