Water usage

[washerlover]

Gray Water Flushing

And growing up in California, our first real drought occurred back in 1976, and my oh-so environmental Dad made us fill up a 5-gallon bucket with the water from the shower while waiting for it to get hot, then putting the bucket next to the toilet to use it to flush it. We also used the washer's gray water to water the yard and garden. My dad jury-rigged a water hose to the washer drain hose with a sprinkler on the end of it to water the lawn. Not very effective over time as the lint from the washer began to clog the sprinkler holes!

 

[supersurgilator]

That is very clever hooking the washer up to a sprinkler. Did you ever get any pics of that? Would be neat to see them LOL

 

[cfz2882]

gray water sprinkling

during the warm months,when i have a washer active out in the garage,i use the
washer drain water for extra garden watering;water goes into a holding tank(WCI
franklin "horizon 2000"outer tub)along with runoff from 1 gutter.From the franklin
tub a calypso pump drives the water to the sprinkler- to avoid clogging problems
a "vortex"type sprinkler is used;one of those with two holes of about 3/8 in the
center of each round chamber that the water enters at an angle to cause the water
to exit the hole in a conical spray...Someday i might harness the drain water
from the basement washer lineup,but will have to add a pump to the laundry tub and
run a pipe outside...

 

[qualin]

Heh.. I run my water heater at 160 F.. but only because the regular task of doing things like showering, dishwashing and clothes washing bring down the temperature of the hot water in the tank down to almost lukewarm levels at times.

If I do eventually replace the water heater, it'll be with a larger model. We always run out of hot water too quickly and we're only a two person household!

The main reason why I switched from a TL to a FL was that the TL washer just wasn't doing all that great a job. I bought a Huebsch because it used the most amount of water of any front loader. It's still less than a TL machine.

I agree with Freddy aka Kenmoreguy that HE seems like it's almost a fad. I don't know how much further the manufacturers are going to push it until we're all mandated to wash with a cup of water while the next door neighbor leaves his garden hose on all night watering his lawn.

Our water gets extremely cold during the winter.. Barely above 0 C (32 F).. so when I do a warm water wash, the water is just barely warm, almost cool...

 

[rapunzel]

I'm not a catholic, I don't generally do guilt

I'd feel guilty if I'd accidentally run over some misplaced environmentalist, whilst driving my car to the local shops, where I have everything packed in plastic.

 

[electronicontrl]

Not Guilty

I was raised on wringer washers and suds savers so conservation is still on my mind but no MORE or no LESS than before. If I do sheets and towels I use HOT water and when playing in my laundry lab, I'll "catch" the wash water, diverting it from one machine to another. I'm not that diligent when it comes to a warm water wash. I use my MAH4000 Neptunes most of the time, with extra rinse. In my locality I'm billed for administrative costs which I believe account for 40% of the bill, so trying to save water is not going to save much money. It's a lot in the manner in which it is perceived. I don't believe I waste water. Therefore I don't feel guilty.

 

[kenmorebd]

Water

I now have my own 2002 Kenmore deep fill topload washer. Yeah it uses more water than the 2011 ge hydrowave that mum has but, when you have to wash you gotta wash. The only thing I am a bit stingy on is Hot water. I will only run a Hot wash when I have at least 1/2 full load to do. The washer had a 2nd rinse option but I have never needed it. Also the ge toploader for an HE washer is not to bad with water, it will fill just high enough to handle a good sized load.

-Andrew

 

[mickeyd]

Playing with the hoses and the water

A large part of my becoming a washer man involved draining water and hoses. For the life of me, I can not understand how my fellow and beloved washer brothers hide all or most of their hoses in drainpipes behind the machine and out of view and out of use. I would go crazy. It is just as much that I'm against wasting a natural resource as it is wanting to play with the water and the hoses and pushing the machine into complex, creative maneuvers--although the older I get the more uncomfortable I am wasting water.

 

As a kid, I would let the 57 Uni drain into the large enamel tub, skipping the overflow so as not to dilute the washing liquors, then I would weave the hose under the faucet and cold water tap to the small tub of our double sink, pretending I had the L-shaped WP/KM drain hose of the suds-return models. For the next load, I'd hold the hose down in the big tub by sliding the lid over till it locked against the submerged hose, and create a siphon by starting then stopping the agitation. The suds would then return to the outer tub. Finally, I 'd hold the hose over the washer and pump the suds from outer to inner. Piece of cake. Geraldine did not approve, but she let me do it.

 

Today, I re-route the expelled water to another machine, or with the wringers, there's no end to the high jinx. Here is an example : The 56, washing three white bathrobes, had just entered the overflow, which I aborted, allowing the steaming wash water to drain into the 62. Distracted by another chore, when I returned to the garage the rinse was under way. As the spin was about to begin, I stuck the hose into the outer tub of the 62 in the gap between the tub and top. This was new, never having done this one before. All of this water is clear and clean, perfect for use with a dark load.

 

Later on when I load the 62 with a dark load of biking gear, I will drain the water from the outer tub back into the 56, and rinse the dark load there, after having washed it in the 62. For members unfamiliar: Once the agitation starts, the pump will expel any water in the outer tub. This might sound complicated, but once you start down this road, it becomes very natural, easy and creative.

 

I'm going to show the 56 that I bought from big Ted in a moment; it's got the gray agitator Jon & John were talking about in the 57 Charcoal thread. Have to switch servers.

One moment please ;-D .........

[this post was last edited: 1/8/2012-19:09]

 

[washerlover]

Hey cfz2882, happy to hear someone else does the gray water sprinker bit and found out how to get around lint clogging up the sprinkler spray holes!

 

[garyl]

Gray water reuse

When I had my business, I tested each washer with a load of clothes. Sometimes I ran out of dirty clothes! I used Amway SA8+ with phosphates. I drained the water into my garden. The plants loved it! They grew like crazy, but there was too high an amount of phospates for the zuccini. It grew well, but it would flower, then the flowers would just drop off and no zuccini. The lawn liked it too. It never "clogged the soil". When we lived in Yuma, I tried watering the lawn with washer water, but the lawn did not like Tide liquid. I switched to 7th Generation, and the grass came back. After a while, we could not get it localy, so we changed to a similar detergent. I just used a swimming pool vacuum hose, and moved it around as we did the loads.