One of the Tiny House Blogs avid readers is Darrell. Darrell likes to find interesting ideas and small appliances that he thinks the Tiny House Blog readers would enjoy and than he emails them to me.
Darrell recently sent me this article from ecofriend about some MIT students who have developed a pedal-powered washing machine. You can read the full article at ecofriend but here is a little of the information some pictures and a video.
“Bicilavadora” is a new pedal-powered washing machine that has been designed by a team of students at MIT using nothing more than an old oil drum, an old bicycle and some pieces of plastic joined together.
The washing machine is targeted toward those regions of the developing world where residents don’t have access to grid electricity and having a washing machine is considered a luxury. The washing machine consists of an outer housing made of a standard oil drum cut apart and welded to make a shorter barrel, since churning 55 gallons of laundry with pedal-power is not feasible.
The inner drum, which the team states as one of the most critical parts of the design, is made from a set of identical plastic pieces together. The system is then connected to an old bicycle sans its wheels.
The chain is connected to a gear mechanism harnessed from an old geared mountain bike. The highest gear is used for the spin cycle and the lowest gear for the wash cycle.
This might work just fine for your eco friendly tiny house, so book mark it for future reference.