Off Grid

I recently visited a land cooperative of 4 families owning 60 acres in a northern state. These families came together with a common dream of owning land in the country over 15 years ago, but that is where most of the commonality ended.  Each family has a home site, but also cooperatively makes decisions about land use.

One couple started building their home themselves in 1995. It is completely off grid, not even having solar energy and completely without electricity–by choice!

The thing that I find so unique about this off grid home, and the family that owns it, is the total absence of electricity. Most off-grid homes have an alternative source of energy that provides electricity—solar, wind, hydro…

What does no electricity mean? No cell phone, no radio unless battery powered, no TV, no lights, no running water… So many of the things that we are prepping to maintain, this family has chosen to either do without or found a non-electric alternative.

The pay-off to this homeowner built homestead? The only bill they have is ¼ of the property taxes on 60 acres of land!  Think about it, what would you be willing to give up for the freedom of having only one bill a year?

So, What is Life With No Electricity Like?

As I walked up the hill along the stone path to this homeowner built homestead, it felt like I was coming home. In the crisp fall air, the scent of herbs and flowers from the planters in front of the home drifted on the breezes to welcome me.

The ever present stump and axes heralded the sustainably harvested wood for heat and cooking I was to encounter inside.

I entered the front door to be greeted by the masonry heater and wood cook stove. The antique oil lamp hanging above the wood box would be lit in the evenings to greet the residents’ home.

To the left was the living room with an antique—working–player piano that would fill the long winter evenings with music.

The Off Grid Kitchen

As I turned right into the kitchen I remember my great-grandparents’ kitchen, with the hand pump connected to the rainwater-filled cistern (the ram pump had long quit working by then), the aroma of baking bread coming from the wood cook stove, the careful tending of the fire, and the cheery glow from the mantels of the oil lamps flickering in the evening as grandpa would tell us stories of times past.

The wife had just finished baking squash bread and the aroma was heavenly.

The interior of this rustic home has the patina of recycled barn boards. The windows too are recycled and conformed to allow the breezes to flow through the home and cool it in the summer.

Note the owner-built kitchen island with locking wheels, drawers on the side and curtained storage beneath, the blue hand pitcher pump next to the sink, antique hutch to hold glassware, and the ever present cast iron cookware hanging from the wall near the stove.

The wood cook stove is a true antique, refurbished by a professional restorer. All the food preparation and preservation on this homestead takes place on this stove.

This picture shows the tiled counter tops, pitcher pump and the ever present oil lamp. After a sip of hot apple cider and a bit of that delicious squash bread, I entered the combination prep room, bathing and storage area off the kitchen.

The gleam of blue hued Mason canning jars filled with pantry items and spices was only rivaled by the wheat grinder firmly attached to the wood countertop.

I was invited down to the unheated basement. The conversation had gone to how the warm winter had provided no ice for the ice house and a propane refrigerator had been purchased to off-set this inconvenience. More Mason jars filled with the gardens’ produce lined the chill storage area.

It was obvious that this home had been carefully planned to be not only a sustainable retreat, but also of comfort to the family it housed. For me, it was a link to memories long forgotten.

Sharing The Land With Others in An Off Grid Community

As mentioned earlier, they are one of four families sharing 60 acres together, with each family choosing to live slightly differently. Some families choose to have solar panels or other means of electricity on their property.

One family that started a few years later and have a full solar array next to their home. Two of the families visit on weekends and help when they can on communal buildings. Someday they may decide to build, but not in the near future.

There is a communal house on the property that is shared by families, visitors, and interns when they visit, and there is even a teepee.

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This is part of an off grid series, where I take you on a tour of the off-grid home without solar assist and a walk around the farm.

If you enjoyed this post, be sure to check out the other posts featuring their: masonry heater, off grid water systems, gardening efforts, and homestead businesses.

My hope is that you will enjoy the experience as much as I did and perhaps learn, or remember, a bit of an older/newer lifestyle.

Solar cookers harness the power of the sun’s rays to heat and cook food. Because they use only the sun, they are not reliant on a source of fuel, like propane and wood stoves are. This makes them great as a backup cookstove for emergency situations.

Also known as “solar ovens”, “solar grills”, or “solar stoves”, these cookers are also awesome for people that live off-grid full time. While off-gridders will usually have a wood or propane stove for their primary cooking needs, having a solar stove allows you to take advantage of sunny days and save fuel. It’s also cleaner, quieter, and doesn’t emit any smoke or fumes.

There are a million uses for a solar cooker. They can be used to bake bread, cook chicken, heat water, make soups and stews and tons of other things.

So, how do solar cookers work?

To put it simply, solar cookers operate on the principle of reflection. With multiple panels that can be adjusted to capture maximum light, the sun’s rays are then reflected into the center of the stove, to create a concentrated area of heat (much like you might do with a magnifying glass).

What are the main types of solar cookers?

If you are looking around at these suckers, you will have already seen that there are basically 4 main types of solar ovens, that look and function slightly differently.

1. Box Cookers

This group includes the most conventional, “box with a lid” looking cookers. Most of them are rated to cook as high as 200-300 degrees Farenheit in good conditions.

2. Panel Cookers

These are the more scaled down, cheaper models that you see. They can be great cookers and are generally on the more affordable end of the spectrum, although their construction isn’t quite as sturdy, and coatings not always as reflective as other cookers.

3. Parabolic Solar Cookers

Also called “curved concentrator cookers”, these are the things that look like metallic satellite dishes. They can heat up to 600 degrees, but they use a tiny little cookpot, making them not a good fit for many uses.

4. Gosun Style “Grillers”

The Gosun unit (and other similarly styled solar ovens) are nifty but a little limited in size/application (everything has to fit in that little tube). Plus, they are expensive as hell!

Within these 4 different types, you will see millions of different little homemade variations. You will also see some types of stoves that don’t really fit into any of the styles above (such as the tire cooker), but by and large, these are the main styles that you will see.

How long does it take to cook in a solar oven?

Like you might guess, it depends on what you’re cooking and how much sun is out when you’re doing it. It also depends on what type of solar cooker you are using, the size of your sun panels, the thickness of the pot you are cooking with, whether there are clouds in the sky, and even things like the temperature and altitude where you are cooking (although with solid enough sun, you can cook just fine even in freezing temps in the dead of winter).

Here is a handy chart of rough time estimates to cook 4 pounds of food on a sunny day:

How much do solar cookers cost?

Commercially available solar stoves can be expensive. The official “Sun Oven” is listed at $349 (although you can usually find it for quite a bit less online). Folding panel cookers are less. The Sol Cook comes is very popular and sells for just under $100. As mentioned above, the Gosun is extremely expensive, with their “grill” model selling for $700 (I actually saw it on the Home Depot website listed for $822!).

However, there are also plenty of folks creating their own DIY sun ovens. With a little ingenuity and some household materials, you may just be able to come away with a cooker for much less.

DIY Solar Cooker Made Out of A Sun Shade

There are several different kinds of DIY solar stoves out there. One that I had often seen is an oven made out of a reflective windshield sun blocker. I finally made one, and when I did, I was surprised at the results. Works pretty good!

What You Will Need:

• Large reflective sun shade (Walmart, gas station or Amazon)
• 5 gallon bucket
• Oven bags (like the kind you roast a turkey in)
• Dark-colored pot
• Clothes pins, or something else to hold the sun shade in its conical position

How To Cook With It

I picked up a sunshade for $2, clipped it together in a conical/parabolic shape (like the pictures above), and added a five gallon bucket underneath.

Put your food in the pot, and then place the dark-colored pot inside the oven bag. It takes a few hours and works best if it is above 60 degrees, but you can cook without fuel!

The Slightly More Heavy Duty Solar Cooker

The sun shade solar cooker is awesome and does work, but it certainly isn’t heavy duty. If the pot is too heavy, the sun shade alone will not be able to support it. Then if it’s too light, it can be blown over in winds. Even if it isn’t blowing over, the sunshade itself can be blown around in the wind, causing less consistent exposure from the sun’s rays (and less heat).

For these reasons, I decided I would try my hand at putting together a slightly heavier duty solar cooker.

I scrounged up 2 plastic boxes in the basement. The bigger one is from some kind in-ground fountain that someone gave me, and the other one is some kind of bin.

Yes, the outside box could have been cardboard, but with snow and rain in Minnesota, and the potential for dogs getting into my meal, and given that I had one on hand, it just seemed like the thing to do. After all, the goal with this cooker was heavier duty.

I put a sheet of clear plastic in the bigger box and put a garbage bag around the smaller box. Then I put the smaller box into the bigger box and stuffed insulation all around it.

I pulled the smaller box out and taped it thoroughly. YES, I know that this insulation is frowned upon because of fumes, but in Minnesota, I believe in insulation! It is also thoroughly taped and as you will see, it will have a Mylar coating on it so that it should never even get warm.

Mylar on top of the insulation to reflect the sun’s rays and Mylar on the sides of the inside box – not sure about that yet, but I have another box with no Mylar that I’m going to test.

Then I looked for an old picture frame that I could use as a lid to the cooking chamber. I swear this solar cooker was meant to be because I had a picture frame with glass that fits it perfectly!

At this point I still wasn’t sure this was going to work, so I just cut my sides and top out of cardboard and siliconed on the Mylar. Then I duct-taped the flaps onto the box for a trial run.

A dark colored pot is preferred with solar cooking. The reusable oven bag is to add more heat and capture the heat from the pot.

This is the first test run. Got to 150 degrees in that snow bank!

This proved to me that it would work, so I cut up some quarter inch plywood I had laying around and re-siliconed the mylar onto the wood.  I drilled holes in the wood and corresponding ones in the plastic, and used cable ties to hinge the flaps.

I put screws in the two outside flaps to lean the back on, for times when I wanted to get the solar rays at a better angle, and used garden twisties to hold them together. Then, I siliconed the glass to the picture frame, and ran some foam strip sticky seal that I had around the frame to ‘tighten” it a bit more.

So far so good!

I then put a screw in the frame so that I could tell where the full sun was. I have been experimenting with this, and the last test I did, the temperature was about 15 degrees Farenheit, and I got it to 225 degrees – not to shabby (this was with the cooker sitting on the garbage can, not in the snow).

More Iterations and Refinements

Although 225 degrees is pretty solid, I still want to refine this more.

I’m thinking another panel on the front. And a way to tilt it up. The cable ties snapped at just 5 degrees above zero so I replaced them with electric fencing wire. And I am looking for a glass container to put the cooking pot in because the glass will amplify the solar heating.

To make a riser for tilt, I cut three strips of wood and siliconed them onto the bottom of the box.

Then I took a scrap of 2×4 and a board, screwed them together to complete the riser.

Well, then I had to add more screws to the side flaps  for more adjustments on the top flap.

I added a bottom flap that I made adjustable just by drilling a hole on either side of that and a hole in each of the side flaps and lacing garden plant ties through it.

Oops! Got so hot it warped and melted holes in the inside plastic box! So then I took some aluminum flashing scrap I had around and made an aluminum box for it, painted it black – I need to keep my eye out now for an old metal box, maybe a bread box or something for the inside.

All in All

So, with materials I just had laying around the house I created this solar cooker that is pretty much weather resistant, dog and cat resistant, not nice enough where anyone would want to walk off with it, and it all folds into itself so it is easily stored.

Why should I bother doing this now? My experience has been that even though someone on YouTube or in an article can do this or that, doesn’t mean I can. And there is always a learning curve! It didn’t cost me anything and I have the time right now to build it and learn how to use it.

If the grid should go down tomorrow for a month or a year, how will you cook (in reality, not in theory)? Do you have what you need and know how to use it?

Videos, Plans, and More DIYs

Printable PDF – One of the best downloadables I’ve found on solar ovens, how to make them, and how to use them. From Solar Cookers International.

Solar Cooking Wikia – Several plans and DIYs (basically the motherlode of all things solar cooking)

Solar cooking IS a PROVEN technology. That said, you have to have sunshine. In Minnesota the sun does not always shine, and it gets cold. At this post, we are again below zero at night… Will winter ever end???

Because the sun does not always shine, I am also creating a thermal cooker that can be used whether there is sun or not. Much like a Wonderbag, the thermal cooker I’m making is kinda like an off grid slow cooker. If interested, check it out here.

After viewing many videos on YouTube, I decided to purchase the Deadwood Stove. Seemed like the best value for the money. And I can say that I am not disappointed! It arrived promptly and I was totally impressed with the quality, construction and good leather gloves that were included.

I like these stoves so much, that now I even have two Deadwood Stoves! These are, to my mind, mini-wood stoves that are so well built they will be passed down for generations.

I’m old and disabled, so weight is a concern for me. The Deadwood Stove is 18 lbs. Not light, but for the quality of construction it is made for durability—5 year warranty. This is a mini-woodstove–I’m guessing 50 years plus. The Deadwood Stove is something you can pass onto the kids. This makes the $250 I spent on my gas grill look like money ill-spent as that, even though it is stainless steel, is already rusting (1 year old!).

6 Month Update on The Deadwood

I’ve had my Deadwood Stove for about six months now. I’m thrilled! Here are a few of the high notes:

• With dry sticks and pinecones it boils a quart of water within 10 minutes.
• I keep one (Yes, I actually have two now!) on top of a table on the patio so I don’t have to bend over.
• It has removable legs, so it is perfect on a tabletop.
• The legs have a slight adjustability
• Roasted marshmallows within three minutes!
• You can grill a steak (or tinfoil anything) to perfection directly on top of the built-in grill just by adjusting how many sticks you feed into the front of the stove.
• Wind blowing the wrong way? Just turn it! Works best facing the sticks into the wind—no smoke!

I put wood chips in a tin foil pan in my propane grill to get that delicious wood smoke flavor… Turn the Deadwood Stove slightly angled to the wind and you don’t need to add smoke! Actually, I’ve been contemplating how I can use a Deadwood to create a smoker. I’m sure it can be done; I just have to figure it out.

With two Deadwood Stoves you can pretty much do a meal. My two Deadwood Stoves have almost made the propane grill obsolete! And between we use them camping and the kids also using them, the savings in not buying firewood at state parks has already paid for both in one summer!

Only problem… The kids! Expect that they will borrow one for every camping expedition. The son even uses it on his pontoon boat! And my husband takes it with him on his Harley when camping!  And if two of the kids go camping at one time, well, you are sans your Deadwood Stoves. Not good if you get the grandkids.

My son even sidled up and asked who was going to inherit the Deadwood’s (He already has dibs on the 12 gauge and .38)! Not cheap, but they are definitely worth the money.

Can You Use The Deadwood As an Indoor Rocket Stove?

With the bitter cold winter we have had this year and the electricity going on and off, I got to thinking about the Deadwood for interior cooking as well. Sorry, but I am not going to feed sticks into a rocket stove outside to cook when it is -20 with wind chills of -50.

It IS Minnesota!

WOW, am I impressed! For cooking all I did was clean out a spaghetti sauce can, tear off the label, stick it upside down inside the Deadwood for height, then I took a cleaned soup can with label torn off, put 10 cotton balls in it, poured maybe a half a cup of rubbing alcohol over that, let it soak-in good for about 15 minutes, lit it with a BBQ lighter and I had water too hot to touch with steam rising within 5 minutes!

Plenty good enough to cook on!

The Deadwood cooked okay with just a common candle too. But I think that a three wick survival candle would work a lot better. I also tried putting one of those pocket stoves in it with a fuel tablet and that worked great!

The legs on the Deadwood are positioned to make the stove easy to cook on just sitting on a chair. Remove the legs and you have a counter top or table top stove where you can easily stand and cook.

Below the grate the Deadwood is a bit less than 5”x5” , so Sterno fuel, camp heat, survival candles, fuel tablets, nearly any kind of solid camping fuel, can be used with it when you are indoors (and of course sticks for outside).

The only thing you have to be careful of if you are cooking indoors, is not to put too big of a pot on it that snuffs out the fire. And that may not be a problem because it can draw oxygen from below it also.

This is a very versatile, indoor-capable rocket stove!

Deadwood Is Also Awesome for Outdoor Cooking

We like to grill on the back deck. I like my propane grill, but it doesn’t have a burner. And the more I grill, the more I would like an extra burner for boiling corn-on-the-cob, sautéing mushrooms and onions, whatever.

The grandkids come over and want to make s’mores. Even though I have a fire ring down by the creek it is a chore to start up a campfire for 10 minutes of roasted marshmallows and then they are off to something else.

We have lots of tree–maple, birch and various spruce trees. We have branches come down in every storm and a lifetime supply of pine cones! So I have been looking at rocket stoves using biomass (sticks and pine cones), for perhaps two years now. Weighing the pros and cons and trying to decide what I really want from it.

Did I say money was tight? Everything I purchase has to work for multiple purposes.

Awesome Stove for Emergencies, Grilling, or Camping

If the power goes out and no natural gas is available, how am I going to cook? The propane grill will only work for so long and only for so much, so the Deadwood could come in handy there.

But what if nothing ever happens? How can I use a rocket stove to justify the purchase? I NEED at least one extra burner on the deck near the grill. I could satisfy the grandkids with their s’mores and hotdogs without creating a bonfire, and the kids could gather the twigs needed to fire it—yard cleanup.

It would definitely be handy for our camping excursions and would save us money by not having to buy firewood at the site (Minnesota is currently under a ban for unauthorized firewood being brought into parks due to an emerald ash borer infestation threat). And…. the kids could borrow it.

The heart of a homestead is the hearth. And when our off grid family was making building decisions, the choice to have a masonry heater was the first one they made.

Their masonry wood heater was a DIY project built from native limestone and includes a baking oven. It was built in the center of the home so that its warmth could radiate outward and upward to keep the whole home cozy and warm in the northern winters.

Only the doors, firebrick, piping and mortar were purchased to create this mammoth heater. The cast iron doors were purchased from a masonry stove dealer in Vermont, and the rest locally.

So just how efficient is it? 

Well, the owners of this masonry stove said they only need to burn a fire once a day to keep the whole house warm unless it is below zero, then two fires a day suffice. And they only used three cords of wood between the masonry heater AND the wood cook stove last year!

I was very impressed with that, given that I used an average of seven cords of wood every winter for my very efficient wood stoves.

The upper stove is a baking oven. The owners often bake bread and pizzas in the oven, just after the fire has died down, or use it was a “warming drawer”.

In the basement, directly below the masonry stove is this ash can—a large galvanized trash can. Note the strength of the cement block wall to hold the weight of the stone above it. If you have ever dealt with wood stoves you realize immediately how convenient this is to clean out the ashes! Plus the wood ash is excellent for making lye and enriching the garden (do not use wood ash where you plant potatoes as they will scab).

With the masonry heater being the first decision that was made in building this homestead, the rest of the home was designed around the concept. Heat rises and fills the upstairs sleeping areas with warmth. A round antique heat vent in the upstairs of the home allows the radiant heat to rise more efficiently than just through the stairwell.

A Brief History of Masonry Heaters

The earliest known use of masonry heating technology dates back all the way to the Neoglacial and Neolithic periods of human history. These ancient civilizations are said to have used the smoke of fires to provide radiant heat for their underground homes. 

In all of human history, the Kang bed-stove is one of the earliest known instances of modern masonry heater technology. From as early as 5000 B.C., these Chinese “bed-stoves” were multi-person dwelling units primarily made of huge blocks of masonry to retain heat in colder climates. Around the world, forms of masonry heat grew organically in low temperature areas like Eastern Europe and Northern Asia, adopting various forms and names in countries like Russia and Sweden.

Eventually, masonry heaters lost popularity to forms of electric and gas heat found in most homes today. With that said, masonry heaters have seen a renewed popularity in recent years for its ability to provide a sustained off-grid source of heat. 

Other Names for Masonry Heaters

Masonry heaters have been used in many different cultures and have therefore been called several different names. Here are some of the most common alternative names for masonry heaters:

• Masonry Fireplace
• Masonry Oven
• Masonry Furnace
• Masonry Stove
• Russian Stove

Additionally, some masonry fireplaces are covered in tile. In these cases, a masonry oven can be referred to as a: 

• Cocklestove
• Kachelofen
• Tilestove
• Or Ceramic Stove

Why do People Like Masonry Heaters? 

People have been using masonry heaters, or early forms of the device, for thousands of years. This is because they are one of the best ways to heat a home for long periods of time, without being overly expensive to run. 

Masonry fireplaces can easily warm a dwelling for an entire day, with very little upkeep required. Primarily, masonry furnaces are fueled with firewood. In the right areas with a lot of tree coverage, this makes the system very sustainable and inexpensive for ongoing use. 

How do Masonry Heaters work?

Masonry heaters are devices that can be used to warm an interior space with radiant heating (similar to baseboard heaters, or hydronic heating in a floor). As they are named for the material, masonry heaters are made up of masonry, which is typically brick, soapstone, stone, tile, stucco, or a combination of several materials. 

To put it simply, masonry heaters work like a sponge. A wood fire is burned rapidly, usually one to two hours. Heat from the fire is captured within bricks, stone, or tile and “soaked in.” Once these materials have been warmed, they will continue to radiate heat for many hours. In an enclosed space like a living room, the radiant heat from a masonry furnace can be used to keep interior temperatures high, even in the dead of winter.

Masonry heaters are designed to be easy to both use and clean. Typically, a masonry furnace can be loaded with firewood and burned safely with the smoke escaping through a chimney. When in use, there are a few basic mechanical features that allow for people to safely operate the system, maximizing the amount of heat without comprising safety.

Upkeep is extremely important when considering the lifetime of a masonry heater. In addition to continuously unloading of the burnt ashes, the interior of a chimney should be accessible so that it can be properly cleaned regularly.

Off grid laundry has come up a number of times as a self-sufficiency topic for 2 reasons:

1. Because many people in our crowd are wanting to be free from the electrical and water grids, and need find another way of washing clothes.
2. Because we are also usually looking for ways to save money.

The reality is this though: an off grid washing machine is a necessity for anyone looking to spend a significant amount of time away from cities and towns, living off grid, or simply living a minimalist lifestyle. These machines range from small capacity, manually operated units to larger electric units with washing programs and spin dry capabilities.

The Short Answer

1. Giantex Full-Automatic Washing Machine

The Giantex Full-Automatic Washing Machine is a great option for making a dent in that laundry pile. It offers full control over washing functions, water levels, and delays via the LCD display. The child lock offers a handy way to lock all buttons and functions and sounds an alarm if the lid is opened, a great feature for homes with curious little ones. The clear lid allows users to monitor the washing progress and water condition.

The modestly sized cabinet is only 33.6” x 19.8” x 19.7”, and fits in nearly any nook of your cabin, boat, or camper. Once you have loaded the 9.9-pound capacity stainless steel honeycomb basket, simply hook up the water inlet to your faucet, position the drain hose, and set your wash program. This unit will auto-regulate water intake, and if the load becomes unbalanced, the auto-balance feature will pause the wash cycle and work to redistribute the load more evenly.

Other Great Off-Grid Washing Machines

2. Panda PAN6320W

Not only does the Panda PAN6320W have a full array of programs for load types, water levels, and wash durations, but it features a water pump to quickly empty the unit. This water can be discharged via the 55-inch long drain hose to any gray water holding tank or disposal area. It has an included water supply line with adapters ready for any standard US faucet type.

All this comes in a unit that is only 34” x 20” x 19”, and even includes casters for simple maneuvering in your RV, camper, or cabin. The stainless steel basket will not rust or corrode and can handle up to 10 pounds of clothes at a time. You will not have to worry about draining your solar battery array or having to stress your generator because this washer only requires 310W to run on a standard 110V grounded outlet.

3. Giantex Portable Mini Compact Twin Tub Washing Machine

The Giantex Mini Twin Tub model cuts out some of the bells and whistles, while still remaining a solid functioning washer, for a lower price point. The washer portion of the unit uses 260W, and the spin dryer uses just 140W, of standard 120V/60Hz power. The dual water intake allows you to fill the washer side manually but also allows some water to be added to the spin side, to better rinse the clothes of any remaining soap, while drying them.

One of the great things about this unit is it is significantly shorter than several others at just under 30 inches. This can be nice if you plan on storing it under a counter, table, or tucked away elsewhere. It measures 28.5” x 24.8” x 15”. The small size and lightweight come in handy when it needs to drain, it comes with a 20” hose to facilitate easily gravity draining the washtub.

4. KUPPET Compact Twin Tub Portable Mini Washing Machine

The KUPPET Compact Twin Tub Portable Mini Washing Machine packs a whopping 18-pound wash capacity in a sleek and modern design. The controls are a clean and uncomplicated set of three dials, for the wash timer, wash selector, and spin timer. The stainless steel snap ring keeps the water supply line securely attached to nearly any faucet size or type.

This high efficiency portable washer can be stored easily as it measures only 33.4” x 27.9” x 17.3”, and comes with a 56” drain hose, so when the drain pump empties the tub, you can make sure the water goes where you want it without having to move the unit to drain.

The unit has a 15-minute wash timer and 5-minute dry timer, so you can be sure that you always have full control over your wash cycles, without having to babysit the unit.

5. SUPER DEAL Portable Compact Mini Twin Tub Washing Machine

The SUPER DEAL Portable Compact Mini Twin Tub Washing Machine packs a lot of power into a small cabinet. The unique pulsator agitates the clothes without damaging them or bunching up and throwing the washtub off balance.

Each tub has its own water inlet for easy filling and rinsing. Fill the washer side before starting the 15-minute wash timer, switch tubs and add a small amount of water while spinning in order to help rinse out any remaining soap, and ensure a clean and complete spin out.

The 26” x 13” x 12” cabinet is small enough, and at just over 26 pounds it is light enough, to be stored or moved just about anywhere. It comes with a handy cover plate for the spin tub, that minimizes splashing and keeps the nearly dry clothes from coming out during the spin cycle. Even when both tubs are working, this unit is extra quiet, as long as the loads are balanced.  

6. Wonder Wash Compact Washing Machine

The Wonder Wash Compact Washing Machine is one of the most well-known and well-loved off grid washing machines. It is a fully non-electric hand washer for clothes, and requires only a slow crank to tumble the drum and agitate your clothes.

While the small 5-pound capacity seems small, the average two to five minute wash time and minimal water usage make it possible to do several loads of laundry per hour.

One of the great things about this fully manual unit is the ease of operation, right down to the lid. Instead of having to screw and unscrew the lid each time, there is a unique lever lock.

Simply lift the lever, swap the load, replace the lid and push the lever down and it’s ready for another tumble. This unit is one of the greenest options you can get, using zero electricity, and nearly 90% less water than standard washers.

7. Lavario Portable Clothes Washer

The Lavario Portable Clothes Washer is another fantastic non-electric washer. Rather than a tumbler method, this washer uses a clothes basket nestled tightly in the water bucket.

Lifting and plunging the clothes basket activates the Powerflow Technology, where the push and pull strokes force water through the fabric to get your clothes clean quickly and completely. It uses minimal arm strength for maximum results. Gravity and buoyancy do most of the work.

Perfect for RVs, cabins, boats, or even apartments and dorm rooms. A typical load of laundry in the Lavario takes less than 20 minutes from first fill to last rinse and empty. Super lightweight and portable, this washer can go pretty much anywhere and doesn’t use any electricity.

Ready To Try Your Hand At Some Off Grid Laundry? Keep These Things in Mind:

1. First of all, remember that if you live in a true “4 seasons” climate, winter is a nasty time to to air dry your clothes. With freezing temps and very little sun, it’s easy for clothes to turn to ice on the line.
2. If you choose to get a wringer, remember that buttons and zippers will have a hard time passing through a wringer, and can actually be broken by it. In order to avoid this, just zip tie a thin sponge around either end – enough give to not break anything, but still get the water out. A manual clothes wringer and a few other types of off grid washing machines allow you to control how fast the clothes go through, so you can keep a closer eye and more careful touch on “problem clothing.”
3. Watch fingers, hair, clothing… and…. other body parts near the wringer!

What To Look For In Your Off-Grid Washing Machine

Size

This is a consideration that many of us face when buying a new appliance for off-grid use. Not only is storage space at a premium, but when it is being used, it has to be worth the space it takes up.

For the electric units, you will need a nook, or closet, under-counter, or under-table space for it to live. 

For a smaller non-electric washer or manual washer machine, you can probably store them lots of places, even in the smallest broom closet. 

This size vs. function trade-off can be negotiated if you have large amounts of laundry. For example, if you have a spouse and multiple children, that laundry can pile up, and being able to wash 8-10 pounds at a time can make that extra size worth it.

Power

Depending on the type of off-grid environment you plan to use it in, this can be the deciding factor.

For use in situations where you have power, like cabins and RVs, you will want to be as economical as possible with your electricity. To this end, we have made efforts to lists the power consumption where possible, so that you can determine which ones will fit your needs. If you have the power to spare, an electric model might be right for you. They are a great combination of economy, portability, and convenience.

For scenarios where you are unable to spare the electricity, such as just getting started with solar, where you may not have a large battery bank yet, or even extended camping situations where you will not have power at all, then the fully manual models will be the best. You will still be able to do small loads quickly and efficiently. 

Capacity

When looking at the capacity, most models are measured in pounds of dry laundry that can fit in the basket. This is another point where you have to evaluate your specific needs. For a single person or a couple, you probably will not need more than a few pounds of laundry at a time, unless you space out your washings. If you wash for more than one or two people, it will probably be more economical for you to get a little larger unit, so that you will not have to do dozens of loads before you finish. 

Drying Ability

Drying is nearly a fully luxury option. Even the models that have a spin-dry tub, it will not get your clothes fully dry as a residential unit will. But there will be a convenience and time compromise between 

Gravity Or Pump Drain

This is another option that may be a luxury to some and a necessity for others. When you consider where you may be storing and using your washer, you may need the water pump for easy draining, or you might be able to just run the drain hose and let gravity do the work. Obviously the models with a drain pump will need electricity, so keep that in mind when evaluating your possible choices.

What About DIY Washing Setups?

The Windmill

I live on the edge of the prairie and we have several great wind farms within 10 miles of here. I’ve had a hankering to try building this wind driven washing machine for a while just as an experiment to see if I have enough wind to make this work as this property is nestled in a valley with an old RR truss blocking the west wind and that is what got me back on the subject of laundry.

3-Bucket Setup for Rinsing and Wringing

I stumbled across a couple of posts on off grid laundry that have some unique ideas that I thought you may find valuable.

The poster is working with a standard plunger type manual washer in a bucket, but her rinse setup is what impressed me! Three 5 or 6 gallon buckets, bottom one holds the grey water for reuse, middle one is full of holes to press the water out of the clothes, top one has a lid and you just sit on it to rinse the water out of the clothes. Very simple, low cost, and ingenious!

And what about getting the clothes even drier? The Charming Spinner! Amish built, or at least sold, works with an off-grid battery type setup and regular electric, and Lordy, I want one!

There is no such thing as an energy efficient dryer. Although the ones that have a solid top with the lint removal in front toward the bottom are about 20% more efficient. The thing is that the clothes come out of the washing machine wet, even if you spin them twice. She swears that this little spinner can save 1/2 the time in drying clothes – and yes, you have the grey water to reuse.

I save an easy $75 a year hanging my clothes out during the summer. However, the winter is dryer time. I’m thinking the Charming Spinner would pay for itself in about 2 years and be there in a preparedness situation. Please let me know if you have any experience with this little machine as I had not heard of it before.

The Industrial Mop Bucket

How about the idea of using a simple janitor’s mop buck and the wringer as a clothes wringer?

I ran across this really neat manual washing machine with an agitating basket. And then I ran across an article by a gal who is using a simple janitor’s bucket to rinse and wring out her clothes – accessible, simple and effective.

FAQs

How do I do laundry off-grid?

Doing laundry off-grid is surprisingly similar to doing laundry using conventional residential washers and dryers, or commercial washers and dryers at a laundromat. For starters, regardless of whether you have an electric or non-electric unit, you will need a water supply.

Most of the electric units will have a water inlet similar to your conventional machines, where if you have a faucet or other source of pressurized water, the inlet hose attaches to that and you fill the machine after loading your clothes and adding your detergent.

You can also fill via the lid, by pouring your water in. This is handy if you use a rainwater catchment that is not pressurized. With a non-electric unit, you simply add the water manually.

Once the unit has your clothes, detergent, and water, it is time to wash. For the electric models, select your wash options and duration, and let it run. For the manual washers, you need to agitate them yourself, then drain and refill for the rinse. Electric units will drain automatically, whether it is via a drain pump or gravity drain. Some electric models will handle the water inlet and monitor the level, so they can wash, drain, and rinse all by themselves.

You want to make sure that you are discharging your dirty water to a greywater collection if you are trying to conserve water because unlike black water, greywater can be added to the garden beds or used for other utilitarian purposes. 

How do I use an off grid washing machine?

Using manual washing machines is extremely simple. Just fill them up and add water. Depending on the model, to agitate you will need to manually crank the handle to tumble the load like with the Wonder Wash or pull and push the basket up and down as with the Lavario. Once you have agitated the load for 2-5 minutes, the soiling should be sufficiently mitigated. After the first wash cycle, particularly with manual machines, you may need a second cycle if the clothes were heavily soiled or stained. So just add more water, a little more detergent, and repeat.

To rinse, simply fill with water without detergent, and agitate well for a few more minutes, then drain and either wring out your clothes or take them straight to the line for drying. Particularly with manual washers, wringing will speed up the dry time immensely, because there is no spin cycle to help remove the extra water before hanging up to dry.

Where do I buy an off-grid washing machine?

Like most things these days, you can obtain very economical and well-performing options from online marketplaces like Amazon. They will have enormous amounts of options and variants you can choose from. You will be able to find something that will fit your needs, without devastating your budget.

Of course, there are other options from other sources. There are off-grid suppliers, and shops that sell Amish-built goods, but generally speaking those options are incredibly expensive. There are all-metal manual washers that are nearly a thousand dollars, and for those of us living an off-grid lifestyle, that sort of expense for a laundry item is very nearly out of the question. You can spend about a fifth of that on a very useful electric or non-electric model, and with a few extra dollars at an antique store or yard sale pick up a roller wringer, and you have a laundry set up that will be of service for years to come.

How do I power my off grid washing machine?

There are two options, electricity, or elbow grease. Several of the units we have highlighted make use of conventional 120V power, and a few are fully manual. 

Electric units can be powered via a generator, or they can run from a solar or wind-powered washing setup with a battery bank and a modestly priced inverter. With the price of solar systems and lithium batteries becoming much more affordable than even 5 years ago, it is easier than ever before to have steady and reliable power for conveniences like small washers.

The manual washers operate without electricity, and instead use good old fashioned elbow grease. Nearly all types of manual washers require a crank to tumble the clothes, or a plunging motion to forces the water through the clothes and to agitate them. Either way, they tend to move the clothes around more, so your wash cycles with manual units tend to be shorter but more effective.

What kind of soap or laundry detergent will I need for my off grid washing machine?

The great part about all of these units we have showcased, is that they can use anything from standard high efficiency detergent, to homemade dry detergent mixes, to old fashioned bar soap shavings.

One of the bonuses to simplifying your life and going off-grid is that things you use end up being simpler to use as well. These small off-grid washers are simple, yet effective enough, that they do not have the delicate electronics and sensors that can get gummed up by using the “wrong” laundry detergent.

These machines do not have a preference. They use simple motors and simple pumps, so no matter what kind of soap you feed them, they should still do an amazing job of cleaning your clothes without taking up an entire room or costing an arm and a leg.

What’s the difference between washers, wringers, and spinners?

Wringing and spinning are both ways to get the water out of your clothes when you are done washing them. You can find wringers and spinners that are electrically powered or manual, although if you’re reading this post, I assume you’re probably thinking about going off grid (or at least “grid minimal“).

Wringing your clothes sends them through 2 rollers that tightly squeeze almost all the water out.

On the other hand, spinners use centrifugal force to pull water out of clothes as they are quickly spun around. Exact same concept as a washing machine that spins around at the end of the cycle.

Depending on how elaborate of an off grid laundry system you have, a wringer or spinner might be attached somehow or part of your washing machine, or if you’re washing your clothes in a bucket, it might be the only contraption you actually have.

On the whole, spinners are usually a better option. They are faster and less effort, and they tend to squeeze more water out of your clothes. Instead of having to crank your clothes through, 1 by 1, you can do a bunch at one time, and then hang them up to dry.

The Bottom Line

When it comes down to it, there is no one right answer for any one particular scenario. If you have power and a little bit of extra space, the Panda PAN6320W is the biggest bang for your buck. You get the convenience of a powerful washer, in a small space, with enough bells and whistles to make the expense worth it.

On the other hand, if power or space is a rare commodity, or you just plan on living without much of either, like extended camping periods, or use on a boat deck, then the Wonder Wash or the Lavario are great options, with the Wonder Wash being easier to use and smaller, with the Lavario able to handle slightly bigger loads and wash a bit more effectively per load.