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Step 8Make It User Friendly for Your Household
There are two other people in my household, both of whom think they are not mechanically inclined (Personally, I think that they just lack experience with mechanical things, but anyway, that's beyond the scope of this project). In order to get them to by in to using the system, I tried to make it as user friendly as I could. To their credit, both of these people have stuck with it, enduring flooding, and occasionally being sprayed with water. Now the system works very reliably, and it's been months since we have had any "incidents".
I gave them both lessons in how to use the LWR, and I also posted a set of instructions (1st photo below) with little diagrams to how the valves should be turned. These are the instructions:
1. Before doing a load of laundry, check that the valves are in position 1.
2. Put your laundry into the washer and fill it up to an appropriate level (see Step 8 for details on this)
3. Start your wash cycle and set the kitchen time to 20 minutes (this is the time on our washer when the wash water has been expelled, and the machine is filling up with rinse water. Your time may be different).
4. When the timer sounds, switch the valves to position 2.
5. After the load is finished, return the valves to position 1.
Here are some extras things that I have done/made to make use of the LWR easier:
1. If you look closely at the photo of the plumbing in Step 5, you'll see a black dot on each valve handle and two black dots on each leg of the "Y" (made with a permanent marker). These help us to know which way to turn the valves. The black dot on each handle should always line up with one of the other black dots.
2. Ball Valve Wrench (2nd and 3rd photos below)
It turns out that these ball valves can take quit a lot of strength to turn, so I made a valve wrench out of a length of 2" ABS pipe. As you can see from the photo below, there are two 3/8" slots cut with a hacksaw into the end of the pipe. To use the wrench, just slip the slots over the red valve handle and turn.
3. Tank Fill Meter (4th photo)
This meter is made from the top of a quart yogurt container and a popsicle stick and it shows (approximately) how much water is left in the tank after a load. This can be helpful to the next person doing the wash. For example, if there is a "Super" amount of water in the tank and they are doing a "Small" load, they will know that they have to stop the flow of water themselves.
4. Laundry Load Measuring Tool (5th and 6th)
When you are releasing water from the tank into the machine, how do you know when you have enough? This tool sets in the top of the basin and has a measuring stick that hangs down. There are four lock nuts on the stick that show the water level for each of the four load sizes. I determined the locations of these nuts by observing the maximum water level for each type of load. As I'm filling the washer from the tank hose, I make sure to soak all of the clothes well, so the clothing sinks down to its natural, wet level. Then, I choose a load size that will cover the clothing with a couple of inches of water.
I gave them both lessons in how to use the LWR, and I also posted a set of instructions (1st photo below) with little diagrams to how the valves should be turned. These are the instructions:
1. Before doing a load of laundry, check that the valves are in position 1.
2. Put your laundry into the washer and fill it up to an appropriate level (see Step 8 for details on this)
3. Start your wash cycle and set the kitchen time to 20 minutes (this is the time on our washer when the wash water has been expelled, and the machine is filling up with rinse water. Your time may be different).
4. When the timer sounds, switch the valves to position 2.
5. After the load is finished, return the valves to position 1.
Here are some extras things that I have done/made to make use of the LWR easier:
1. If you look closely at the photo of the plumbing in Step 5, you'll see a black dot on each valve handle and two black dots on each leg of the "Y" (made with a permanent marker). These help us to know which way to turn the valves. The black dot on each handle should always line up with one of the other black dots.
2. Ball Valve Wrench (2nd and 3rd photos below)
It turns out that these ball valves can take quit a lot of strength to turn, so I made a valve wrench out of a length of 2" ABS pipe. As you can see from the photo below, there are two 3/8" slots cut with a hacksaw into the end of the pipe. To use the wrench, just slip the slots over the red valve handle and turn.
3. Tank Fill Meter (4th photo)
This meter is made from the top of a quart yogurt container and a popsicle stick and it shows (approximately) how much water is left in the tank after a load. This can be helpful to the next person doing the wash. For example, if there is a "Super" amount of water in the tank and they are doing a "Small" load, they will know that they have to stop the flow of water themselves.
4. Laundry Load Measuring Tool (5th and 6th)
When you are releasing water from the tank into the machine, how do you know when you have enough? This tool sets in the top of the basin and has a measuring stick that hangs down. There are four lock nuts on the stick that show the water level for each of the four load sizes. I determined the locations of these nuts by observing the maximum water level for each type of load. As I'm filling the washer from the tank hose, I make sure to soak all of the clothes well, so the clothing sinks down to its natural, wet level. Then, I choose a load size that will cover the clothing with a couple of inches of water.
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