washing machine with a closed water system?

[Daffodils At The Sea]

Are you short of water? Why do you want to use the water again? It doesn't really take that much water to wash and rinse clothes.

I do a lot of laundry by hand, and it's not the washing that's difficult. I use two large, pretty plastic containers and a normal bathroom plunger. The plunger sucks the clothes up and down in the water. That does the agitation. For some reason they are selling aerated plungers, and all those do is aerate the water, which isn't what you want. But I've found that when using the soap recipe of washing soda/ borax/ fels naptha soap clothes do better soaking in it for at least an hour with occasional agitation. It's different than detergent, and it needs time to blend together to work well. The clothes come out clean and fresh smelling.

It's the wringing that is messy and hard work. You have to do it twice to get the soapy water out before you put it into the rinse water, then wringing it again before hanging. Towels and jeans are the hardest. Diapers probably need a pre-soak and rinse that's completely separate, if you are doing fabric diapers. That is where investing in a professional wringer is a big help. They are expensive, but you only have to buy them once. I hang up shirts on hangers without wringing them so they don't get wrinkled, and they dry slowly and any wrinkles fall out. We only wear clothing once so it's not a major job to get them clean. That's why hotels change the sheets every day, because they can use cold water, which saves money, if they are only used once.

If it snows and things freeze where you are in the winter, plan on hanging wet clothing somewhere where it won't freeze and it will dry. We have a drying shed with two walls with large floor-to-ceiling windows that make it warm inside on a sunny day. It has clotheslines in it, and a rack. In really bad weather I can wash clothes in this shed because we've added a drain where the washing containers can be emptied out as gray water. But the soapy water is quite alkaline and I don't put it directly on plants.

Clothes do get dirty when you are doing the kind of projects you are doing, crawling around working on foundations, sawing, sanding, painting, hauling, sweating, using tools. You really do want clean, fresh water.

 

[Daffodils At The Sea]

Oh, I bought one of those plastic spinners, they are a total waste of money and time. They are too big to store when you're not using them, you can't spin them fast enough to do it well, and it's tiring. I can do better with my hands, especially with smaller items, which is about 50% of the wash. But it really is the old-time wringer that works, and that's why they were so popular at the time

 

[Britesea]

I've been told that you can hang your clothes out to dry in freezing weather- as long as it's dry. The water freezes and you just shake the ice crystals off the clothes and voila. But I've never done it so I don't know if they were serious or pulling my leg.

 

[Hinotori]

That's what Grandma always did. It's a desert area there, though, so humidity is low even in winter and there is usually sun. I helped her bring in many a cold load of laundry off the line.

Now Grandma did have a dryer, she just only used it to fluff clothes for 5 minutes after they came in off the line. She figured why waste money on power when you can dry stuff for free.

 

[Britesea]

I had some laundry hanging outside the other day, and it started to rain while I was gone and couldn't bring it in. A rainwater rinse beats the dryer for soft laundry, I'll tell ya!

 

[Neiklot]

We have only one well at about 10 feet (3 meters) and in the summer, you have to ration. I'm saving rainwater for irrigation, and it has to work out to wash in it?

Then ang. Well, I do not know how you've et in the U.S. but here at home, I have a very shallow well located only 10m away from the house. It is perhaps .. 3 feet? (1 meter) What is it used for?