xena wrote:
I want to use an old washing machine that is in our barn for washing all the
dirty horse/dog towels and other dirty stuff. We have electricity in the
barn, but no plumbing.

Would it be possible to rig up some sort of system like having 2 black
dustbins either side of it - one for clean water and one for discharged
water? Does the machine suck in water or does it need to be pressurised?
Any ideas what sort of pressure (if required) - I have a 1000 litre IBC
outside the barn which can produce a fair bit of pressure when full - would
I be better using that as the supply? Can I use rainwater for washing (it's
breaking the machine I'm worried about - not the cleanliness of the rinse)?

What about the discharge - can I put that into the ditch? We have a septic
tank system, so not sure if our surface water goes into that, or straight
into the ditch. Or should I put it down an internal "dirty water" drain?

Many thanks for any comments!




The machine almost certainly won't suck water if it is a normal domestic
washer.

The manual will tell you the pressure required, if you don't have it,
try to get a manual from the web (or post the make and model here,
someone may have one the same)

As long as the water is clean, then I can't see rainwater damaging the
machine, however, if there is crud in it, it may damage the solenoid
inlet valve, so if you can filter to some degree, this would be preferable.

I don't think just connecting the IBC to the machine will work as the
water inlet is usually via the soap draw, which is usually at the top of
the machine, so unless the water level in the IBC is higher than the top
of the machine, you are not going to get any flow at all.

A way round this would be to either raise the IBC, install another water
supply higher (you need to look at the manual to see how high you need
to go, I think 10 meters is 1 bar) or install a negative head pump to
the system (you could also install a sink while you are at it if you
like, but make sure you clearly mark the tap as being untreated
rainwater, not for drinking!)

As for your discharge, I would expect it would depend on the detergent
you use - not too sure about this!

Sparks...