Off Grid Clothes washing | General Homesteading Discussion

Off Grid Clothes washing

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farmman15691

Green Horn

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11 Feb ’14

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11 Feb ’14 - 3:51 pm

Just wondering what others are doing and what options are out there, is having a washer and dryer feasible for off grid?

PorkChopsMmm

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12 Feb ’14 - 2:15 pm

Yes. Some appliances that use gas, like dryers or especially ovens, use glow bars to help ignite or keep the flame lit. If you search for offgrid propane stoves you will see people have to hunt down specific models without glowbars. I went with a pilot based stove so that it wouldn't use any electricity. It can be the same with gas dryers -- they can use a small igniter or a glow bar. Manufacturers don't advertise it so how would you know?

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11 Feb ’14 - 4:31 pm

Interested in this as well, not sure what pork, spotted and danger use,

Horse-Fork-Farm

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11 Feb ’14 - 10:30 pm

Theres been times in my life where I've had to do laundry the old way. Most recently was after the big derrecho storm that knocked out power for a month during a heat wave. I had a plunger type hand washer I used all that month. Being able to clean up and have clean clothes to put on was sooo important mentally! I discovered that using store bought detergent made more work for me trying to rinse all the suds out. So I went back to using my homemade soap which cleans but doesn't lather. Let me see if I can find a link for the hand washer.

https://www.lehmans.com/p-2643-rapid-laundry-washer.aspx

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12 Feb ’14 - 8:29 am

I have seen something like that but using a plunger and a 5 gallon bucket

PorkChopsMmm

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12 Feb ’14 - 10:20 am

Since we have a large solar setup we just use a normal electric washing machine. It doesn't use much electricity and if you only set it on cold it really doesn't need warm water either. The dryer, which is propane, also has an electric heating element which does use some power. In the warmer months we use a clothesline and in the colder months we use the propane dryer.

simthefarmer

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12 Feb ’14 - 11:09 am

Quote:

Quote from PorkChopsMmm on February 12, 2014, 10:20

propane dryer with electric heating element?? you sure?

viggie

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15 Feb ’14 - 7:18 pm

A plunger washer is my favorite. I tried one of them wonder washer spinning tubs from Lehmans, but it broke in just over a year. I have a washboard for really dirty stuff, but it's too rough on the fabric to want to use it for regular laundry.