Clotheslines that spin

15 years ago

Since I'm going to purchase a center-post clothesline, I'd like one that spins in the breeze. Any kind of clothesline is difficult to find locally, so I'm looking on the web.

Many say they rotate to load, enabling you to stand in one place while hanging clothes. Does this mean they will spin in the wind?

The ones that are advertised as "breezecatchers" are more

costly. I'm wondering if the cheaper ones also spin and just don't say so?

Any experience? Thanks in advance.

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (4)

grainlady_ks
15 years ago
I've had three of them at three different homes. We purchased all of them at a local ACE hardware store.

I'm a logical person, and when I look where people normally placed them in their yards, I didn't think they thought it through very carefully.

We put the first one on the edge of a backyard patio (about 9-12-inches away). We placed river rock around the base so there wasn't any grass around the post. That eliminated a mowing/trimming problem. I never had to walk through dewy wet grass to hang clothes. I stood on the concrete patio and rotated the line as I pinned things in place. I set the laundry basket in the kids wagon and wouldn't have to bend over very far to get clothes out of the basket. The second house we placed it by a wide sweep of sidewalk near the deck on the side yard, and it worked equally as well. We moved into a new home 3 years ago and we had a "laundry courtyard" designed into the landscape on the side yard, and once again, I stand on concrete to hang the clothes and rotate the clothesline.

Secondary plus to this stratigic placement.... In all three homes we could remove the clothesline from the plastic sleeve set in concrete in the ground, and can put an umbrella in the same hole. When we have friends and family over for a bbq or other get-together we have an extra shaded seating area or shadded area to set up a table for serving.

The particular models that we've purchased had two sides of it where the line loops through the aluminum rod and I utilized these loops for hanging clothes on hangers on the side of the clothesline. I dry clothes that normally hang on a hanger in the closet...ON a hanger. I use nice heavy wood hangers with a heavy wire hook on them. I hook these through those loops of line on the side rods. The loops worked perfectly to keep the clothes on hangers in place. So these clothes go from the clothesline to the closet when dry.

The breeze (which is always a stiff 30mph WIND here in Kansas) will catch the larger pieces of clothing/bedding hanging on the line - like wind catches a sail - and the whole thing WILL rotate, but not very fast.

If this is your first experience with a clothesline, this is my hint for the day for you. If you have a super-duper washer that spins clothes at 1,000 rpms (or faster), you may want to set the spin on the slowest spin possible. When you use the fastest spin the clothes compact in the washer and get a lot of wrinkles in them. That's beneficial when you dry your clothes in the dryer, but not on a line. Clothes that are wetter when you hang them on the line will dry with fewer wrinkles in them. The weight of the extra water + gravity will pull most of the wrinkles out. My washer has a spin cycle specific for line-dried clothes. They are wetter and have very few wrinkles in them when they go on the line.

-Grainlady
Jamie
Original Author
15 years ago
Thanks for all the helpful info.

We will be moving before I get to use the clothesline for a second season of warm weather. I had wondered whether it would be possible to purchase a second sleeve to place in the ground at the next house. I see you just bought a whole new rig. Did you find it impossible to locate a replcement sleeve?
Related Discussions
somewhat OT...do you have a clothesline in your garden?
Q
Comments (28)
Mary Lu, I love your multiple line clothesline! Really a very great addition to a cottage property IMO. I had a clothesline at our last property and used it a lot. It was close to the basement door and laundry so was very convenient. I should have planned this house better as there's really no good place for one here. For the first couple of years I had one at the end of the kitchen deck which was 15' off the ground and I was afraid I'd unbalance as I leaned out over the deck railing to hang big sheets. It's either carry heavy baskets of clothes a long distance or risk breaking my neck so I use a dryer or hang things on a folding rack in the basement. I hang many of my clothes after a quick spin in the dryer anyhow as they look better. I must check out the retractable lines - might work somewhere. My DM had an umbrella type which I didn't mind using when we visited. I've had dishwashers for over 40 years except for our first year in Europe and I'd rather eat at McD's (my least fav place to eat) than go without a DW! Different strokes, and all, altho I do think it may be quicker to wash dishes by hand and I could get along with fewer cutlery and dishes. Just never been my fav job and my DH knows how to load the DW, which is even better! ;-D
...See More
Proper method to hanging clothes on clothesline?
Q
Comments (18)
bookert - As an avid knitter/crocheter, I'm really fussy about drying sweaters and I use a couple different drying racks. Google - Sweater Drying Rack and you'll find several styles and prices - such as... http://www.organize-it-online.com/itm_sweatdry1.html?cmpid=Froogle. I also have a portable rack that is flat (similar to this one: http://greenhome.huddler.com/products/polder-argento-deluxe-freestanding-dryer). It's about 30"x20" and has 11 wire lines. I like it because I can also pin things to the wires (a real space saver), or lay a sweater on the top, and it folds for easy storage. I also have a traditional wooden clotheshorse and a wall-mount expandable (accordion) clothes rack where I dry wet things in the laundry room before they get tossed in the baskets. FYI - When I hang clothes on hangers on my outside line, I slip the wire hooks of the wooden hangers on the ends of the umbrella clothes line where the plastic clothes line loops are located. Just hook them on the clothes line loops. No more clothes taking flight. I have a friend who's husband rigged a line made out of light-weight chain and she puts the hooks of the hangers through the links in the chain and they not only stay put no matter how windy it gets, they don't ever slide together. Necessity is often the mother of invention. -Grainlady
...See More
drying laundry on clothesline
Q
Comments (24)
For hanging clothes outside while having a full time job, I found it easier to wash two-three loads in the evening and hang them early the next morning. On Friday night, while hubby and I watched TV, we washed the clothes and loaded the laundry baskets by flat-folding the wet clothes (don't toss them in in a jumble or they will have a lot of wrinkles), and keep like-kinds of things together. All my undies, all hubbies, all the kitchen towels, etc. They go on the line together and when I take them off the line they all get folded as I take them off and placed in the basket/s. The sorting has already been done so this doesn't take any time at all. Anything that normally gets hung on a hanger is also dried on a hanger, and they are placed on a hook on the back of the door. Sometimes they dry without taking them outside. Hubby built a folding bench and put a patio umbrella over the bench to keep the sun off while folding laundry. After washing the clothes the night before, I hang them the next morning (I normally get up at 3:30 a.m., so anytime after that they got put on the line) and they are dried before lunchtime (sometimes by 9 or 10 a.m.). Then I would do the same thing Saturday night and hang the clothes Sunday morning. Anything that normally hangs on a hanger is also dried on a hanger so they go from the line to the closet. The hangers are placed on the end of my outdoor umbrella clothes line in the loops of clothesline going through it, which keeps them from flying off and to free-up more space on the lines. But the best answer was to put lines up in the basement so now I can do laundry anytime - although we still do laundry in the evening while watching TV - it's a team effort at our house. Hubby and I do two loads of laundry on Tuesday night and hang it up, and take it down Wednesday morning after we work-out in the basement. And again on Saturday morning we do the sheets and bath towels, which dry in the basement by the afternoon. Saturday evening we do two more loads and hang them in the basement and take them down early Sunday morning. The clothes aren't getting sun-bleached all day long and beat to shreds in the wind. It's amazing how much longer our clothes are lasting and looking much better, since we quit hanging them outside three years ago. While still using the outdoor line, I also put two lines up in our garage - between the cars bays - so I could hang clothes there if the weather was ify, and put a large fan on them to aid drying. We have a pull-out accordion drying rack (see link below) in our laundry room. This is where I hang socks and bras to dry (just toss them over the bar), instead of messing with them outside (or in the basement). It's also where I hang wet dish rags/dish towels and wet washcloths/towels to dry after use so they dry completely before I toss them in the laundry basket. -Grainlady Here is a link that might be useful: Accordian Drying Rack
...See More
outdoor clothes line
Q
Comments (22)
stargazzer: 1. Have you TRIED hanging shirts/tops from a hanger to dry to avoid the pin marks? I'd suggest not using wire hangers, especially those with the paint missing, because they can cause rust marks on clothes. I use wooden hangers because I can slip the steel hook through the ends of my clothes line to keep them from blowing off the line. I can't do that with plastic hangers, but they are a good choice because they don't rust. At my house, shirts/tops hung on the hanger go from the line to the closet and look MUCH better and have fewer wrinkles than clothes out of the dryer. Heavy items dry best on TIDE hangers, which are heavy plastic, wide at the shoulders so you don't get hanger lines, and vented for faster drying. 2. Have you tried a slower spin cycle on your washing machine to prevent some of those wrinkles you have to spend time ironing out? The fast 1,000 rpm (or faster) spins are designed for use with a dryer and tend to do nothing more than wrinkle clothes destined for the line. I have a special spin cycle on my machine designed FOR line drying, which helps eliminate much of the wrinkling from the start. The clothes are much wetter using the slower spin cycle, but the wetness works FOR you because gravity pulls on the wet clothes to naturally TUG most wrinkles out of garments. I never need to iron any clothes, but I also choose fabrics that are condusive for line drying. If you are careful how you hang wet clothes on a hanger - smoothing it with your hands and finger-press sleeves so they have a nice crease, and the fabric type is a quality of cotton or cotton blend that doesn't hold wrinkles. You shouldn't need to iron. 3. You can also spritz wet clothes placed on a hanger with Wrinkle Releaser and smooth them with your hand and that will help remove wrinkles. Spritzing with plain water and smoothing with your hand will ALSO work. You can spritz DRY clothes with Wrinkle Releaser or water to smooth out pin marks. But I just avoid pin marks to begin with by drying on hangers. -Grainlady
...See More
pacman1062
15 years ago
Jamies,

I don't know about purchasing another sleeve, but, when we moved I just got a piece of PVC pipe slightly larger than the diameter of the post, and set it just like I would have the factory "sleeve".

Good luck, hope this helps,
Dan
joyfulguy
15 years ago
You can get a piece of metal pipe at the the scrap metal yard, if you choose. We got a piece of metal pipe in the kit when we bought our umbrella clothesline, about 40 years ago.

If you move, it isn't a big deal to pull the piece of pipe out of the ground.

ole joyful

Clotheslines that spin

Comments (4)

grainlady_ks

Jamie
Original Author

Related Discussions

pacman1062

joyfulguy

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

Clotheslines that spin

Comments (4)

grainlady_ks

JamieOriginal Author

Related Discussions

pacman1062

joyfulguy

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

Jamie
Original Author