Non-Electric, Portable Washing Machine

[suziedemocrat]

Have you guys seen this?

http://www.laundry-alternative.com/Washing-Product.htm

Wonderwash
Washes loads clean in only 1-2 minutes - Requires no electricity - Only $42.95
Many people use to wash diapers




Why Use the Wonder Wash?

* Washes a 5-lb. load super clean in just a couple of minutes.
* Has a patented pressure system that forces detergent into the fabric at high speed for a fast, efficient, economic and very easy wash
* Is ideal for campers, single persons and even for the housewife with small frequent loads like hand washables and diapers.
* Is ideal for delicates such as woolens, silks, knitted dresses and cashmere garments.
* Uses far less water than even hand washing.
* Portable

The Wonder Wash washes:
7-8 dress shirts or
10 T-shirts or
30 pairs of socks or
2-3 pairs of blue jeans

How Does it Work?

When you put warm or hot water into the drum, fit the lid in place and seal the machine,the air inside the drum will absorb the heat of the water and expand (i.e., just like a hot air balloon). When the air expands it creates pressure inside the drum. The pressure forces the detergent (which is diluted into the water) into & through the fabric (which is porous) about 100 times faster than you could by hand or machine.

[yurbud]

1. I thought it was going to be a five gallon bucket and a stick

[papau]

2. So soaking dirty clothes in Denver equals washing them in Miami? interesting n/t

n/t

[Warpy]

3. Back in the hippie dippy back to nature days

there was a similar arrangement with a plastic trash can with a locking lid mounted on a steel bar. Clothes were agitated inside by just turning it over and over, no crank needed. It did a fair job of washing (better than on a rock in a muddy creek), but it suffered from what this one does, no way to spin the clothes semi dry. Wringing had to be done by hand, and still the clothes were heavy as hell when they were put out to dry.

[suziedemocrat]

4. You're right - I didn't think of that.

Also .... I found this site where people are complaining about how long it takes for them to get their purchases from the company selling these things that I linked to. Bummer.

http://typewriting.org/comment/


But...at Treehugger they say they have this spin-dryer and people seem to like it. But again, a lot of people have problems with the company selling it.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/11/portable_spin_d.php

[DKRC]

9. Thanks for posting the TreeHugger site!

I was so excited to see this alternative to sloggin to the laundramat I was ready to place an order, but I'll keep looking.

:thumbsup:

[BrightKnight]

8. counter top spin dryer:

http://www.laundry-alternative.com/drying.htm

I can't always get down to the laundry room. Something like this would be very convenient as well as environmentally friendly.

[Richard D]

5. Wonder how easy . . .

. . . it is to get the detergent out of the clothes with no mechanized spin cycle.

[Gregorian]

6. That's pretty cool.

I've been without a washer for the last year. It has been easy. I use the kitchen sink. You'll never believe what the hardest part is. It's people making fun of me. People insisting I get a washer and dryer. Silly Americans.

I like this thing. Although I think you can be even simpler, and just let clothes soak, and then wash them. Still, I'm impressed. It's a step in the right direction. That assumes you haven't designed your life to have no time. A regular washing machine is pretty much hands off.


You know, there's more to this than people realize. A typical washer is like the typical 1950's automobile. Belts, gears, a steel body. A huge carbon footprint, by the time the parts are formed and coated and chromed, and the motor and gears are created. It's our entire society that is built around this old old outdated foundation that we have unlimited resources.

[hermetic]

11. I'm with you Greg

I've been using the 5 gal. bucket and stick method for the past year. In my circumstances, it works just fine. But I like that little guy.

Here is a "laundry" site I've had bookmarked for a long time, figuring on trying out these ideas. A salad spinner, of all things. :think: http://homelessdave.com/hdwashingman.htm

Hang in there.



:toast:

[Heywood J]

14. Except that a steel washer built like a 1950's automobile

lasts for twenty years or more. It's far more economical and environmentally friendly to have one of those and repair it when necessary than to buy some cheap piece of shit and throw it out every four years when it implodes, then it occupies space in a landfill. Plus, that steel tank of a washer can be metal-recycled when it finally gives up the ghost.

[Robbien]

7. I have one

It works really well. Even very dirty clothes come out clean in just a couple of minutes. Saves on water, saves on soap.

The only real problem is the inconvenience of emptying and reloading the machine if you don't have the free counter space close to a sink, which I don't. But other than that, I use my wonderwash a lot. Just love it.

[cutlassmama]

15. Do you have to wring your clothes dry or does it have a spin

cycle?

Also, if you need hot water to run this thing then you are using electricity or gas to heat the water, no?

[BigBearJohn]

10. Thanks! This looks great!

[madokie]

12. have I got a story

I was born in march of '48 and the neighborhood where I was born, yes born at home, we didn't even get electric lines there until I was 5 years old so my mom had an ole maytag gasoline powered washing machine and a well that we had a hand pump on for pumping the water. It was several years between when she used the gasoline powered machine before my dad finally found an old electric motor that he replaced the gasoline engine with then mom used that washing machine for several years longer. I remember my brother who was the next oldest to me got his arm caught in the wringer and it made it almost to his shoulder before the machine was shut down and his arm was extracted, which required a semi teardown of the mechanism. those were the days, an outhouse, a real ICE box which was made of wood btw and required putting block ice in ever day or so in the summer, yes a man came by twice a week with ice and during the hottest part of the summer he would come by more ofter, which was put out on the porch in the winter where it was already cold enough to not need to add much ice, gas powered washing machine, kerosene lamps to read by, and a model A ford to make it to town the couple times a month they would go. It was really something because a candy bar cost a nickel, or 3 for a dime with 5 going for 15 cents and a coke was a nickel.

sorry 'bout that but I get carried away sometimes and I wouldn't trade my early childhood with anyone, so many good memories so many happy times. I still remember back to when I was only a few weeks old too. like learning how to talk, cutting my teeth the whole shebang. my favorite toy was a cardboard box btw, so much a kid can do with a cardboard box.

[kestrel91316]

13. My dad was born in NV in 1932 and his early years sounded a lot

like yours, but they didn't even have any electricity on the ranch. When I was a teenager (early-mid 70s) Grandma finally got electricity and running water in the house! Until then it was outhouse, coleman lanterns and propane stove/fridge, and the red-handled pump out back where we would go fetch her water. And that was THE BEST water!

Mom always hated visiting Grandma's place - she was a town girl and thought that rural stuff was beneath her dignity, lol.

Re this thread - I seem to recall Grandma had a gas-powered wringer washer, and of course a clothesline.