# manual clothes washers



## UUmom2many (Apr 21, 2009)

I just stumbled upon this manual washing machine

http://www.laundry-alternative.com/products/Wonderwash.html

It looks very intriguing and possibly a great alternative to my washer/dryer. I just purchased a clothes line kit off ebay for $12 and plan to hang dry as much as i can. It's stifling in the summer and even my HE dryer produces noticable heat. at $52 with shipping I didn't think this was too bad but I was curious if anyone else has one or does manual clothes washing. 

Any advice would be great!


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## Woodpecker (Mar 8, 2007)

UUmom2many said:


> I just stumbled upon this manual washing machine
> 
> http://www.laundry-alternative.com/products/Wonderwash.html
> 
> ...


I have one without the drain. It does work good. The only problem for me is draning the water to change it. Also wringing is a pain. There was a thread in country families recently about hand washing.


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## Graceless (Apr 28, 2003)

WE had one a few years or more back and I liked it pretty well for thinner fabrics but it didn't really do to well for tightly woven heavy materials. I used it mainly for diapers at the time . I found that flat folds and covers washed way better than the thicker prefolds. But for extended and heavily soiled things I might at least wash them once a week in the main washer. 
Also you realise you must heat wash water for this on the stove or microwave so its not all heat saving...


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## UUmom2many (Apr 21, 2009)

it says that I can wash cold which is what I do in the reg. washer but it'll take a few more minutes to get clean. 

How long do you really have to do the cranking on these things?


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## Ninn (Oct 28, 2006)

If I had to give up my regular washer and dryer, I'd be out hunting for an old kitchen washer. The one with the separate spin basket. (a hoover?) Those things use very little water, agitate well, have short cycles, get stuff super clean and drain well. Spinning makes them almost dry, so line time is pretty short as well. Come to think of it, I may get one anyway...lol. Much easier in the summertime than big washer and dryer loads when there are only 3 people here.


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## Woodpecker (Mar 8, 2007)

Ninn said:


> If I had to give up my regular washer and dryer, I'd be out hunting for an old kitchen washer. The one with the separate spin basket. (a hoover?) Those things use very little water, agitate well, have short cycles, get stuff super clean and drain well. Spinning makes them almost dry, so line time is pretty short as well. Come to think of it, I may get one anyway...lol. Much easier in the summertime than big washer and dryer loads when there are only 3 people here.


Could you find a pic of one please? I can't seem to picture it.


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## RVcook (Mar 29, 2008)

When we were traveling, I loved mine. I actually owned two! Yes...you DO have to heat the water, but our clothes were always really clean. The secret of using this washer effectively is doing laundry everyday so you don't get behind. And wringing clothes by hand gets old really fast so you'll need a wringer...especially for heavier clothes like jeans. Wringing those was the worst!

DH scavenged a wringer from an old washer for $35 and retrofitted it with clamps and a handle. So we agitated the clothes in the washer for 7 minutes (used a timer), then removed them from the washer and ran them through the wringer. We rigged up a 'chute' so that the clothes went right from the wringer into a rinse tub. When all the clothes had been loaded into the rinse tub, we ran them through the wringer again, this time replacing the rinse tub with a laundry basket and then hung everything up. Worked great.

RVcook


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