DIY Washing Machine

Our landlord has recently threatened that if the washing machine breaks, she is going to take as long as legally allowed to install the new one. This has got me thinking about how I would wash my clothes without a washing machine.

There's always the sink method, the slosh in the bathtub method, or the stirring around in a bucket option, but I decided to check out the web to see what other ideas were out there.

I was wondering how people washed their clothes before the invention of the washing machine. It turns out, to my surprise, that washing machines have actually been around for a long time. There were manually cranked washing machines in the 19th century. The idea was to turn a handle and agitate the clothes by jiggling them around in a wood or copper barrel. With some of these models, there was a place for a coal fire underneath the barrel to heat the water. In others, you heated water on a stove and poured it in.

Getting the water out, what our modern spin drying at the end of the cycle accomplishes, was done with a "wringer." The wringer looks like 2 rolling pins stacked on top of each other. You turn a handle and flatten your wet laundry through the 2 rollers to squeeze out the water. Where does the water fall? I can't tell from any of the pictures I've looked at, but I hope it falls back down into the barrel!

When electricity came around, manufacturers started making similar washers that you could plug in. I imagine the main advantage of an electric version was that it heated the water for you. And with motors getting into the equation, you didn't have to turn the barrel by hand.

If you want to see a collection of antique washing machines, you can check out the Lee Maxwell Washing Machine Museum. Mr. Maxwell's got some beauties:



"Wringer Washers" were manufactured until the 1980s. Many sources, such as Lehman's Country Life, make the case that a solidly built wringer washer would be more advantageous to you than the washer you have now. Wringers use less water and are more efficient. The reason why is the way you wash clothes in a wringer. You use the same water for various loads by separating your laundry and starting with the cleanest loads first. You save the super dirty clothes for the last load. The wringer washer is actually faster than the washing machine cycle of today, so you can get all these loads done in one swoop.

Of course, since they haven't been made for a while, it is kind of hard to find a wringer washer. Long term, it would be very cool to purchase one and take it for a spin. But if my landlord pulls the plug, I'll have clothes that need to be washed immediately. There will be a need for a quick, efficient solution.

One idea kept popping up all over the blogs:

Plunger In a Bucket

It's a simple idea - Take a big bucket with a lid and cut a hole in the top. Put a clean plunger in the hole and plunge your clothes around with soap and water. Bam.

I like it! But what about the wringing? There's got to be a way to make your own wringer. As I mentioned, it just looks like 2 rolling pins, so how hard could it be to build? You would need some sort of connecting piece and a crank. I'm not very handy, but I have a feeling a friendly neighbor or acquaintance somewhere would know what to do.

I like the simplicity of Plunger Bucket. You could do it while you watched TV! It sounds a little physical, but so what? You're burning a few calories.

After all the stuff I've learned about washing machines, I would secretly be a little excited now if the washer broke.