Combination Solar/Aeolian Dryer

Even when what's old is new I'm still behind the times. I watched a news piece on CBC a couple of years ago which talked about how clothes lines (and the installation there of) were booming. When we moved into our current house--8 years ago, for those counting--there was some existing infrastructure for having a clothes line, but it was incomplete and with me running the dayhome at the time it didn't seem like the most attractive idea on the planet. I took the pulleys and used them on the play structure so the kids could haul water, bricks and their lunches up to the top of the fort.

only the finest materials
Yesterday, with some deck screws, concrete, an auger, a little new lumber and the existing pulleys--stolen back from the fort--I built the family a state of the art clothes dryer. I just need to paint some fancy alpha-numeric. I'm thinking of "Z-3000" or something to jazz it up.

Location, location...
It's highly customized, as you can see. This model coms standard with an "on at dawn, off at dusk" lighting system. Unlike the standard deck-side-loading model, this one uses a high-altitude, rear-gate location with loading dock built using ultramodern pressure treated lumber and the finest matching deck screws. We also went for the optional molded plastic, velcro mounted, CPH (clothes pin holder). I didn't go for the extended warranty because I think the fine materials and high quality of the installation would make it a poor investment. It's a gamble, but I've always been a risk-taker.
Sunny Day Solar 'Decal' was thrown in for Freeee.
If you are interested in the consistency of the concrete I mixed, or a picture of my drill, go here.

Comments

and then the_doctor said…
I hope you installed the CPH correctly, incorrect polarity can cause the units to fail.
3:24 pm
captainorange said…
Curse these cheap foreign parts. They just aren't built to last.
3:33 pm
handwing said…
Perhaps the, uhm, more-than-one load I retrieved from atop my garden vegetables last year (due to overstressed twine) will be enough of a lesson to do it right this year...
11:32 pm
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Greece - Kaves of Kalamata

Image
Caves Were Promised! stovetop espresso (of course) brad brought the tiny camping espresso maker that we gave him more than 20 years ago. We have used it on various hikes including in Italy. Now, in Greece :) Attempted Breakfast We tried and failed to get breakfast in Stoupa. There was only one place open (VERY local) and there was only toast on offer. Could also have been a language barrier? We got coffee and set off on an exploratory hike at the beach. Shoreside cave we spent a bunch of time carefully climbing our way out through razor sharp rock formations to the entrance of a cave. It is too cold to swim in at this time of year (without wetsuits) so we had to settle for a few photos from the outside . I amused myself by utterly exhausting my arms and shredding my hands while carefully climbing the rock formations. Another Cave? After searching for over an hour, through even more dangerous rock than this morning, and based only on a single google maps post, we managed to find a beaut...
Read more

Greece - A Castle, a Good Omen, and Olympia!

Image
The Venetian Castle of Nafpaktos On the road toward Olympia, for a strangely low price of 2 euros, we were free to wander the outdoor portions of a 15th century castle. Sadly not allowed on the battlements, but very cool, nonetheless. Bananas good Bakery As we drove, I stopped on the road to try and get a picture of a hovering hawk at the seaside. Not an amazing picture, by any means...     Hawk of Good Fortune However, while stopped we checked out this nondescript shop along the roadside.     Bakery of the Gods It looks like nothing on the outside, but has every kind of greek baked good that you can imagine. The prices were also really reasonable. I'm not sure who they were selling all of this to in the middle of nowhere, but what a lucky find. Olympia!  We are staying at Hotel Pelops, a vintage hotel that feels like it is from the era of my grandmothers youth. Old, highly polished mahogany furniture with tiny wheels on the bottom, plates on the wall, ornate sh...
Read more

Greece: Diakuw of Delphi

Image
Getting out of Athens 10:30 Travelling light with no checked baggage has several drawbacks. Everything is carefully organized and it is a bit of a pain getting it back into place each time I use anything. I don't have everything I want with me. And the few things I have for clothing need to be washed several times during the trip. Honestly, I should have been okay with just washing clothes once, but it has been so cold (for Greece) that I've been wearing all of my long sleeve shirts and sweaters, so they get dirty and I don't want to wear shorts or a T-shirt. All this to say, we found a laundry mat and had coffee while we waited (twist my arm). I also too the opportunity to find the perfect photo opportunity to show you a standard street set up for Athens. I don't know if I mentioned the traffic in my last post, but it is bad. The streets can be incredibly narrow usually two cars wide, with a row of parked cars on one or both sides. Sometimes only wide enough for 1 vehi...
Read more