Where is the strangest place you have seen someone's washing machine?

[lordkenmore]

Minnesota winters

I remember reading a newspaper column once that described part of what the writer experienced in Minnesota. One time, he said, it got really, really cold. The weather man did a demo on TV--took a mug of steaming coffee outside, and poured it. It was frozen when it the ground. I haven't seen this demonstration, so I can't swear to it, but it was interesting reading.

 

[whirlykenmore78]

Mn Winters

On a subzero night it would freeze very quickly after hitting the ground.   Also the coffee could have been fairly cool and looked steaming hot in the subzero air. 

WK78

 

[sudsmaster]

I keep the Neptune pair inside the house, in the laundry closet off the kitchen.

The rest of the washer collection resides in the detached workshop at the back of the property. Most are not hooked up, save for three Miele washers. I use two of them on a regular basis. There is only cold water back there, but this doesn't faze the Mieles and their 220 volt internal water heaters.

 

[qsd-dan]

Only strange place I can remember seeing is a laundry room installed on the second story of a 2 story house. Can you imagine if there's a leak of any sort (tub seal leak, water hose/drain hose bursting). Talk about a mess that could potentially get crazy expensive! Also, think of an out of balance front loader spinning 1,300 RPM's. Probably sound like a freight train passing through the downstairs area.

 

[DADoES]

 
Not too unusual that two-story homes have laundry equipment upstairs near the bedrooms.  Friend in a nearby town has that arrangement.

 

[polkanut]

Friends of ours have a toploader & matching dryer on their 2nd story in a sort of shower stall base with a drain for any leaks that should occur.  It's a very clever setup, and with the slower spin speed of the toploader it virtually eliminates any excessive vibrations.

 

[whirlykenmore78]

Things freezing quickly in MN.

I can remember back some years when a friend who lived across an open field attempted to freeze boiling water in mid air. The daytime air temp was -20F(previous night hit-50F) in my backyard. He did this and while some of the water hit the ground alot fell as snow and ice as a cloud of frozen steam encircled him.
Winters can be very harsh here. Daytime highs below 0f(-18C) care common as are howling winds and massive dumpings of snow. The record in Mpls area is 37,inches overnight which is over a meter and temps fell below zero F. (-18C) This happend on 10-31-91.
WK78

 

[dj-gabriele]

My aunt has the washing machine installed on the balcony, she changes it every couple of years or so as every machine gets all rusted and the electronics get quickly messed up! Before she had it in her garage but it wasn't practical because of the two ramps of stairs.

Another "odd" installation was at my uncle house in the UK: he had a washing machine in the closet near the kitchen and a set in the proper laundry room upstairs. They never used the set in the laundry until the machine in the closet broke down.

 

[westie2]

At our home in Metaire, LA we had utility room in bedroom wing between master bath and the hall kids bath. The dirty laundry was put in the little chutes and dropped into baskets. Two chutes be bath one for clothes and one for towles ans such. Also had the false back doors to the cabionets they towels were in to fold and place back in cabinet no walking and carrying. Had long hanging bar to hang clothes on. Linen closet had the false back too. WE had the smaller stacked washer/dryer in small louvered closet in kitchen for the kitchen stuff and table clothes. With our kids was a great time saver for us. Lived there from 1978 to 1987 had to move as lost job in the oil research industry.

 

[docker]

My Samsung TL & Dryer are in the kitchen, while the Indesit L8 is in the BBQ room. A bit of the BBQ can be seen tom the left of the pic.

 

[turquoisedude]

Here's a good one - I was visiting a friend who just built a new home north of Montreal yesterday and she said that the stairway landing between the living room and bedrooms is being used as the spot for the washer and dryer in some homes in this new development.   She was not crazy about this idea and opted for a larger powder room near the garage with the washer and dryer connections there.  

Personally,  I'd be happy to have the stairway landing installation - especially if I could snag the matching dryer to the turquoise 65 LK washer... LOL

 

[kenmoreguy89]

Believe it or not....ON THE STREET!!!

By stating that I'm not talking about "normal" people.....
Yes on the street, it was around early 2000s when a family of romanian "gypsies" lived in an house located in Downtown alessandria (A city near here), well they had a washer on the walkside in front of the main entrance of the house that was located just over the main road and bridge that connects to the centre of the city.
The town hall fought with them since ever for the messes they had in that house but since they were a large "family" about 13 people they didn't do anything.
The fill hose of the washer passed thru a window, and it drained in the street.... clotheslines ran for all over the lenght on the sides of the walkside tied to street signs, lampposts and traffic lights....
They used to bring out even a range in the summer and cook and have lunchs just there.....they didn't care that much of cars passing by there, smog or noise as they always had very loud music the one that we called "the music of the tummy ache" that resembled those whining kinda arabesques, similar to the complaints of a person with colics .....
Well now that house does not exist anymore, now there pass the new bridge, the town hall paid them good money for that hovel as they had to flat there to make pass the new road for the bridge, I remeber that when they "sold" that house they had parties and dances on that road for 1 whole week so guess they were good money...... I do not now where those gypsies went to stay...just hope far away.....

[this post was last edited: 8/6/2012-17:52]

 

[alr2903]

Its about the climate

It is not uncommon here at all to see a washer in the kitchen and the dryer tucked away in the storage area  under the carport.  In NOLA an apartment complex with fenced in "garden areas" around the kitchen and patio door, i spied a portable whirlpool up on a wooden shipping pallet to make its hoses reach to the sink thru the window. alr

 

[tolivac]

Street washer---the "scrappers" would have hauled that away in these times!!!

 

[philr]

A friend of mine often has washing machines in his driveway! He currently has a semi-vintage Kenmore Dual Action that's supposed to work. He offered to sell me for 15$ when it was still in his home and then offered it for free when it was in his driveway but I had to pass! He's a scrapper but he often gets appliances in good working condition (but unfortunately for me, no GM Frigidaire appliances so far except a very old chest freezer that didn't work!). 

 

 Last year, he got a 1970's solid tub Speed Queen from another friend of mine. If this one had been working well, I would have saved it (it filled and spinned but it didn't agitate...).  My friend who owned it told me he has been soaking and manually agitating (!) his clothes with it for years before he decided to get rid of it and he apparently looked at the transmission and found there was a worn splined shaft or something like that...

 

[washlogic]

How about in the yard????

Had a funny Aunt that lived in North Texas , near Denton. Growing up, in the early seventies, we visited her several times. She still had one of the first Frigidaire Unimatic washers that she got in the 50s. That washer was installed in a enclosed side porch of her house.

In the late 70s I visited her again as a teen. The washer, at that time, was relocated to her side yard where she kept it covered up under a plastic tablecloth when she wasnt using it. I also saw that there was a cold water spigot near it , so im sure she couldnt wash with hot water.

Being from the North, I thought this was odd and dangerous. i remember asking her if it was okay to keep it out side and she said "Baby, its gonna be fine". She explained that In her time when she was growing up, many people kept their laundry machines in a shed or on the back porch in the south. I guess u couldnt do that with today's delicate electronic machines, but it worked out for her.

 

[whirlcool]

A lot of people here in Houston have their washer/dryer hookups out in the garage.
I wonder how many have repairs due to the heavy duty moisture in the air getting into the electronics?

Freezing hot water into cold air video:

http://https//www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggUyYF-S-hA

 

[MrX]

My house is split-level (built into the side of a hill). You access it via a mezzanine level and it's 3 steps up to the main living areas (living room, kitchen, dining room, study, etc) and there's a flight of stairs down from the mezzanine to the bedrooms.

We installed solar water heating and in the process, decided to move the hot-water heater out of a large airing cupboard in the downstairs hallway into the basement (narrow long space that runs under the house).

So, we now have a Miele washer + dryer in what was the airing cupboard. It's ideal as laundry never needs to come upstairs.

The machines are quiet enough and the laundry area has a solid hardwood door so very little noise is heard.

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

Some tacky "wife switching" reality show had a washer right next to the stove (where the DRYER was probably supposed to be????!!!! --Duh!) while off to the side was the refrigerator w/ a dryer next to it!

(I really DID NOT want to mention that I'd ever watched such a HORRENDOUS ATROCITY such as that program, anyway!!!!!!!! --Or that I'd seen episodes of that LOOK GOOD NAKED fairground strippers bazaar, either!!!!!!!!)

-- Dave

 

[davey7]

I can imagine the raspberry ants in Houston might be a problem too.

When I was little we had our washer and dryer in the usual place in our house, but when we were reverse white flight in the late 70's we had them on top of the tub in the maids bathroom of the apartment we rented. When my parents bought a place, we had it in the jerry-rigged setup in the pantry (should see if I have pictures) - the water lines were scabbed off the back bathroom sink (NO shutoffs for anything), through a hole in the wall into the pantry. The drain was scabbed into the pipe between the toilet tank and bowl which mean the toilet flushed when the washer drained. This was done by the previous owner, along with insane wiring (two loose wires for the fridge, etc, "workshop" in the coat closet). NEVER in 25 years did we have a leak and then my folks redid the kitchen and did it right, hooking into the old ice box drainpipe. Everybody else in the building had individual machines (some people shared dryers) in the communal laundry room (not uncommon in Chicago - my current laundry room used to have several machines, now we just have two with a schedule, you can sign up for vacant or have a permanent time).

I have a friend in Spain who says most houses in his area have the washers in the patio behind the house since it never freezes.

In Sweden most people in houses have a laundry or utility room (a lot of people just use their sauna for drying, especially in the far north where almost every house has one - Finnish influence, or have a drying room with the boiler room, especially 60's houses with oil heat), even many apartments have a laundry room, but more likely, it'll be in the bathroom, the tumble dryer on top of the washer. I remember a lot of Cylinda's around 1990. Most apartment buildings/complexes will have a big laundry room (the tvättstuga, aka laundry cabin) which will have big machines for rugs, etc. There used to be a phone system where you'd call up on your phone to reserve washers, a red light would light up on the washing machines indicating you have "booked" them. Or people just had a schedule, i.e. the Jonssons have it on Tuesday, the Svenssons on Wednesday and so on.

My parents lived in Norway for a bit and had a machine in the bathroom, but their second apartment had a laundry in the basement with a massive electric (EVERYTHING is electric in Norway, cooking, hot water, heat, except cars) drying rack system which you pulled out of the wall and could hang sheets in to dry. I think you could do a month's worth of laundry in that. I think there was a wringer/press for sheets and table linens too. Their upstairs neighbor was from Sweden and put a machine in her apartment, it was the talk of the building!