# Tell me about using your ringer washer



## TheGoodLife (Jun 28, 2009)

I'm picking one up next weekend (made in the 40s/50s) and wanted to hear how you all have fared using yours ... how many times do you change the water, what soap do you use, what works best and what must be washed solely by hand, etc.


----------



## manygoatsnmore (Feb 12, 2005)

Well, mine needs some grease added and I'm not sure where to put it in, so right now all it does is agitate the clothes - I have to unhook the hose from its holder and tip it down to drain off the water, and I am not using the wringer. I hand wring the clothes enough to get most of the water out, then spin them in the front loader to get the rest out. The front loader isn't hooked up to anything, so I put the drain hose into a bucket and let the water go in there. Something you probably wont need to do with yours.

I have really awful iron water, so even with a filter system I can't wash my whites in the automatic washer. I do have a Berkey (several of them, actually), and use them to filter enough water to wash my whites in the wringer washer. It takes about 10-15 gallons to fill it. You can fill it from a garden hose if your water is good. 

I grate my homemade soap into a small amount of water, heat it in the microwave (should make up a big batch, but haven't made it that far yet - too many projects, too little time), to make sure it is dissolved, then add it to the cold water in the washer. It doesn't take very much soap in the wringer washer. If you are using commercial liquid detergent, about a Tbsp or 2 will probably do it. If using powdered detergent, dissolve it in hot water first, and start with a Tbsp. It's easier to add more soap or detergent than to rinse all the extra out, so start with a little and add more if you feel like you need it.

Add the clothes a bit at a time until you get a feel for how big a load you can wash at a time without tangling them too badly while they agitate - too tangled and they don't wash well. Start with the whites and the cleanest clothes first. Let them agitate for at least 15 minutes and check for cleanliness. I often let them slosh for 30 minutes - or until I remember I'm doing laundry. I get sidetracked pretty easily, lol. 

Run them through the wringer - be careful! Make sure zippers are closed and buttons lined up so they don't get caught in the wringer and tear up your clothes. And keep your fingers out of the way!!!! This is the part where I just wring mine lightly by hand and head for the front loader to spin them out. I add the spun out water back into the wringer washer tub. 

After the whites are done, I do the lights, the brights, and the darks, in that order. I try to save the towels and rags for the last, depending on what color towels I'm washing, as they add a lot of lint to the wash water. My terry cloth rags are last, as they are old and falling apart - they lose a lot of lint with every washing! Then the water is drained (hook a hose to the drain hose fitting) and used to water the flower beds or garden. I use a hose to rinse out the tub, removing the agitator and the screen from the bottom of the wash tub and rinsing them off as well. You'll get a lot of lint in the screen. 
If you have a lot of laundry to do, you can do the whites and lights down through darker clothes until you feel like the water is just too dirty to use any longer, then drain the water, refill the tub and rinse the lighter colors, then add a little more soap and start washing the darker clothes again. Otherwise, just wash everything first and then rinse as shown in my next step.

Refill the wash tub with clean water for the rinse. You may want to add a glug of vinegar to the rinse water - softens the clothes, keeps the static down, and adds a cleaning/rinsing boost. Rinse in the same order you washed. If you haven't overdone the soap, you can probably get as far as the darks before needing to change out the water. If you have plenty of water, you can change it out after each load - remember, I have to filter all my wash water, at least for the whites and lights, so I generally rinse until I see suds forming in the tub during agitation, or until the color is getting darker in the rinse water. That's the dyes from your clothes and they can re-deposit on other clothes, which is why you wash from lightest to darkest. 

I don't agitate nearly as much for the rinse water, just enough to be comfortable that the soap is out of the clothes. Wring them again, and hang them out on the line to dry. Since I have a regular washer and dryer available, I tumble the dry clothes with a damp hand towel on air fluff (no heat) for 15-20 minutes. It makes them a lot softer, less wrinkly, etc. 

I haven't found anything that can be washed in a regular washer that can't be washed in a wringer washer, other than large comforters, etc, that just don't fit. Right now, my wringer washer is sitting outside my back door, and I wash my clothes outside in the sunshine. I'm going to have to figure out something else before the winter rains hit - it won't be nearly so pleasant to stand in the rain to do my laundry.

Check out youtube for videos of washing in a wringer washer. I found one of a couple showing how to wash in one that looks IDENTICAL to my Maytag, right down to the funky aqua blue trim on the white round tub. I love my washer - it IS more work than just throwing them in an automatic washer, but it uses so little water that I can still wash my whites/lights at home with my filtered water. If I didn't have it, I'd have to haul my laundry to town to wash. It also feels, well, more connected when I use the wringer washer...I can't really explain it - I just feel more independent? Homesteady? Old-timey? :shrug:

What kind are you getting? We'll want pics, of course. 

eta: Another tip: keep the lid on the top and the wringer arm over the washer when you are agitating the clothes. Otherwise, the agitator has a tendency to lift up off the base and then the clothes don't swish. Also watch it when you are adding water as the force of the water going in can lift the agitator, as well.


----------



## TheGoodLife (Jun 28, 2009)

Thanks! We JUST bought one yesterday for $50. It sounds like it's just like yours -- white Maytag with aqua trim. I need to clean it up a bit but she works. I hope to do my first load this coming weekend. I will use your post as my guideline.

Thanks again and when I get it up and running I'll have DH take my pic to post.


----------



## manygoatsnmore (Feb 12, 2005)

Oh, one more word of warning - make sure you don't lay it on its side to transport it...that's how the oil leaked out of mine - and put a nasty stain on the carpet in the back of my SUV, too. Enjoy!


----------



## NCLee (Aug 4, 2009)

Hi All, my first post here.

Reading this thread brought back a lot of memories. I grew up using a wringer washer. If you have a hose to fill it, you're lucky.  We had a pitcher pump in the backyard. The washer and the wash tubs were usually filled one bucket at a time. 

Mom had a bench that sat behind her washer. As mentioned earlier by manygoatsnmore, after filling the washer, the white (to be bleached) linens and clothes would be washed first. Then they were put through the ringer and would go into the rinse washtub that sat on the bench. The next load of light clothing would be started in the washer. 

The wringer would be turned around so it was over the rinse tub. After swishing around in the rinse water, the first load of clothes were put through the wringer into a second washtub (sitting beside the first one on the bench). This tub contained bleach in the water. 

When the next load was finished in the washer, the wringer would be put back into place over the washer. Items would go through that into the rinse tub. Swing the ringer over the rinse tub again. This time, instead of the clothes going into the bleach tub, they would be caught by the washer lid that was set over the bleach tub. 

The 3rd, darker load went into the washer. The second load was hung on the line. The 1st still soaking in the bleach water. 

Tip: Turn clothing inside out before washing. When hung on the line, this will help colors from fading.

When the 1st load had been in the bleach rinse long enough it would be run through the ringer onto the washer lid, this time on top of the rinse tub directly behind the washer. 

This system was almost like an assembly line. Usually by the time a load was hung on the line, the next one was ready to go from the washer to the rinse. 

When using a wringer, do be sure to keep your fingers clear of the rollers. Don't know if all wringers have them, but Mom's had an emergency release of the tension on the rollers. Never caught my fingers in the rollers but did have to release from time to time if too much of something like a sheet was being put through. Release the tension, straighten out the item, set tension again, and continue.

While not as easy, this approach is actually faster than doing laundry with a washer and dryer. On a warm windy day, the first clothes would often be ready to take in by the time the last one was being hung. Having to wait for either the washer or dryer to finish before continuing slows down the process if many loads have to be done. Usually there was no wait time with the wringer washer.

Thanks for letting share a memory and my experience with a wringer washer with you. Hope, too, you'll find an idea or two that will be useful.

Lee


----------



## Merit (Jul 15, 2009)

I lived in Mexico a little while. These types of washers live on happily down there. Many, many people use them. (and slightly more 'modernized' versions of the same. Slightly)

Anyway, Be Prepared for BLISTERS when you hand-wring the clothes!!! For towels, step on on end, and twist them into a very tight 'rope' to get the most water out of them. I very much appreciate modern washing machines, have to say!


----------



## meleahbee (Nov 21, 2007)

This might be a bit of a dumb question, but are you all talking about wringer washers that require electricity (such as a Speed Queen, I believe)?
Or wringer washers that are basically a tub where YOU do the agitating? (such as this one http://www.lehmans.com/store/Home_Goods___Laundry___Washing___Lehman_s__Hand_Washer___32823315?Args=)

I am considering getting one like the one in the link, which requires no electricity. Anyone have any experience with anything like that?


----------



## manygoatsnmore (Feb 12, 2005)

My wringer washer is a Maytag and it does require electricity. If I had to lose electric, I would have my ds rig me up a gas engine to run it.

As far as any of the washers where you have to be the agitator, I think a clean plunger in a 5 gallon bucket works just as well. Add a washboard for tackling the tough stains, and you can do a pretty darn good job for next to no money. Get a mop bucket with a wringer on it, the type you squeeze together, not the type where you have to put the clothes into a cone shaped metal thing and push down. You can wring out most items in that mop wringer, and it saves the water for washing the next batch. And it doesn't cost you $500 or more to do it.


----------



## PyroDon (Jul 30, 2006)

one piece of advice wear a sports bra.
My granny found out first hand where the phrase T-- in a ringer came from  she also got her fingers a few times one many decades


----------

