Apartment appliance puzzle game

July 24, 2005 12:16 PM

Help me with my laundry/dishwasher/anti-plumbing grand master plan?

I have a horrible little room in my apartment with no windows. We've tried using it as an office but no one likes to sit in there because its dark and isolated. We tried using it as a dining room, but its so small that people had to turn sideways and squish through to get to the back half of the table. The new idea? Use it as a laundry room. The thing is, I have no kind of washer/dryer hookups and no plumbing at all to that room.

My grand master plan is to use garden hoses going from my kitchen sink, around the corner to that room, and to attach the garden hoses to the washing machine for water supply and drainage. And maybe while I'm at it I'll get a portable dishwasher, too.

I don't want to wheel the appliances into the kitchen when they're in use because the kitchen is so teeny that if one of those machines were sitting in there we would not be able to pass through...which would be bad, since the bathroom is on the other end of the kitchen. And I know the hoses that would come with these appliances would be far shorter than the approximately 12 feet I would need.

The kitchen sink/garden hose connection is no problem. I understand there are adapters that can be screwed onto the sink faucet that will allow me to screw the garden hose on. But are there adapters that will allow me to connect garden hoses to the intake and drainage areas of a portable dishwasher or portable washing machine? Or are there simply extension hoses that I could use instead of garden hoses altogether? Or is this just a leaky, bad idea?

If anyone has a suggestion for a good portable washer or dishwasher, or the type of electric dryer that I can plug into a normal wall outlet and use without an exhaust pipe I'd be most grateful for that too. Thanks!

posted by leapingsheep to home & garden (9 comments total)

This might help

What about taking up photography and making it a dark room?

Or, becoming a trained message therapist and have a built in work room

or, kid nap a woman or man bye luring them into your car and then trapping them by locking their head into a box you have made that blocks out all light, then keep them locked in this room or under your bed in a box you constructed with an air hole and fan .... then after years of this you can let her out and she will be so distressed as to never attempt escape...


just... random ideas for your small extra room. take them for what they are worth :)
posted by crewshell at 12:34 PM on July 24, 2005

Washing machines push the water out pretty fast -- the ones I've seen aren't designed for a garden hose -- they specify a wide drainpipe or otherwise a feed to a capacious drain.

(I make no claim to comprehensive knowledge of the full range of washing machines, though.)
posted by Zed_Lopez at 12:40 PM on July 24, 2005

Is your apartment a condo that you own? If so, you might be better served by having professional installations made. If not, you might contemplate the anger of the owner when the power pump in your machine pops the inadequate drain hose and spews wash water all over.
As Zed_Lopez pointed out, a garden hose is not likely to be able to handle the powered pumping that drains appliances.
Also, an unvented dryer can cause problems with excess humidity resulting in mold and mildew.
It seems your extra room is a storage closet unless you put daylight bulbs in the light fixtures and hang a picture of a window on the wall. Sorry.
posted by Cranberry at 1:11 PM on July 24, 2005

Point an eyeball or two over to compactappliance.com
posted by sageleaf at 1:11 PM on July 24, 2005

1. All nonkidnapping-related answers are much appreciated.

2. Thanks for the flooding info. I'll also take the liberty of thanking you on behalf of my downstairs neighbor.

3. I do not have the honor of owning this wonder of a room. I rent.

4. Since my plan is slowly crumbling before my eyes, and since the problem with garden hoses seems to be on the drainage end, not the intake, what do you think of these ideas:

A.) Sitting the washing machine in the bathroom while in use, garden hose from the kitchen sink for intake, drainage directly into the bathtub, leaving just enough space to wiggle around to the toilet as necessary

B.) Doing the garden hose wrapped around the corner into the deep dark room for intake, and having a bucket/barrel next to the washer to collect drainage, with the sort of pump people use for fountains and whatnot leading from the bucket/barrel to the kitchen sink for drainage.
posted by leapingsheep at 1:48 PM on July 24, 2005

Sounds like you don't have any kind of washer or dryer at the moment, in which case you might be onto something with the laundry idea. Perhaps just a spin dryer (popular here in England, environmentally friendly, small, drains into a bucket) plus a drying rack, which you could attach to the wall or ceiling, would be a good use of the space. (Link to expensive spin dryer - there are many cheaper ones available). You could find all this really useful for handwashed or launderette-washed items.

Then put up the cheapest strong shelves you can on a couple of walls, right up to the ceiling, and fill them with everything that looks ugly; shoes, cleaning things, spare handbags, printer paper, fat computer manuals, lightbulbs - and make the rest of your apartment minimalist!
posted by suleikacasilda at 3:36 PM on July 24, 2005

One of the problems with washer/dryers is that they need a lot of amps (at least the dryer does, I'm sketchy on the washer) - do you have a way of supplying the required current?

Myself, I actually like enclosed spaces - have you thought of putting plants(!)/lights/video-windows/mirrors in the room to make it a nicer place to "office" in?
posted by PurplePorpoise at 8:14 PM on July 24, 2005

Library
posted by caddis at 8:15 PM on July 24, 2005

Apologies if you have to cut and paste the link, this might be a workable solution.

http://www.specializedappliances.com/portableKit/index.html
posted by jefeweiss at 11:54 AM on July 25, 2005