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Was out tooling about and saw the latest on no electric washing machines. So just for fun went out to look at it and found it was one you stand around pumping it with your foot and it is just big enough to do you undies LOL
Reminded me of having to do my families washing in a wash bucket and a washboard with creek water. It is one thing I don’t look forward to when the power is down. There is a reason certain days of the week were designated for individual tasks in days gone by when you had a family. One day was for baking for the entire week, one for laundry, and so on. And laundry is a very physical activity with out power or piped water so be ready for it.
I do make my laundry soap and have it set aside, one less thing I need to worry about.
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Yeah and in winter toughen you up, those pioneers by default where tough, we are mainly marshmallows.
For laundry we have two industrial laundry machines can wash 100 lb of clothes at once. we use the heat from the electrical room and a solar heated room as a drying room.
Had to do old boil and hand wash for one winter…damn ot sucked, after we bought a old mechanical wash and wring machine from someone basement. It works well with bike attaches rather than the handle and turn.
There is an antique filled intermodal container just in case.
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I’ve often said that one of the last things they could pry my hands off of is the washing machine. Hey…I’d even lug water and pour it in…..if it would just do the spin cycle for me. The old wringers are not fun and they bite! They also break buttons.
I have a 5 gal bucket for prewash sometimes. I have a ‘dedicated for laundry only‘ good “toilet” plunger to slosh/agitate. I stick my arm in the shower and plunge, using the shower curtain to keep the sloshing from spilling out onto floor. Works just fine…if you’ve got extra energy. But wringing things out kills me….weak hands. Often I’ll let something drip dry in the shower until it’s reasonable to hang it on the clothesline. The line is handy, right outside the front door on porch. We don’t use dryer for sox/undies so line is used a lot.
Don’t buy a cheap plunger…you soon have a torn off rubber doughnut.
Clothes pins are one of my favorite multi-purpose items!! I buy good ones…not tiny, cheap things! And oddly, they are the ONLY item my dog still likes to chew up. Everything else she has always left alone when we say “MINE”. But she likes the spring action up and down in her jaws. Weird dog.
Make our own laundry soap…have ingredients in emptied juice bottles. Water proof in a garage that has flooded a few times. Have a big clothes drying rack…heirloom….but house toooo small to set it up anywhere.
OldMtWoman….how many solar amps…volts…whatevers to run an automatic washer?
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So where do you get your quality clothes pins? All that’s sold locally is plastic junk that sunrots in a year.
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Just found some of the quality ones and ordered them at Lehman’s
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Yeah I love cloth pins too, even when the grandkids pull them apart they go back together easy, but can’t find the one with out the wires. You can bleach them if they get discolored. I hang out all spring and summer and into the fall just using the dryer at the end for public work clothes.
I use them for putting up plastic around the camping tarps in the camp kitchen on rainy days, or to hold up plastic if you need to get water from dew or light rain for drinking water. You can use them to help hang herbs and droves of other things
Filled a 5 gallon bucket with the laundry powder I made and will start another bucket soon. A tablespoon does a load of laundry and a cup will make a bucket of liquid soap, it can also be used in the dish washer. I keep a lid on it and CLEARLY mark and keep it away from foods even if they are in sealed buckets.
Would love to have an old fashion washer and ringer I could agitate using a bike, but haven’t even been able to find one.
Do have a designated 5 gallon buckets and plungers set aside for no power sit. But the 5 gallon bucket won’t wash all that much for this family. LOL
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You can get DC direct voltage motors for the washer, look in the manual or on the plate mounted in the motor it will say how many horse power. That is the item you need the same, then choose 12,24 or 48 volt depending on your solar battery system. The next number that is required I’d the new DC motor amp consumption, it will be in amp hours.
Average washer uses either 1/3 or 1/2 horse power a 12 volt 1/2 horse 39 amps per hour. Link to motor
The amp hours will tell you how much battery depth uou will need. So if a battery has 100 amp hour total the max you want to discharge is 20 percent. That leaves uou 20 amp hours usable before recharge. Make sure you account for surge draw on motor and make sure your system can handle it.
This is link to article about battery wiring options and combinations.
http://www.zbattery.com/Connecting-Batteries-in-Series-or-Parallel
buy extra belts and use 303 protectant dip to condition them for super long life.
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Volts, amps, joules, whatsits, …..I’ve never gotten any basics to comprehend that, unfortunately.
https://www.lehmans.com/product/lehmans-own-hand-washer/
If I HAD to go pre-tech on that, I’d go for a James washer – or the Lehman’s equivalent. Still manual swishing the lever back and forth for agitation but larger loads than a 5 gal bucket. Then the rinse and …..wringing out. I know folks used to have a rope tied around a porch post in a loop. Thread a heaver piece of laundry [denim overalls] thru the rope loop and then begin to twist until the garment is wrung out. Otherwise you have to have a live partner. lol
OldMtWoman
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You can also use industrial mop bucket with a wringer. Put the wringer on backwards so the run off goes our of the bucket in the bucket have rinse water. It’s not super dry but makes for easier hand wringing.
Good point with the wires, my bad I assumed everyone knew you need much heavier gauge wire with dc currents and to keep the distance from source as close as possible. If we ran on dc like Edison wanted each block would have its own generation facility because of losses over distance. Thx mouse wizard for pointing it out.
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https://www.altestore.com/howto/wire-sizing-tool-for-12-24-and-48-volt-dc-systems-a106/
This is easy place to go if you don’t have set electrical charts. If in doubt go heavier it can’t hurt you other than pocket book, being cheap can cost you everything. DON’T GO TO LOCAL ELECTRICAL PLACE AND EXPECT THEM TO KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT DC.
I for quick calculation on amp it’s the watts drawn divided by the supply voltage. So a 120v (standard house plug) powering a 250 watt bulb is 250/120 is 2.083 amps. This does not include for voltage spikes at start. Rule of thumb is if the breaker for ac says 15 amp max you should put on circuit if it all comes on at once is 10-11 amps the rest is used for the surge draw. Any more and you can cause an electrial fire. Check local code for construction as some places have different regulations on this.
Ac wire guide
https://www.homedepot.com/c/factors_to_consider_when_wiring_your_home_HT_BG_EL
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Namelus,
Thank you! No need to dig anything out, now I know what to look for. A quick search for similar looking items got me to here where I see the terms used:
http://www.oldewash.com/cf/wash_report_maytag_line.cfm?StartRow=1&Brand=Maytag
Now I’ll get my Google-fu going on manual “tumbler drum” and “cylinder washing machine” and see what I can find.Thanks again.
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Interesting. Not seen some of these before. I have 4 buckets with 2 gama lids. I have a breathing moble washer plunger. They are on amazon and also Leman’s. (I love that store). Drill hole in center of the gama lid to fit the plunger through. Then drill 4 holes through the bottom of 2 of the 4 buckets. Place a paper towel or very thin towel on the buckets without the holes. Then place the buckets with the holes into the bottom buckets without the holes. place the plunger through the gama lid and put on top bucket. One set is for rinsing and one for washing. Just plunge up and down til clothes are clean. Works well but have not tried it on queen sheets and such. I am thinking some of leaman’s ideas on this one and looking hard at what they have. But at least for now and for most clothes this really does work good.
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Yeah the Lehams bucket washer is my backup plan. I’ve got a clothesline too. I went ahead and pre did the buckets and put a tub of oxyclean in there too.
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