Washing machine

Yesterday, Juliana discovered an alternative washing machine that uses a design similar to a high pressure cooker. The Wonder Clean looks like one of those late night TV miracle products at first glance. It is reported to use 90% less water and detergent than the average in home washer, does a load in 1-2 minutes, uses no electricity, and costs less than $50. It sounds too good to be true but the reviews and testimonials from a broad spectrum of sources, including FOX news and the New York Times, indicate that the product really does live up to its claims. We feel like this is the perfect option for yurt living because it only uses 8 cups of warm water per load and will not require any electricity. It is also small and will store easily. By using an Eco friendly detergent we can also put the dirty water directly into the garden.

It seems that the inventors of the Wonder Clean may have gotten the idea from an early 1900's barrel butter churn. One of the barrel churn designs that was quite popular over a number of years was available through the Sears catalog and bears a remarkable resemblance to the Wonder Clean. There is even an old do it your self article that describes how to turn the barrel churn into a washing machine. The wooden design of the churn makes it a solidly constructed machine while also being more aesthetically pleasing. In concept the two machines should work the same way. However with a $300-$400 price tag from antique dealers we will settle with the plastic version for now and wait until we find a deal on the wood version or until I can figure out how to replicate the pressure plate portion of the wood churn design.

Do a content search for "barrel churn" in the article below for more info about turning a barrel churn into a wooden wonder clean: