There are some lucky tiny house dwellers who enjoy the convenience of a washing machine or a full laundry center in their home. However, many tiny houses are not built with a washing machine and the owners are required to head to the laundromat or find alternative ways to wash clothes.
Some tiny house dwellers depend on portable washers to do laundry.
There are some great countertop, handheld, or even portable washing machines available on the market. Some of these include the Wonder Wash or the hand washer from Lehman’s. These are great low-tech options, but how much fun would it be to wash your clothes while taking a bike ride?
Rich Hewitt invented a bicycle-powered washing machine after visiting Africa.
Richard Hewitt, a student from the UK, has designed a bicycle powered laundry that can wash a load of clothes without tiring out your forearms. Hewitt was inspired to create the SpinCycle after volunteering at a children’s orphanage in Burundi, Africa. The orphanage regularly washed 30 loads of the orphan’s clothes by hand.
The SpinCycle can be added to any type of bicycle.
The people of Burundi also regularly ride bikes to and from work and errands, so Hewitt decided to use the energy created by the bike to wash and rinse clothes in a barrel mounted to the rear. The invention also acts as a transportable microbusiness for people in developing countries.
The SpinCycle is now available as a technical guide ($24.88) for anyone who wants to build their own bicycle powered washing machine. The guide includes labelled diagrams, dimension drawings of the parts, as well as assembly and operating instructions.
Learn more about the SpinCycle and the non-profit Washing Machine Project.
By Christina Nellemann for the [Tiny House Blog]
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