Hand Washing Cloth Diapers in a Lavario Portable Clothes Washer

If you want to take your hand washing cloth diaper game to a whole new level Lavario Portable Clothes Washer is where it’s at!  I’m personally really impressed with how well made and sturdy it is and how well it cleans with pretty minimal effort.

Lavario wanted to design a non electric, hand powered washer that could be used anywhere, wash not only small items but also jeans and sweatshirts, and be made in the USA. It’s really a tall order to fill. But I can 100% say that I would recommend this washer to anyone who is interested in hand washing cloth diapers or clothing. Lavario has been kind enough to give my readers an exclusive 20% off coupon! Enjoy! Any of the links below will automatically apply the discount to your cart. But if you have issues just use the code AACD20 at checkout! https://lavariowasher.com/

Sure, there are other ways to hand wash. Cheaper ways. But for one thing, I am not a DIY’er. I’m the pinterest fail person. Secondly, I’m lazy and short on time. I need something that comes to me in a box, works easily, and gets the job done.

I received this Lavario Portable Clothes Washer for review purposes but all opinions and statements made are honest and true.

The Lavario is made of Polypropylene and High Density Polyethylene, which are free of harmful BPA, DINP or DIDP. Shipping to the lower 48 states is fast and free and available from the https://lavariowasher.com/ website. My washer certainly arrived quickly. I think it only took two days. The box was easy to open and there is only one step to complete before you use it. The handle just needs to be attached to the wash basket. Then all that goes in the bucket.

BOOM! That’s it and I was ready to go!

Here’s a few tips:

• I set the Lavario Portable Clothes Washer in my bathtub. I suggest that you point the washer’s drain towards your tub drain to help it drain the water faster and more thoroughly.
• You don’t want to over fill the basket otherwise your diapers will not get clean. The up and down motion sends a continuous flow of water through the fibers and pulls out the crud. Lavario calls it power flow technology. Overfill the basket and the water can’t flow properly. I would say that the basket holds about one day’s worth of diapers which is approximately 8-10 cloth diapers. More if you are using smaller sizes like newborn, and less if you double up on all your inserts. Use common sense with this one. But DO NOT overfill it!
• Wash your cloth diaper shells separately from inserts. I feel like the waterproof nature of covers stops the water flowing through fabric the way is should. I just washed my all in ones in with the inserts.
• Open up the diapers before throwing them in the wash basket. If they are folded shut I found it was harder to get them clean.
• You can use any temperature water in this. But if you are using cold I would suggest more agitation. That means doing more up and down cycles.
• You can go faster with the up and down motion than I did in the video. That will give you a better clean. I just didn’t realize I was going that slow lol
• I’d suggest wearing gloves when adding diapers to wash basket and for when you remove the drain plug. The water comes out fast!
• It does NOT splash while you are using it. In case you were wondering.

How to hand wash cloth diapers in the Lavario Portable Clothes Washer:

1. Place Bucket in shower or tub.
2. Fill bucket 2/3 full with hot water via your shower head or hose.
3. Add about a tablespoon of detergent. Any detergent is fine to use as long as it doesn’t have synthetic fabric softeners in it.
4. Fill the wash basket with 8-10 cloth diapers. Do not overfill!
5. Secure the four tabs on the wash basket lid.
6. Place wash basket in wash bucket.

Prewash: (The manual suggests 10 up and down cycles. I doubled it because…well cloth diapers!)

• Cycle up and down approximately 20 times.
• Walk away and let everything soak for about 15-20 minutes. Their directions say 5 minutes, but longer for stubborn stains. I’d call this stuff stubborn.
• Cycle up and down another 20 or so times.
• Remove drain cap to allow soapy water to drain.

Main wash:

Add hot water and detergent again. Repeat steps for prewash.

Rinse:

• Fill the bucket 2/3 full with hot water.
• Cycle up and down approximately 20 times (again I did a few more just to be sure).
• Remove drain cap to allow water to drain.

Wring:

• Make sure drain cap is still off.
• Remove basket, open lid and place clothes in bottom of bucket.
• Replace wash basket on top of items. Apply pressure to squish out water. Repeat until you see most of the water has been drained out.

I found that did an ok job of removing the excess water. I think you may still need to wring items out before drying otherwise the multiple layers in most cloth diaper inserts may take forever to dry.

Things I really loved:

I love that it’s made in the USA! I love that they have partnered with water.org and are dedicated to conservation efforts of Earth’s resources. Finally, the Lavario Portable Clothes Washer is well made and it’s actually easy to use. It’s light enough to move around easily. And it actually cleaned my cloth diapers! 

Things I wish I could change:

I wish Lavario had put a marking on the inside of the wash bucket so I knew where 2/3 full is. I am pretty terrible at estimating that and the mark would make a nice guide. The water also comes out of the drain with a lot of pressure as you unscrew it and sort of splashes due to that. Which is a little gross when it’s the prerinse of cloth diapers. While not a deal breaker at all, maybe a redesign of the cap could help that a bit?

I’d love to hear from you if you’ve ever used a Lavario Portable Clothes Washer to hand wash cloth diapers! Let us know what you think.

These are priced at $139.95 with free shipping to the lower 48 states and is available at https://lavariowasher.com. Don’t forget to use your 20% off!

Jennifer Reinhardt

Jenn is a long-time cloth diaper educator and a passionate small business advocate. She has worked in the reusable diaper industry for over a decade, helping millions of families via her websites All About Cloth Diapers, Thinking About Cloth Diapers and Cloth Diaper Geek as well as hundreds of small businesses during that time. Her goal always to provide simple, reliable information.