In the previous article, we discussed how an old-fashioned wringer washer can save quite a bit of money, up to $80 a month! If you missed that article, click here: Wringer Washers Save Money.
Now, we will talk about exactly how wringer washers work to get the clothes clean.
A wringer washer looks like a round tub. It also has a wringer attachment on the top that looks like two rolling pins nestled together in a open frame, sometimes with a crank handle attached.
To wash the clothes, you must manually fill the washer with water. You can do this outside with a hose (many homesteaders put their washing machine outside on a porch during the milder months of the year). Or, you can fill buckets of water and then dump the water into the washer. You can choose to heat the water first for your whites or sheets, if you like.
When the washer is filled, add the detergent and start the agitation. As mentioned in the earlier article, the washer can be powered by electricity, by propane gas or by hand. Add your clothing and let the washer agitate for 9-15 minutes in a typical load.
Meanwhile, fill one or two buckets with clean water for rinsing (this depends on whether you want one rinse or two. When the wash load is done, feed an item of wash through the ringer bars. When the item exits the other side, feed it into the first rinse tub. You can feed it back through the ringer and then into another rinse tub if you like. Once again, feed it back through the ringer ring out the excess water and then hang it up to dry. The ringer sounds like a lot of work, but it actually goes pretty quickly. Using the wringer is easier than wringing the laundry out by hand.
Next up: Places you can find a wringer washer.
Mary Ann Romans writes about everything related to saving money in the Frugal Blog, technology in the Computing Blog, and creating a home in the Home Blog. You can read more of her articles by clicking here.
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