Posted: 9/23/2015 12:09:24 PM EDT
| Any one think of or talk about washing clothes during a long term SHTF scenario? Curious. I was thinking about it the other night and I guess water in a tub with an old wash board would work. Sucks if you gotta lota clothes. Anyone? |
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Quoted:
Any one think of or talk about washing clothes during a long term SHTF scenario? Curious. I was thinking about it the other night and I guess water in a tub with an old wash board would work. Sucks if you gotta lota clothes. Anyone? We just did this thread a couple weeks ago. It's no big deal. Lots of people hand wash clothes, either fully by hand or with a washboard, stick style agitator or a hand cranked thingy. |
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I Was just gonna say 5 gallon bucket and a plunger.. 5 gallon bucket rinse! 
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I have a glass wash board... ( doesn't rust )
And a large indoor drying rack. Split a 55 gallon drum in half and you have a wash and rinse tank. Very cheap. And easy. As for soap, people use way way to much detergent. Just a spoonful can do a full load if it isn't too soiled. |
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one thing to keep in mind as well is the kind of clothes you'll have around for cleaning. They are not all equal. Cottin will take longer to dry, harder to keep clean. Sintethics are your best bet for underwear, tshirts and clothes in general. There' good blends as well.
FerFAL |
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I wonder what is the definition of 'long term'? Most of us have a lot of clothes. Wear each outfit two or three times, and I could probably go several months, if not longer, without having to do laundry at all. Unless you sit on your ass all day I would say in long term SHTF you will be working more in the garden, cutting wood, walking, exerting more, doing things to survive, sweating more so thats really why I asked. I'd say you will get clothes dirtier than normal. I don't wear my clothes 2-3 times. Gross! |
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An average load of laundry takes a little less than an hour to complete.
An average clotheswasher consumes around 0.3 KWH of energy per load (neglecting any energy used to heat the water). An average modern generator consumes around 0.2 gallons of gasoline per KWH of energy produced. So, a load of laundry would only cost you around 0.06 gallons of gasoline. |
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Unless you sit on your ass all day I would say in long term SHTF you will be working more in the garden, cutting wood, walking, exerting more, doing things to survive, sweating more so thats really why I asked. I'd say you will get clothes dirtier than normal. I don't wear my clothes 2-3 times. Gross! Quoted:
Quoted:
I wonder what is the definition of 'long term'? Most of us have a lot of clothes. Wear each outfit two or three times, and I could probably go several months, if not longer, without having to do laundry at all. Unless you sit on your ass all day I would say in long term SHTF you will be working more in the garden, cutting wood, walking, exerting more, doing things to survive, sweating more so thats really why I asked. I'd say you will get clothes dirtier than normal. I don't wear my clothes 2-3 times. Gross! In warm weather it's not all that hard to pick up some really nasty skin conditions after wearing the same clothes for just a week, especially if you don't know how to prevent it. Also, dirty clothes wear out much faster. |
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Quoted: Move to a low humidity climate where I don't sweat get moldy erc. Check. install a solar system that powers washing machine. Check. Next question. Most washing machines use between 27-40 gallons of water per cycle. A hand washer uses a fraction of that. You can also recycle the water into your garden. |
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Most washing machines use between 27-40 gallons of water per cycle. A hand washer uses a fraction of that. You can also recycle the water into your garden. Quoted:
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Move to a low humidity climate where I don't sweat get moldy erc. Check. install a solar system that powers washing machine. Check. Next question. Most washing machines use between 27-40 gallons of water per cycle. A hand washer uses a fraction of that. You can also recycle the water into your garden. Im on my own solar well and all my grey water goes to the garden. 
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In some cases the outer layer can go several days. Depends on what you are doing in it. Also depends on your level of care. The high school boy who picks through the pile of dirty laundery and says that one does not smell too bad, is one case. Exact opposite is someone who thinks a pair of jeans worn around the house and never got dirty with anything, is dirty and must be washed. Bib overalls are around for a reason, they tend to get worn for a few days. This will be different for everyone. Some people are sensitive to dirty clothes and you will have to learn about yourself. Your diet can have a lot to do with how oily your skin is, and that can affect the clothes. I think the biggest thing is activities done. Mow grass and weed eat, my clothes go straight in the washing machine. Especially if I am around the poison ivy section of the yard. I need a shower right away as well. Laid back day where the clothes get a little dirty but nothing major, I hang em over a chair back to air out a bit and wear em for chores the next day. Some stuff will be done by hand, probably the socks and underwear and t-shirts. Going to be doing the most laundery with the stuff you change every day and some days I change socks during the day as well. Get a big laundery day, sure the washing machine will do the job. And yeah they might use a lot of water or power or whatever, they are worth it to me. Hang stuff to dry but during a really humid day during the summer I could see where some stuff might not dry very fast. During the cooler months and during winter it is easy to just use long underwear to keep the dirty clothes away from your skin for a few days, depending on what you are doing. For some stuff I could see having dedicated clothes. Filson had some decent descriptions in their catalogs when looking at some of their various stuff, some of them were not made to be washed on a regular basis. |
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For me, the overlooked side is drying. Our clothes dryer recently went TU. I tore it down, found the motor was the culprit. Before I could get a knew motor in, my in-laws had ordered us a new dryer....which is very generous, but will take a few days to get here. In the meantime, we are trying to dry clothes on racks inside since it has been raining nonstop for three days. It is amazing how long it takes to dry clothes this way. I suppose hanging them by a fire is an option in winter. But indoor drying limits you to wearing minimal clothes. I don't mean a thong, but reusing clothes that aren't really dirty, as Biere said.
BTW, I will replace the motor in the old dryer and find a family in need of a Halloween present. |
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Quoted:
An average load of laundry takes a little less than an hour to complete. An average clotheswasher consumes around 0.3 KWH of energy per load (neglecting any energy used to heat the water). An average modern generator consumes around 0.2 gallons of gasoline per KWH of energy produced. So, a load of laundry would only cost you around 0.06 gallons of gasoline. Yeah, I don't think it will work quite that way. It would if you had some loss-less electricity bucket where you could generate the power into the magic device, then draw it down as needed by the washing machine, then maybe. In reality if the wash cycle takes thirty or forty minutes then that is how long the generator will have to run. I don't think you will get a load done for eight ounces of gas. |
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Quoted:
Yeah, I don't think it will work quite that way. It would if you had some loss-less electricity bucket where you could generate the power into the magic device, then draw it down as needed by the washing machine, then maybe. In reality if the wash cycle takes thirty or forty minutes then that is how long the generator will have to run. I don't think you will get a load done for eight ounces of gas. Quoted:
Quoted:
An average load of laundry takes a little less than an hour to complete. An average clotheswasher consumes around 0.3 KWH of energy per load (neglecting any energy used to heat the water). An average modern generator consumes around 0.2 gallons of gasoline per KWH of energy produced. So, a load of laundry would only cost you around 0.06 gallons of gasoline. Yeah, I don't think it will work quite that way. It would if you had some loss-less electricity bucket where you could generate the power into the magic device, then draw it down as needed by the washing machine, then maybe. In reality if the wash cycle takes thirty or forty minutes then that is how long the generator will have to run. I don't think you will get a load done for eight ounces of gas. If you're using a generator small enough to be operating within its efficient range while supplying just several hundred watts, that's pretty close to the amount of gas you'd actually use. With a larger generator, the ideal strategy would be to wash a load of clothes while you're also using the generator for other tasks (pumping water, recharging batteries, running power tools, etc.) - in which case your load of laundry would only cost you about 8 ounces of additional fuel. |
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I have 3 sets of clothing In Use at all times. House clothes: usually sweats and t shirt. Sweat shirt added in winter. These are just for evenings, mornings. No sweat, dirt. Etc. Pants washed every 3 days or so. T shirt, underwear, socks changed daily. Winter sweat shirt same as pants. Yard/chore clothes. Jeans, same t shirt, long sleeve sun shirt. Skip the t shirt if really hot outside. Mora knife permanent fixture on jeans. Sun shirt and jeans washed every other day, unless needed sooner. Town clothes. Varies by season, but jeans with edc, holster and spare mag, etc. Nicer long sleeve sun shirt or flannel. These can go a week before washing, but I also mayonly have 8 hours a week in them. I change when I come in, go out, and go to town. Keeps the house clean, and its a pita to carry my town edc stuff while working outside. Keeps manure out of the house, and the wife likes that |
| 5 gallon bucket with a lid, a clean rock or two, and hill worked pretty good after Katrina. I was with the first people that went in with the Red Cross. We didn't have any power other than generators initially. We used the sides of the levees for the hill. To dry we just hung them out on clothes lines. Worked well and you kept in shape running up the levees |
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I like off grid stories, real life stuff, books, movies, and whatever else. I don't really have a generator sized for my washing machine. I would do some other stuff while doing the wash. In the stories and above stuff lots of times there is one day a week where the generator gets fired up. It can be used to top off the batteries if the panels are not keeping up, can run the vacumn and other stuff that might be more than you normally run on a daily basis, can run stuff like a table saw or other tools for weekly chores or projects, do the wash, and whatever else. I am not disagreeing with the 2 buckets, and a couple rocks or something to help work the clothes is a good idea if rolling the bucket. For those who want to roll the bucket, home depot and lowes and others will have a bucket concrete mixer, it is just a bucket with ribs on the inside and it holds about one bag of cement and you add water and put the lid on it and roll it around to mix things up. I never bought one but figured that is what I would do if long term bucket washing was in the cards. Now that I have a couple pups I could see duct taping the lid on so it won't come off and making a game of them messing with it. A dab of peanut butter leaves a smell they chase and chase and chase. Since I have 2 pups showing favoritism to one pup with something and then letting the other sneak in to steal it also adds lots of fun. |
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