Meet the Drumi – the washing machine that uses NO electricity

July 30th, 2015

Appliance News Appliance Talk Environment, Energy & Water Saving Laundry Washers & Dryers

Appliances Online is all about embracing change, and we keep an eye on all the latest and greatest innovations in the world of appliance design.

One great place to find bold new appliances is the James Dyson Award, an international design competition that “celebrates, encourages and inspires the next generation of design engineers.”

To win the award, budding designers from the 20 participating countries need to follow the very broad brief of “Design something that solves a problem.” Sounds like the definition of an appliance to us!

One of the first finalists in this year’s award caught our eye – a compact washing machine that doesn’t require ANY electricity!

The Drumi

Winner of the national James Dyson Award for Canada, the Drumi was inspired by designer Yi Jiang’s frustration of living in high-rise accomodation and having to drag clothes down to the communal laundry facilities.

source: James Dyson Award

The machine is about the size of a water cooler bottle, and weighs less than 7 kilos, which means it can find a place even in the most compact homes, and can be easily moved out of the way when required.

This compact design in turn means a smaller wash capacity – according to the designers, it can wash about three T-shirts, three pairs of socks, and three pairs of underwear at once, or a single pair of jeans, but can’t handle towels or bedsheets. While this means the Drumi will never completely replace a full-sized washing machine, it could still save a lot of time and energy by looking after small wash loads on an everyday basis.

The Drumi works by filling the internal ball-shaped drum with clothes, water and detergent, then closing the lid and pumping the foot pedal to rotate the drum. By using the ball system rather than a vertical drum like a traditional top-loader, the Drumi can benefit from the gentler gravity-supported wash action of a front-loader, which means less wear and tear on your clothes.

It takes about 2 minutes of pumping to complete a wash, another 2 minutes to rinse, and 1 minute to spin.  This may sound like a bit of effort, but according to the designers, it’s not a huge workout (so yes, you can still skip leg day). And while the Drumi was originally designed for urban living, it would be equally useful when camping or caravanning, or in areas lacking access to electricity.

So what’s next for the Drumi? Well, as the James Dyson Award’s national winner for Canada, it will have a chance to win the final international prize in November 2015. We’ll be keeping an eye out for the announcement of other finalists to see whether any other exciting new home appliances will be among its competition!

And if you’re keen for a Drumi of your very own, manufacturer YiREGO has made it available for pre-order to Canadia and the USA (international markets will be opened up at the end of 2015), with an estimated delivery time of August 2016.