laundry on the playa?

[AntiM]

Using Water 4 times
If you're really REALLY stingy with water (and you should be in the desert) you can make one quart of water pull "quadruple duty" with a reasonably sized basin/mess kit pot:
1) Brush Teeth (use very little)
2) Boil for coffee
3) Shave and wash once the boiled water cools down (w/baking soda added)
4) Wash socks/drawers in remainder (w/baking soda added)
It takes a bit of a knack but it's a good skill to learn when water's tight.

Not so much that water is tight, but that you cannot just pour it out. You evap it, or you put it in jugs to haul out. Given we have a utility trailer, I'd rather haul out dirty laundry than dirty water.

[global village idiot]

I'd considered distilling but I'm not sure how to pull it off.
There's still time to crack that nut

[AntiM]

Sometimes Keep It Simple is the best solution.

[global village idiot]

You're of course right, but there's always the temptation to approach the question as an engineering problem - and once I go that route, Katie bar the door!

gvi

[lucky420]

Laundry, not a chore I want to tackle on playa but you get on with your bad self...

[BBadger]

Gotta ask yourself whether it's worth the effort to build something to use for only a week, and whether it'd just be easier to bring extra things rather than reuse/recycle while on the playa itself. Time is the precious commodity out there.

[maladroit]

Good advice.

I got 20% of the way through building a wind powered evapotron thing this year. Ran out of time. Good thing, because there was no wind!

Now I have a sealed bucket of half full of gray water that I still haven't dumped in the toilet, because it's slowly bulging out the lid and I'm scared to open it. But I sure didn't waste time on the playa dealing with a complicated gray water contraption that would never have worked.

[global village idiot]

Gotta ask yourself whether it's worth the effort to build something to use for only a week...

I gather folks build art every year out there - and what happens to it when the event ends?

Some of us (which is to say me) are not artists; rather, what creativity I have tends toward engineering.

I see Burning Man as much "science fair" as I do art festival.

My muse is telling me to make something useful and share the idea; if other folks like it and want to imitate it, what's the harm?

gvi

[Jackass]

Maybe you could start Laundry Camp or Playa Dri Kleen. Set up some washing machines and do peoples laundry for them all week. Harness a team of volunteers to ride stationary bikes in order to power the operation. Offer cheap beer and that janky laundromat atmosphere... Light on the starch please

[Traveller in Time]

Radical self reliance also if you get stuck in your tent for some weeks

Doing the laundry in the desert is also an art

[Captain Goddammit]

Good advice.

I got 20% of the way through building a wind powered evapotron thing this year. Ran out of time. Good thing, because there was no wind!

Now I have a sealed bucket of half full of gray water that I still haven't dumped in the toilet, because it's slowly bulging out the lid and I'm scared to open it. But I sure didn't waste time on the playa dealing with a complicated gray water contraption that would never have worked.

This is totally how to do it.
I bring some 30-gallon blue plastic barrels and just dump my grey water in them. On the way home I dump those at an RV dump drain. No screwy evap system, no muddy stinky mess at camp, no figuring out what to do when it's time to go and you still have a half-full open-air sewage plant sitting there.
Do you really want to be at camp messing with some janky cesspool?

[didjeridude]

I live in, and have travelled light through, a lot of hot, humid and dusty countries. By far the best solution to "just bring 20 pairs of undies" is to NOT WEAR ANY. This only really becomes an issue if undies ARE your chosen costume but you don't want to go 100% starkers.

[gaminwench]

Intergalactic towel.
Sarong.
Keffiyah.

Wash and air dry.

[Token]

I live in, and have travelled light through, a lot of hot, humid and dusty countries. By far the best solution to "just bring 20 pairs of undies" is to NOT WEAR ANY. This only really becomes an issue if undies ARE your chosen costume but you don't want to go 100% starkers.

You clearly have not wiped enough ass with the crisp porta-John approved toilet paper.

Please be kind and don’t slime the lawn chairs.

This is why the pants-canon was invented and loved over the decades.

[some seeing eye]

If you have power, an air compressor with a blower nozzle gets some dust off. Of course 1 that compressor becomes the playa compressor, you can never run anything good off it at home 2 it needs some kind of input filter which won't filter the finest dust 3 oilless compressor 4 blowing the dust off works best when there is a slight breeze and not a dust storm. YMMV.

[didjeridude]

You clearly have not wiped enough ass with the crisp porta-John approved toilet paper.

Please be kind and don’t slime the lawn chairs.

lol.... /makes mental note to purchase super soft silky smooth toilet paper in Reno.

[gaminwench]

Don't put it in the portos!

[Token]

lol.... /makes mental note to purchase super soft silky smooth toilet paper in Reno.

That is not permitted unless you pack the spent toilet paper out with you. It clogs the pumping equipment so use the crisp stuff ONLY.

The only things that you bring to the JOTS for depositing must come out of your body.

There have been some shitty years in the past that have prompted these rules. It was unpleasant to say the least.

[burner von braun]

If good ol' RobbiDobbs were to stroll through here, I think she might mention..

Single Ply toilet paper only please

[Ratty]

Single ply is important but has taken a back seat to WIPES.

[didjeridude]

That is not permitted unless you pack the spent toilet paper out with you. It clogs the pumping equipment so use the crisp stuff ONLY.

The only things that you bring to the JOTS for depositing must come out of your body.

There have been some shitty years in the past that have prompted these rules. It was unpleasant to say the least.

Sorry I forgot that Americans are generally really bad a spotting aussie humour. Lighten up a bit eh, I'm not being serious.

[AntiM]

We take our shit seriously around here, pardner.

[Leo]

Getting back on track with the original subject, I saw an ad recently for a hand-powered, non-electric portable clothes washer: Lavario Portable Clothes Washer: www.lavariowasher.com
Someone like Figjam could probably come up with a d.i.y. version using a 5 gallon bucket and some tupperware.

[jamesjohn70]

Just bring enough underwear and socks for your trip and barring a rain/mud event, just shake out your outer clothes real well to get rid of most of the dust.

[AfricanFire]

5 gallon plastic bucket.
1 rubber toilet plunger (new of course)
Hand wash laundry detergent - just a tiny bit.
As little water as possible.

Place item in bucket with water and soap. Use plunger to agitate and do the hard cleaning work. Wring out item. Dispose of soapy water in a grey water container. Repeat with clean water for rinsing. Hang to dry somewhere it won't drip grey water onto the Playa and where it won't get coated in a fine layer of dust while wet.

Far more work than it is worth for me, but not impossible.

[Toe]

I've washed my socks and underwear in the shower with regular hand soap. It worked fine. Rinsing took a small shower worth of water though. I'll need to improve my technique.