Sawdust, a washing machine killer?

[Ascendanttree]

Hello,

My wife and I both do tree work and we have two dogs and two kids and our washing machine is constantly clogged and leaking and just being incessantly jammed up. Who knows which is the most best washing machine ever for tree crew, dog person, kid poo and vomit clothes please? Make and model please.

 

[chiselbit]

Hey Kyle, good to see you here.
Welcome to the buzz.
Hey everybody, this is Kyle and he’s good people.

 

[ATH]

Speed Queen top loader. Whichever has as few electronics as possible, turny knobs that actually turn things instead of pretending.

Run on "heavy" and it's like Grandma's old washing machine that worked.

And they last. And can be repaired if need be (so I hear...ours probably sees 8-10 loads per week for probably 8-10 years and hasn't needed repairs yet).

Buy once, cry once.

 

[Reach]

Welcome! I have a simple, basic, old-school style cheap Estate brand top load washing machine myself. No kids, but all of the usual tree stuff, and a cat that sheds enough hair to make up for any three dogs put together. I've never had a problem with it clogging up on me, no matter what I wash.

 

[Reach]

Speed Queen top loader. Whichever has as few electronics as possible, turny knobs that actually turn things instead of pretending.

Run on "heavy" and it's like Grandma's old washing machine that worked.

And they last. And can be repaired if need be (so I hear...ours probably sees 8-10 loads per week for probably 8-10 years and hasn't needed repairs yet).

But once, cry once.

My grandparents bought one of those about 10 years ago, I know they never used it all that hard, but it worked great for them. When the old cheap washer that came with my house wears out, I will probably buy one of those myself.

 

[Ascendanttree]

Speed Queen top loader. Whichever has as few electronics as possible, turny knobs that actually turn things instead of pretending.

Run on "heavy" and it's like Grandma's old washing machine that worked.

And they last. And can be repaired if need be (so I hear...ours probably sees 8-10 loads per week for probably 8-10 years and hasn't needed repairs yet).

Buy once, cry once.

Thanks!

 

[Phil]

I second the speed queens. My folks own an apt building with those in the tenants laundry room. Simple to operate, simple to fix, durable.

 

[Phil]

I've been meaning to watch this video for a while. Been sleeping on it but this made me press play. Top two recommendations....speed queen lol

 

[Ascendanttree]

I've been meaning to watch this video for a while. Been sleeping on it but this made me press play. Top two recommendations....speed queen lol

Awesome

 

[flushcut]

Air compressor and a blow gun for cleaning out your pockets. It does an amazing job of getting every last crum of dust/saw chips out. Only takes two or three seconds per pocket. Same for muddy boots.

 

[Reach]

Air compressor and a blow gun for cleaning out your pockets. It does an amazing job of getting every last crum of dust/saw chips out. Only takes two or three seconds per pocket. Same for muddy boots.

That's a cool trick. I wear Arbsession or Arborwear pants, so I can just pull out the pockets and dump them at the end of the day. That seems to work well too.

 

[Reach]

Thinking more about it, do you use one of those modern high-efficiency washing machines that can do an entire load of laundry with a quart of water or some such? I wonder if that's the problem, maybe a traditional washing machine can handle sawdust better simply because it uses a lot more water volume?

 

[flushcut]

I don’t think those high efficiency washing machines do a very good job cleaning. Wifey and I have one with some lame agitator-less washer, never again.

 

[Ascendanttree]

Thinking more about it, do you use one of those modern high-efficiency washing machines that can do an entire load of laundry with a quart of water or some such? I wonder if that's the problem, maybe a traditional washing machine can handle sawdust better simply because it uses a lot more water volume?

We have a high efficiency front loader and the drainage tubes, and drainage hole on the front gasket, all of it is real thin diameter and gets clogged. I watched that video from the repair guy and we are gonna just pull the trigger and get a speed queen!

 

[Ascendanttree]

Speed queen just sounds like it makes good sense, thank you everyone for all the suggestions, tips and tricks and everything. A little effort emptying the pockets and blowing everything at the end of the day seems like an easy way to lessen the load on all that stuff too. Cheers!

 

[Stumpsprouts]

Third speed queen!

And shaking out pockets, and having chainsaw pants that have zipper pockets.

 

[Mike H]

Paired with a Speed Queen dryer. Both still going strong after years with a tree guy, kids and three dogs in the house.
High Efficiency wash machines stink

 

[oldoakman]

I vote Speed Queen too. Ours has the electronics but no problems. Built like a tank.

 

[Analog]

Third speed queen!

And shaking out pockets, and having chainsaw pants that have zipper pockets.

I get so annoyed with so called "work pants" that don't have pocket bag construction that allows one to completely invert the pocket to rid it of all debris. This is the only way to do laundry, ya gotta completely get all the large debris out of the pockets and nooks and crannies before washing.

 

[Ryan Cafferky]

Years ago I bought a front loading washing machine and totally regret it. Our compost pile smells better than our washing machine does. Switching back to an old school washer ASAP