Washing machine broken, might want to try something non-electric

PrepPrepPrep - September 22, 2021

GearScenariosSkills

What would you use to wring out clothes, that *does not hurt your hands*? The washing machine just broke. Maybe I can get it fixed, maybe not, but it occurs to me to have something for backup. My hands can’t really do the wringing on their own at all any more, although I have done it in the past. I see some hand wringers (mangles) online, and would like to avoid something that is going to break.

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Good morning PrepPrepPrep,

I’ve used long handle offset plyers to squeeze water from thick wool socks. This occured in field after storm with flash floods.

Other stuff still the drip dry method adding a couple of extra days needed.

Here, too, am familiar with hand problems – from the current arthritus aggrivating the much earlier hand injuries.

……

Consider 2 small ( ~ 2 ft ) 2 x 4 pieces of wood to place clothes in between and place pressure on top 2 x 4. It’s far from perfect but a little extra water goes away.

(The 2 wood pieces already in truck.)

 

Good morning Bob. Do you drive the truck over your wet stuff between those two pieces of wood? 🙂

 

Good morning Jenny,

No, don’t use truck. Ground here is filthy.

I have stepped on the wood for some pressure, if in an environment of no dirt.

Took the 3 day Virginia course: SART – State Animal Rescue Team.  Was taught not to even put a non-disinfected shovel in truck cargo bed. Understand now te concept being taught re germ theory of disease.

 

Just joshin’ ya Bob. You do make a valid point re germ theory. Animals are no different. 

 

Good morning Jenny,

Well received.

Took this animal rescue course since it’s basic and cost was zero in nice and safe area of a 5 star neighborhood

While practicing typing, this thread has me thinking of going non-electric re washing machines – older methods used labor for machinery.

Close by had mentioned I went to store to get an adhesive for an event in a week “up north”.

Parking next to me was a pre – real ! – Ford 150 series pickup truck. Once had one of these years ago before going overseas with oil industry. My current Ford F-150 is no pleasure to drive.  Can’t see the electronics in front of me and hate window arrangements – need to take off glove to operate electric switch.

This leads me to talk about washing machines. We’ve got an excellent one that is old and soon enough will go out of service. Rather than replace it with the new, even more improved machines with electronics to push and set, … a big headache for us Vintage Virginians – Senior Citizens, am working on  reviewing the old methods used in the “old country”. I vaguely remember scrub boards and manual wringers.

I can adjust my clothes to do this.  I know Madam cannot.

Eventually this new stuff will be refined and work.  Was told it’s not just me not being able to see instruments.  The safety feature on the new F-150 truck to activate the 4 lights (triangle picture on dash) requires moving hand from steering wheel. Yet, sterio stuff – never use – is next to steering wheel next to cruise control.

Meanwhile, must start the history research ………

 

I just found this video. This is right in my price range. Three 5-gallon buckets, two lids, and a plunger. It seems like it would work. 

 

Reporting in on the twp 5 gallon bucket idea. It does not work for small loads because the inner bucket will not go all the way down, leaving a couple of inches that can’t be squished. I tried a small load of washcloths and hand towels. It simply did not wring them at all.

 

When we had our remote desert property and stayed there a couple weeks at a time, laundry day was a team effort.  We had a big plastic tub and a “plumber’s helper”.  We agitated the clothes with the toilet plunger.  Rinsing was never all that effective but we were careful about the detergent we used.  The “breakthrough” came when I found a beautiful old hand wringer on eBay.  You can get new ones – they’re surprisingly expensive.  Clothes were hung on a line to dry.    I tried a scrub board.  Remember my mother using one in my remote youth, rubbing a bar of soap across the corrugations.  Don’t think that was very hand friendly.

 

I’ve only had experience with attaching an old bike to a washing machine, like in this video https://youtu.be/1hDpUtlnEDA

It works great and I loved that I would get a little workout while reading a book AND washing my clothes. The downsides I can think of are:

a) You need to be able to pedal (although you don’t need much force)

b) You need enough space for both the bike and the washing machine.

 

Hi PPP, “our” first washer was a wringer, my valiant wife used it a couple of years.

A good question!

I looked real quick and found a “vintage” [read: “not functional”] 1936 Maytag on ebay for $650!!! Got to be some folks out there with waaay too much money. It is really hard to prep for an energy descent when all the old manual equipment is hanging on someone’s man cave (maybe she shed in this case).

Even a stand alone wringer is $250 new (search for chamois wringer)

But what about a commercial mop bucket wringer?

Like this: wringer

 

Good evening Pops,

This is great innovative prepper thinking !

A mop wringer is now on my list for winter projects to order.

The price is ideal.

Field washing problem and financing solved.

 

I really like this idea of using a mop wringer! The included bucket can be used for your washing, and then wring it out and the extra suds will drop back down to be used again.

 

I have the Scrubba portable hand washing bag for quick washes while in my conversion bus/camper. I also use it for my dog’s reusable diapers from an incontinence issue. Due to hormones her pee is extra stinky and even that smell gets out with the Scrubba!

It takes about 5 mins to wash and rinse but you can only wash about 1 outfit at a time. The bag doesn’t wring out the water but after seeing Pops idea on using a mop wringer I think that would be a good combo.

 

Wrap socks, other small items around a rolling pin and roll with as much pressure as your hands will allow. Fold thin shirts in half, with the sleeves folded inward as well, and roll. Pants, overalls and coveralls will need a large chunk of round wood or a smooth sided 5 gallon bucket (log works better due to weight, preferably something without much bark. That can get messy.) This roll and squeeze out the water method won’t work as well as a mangle or a washing machine, but it is faster than drip drying. Any flat surface you have handy, like a counter top or a table/picnic table, will be fine as long as it is water proof (or made for outdoors.)

 

That’s an idea I hadn’t thought of before.

 

I learned the hard way many years ago to get creative with the laundry chore. I’ve used a toilet plunger as well as fill up a tub of water and stomp the clothes when no plunger was available. The rolling pin/lump of round wood I have used myself, out of desperation . The rolling pin/log method does work in a pinch and the items do dry faster than drip drying. Rolling pin can be put back to use in the kitchen and the wood can be thrown into the fire when needed, so the “tools” are mutli-purpose 🙂

 

I have put the clothes in the bathtub and put a plastic trash bag over them, then walked from back to front and watched a lot of water go down the drain. It’s not perfect but is another method I came up with. I might try a rolling pin-bathtub combo.

 

I took the suggestion of buying an industrial sized salad spinner.  I got a large one new that cost slightly over $100 and needs to be braced but it does the job

 

Do you feel like spinning your clothes in that salad spinner would do just as good of a job as using something like a mop bucket wringer like Pop’s mentioned above?

 

The mop wringer would work to a point. Sheets, maybe, if folded first. I’ve used industrial sized mop buckets and wringers at work, so I’m trying to visualize how to best use these squeeze-type tools versus a roller type washer wringer. Items would have to be folded into squares (blue jeans,etc), shirts could probably be folded into thirds, several at a time, before placing them in the wringer. Socks, undies could probably just be chucked in there in a mass with no issue. No matter how one gets the water out of clothing, be prepared for wrinkles!

 

I have a solution for wrinkles that I have used a few times over the years when our iron gave up the ghost and I needed a shirt ironed for work; I moved the ironing board in front of the stove and heated the iron up and then ironed my shirt. I have also done it on a wood/coal stove. Lehmans sells old-fashioned heavy ‘irons’ to do the same thing but my broken iron does just as well. YMMV.

 

My mother collect vintage clothes irons. My favorite ones she has are like the one below where you would place hot coals inside of a chamber.

 

Good morning Robert,

Real good history example ref the pictured iron.

Now, all that’s missing are the imported maidens from the Irish laundries who arrived in the colonies based on their own decisions.

I’m a(n) historian and am starting off the day at A+ level.

Merci.

 

New member here, and I found this thread looking for a forum to sell some non-electric things we bought for Y2k. Two of those things are a James Washer (similar but less $$ than Lehman’s similar washer) and a Lake City Industries hand wringer (as well as some Aladdin oil lamps and a volcano stove.) All new in box in PA. Hope this is not out of line, I don’t see a For Sale area.

 

Welcome to the forum and I appreciate you being polite with your request.

Unfortunately we do not allow for the buying and selling of things here.

I wish you the best of luck and do admire the products you have, they fit right in with this topic.

 

My apologies, I should have inquired first. I will keep looking for the right place to post these items. Also I look forward to learning from you all. 

 

Good morning Livnirn,

Welcome to the TP.com forum.

If you’re a non-electric / off-grid thinker, “This is the place”.

Again: Welcome.

 

This is a very interesting post to read through, I thought about each suggestion. I could do most the suggestions if I was in the situation to “get it done” but wow all the time I would end up wearing my clothes till they fell apart!  

 

when I lived alone I couldnt afford to buy a washing machine, I washed my clothes in the kitchen sink and sheets were washed in the bath, wrung out-as much as possible- and then hung on an outside clothes line to dry.

 

I washed my clothes by hand for about ten months because I was too poor, and have been washing dishes by hand for over two years because our kitchen is too small for a dish washer. 

It isn’t hard to do either, but just is so time consuming. Something we will quickly realize if our appliances and cars stopped working from something like an EMP would be just how long everything takes. Washing, cooking over a fire, walking to the store/trade area instead of driving, and things like that. We are very blessed today to have many luxuries and conveniences that give us free time, but there will be little after a disaster.

 

Robert Larson, the last time I lived somewhere that had a dishwasher, it was… 1976! It just has turned out that dishwashers did not come with the places I have lived in. I never think about them at all unless someone mentions them. I have never had the urge to install one, especially since I keep forgetting they exist. Back to washing the sheets by hand, I am waiting for some perfect weather, because even if I use the dryer, I hang them out on the line first so a lot of the excess water will run off. I can finish them up in the dryer if I want, since the dryer seems to be holding its own.

 

You must have some tips and tricks for me about washing dishes by hand over all those years. I had to teach my wife some of the finer points to become more efficient and make sure we don’t get food poisoning. She’s doing much better now.

 

No real tips. Use your hottest water for rinsing. No one we have washed for has ever gotten food poisoning (us, guests for dinner, etc.) Just get all the stuff off, use dish soap of some sort, and rinse! Since I said 1976, that’s 44 years of washing dishes by hand, not all at the same place, no problem!

 

How do you line dry clothes during the winter months? Does it just take longer and require a place inside your house to do it?

 

You can still buy folding clothes drying racks for drying indoors.  We actually just bought one.

 

Thank you, I looked up some folding clothes drying racks and see what you are talking about. There are many options to look through.

 

Reporting in about…. impeller washing machines. A one-word summary for those who do not have time to read: AAAAAGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! My family wanted to put their heads together to select a washing machine, so I left them to it. I had NO idea they were looking at impeller machines. They even bought it, which was a surprise, and which I thought was so sweet- until we started using it. Note to self… do not slack off and farm out my research!

Among my complaints are: It does not fill even remotely adequately. It does a little shuffling of the clothes during the wash cycle, not very vigorous. I don’t see how it could get badly soiled clothes even remotely clean. It causes the electricity to flicker for every back and forth motion of the wash cycle, unlike any machine we have had prior to this. It takes 40 minutes for the rinse water to fill, again barely adequately. It does not do what passes for agitation during the rinse cycle, but once the less-than-generous amount of rinse water has dribbled in, it goes immediately to spin. It spins, and goes through the motions of draining each time, at least four times. I finally forced a shut-off after the fourth drain-and-spin cycle. I would have never selected an impeller machine, because I wash things like small rugs that have been trampled by dogs, and I can tell by a cursory glance at reviews that it would not be appropriate.  It wouldn’t take any longer. I started washing laundry at 7:15 and got done (with one load) at almost 10 pm. I forgot to mention that if one hits the stop button, the machine goes back to the beginning of the wash cycle, although you may be able to force it to go to a “rinse and spin” choice or a “drain and spin” choice, which I did near the end of the ordeal. The clothing needed more washing anyway, since the first wash cycle had barely any water, so I let it go back to the beginning. If I leave it to its own devices (which I was still figuring out since it was so slow at everything, and so thrifty with the allotment of water), it would take at least 1.5 hours per load, including the 40 minute filling of the rinse cycle. Not how I planned to spend the evening! I videoed it all, which I won’t post anywhere, just was documenting in case we have any trouble returning it. I don’t know if all of the above is normal for impeller machines, but I do know from my reading today that they do not give you much water, and also that they lower the “hot” to about 90 degrees, even if your heater is set to 120.

 

Thank you for reporting back!! I was very curious about your results. Sounds like an old school washboard might be the best way to go for emergency laundry, then.