washing machines that don't use electric

Debt_Free_Dreamer

When I moved into my first flat and could not afford a washing machine or afford to pay for the laundry costs, I used to throw all the washing in the bath and have a good stamp around on it in my bare feet. Hard work, but did the trick!.

savemoney

I just get the peasants to do my hand washing save me money and time

Ben84

I believe most the energy consumed by a washing machine is used to heat the water, not by the motor or programmer. I presume these other washing devices would still need heated water? If they do, then you might not make any noticeable energy savings with them. You may even consume more energy.

I suspect that modern automatic machines are the most energy efficient way to wash clothes while still getting good results. Washing clothes consumes energy, both in the form of heat, and kinetic energy to agitate the water and clothes. It also seems you can reduce the heat if you increase the kinetic energy, and vice versa.

I think the automatic washing machine will wash better at lower washing temperatures than humans can because it can input far more kinetic energy, and because of that it should use less energy to clean the same quantity of clothing.

geordie_joe

Ben84 wrote: »

I believe most the energy consumed by a washing machine is used to heat the water, not by the motor or programmer. I presume these other washing devices would still need heated water? If they do, then you might not make any noticeable energy savings with them. You may even consume more energy.

Depending on what you use to heat the water you could be right there.

Ben84 wrote: »

I suspect that modern automatic machines are the most energy efficient way to wash clothes while still getting good results. Washing clothes consumes energy, both in the form of heat, and kinetic energy to agitate the water and clothes. It also seems you can reduce the heat if you increase the kinetic energy, and vice versa.

We had a discussion about this a while ago. Well it was about washing without heating the water and many people do this and see no difference. Although the general consensus was that not heating the water for washing (setting the thermostat on the washer to 0 degrees) was good for normal washing but not so go for stained clothes.

Ben84 wrote: »

I think the automatic washing machine will wash better at lower washing temperatures than humans can because it can input far more kinetic energy, and because of that it should use less energy to clean the same quantity of clothing.

You must have a different washer to me then, because mine spends most of it's time doing nothing. During the wash and rinse cycles it seems to go round once or twice then sit doing nothing for a minute, then it goes round again and sits for a minute.

I'm pretty sure I read something about Dyson inventing a washing machine with a slit drum that rotated opposite ways. It was based on the fact that tests showed one hour in an automatic washing machine did not was as good as 15 minutes hand washing. An automatic washer doesn't really agitate the clothes, it just rolls them over and the only washing action is when the fall and hit the water.

I reckon a hand operated washer will turn the clothes over far more times than an automatic, therefore will wash them better.

Then again, I may have bought a duff washer and everyone else's goes round constantly during the cycle. It would be just my luck to buy the only automatic washer in the world that sits doing nothing most of the time and think that's the way it is supposed to work!

Ben84

geordie_joe wrote: »

Depending on what you use to heat the water you could be right there.

People might also use more water and heat it to a higher temperature than the washing machine does.

geordie_joe wrote: »

We had a discussion about this a while ago. Well it was about washing without heating the water and many people do this and see no difference. Although the general consensus was that not heating the water for washing (setting the thermostat on the washer to 0 degrees) was good for normal washing but not so go for stained clothes.

Cold water will activate few if any of the enzymes in the biological detergents, which will reduce the cleaning abilities significantly.

Heated water will also be better at cleaning fats and oils from fabrics as these become more liquid as the temperature increases. I doubt you could remove many oil based stains with just cold water.

You can buy cold water detergents in the US, but they are more costly to produce and have a greater chemical burden on the environment as they contain more detergents, enzymes and bleaching agents. I'm not sure how well this relates to the energy savings, or if you can really compare the two seemingly different environmental problems.

geordie_joe wrote: »

You must have a different washer to me then, because mine spends most of it's time doing nothing. During the wash and rinse cycles it seems to go round once or twice then sit doing nothing for a minute, then it goes round again and sits for a minute.

Some machines have a setting that makes them do this. It's supposed to allow the clothes to soak longer and allows enzymes in the detergent to work better. I have a switch on my machine (Yes, it is that old) to make it soak the clothes during the cycle.

However, there is plenty of spinning around and splashing when it's running.

geordie_joe wrote: »

I'm pretty sure I read something about Dyson inventing a washing machine with a slit drum that rotated opposite ways. It was based on the fact that tests showed one hour in an automatic washing machine did not was as good as 15 minutes hand washing. An automatic washer doesn't really agitate the clothes, it just rolls them over and the only washing action is when the fall and hit the water.

I reckon a hand operated washer will turn the clothes over far more times than an automatic, therefore will wash them better.

Then again, I may have bought a duff washer and everyone else's goes round constantly during the cycle. It would be just my luck to buy the only automatic washer in the world that sits doing nothing most of the time and think that's the way it is supposed to work!

I don't think I can turn over 4kg or more of wet heavy clothes and water for an hour and a half like my washing machine does, I'll never manage the high speed spin, and there's no way when I'm finished with that pile I'll start again with another pile :eek:!