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Registered Member #3781
Joined: Sat Mar 26 2011, 02:25AM
Location:
Posts: 701
Well my roommate and I have decided to make one to avoid the lines at the shared washers and dryers. Also, we'll save money :D
I don't know what I'll do for the dryer but I planned out a quick idea in my head for how the washer would work:
Basically, I would put several articles of clothing into a 5 gallon bucket along with soap and then screw on the lid. I have a variable speed water pump (2,500rpm at 22 amps is the max) that is about the size of two pop cans and runs off of 12v. It would blow water from the sink spigot at an angle into the bucket; this would quickly blast the clothes and soap around inside. The 5 gallon bucket would be placed inside either the sink or a slightly larger vessel and there would be several nickel sized vent holes cut into the bottom of the bucket which would allow the water to drain into the sink (or vessel) the pump would be set to a speed where it would shoot water into the bucket faster than the water could drain. This way I can make sure the clothes are really cleaned by the soap before all the soapy water drains out. When the bucket is nearly full I would shut the pump off to let the soapy water drain and then turn it back on to rinse the clothes off.
If anyone has any concerns about this or has any better ideas, let me know!
I would like the drying process to also make use of the 5 gallon bucket but if you heat up plastic it will melt. Furthermore, the bucket would have to spin so the clothes dry evenly. Does anyone have any ideas on what I could do for the dryer?
Registered Member #1792
Joined: Fri Oct 31 2008, 08:12PM
Location: University of California
Posts: 527
Seems like you're counting on the flow from the pump to spin the clothes around, but I don't think you'll get a whole lot of agitation, I think you may need some back and forth motion. I think counting on a single pass of the soap through the clothes is too fast unless the pump is recirculating from the larger vessel.
You could also just hand wash in a basin, with an improvised machine like this I'm not convinced you'll save much time compared to handwashing.
If you're doing just a bucket's worth of clothes at once you could set up a drying rack or clothes line in your room, possibly augmented with a box fan to speed it up. Wringing out your clothes as much as possible before drying will save lots of drying time, that's what the final spin cycle in an automatic machine does.
Registered Member #15
Joined: Thu Feb 02 2006, 01:11PM
Location:
Posts: 3068
Do you really want to wash clothes in a dorm room? Not sure if you smelled dirty wash water before but its REALLY nasty - i can ensure because my wash machine at home emptys into a utility basement sink and its the nastiest foulest smelling water ever. All that underwear "matter", foot stink, body odor and nut sweat. Do you really want to dump that into your dorm room sink where you probably drink your water from and prepare your food? Yeeesh!!!
Also, drying your clothes in a dorm room isn't very wise either. Unless you vent the dryer air outside, all that moisture ends up somewhere and its just going to make your room for humid which is great for fungal growth among other things.
Better just use the dorm washer at 3am. No lines then!
Registered Member #2463
Joined: Wed Nov 11 2009, 03:49AM
Location:
Posts: 1546
There are tiny washing machines out there which are essentially a 4 or 5 gallon plastic tub with a top consisting of a small motor and agitator, and a timer switch.
The tub has a drain outlet, which can drain into a sink.
I had one of these which was used in days past, in various circumstances.
Registered Member #103
Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 08:16PM
Location: Derby, UK
Posts: 845
why not watch the 'Secret Life of the Washing Machine' to get some ideas, particularly from the old machines at the start! You could build something similar but motor driven
As for drying the clothes, the most compact way I can think of would be to take the drum from a normal washing machine (just the drum) and mount it vertically on the shaft of a large motor. Make sure it it well fixed to the floor, throw the clothes in, and switch on. It should make quite a good spin dryer!
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Compact and portable washer/dryer combo for college dorm room
