Amazed no-one had come up with this before...

HAL9000

Simple solution...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-40821915

stratman3142

Yes I saw that. It seems so obvious, if there's enough space for the increased volume. I once did my back in trying to move a washing machine.

Moominpapa

That's really smart, I hope it takes off. Washing machines are ridiculously unwieldy to move around.

ICBM

It's really quite amazing how recently wheeled luggage was invented too.

joeyowen

It really is so simple. So simple no one thought of it.

I hope it takes off for obvious reasons 

chillidoggy

I bought a secondhand washing machine years ago, and was surprised how light it was to move around. It always shook like fuck when it went into spin mode, though. When I took the top of it to change something a while later, I noticed the concrete block was missing, just the bolts left.

axisus

Saw this earlier today, I would have thought that you would need a vastly bigger space for the water to weigh the same as concrete. Maybe that's why it hasn't been thought of before, people didn't think it practical. 

Sporky

axisus said:

Saw this earlier today, I would have thought that you would need a vastly bigger space for the water to weigh the same as concrete. 

Concrete is 2.4 times the density of water, so it needs to be 2.4 times the size. There's usually a bit of spare space left inside the machine. I wonder if you could also take advantage of the "slop" by having a part-filled tank, or if that'd make it worse...

FX_Munkee

I do hope they've considered what happens when it freezes.
Seeing as the concrete is just there as a mass damper, there's loads of other solutions you could use but all of them would require cost in terms of design and materials.
Would be nice to see a £3k Miele machine with active suspension

aord43

FX_Munkee said:

I do hope they've considered what happens when it freezes.
Seeing as the concrete is just there as a mass damper, there's loads of other solutions you could use but all of them would require cost in terms of design and materials.
Would be nice to see a £3k Miele machine with active suspension

"If" it freezes, surely?
Either using a container with expansion space, or antifreeze should do the trick, I would have thought.
It's not as if there is no other water in various pipes in the machine anyway.
Active suspension lol

Modulus_Amps

as long as they don't slowly leak out, a machine without the weight will rip the room apart once it gets going

boogieman

aord43 said:

FX_Munkee said:

I do hope they've considered what happens when it freezes.
Seeing as the concrete is just there as a mass damper, there's loads of other solutions you could use but all of them would require cost in terms of design and materials.
Would be nice to see a £3k Miele machine with active suspension

"If" it freezes, surely?
Either using a container with expansion space, or antifreeze should do the trick, I would have thought.
It's not as if there is no other water in various pipes in the machine anyway.
Active suspension lol

Wouldn't it need some sort of additive in the water anyway to stop it eventually turning green and stinky? Antifreeze sounds a good idea. 

FX_Munkee

aord43 said:

FX_Munkee said:

I do hope they've considered what happens when it freezes.
Seeing as the concrete is just there as a mass damper, there's loads of other solutions you could use but all of them would require cost in terms of design and materials.
Would be nice to see a £3k Miele machine with active suspension

"If" it freezes, surely?
Either using a container with expansion space, or antifreeze should do the trick, I would have thought.
It's not as if there is no other water in various pipes in the machine anyway.
Active suspension lol

Engineering hat says "when", there is no "if"
The active suspension isn't that far fetched, you basically have a drum suspended on springs. The concrete is there to add inertia so that when it moves it does so relatively slowly. Just add some hydraulic dampers instead and if you're really flash some of those electro-magneticly modifiable ones

Axe_meister

boogieman said:

aord43 said:

FX_Munkee said:

I do hope they've considered what happens when it freezes.
Seeing as the concrete is just there as a mass damper, there's loads of other solutions you could use but all of them would require cost in terms of design and materials.
Would be nice to see a £3k Miele machine with active suspension

"If" it freezes, surely?
Either using a container with expansion space, or antifreeze should do the trick, I would have thought.
It's not as if there is no other water in various pipes in the machine anyway.
Active suspension lol

Wouldn't it need some sort of additive in the water anyway to stop it eventually turning green and stinky? Antifreeze sounds a good idea. 

No you just fill the tank as part of the wash cycle and empty it as part of the spin cycle.

Octafish

FX_Munkee said:

aord43 said:

FX_Munkee said:

I do hope they've considered what happens when it freezes.
Seeing as the concrete is just there as a mass damper, there's loads of other solutions you could use but all of them would require cost in terms of design and materials.
Would be nice to see a £3k Miele machine with active suspension

"If" it freezes, surely?
Either using a container with expansion space, or antifreeze should do the trick, I would have thought.
It's not as if there is no other water in various pipes in the machine anyway.
Active suspension lol

Engineering hat says "when", there is no "if"
The active suspension isn't that far fetched, you basically have a drum suspended on springs. The concrete is there to add inertia so that when it moves it does so relatively slowly. Just add some hydraulic dampers instead and if you're really flash some of those electro-magneticly modifiable ones

When do washing machines ever freeze? Maybe if kept in a outbuilding they can, but that will cause problems with a machine with a concrete block in it anyaway, not to mention the associated plumbing it's attached to. There's is warning in my washing machine's manual (I read it on a regular basis) to never let the machine freeze up.

Octafish

HAL9000 said:

Simple solution...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-40821915

The cynic in my thinks that manufacturers would mak ethe tank out of a life limited plastic that will fatique and leak after a period of time, thus helping to ensure extra repair bills and need for a replacement machine.

Gagaryn

Axe_meister said:

boogieman said:

aord43 said:

FX_Munkee said:

I do hope they've considered what happens when it freezes.
Seeing as the concrete is just there as a mass damper, there's loads of other solutions you could use but all of them would require cost in terms of design and materials.
Would be nice to see a £3k Miele machine with active suspension

"If" it freezes, surely?
Either using a container with expansion space, or antifreeze should do the trick, I would have thought.
It's not as if there is no other water in various pipes in the machine anyway.
Active suspension lol

Wouldn't it need some sort of additive in the water anyway to stop it eventually turning green and stinky? Antifreeze sounds a good idea. 

No you just fill the tank as part of the wash cycle and empty it as part of the spin cycle.

Is the correct answer. Edit - however, I'm sure the Ecover shitey washing product lovers would point out that that is a waste of water.

What you could do, is empty and refill  the ballast after a set number of washes. My machine already reminds me to check the filter and run a clean cycle periodically so could easily do that.

Legionreturns

If you can use water, presumably you could also use sand ala the old swing ball bases you used to have in your garden? Sand is less likely to leak and doesn't change with temperature. I'm certainly not a scientist or engineer though. Just the ponderings of a guy who lived through the 80s...

chillidoggy

boogieman said:

aord43 said:

FX_Munkee said:

I do hope they've considered what happens when it freezes.
Seeing as the concrete is just there as a mass damper, there's loads of other solutions you could use but all of them would require cost in terms of design and materials.
Would be nice to see a £3k Miele machine with active suspension

"If" it freezes, surely?
Either using a container with expansion space, or antifreeze should do the trick, I would have thought.
It's not as if there is no other water in various pipes in the machine anyway.
Active suspension lol

Wouldn't it need some sort of additive in the water anyway to stop it eventually turning green and stinky? Antifreeze sounds a good idea. 

Buckfast if you're north of the Border.

RandallFlagg

Washing machines my arse, I make my missus wash our clothes in the river Ouse, and we bath in it too.

Ravenous

Modulus_Amps said:

as long as they don't slowly leak out, a machine without the weight will rip the room apart once it gets going

My old man was one of those assholes who never reads the manual.

He fitted a new machine himself, but never popped the top off to unscrew the locking bolts that keep the innards anchored solid during transit.

Mumsy complained for weeks about the machine vibrating, jumping for attention and making lots of noise during spin.

Eventually I opened it up myself and found one of the locking bolts (about 6mm or so diameter) had snapped anyway and the others were probably on the way!

It was quiet after that. (So was Dad...)