Appropriate Technology

[Aggie]

Here's a great example of appropriate technology...  using a little ingenuity rather than a lot of money to solve problems as simply and cheaply as possible:

Pedal-Powered GiraDora Washer Needs No Electricity and Costs Only $40

http://inhabitat.com/human-powered-giradora-washer-needs-no-electricity-and-costs-only-40/

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

If they can make them durable enough and cheap enough I'm sure their penetration would be enormous. Ironically I can see a significant market for a product like that with more affluent customers wanting to wash clothes while camping, off the grid or simply to lower their electrical bill.

Brilliant!

[Aggie]

The comments in the article suggest a huge demand for exactly those reasons, as well as for less affluent folks in the developed world. If you have more time than money, it's very attractive.

I'd be interested in seeing the specs and design, but it suggests to me that my idea of driving a washer with a stationary bike should be quite possible. Going back to buckets and washboards is not an attractive option for off-the-grid living.

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

The comments in the article suggest a huge demand for exactly those reasons, as well as for less affluent folks in the developed world. If you have more time than money, it's very attractive.

I'd be interested in seeing the specs and design, but it suggests to me that my idea of driving a washer with a stationary bike should be quite possible. Going back to buckets and washboards is not an attractive option for off-the-grid living.

A good place to begin, if you're serious, is a busted washing machine with a bad motor-- usually the transmission is still okay in these cases.   I know the motor on most of the upright machines is at the bottom, pointing up.  Taking power from the horizontal axle of a bicycle to the upright, down-low position where the motor would've been is not exactly simple.

On the other hand?  What, exactly, does a washing machine do?

1) it has a tub to hold the clothes, that also holds water
2) it has a provision for water to be added, and sometimes, soap too
3) it agitates the clothes/water mixture
4) it spins at high speed, the clothes to remove the water

These things can be duplicated at a low-tech level, easily enough.  Adding the water is simple-- pour hot water from a pot, or cold water from a hose, pot or pitcher.   Soap, same thing.

A horizontal barrel, with a closable door at one end, with bolsters inside to help agitate the clothes could be made out of a simple plastic chemical barrel (one with a lid).  Place it sideways on rollers or roller bearings.  Skate wheels?  Something like that.

A belt around the whole, going down to a small pulley that then goes to the cycle's drive axle should be simple enough too.  Or, if you wish to keep the cycle in working order?  A friction roller-- next to a balance roller.  A stand that grips the front of the frame, letting the back wheel rest on the friction roller & the balance roller.  Pedaling the cycle will spin the friction roller, which in turn, spins the drum.  Spin slowly for agitation.

Now, how to work the "spin" cycle?  That's a bit more tricky, but a set of 3 valves with spring loading in them could work.  Position the valves equidistant around the drum, at the "lowest" point (with respect to the drum's spinning).

At low, agitation speeds, the valves remain closed from spring pressure.  As the drum's speed increases up to spin-cycle?  The valves open, letting the water fly out.  A circular gutter around the whole contraption, in line with the valves, could catch most of the water, and channel it to the ground (or to a tub, for re-use in the garden).

Hmm.... that's kinda unwieldy-- water flying everywhere.

How about this:  you have a drum-within-a-drum.  Only the inner one spins, the outer being stationary.  The inner one is perforated all over, and the outer one has the water-tight door (more or less).  A shaft through the other end would support the inner drum, and perhaps 3 rollers inside the outer one too (at the door end).   The shaft is what spins the inner drum, slow for agitation, fast for spinning-- it sticks out through the outer drum, and has a pulley on it, to go to the bicycle's drive.

A simple mechanical drain valve at the bottom of the outer drum is opened to let the water out.  A funnel/cap at the top, to pour water in (and soap).   Again, everything sideways.  Very little water would be needed for such a setup.

Using the bicycle's gears to control the speed-- low gears for low (agitation) speed, high gear for spin cycle-- you'd likely have to work up to the effective speed here.

In fact, the inner "drum" could be made of a close-mesh wire frame of some sort, like a squirrel-cage (or gerbil) only writ large.

If having the end open is too mechanically difficult?   A large, openable hatch in the fixed drum, with a similar one for the inner one.  This way, both ends if the inner drum could be solid material.  You'd turn the inner one by hand, to line up the two hatches.  Keep the hatch on the top-half of the outer drum, and it doesn't need to be all that water tight.  Obviously, the inner hatch would need a solid latch or three, to keep it closed during spinning.  And you'd eliminate the filler-funnel/cap too-- simply open the hatch, pour hot/cold water & soap as needed.   

If the drain was lead to another barrel, the hot-soap water could be re-used several times, if water is scarce.  And re-heated as needed.

The more that I think about it?  This whole thing could be made of wood-- some sort of reasonably water-resistant wood, such as red ceder.  The outer drum would need to be fitted tight (at least at the bottom) or else sealed with tar or pitch.  The inner one, obviously, could be made "loose" to let the water out (and in).   A couple of the slats turned "edge on" to make paddles to help with agitation.   Simple disks for the ends-- made of built-up slats, like old-time solid cart wheels?   Why not?

Even the shaft could be wooden too-- no reason why it couldn't go all the why through from one end to the other.

Heck, you could turn this thing by hand, if you had a crank....  I don't know if you could get it fast enough to spin-dry though, but that may not be an issue-- a little spinning would do wonders, then hang-to-dry....

Hmmm.... feel free to borrow elements of this idea, it's just some brainstorming of mine, no big dealio.

[Aggie]

I'm thinking that an apartment-size HE frontloader would be simpler to convert than the old upright, if you wanted to use an actual machine.  They're also smaller.  Presumably the horizontal positioning would be more convenient for hooking to bike power.

As far as belts go? Why not go chain-drive? You'd need to hook a sprocket onto the drive shaft of the washer, but with a multi-speed bike there are a ton of chainrings to choose from, so you could gear it up or down and even (provided you hooked to either the biggest or smallest gear) keep the ability to shift. Quick-connect chain links are common and inexpensive, so you could break the drive chain as needed.  It's not out of the question with a long enough chain to build a 90-degree twist into it, for that matter... this done for pedal-powered boats.

I do like the idea of a belt-to-hub setup, though, and it'd likely be simpler. You wouldn't need to permanently disable the bike, provided you have a spare hub and rear cassette with a quick-release skewer.  It would take seconds to pop out the old wheel and throw in the drive hub.  Less grease on your hands than with a chain, and no need to break it.


I think the most head-scratching part of using a converted washer would be figuring out how to run the valves without electricity, to drain the water and such.  A manual replacement shouldn't be hard to concoct, or maybe the electronics could remain connected. Without the motor, it wouldn't use much juice.

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

You could keep the electric valves, but why?  No reason for them, as you're providing the agitation-power anyhow.  You'll control how long it needs to agitate, and can easily manually let-in the water to an acceptable level.

Besides, manual valves are cheap enough as these things go-- a simple quarter-turn ball valve for hot/cold inlet (if you're thinking of using it where city water is available).

Once you open it up, you'll see the double-electric inlet valves--- easy to bypass, to replace with quarter-turn ball valves.

Same for the dump valve-- if the tub is at a convenient working height, it'll be up a ways from the floor, and gravity would work well enough--no need for a water pump.   If you don't want to reuse the drain water, dump into a bucket, or directly (via a hose) to a floor drain.

However, if pumped is a must?  The bike will serve quite well.  I'd use some sort of bucket-brigade or Archimedes screw pump, to bring it high enough to fit your drain height.   Either of these is very low tech, and low power too.   Of course, you could use a positive-displacement piston pump, geared down, which could lift the waste water many feet if needed.   But if you haven't a floor drain?  How about the bathtub/shower's drain?  It'll be at floor height...

[Sibling DavidH]

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_9srw45DjOe4/S4Xkx9lMA-I/AAAAAAAAD4U/_pkhmAZUeqQ/s320/old%2Bwashing%2Bmachines.jpg

Edit: to show the link of the pic in case it doesn't show.

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

Classic early-century washing machines.  Love it.

[Swatopluk]

They lasted long enough that some got electrified and had filmed ads about them

[Roland Deschain]

Simpler than converting an old washing machine would be to either purchase one of the above, or to buy a new washing machine with a high efficiency rating. If you're living off the grid, then the first option would be better, but if you're living off the grid without the $40 needed to purchase the above pedal-powered device, then you'd need to go the route of converting scrap machines, with all the work that entails.

[Opsa]

What is the load capacity?

[Aggie]

They are not commercially available at the moment.

[Opsa]

Too bad! I love the idea of getting exercise while also getting the wash done. It appeals to my multi-tasking sensibilities.

[Sibling DavidH]

How about this manual model, then?



I saw it at a vintage tractor rally, where the same collector also had these:

[Griffin NoName]

Believe it or not, I got married so long ago that for the first year I handwashed everything in the sink, put them through a mangle and hung them on a pulley rope that went from out first floor flat along to the end of the garden.

Given I worked full time, and had to do all my husbands shirts (7 per week naturally)*, all the bedlinen, plus everything else this way, life was pretty difficult.

And there was nothing unusual about that.



*although this was the preiod of burning bras, housecare was still usually split on the usual old gender roles

actually my ex did the cooking