laundry on Serentiy by gohm

GENERAL DISCUSSIONS

laundry on Serentiy

POSTED BY: GOHM
UPDATED: Monday, February 6, 2006 12:06
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Thursday, February 2, 2006 7:57 PM

Just wondering...what's the laundry situation on a Firefly 03? It's certainly not like on Star Trek where the more mundane aspects of human existence (e.g. toilets) aren't ever seen. So where is the laundry room? I would assume that each bunk wouldn't have an individual washer/dryer (the ship is too practical for that), so where? Perhaps off of the airlock/stairs passage between the crews' bunks and the kitchen?

Thanks for your thoughts. Don't forget the fabric softener.

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Thursday, February 2, 2006 8:12 PM

BARCLAY

Well... you see a shower on Serenity at all? All we have is the shot of Inara taking a sponge bath, and Zoe's comment that it'd be nice to have "a real bath." So, my thoughts, given the fronteir nature of the show, are that there isn't a washer or dryer. Any washing of clothes is probably done by hand in a basin and hung to dry in your own bunk. More 'civilized' places, like the Core probably have some form of laundry service that's technologically advanced, but not fringe ships like a Firefly.

"You are on the Global Frequency."
http://www.frequencysite.com
http://kfmonkey.blogspot.com

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Friday, February 3, 2006 9:11 AM

TEALCANDTRIP

Bump.... cause I've actually thought about this on occasion! Seriously, I'm a fairly new fan, but surely one of you guys has noted a thinly vieled washer/ dryer set in the back of one of the episodes....

Okay, off to go look!

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Friday, February 3, 2006 9:23 AM

TEALCANDTRIP

You know they do do laundry in the verse...

How do I know?

Cause in the beginning of Hearts of Gold, the two young prostitutes are hanging up laundry to dry on the line! Which gives some credence to Barclay's theory.

Still these HoG people are in the middle of nowhere, at odds with the local population, and we don't know if they wash by hand too. Though come to think of it, that kind of describes Serenity.... Anyway that isn't to say that's how you'd do it on a ship. After all, water in the bunks (from the dripping clothes) could promote unhealthly mold, not to mention the fact that Jayne and Kaylee's bunks in particular are rather small. If they wash their clothes after every wearing, they'd have perpetually damp quarters! Also, we see everybody's room on at least one occasion, yet nobody ever has any clothes drying.

More to come...

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Friday, February 3, 2006 9:59 AM

DUG

We do see Book headed to the showers in one ep; I think OIS. I would wager on a washer dryer on ship. The ship is designed for long trips; it's only logical that would have been included in the design.

Now, laundry may not be done after EVERY wearing due to water conservation issues. They don't seem to have any magic star-trek recycling capabilities, so they would have limits as to how much water could be wasted. And used water would have to either be stored in the septic vat or vented to space, which would add hazards to shipping lanes.

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Friday, February 3, 2006 10:10 AM

TEALCANDTRIP

They could also use water multiple times.

Say drinking water is 'new' water.

Then used as sink/ shower/ bath water
Then dish/ laundry water (with a strong enough soap and a decent filter this could be okay)
Then coolant for the engines?

Just a thought.

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Friday, February 3, 2006 10:35 AM

MICHAELANGELO

The aft head in the passenger section is too small. It has a toilette & shower there. There is space in the forward port side of the kitchen where an over/under would fit nicely.

And yes, having been in the Navy, you don't wash clothes after every wearing (undies being the exception). You wear your clothes for several days or even a week, same with towels. On my ship it took 1 sometimes 2 weeks to get back your laundry, so you'd better have enough to last. You would put it all in a web bag & pin/tie it shut. They would throw the entire bag in a huge washer.. along with a dozen other such bags. A good laundry day was when you got it back & it hadn't opened during the washing or drying. If it did open, you'd probably not get everything back. That bites.
Also, related a bit, you can take a "Sailor's Shower" with relatively little water. The shower head has a button on it that has to be pressed to get water. You can take a pretty thorough shower with only 1-2 gallons of water with a bit of practice. Field troops can maintain a semblance of hygiene with a fraction of that, washing the essentials (head, pits, groin & feet) for a fair amount of time. I’m sure water conservation was an issue on the ship. In ep1 Mal washed his hands pretty much by just getting them wet. For me it appeared to be a conscious effort to keep water usage to a minimum.

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Friday, February 3, 2006 10:41 AM

JUMPER

I spent two weeks in the Utah Desert as Crew Engineer at The Mars Society's Mars Desert Research Station.

We had a pretty cool water recycling system:
-Fresh/Potable Water for drinking, washing dishes, and taking showers.
-Sink/Shower drains go to a 'grey water' tank.
-Grey water gets pumped into a set of tanks with algae and plants, which remove most of the contaminants. UV light treatment kills any remaining bacteria.
-'Clean' grey water is used to flush the toilet.

We had our water consumption down to like 30 gal/day of fresh water for 6 people. I believe the average in the US is like 50gal/day/person.

We didn't do laundry, though, plenty to last two weeks. Showers every 3rd day.

The thing that struck me about the system was that it was relativly simple and just by re-using water once and being careful we were able to cut our consumption so much without any major hardship. It's one thing when environmentalists preach about how much water we waste, it's another thing when you watch the 50gal tank in the Hab slowly drain throughout the day.

More info on MDRS here: http://www.marssociety.org/mdrs/index.asp

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Friday, February 3, 2006 10:52 AM

DUG

I think the grey-water reusage ideas make sense; after I posted I came up with the same kind of thoughts too.

The sailor's shower is the kind of thing I figured Zoe was complaining about when she mentioned having a "real bath". Being able to luxuriate in the water rather than having to conserve being the difference.

I saw a home makeover show where what they called a european style unit was installed. It combined the washer and dryer into one unit the size of a small oven. Plenty of space on a firefly for somekind of laundry unit, even with todays off the shelf items.

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Friday, February 3, 2006 10:57 AM

FLETCH2

My guess is that they probably do recycle for a number of reasons. First, very few of the places they go to seem set up to handle ships (ie they tend to land in fields and the like.) If taking on potable water was something they needed to keep doing that would seriously limit their ability to stay off the grid,

In addition in OOG it was going to take them 2 weeks to get where they were going. That's an awful lot of water to have to haul/trow away.

My guess is that they recycle a lot though of course the system is losy. Given the size of the ship it probably uses less space to have a small tank and recycle what you have than to carry enough for your needs and then throw it out.

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Friday, February 3, 2006 11:14 AM

DUG

Some degree of filtration I can buy, but not overly much based on the finances Serenity tended to have for maintenance.

Largely I think the degree of rationing would depend on the length of trip; if you were going to be in the black for a month everyone would have to take fewer showers if you were planning a 2 day trip. Fireflies were clearly designed to function without space ports since they do not require runways. I think in the original pilot Wash even hauled the new power cell/ fuelly thing in with the mule when they were *at* a spaceport. Seems reasonable to me that the ship would have some pumping capability to refill water tanks when on planets without larege support systems.

At the 5 gallons/ person rate that Jumper managed in Utah a 1000 gallon tank would last our BDH's 22 days. With some filtration and rationing that seems like it might work for their length of voyages.

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Friday, February 3, 2006 12:02 PM

MYCROFTXXX

My thought about where the washer/dryer might be is in the galley behind the counter where you see several characters walk but never actually *see* what's installed under the counter. Makes sense to have all of the plumbing in one place. Sort of like how a sailboat is rigged.

Regarding the slightly OT subject of showers. The key phrase Zoe used was *real* shower, not "a shower". This, to me, infers they probably have a handheld shower unit like you'd find in your kitchen that releases measured amounts of water each time the button is pushed. And, as on a sailboat (and other boats for that matter) it likely is installed in a combination sink/water closet shower stall arrangement to save space and keep the room clean.

In case you couldn't tell, I lived on a boat for a while and this exactly the arrangement I used for over a year. Really cut down on cleaning the bathroom!

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Friday, February 3, 2006 12:22 PM

TEALCANDTRIP

So searching through the screencaps at Can't take the Sky, I've come up with a few likely places.

First though, here's a skematic of the ship (the best I've found):

So: where's the laundry room? My guess in the dining room/ kitchen area, since it's close to the crew quarters and passenger dorms and I really can't see Mal dragging his dirty clothes up a ladder, then down a stairway, then through a hall or two just to do the laundry.

My Guesses:

A: the door on the aft port side of the dining room. No character has ever used this door, and there is no known reason for it. Still, it's easily accessable in a place that everybody can use. Here it is behind Book, note the engine room is behind River:

B: The nook that forward of the kitchen. We don't really see this space, but here's a few perspectives:

(behind Zoe)

(behing Mal)

(this is the best I could find, as you can see there's not a lot in the nook)

C: The only other place I can think of is the spare crew quarters (next to Wash's aand Zoe's place). There's a ladder on the port side on the forward hallway (right across from the stairs to the cargo bay) that we never see used.

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Friday, February 3, 2006 12:38 PM

KIZYR

The professionals here have already covered the rate of water consumption, how that all can be cut down. I got a few things to add, though, as this is something that's actually covered plausibly in the Serenity RPG book.

The deal about recycling water is mostly spot-on. Here's an excerpt:

Quote:
(p.100)
Water
Some really big ships have closed-loop water systems. They recycle some waste water through the algae tanks, but distill most of it through heat exchangers attached to the power plant. Smaller ships can make do with tanked water, supplemented by vapor condensed from the air and fuel cell exhaust. Water for drinking, cooking, and minimal cleaning runs to 6 pounds per person per day; washing and showering can add up to another 30 pounds, while laundering uses 30 pounds per person per day on its own. Clearly, the less used the better.

Plus, later on:

Quote:
(p.100)
Waste Management
Waste water is collected in septic tanks and spun to remove the solids. The water goes to the distillation rig to be purified; the leftover sludge is pumped out at each refueling stop.

Plus which, if the ship's being powered by hydrogen, then the byproduct of that is pure water, which can then be used to supplement the water supplies on ship.

Mostly, I think it's a combination of all the recycling systems on board, and some Navy-style water conservation. KF

~KF

Lord, I'm walking your way. Let me in, for my feet are sore, my clothes are ragged.
Look in my eyes, Lord, and my sins will play out on them as on a screen. Read them all.
Forgive what you can and send me on my path. I will walk on until you bid me rest.
~Haven Prayer

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Friday, February 3, 2006 3:57 PM

THEPISTONENGINE

Drinking water recycled as bathing water?
Urine?
"It's sterile and I like the taste"

Quote:
Originally posted by tealcandtrip:
They could also use water multiple times.

Say drinking water is 'new' water.

Then used as sink/ shower/ bath water
Then dish/ laundry water (with a strong enough soap and a decent filter this could be okay)
Then coolant for the engines?

Just a thought.

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Friday, February 3, 2006 4:03 PM

MICHAELANGELO

Quote:
Originally posted by tealcandtrip:
So searching through the screencaps at Can't take the Sky, I've come up with a few likely places.

First though, here's a skematic of the ship (the best I've found):

So: where's the laundry room? My guess in the dining room/ kitchen area, since it's close to the crew quarters and passenger dorms and I really can't see Mal dragging his dirty clothes up a ladder, then down a stairway, then through a hall or two just to do the laundry.

My Guesses:

A: the door on the aft port side of the dining room. No character has ever used this door, and there is no known reason for it. Still, it's easily accessable in a place that everybody can use. Here it is behind Book, note the engine room is behind River:

That door forward starboard side is the kitchen pantry. In the movie this is where they lock up River & where Jayne gets panned as he tries to remove her from the ship. Directly opposite that pantry is a small nook/closet that may server the part...
The hatch behind Book leads to an airlock to reach the outside.

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Friday, February 3, 2006 4:26 PM

HALFBREEDINKC

I think this is why I like the Firefly/Serenity 'verse so much. It's "real" if you will, not some utopian star trek galaxy where, heck we'll just use the replicator and make whatever we need...(maybe they figured out a way to genitically alter human physiology to the point where humans no longer have to use the bathroom? LMAO - and of course no one sweats therefore no b.o. either, 'cause that would just be ill-mannered 'n heathenly), and the fans out there (on this site and others) actually THINK, they reason things out intelligently - granted we're all obsessed to some degree (but in a GOOD WAY) - but still, it's threads like this that make it so enjoyable!

HalfBreed in KC

"They don't like it when you shoot at them, I worked that out myself"

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Friday, February 3, 2006 4:58 PM

FORGOTN

1. Sereneity is a standard radion accelerator core. Not hydrogen. though useing hydrogen fuel cells for backup power is a good idea AND technology that we have almost perfected now. But they are self contained and have no exhaust so you couldn't use them as a power supply.

2. Water recycling is a must and well within our technology so reason stands that tech we have now that is neccesary in the future will be continually refined.

3. I seem to remember Joss talking about the ships water being stored in a tank underneath the cargo bay. because he planned to have it be used as a makeshift pool for a shiny character scene later in the series. So obviously the purifiers are on the outgoing pipe.

4. Maybe they do their own dry cleaning, Chemicaly washing their clothes would save on water and if they use a chemical steam at low pressure it would use substantialy less space to carry the needed supplies.

Oklahoma Browncoat- Spreading the signal in the vast empty nothingness

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Friday, February 3, 2006 5:42 PM

SNAP

I don't think the water system is such a big deal for a ship this size. Remember NASA did it back in the 60's with the Apollo, and that was just a tiny ship in comparison.

The Apollo missions went about 6 to 14 days each. Shuttle missions around 2 to 16 days. Space station missions can run months.

So... after 500 years of experience living in spaceships I think they could have the problem pretty much solved.

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Friday, February 3, 2006 5:48 PM

CLIOMUSE

This thread makes me ridiculously happy. I posed the same question on the Uni board last year and got similar responses. We aren't speculating on how they get from point A to point B, though plenty of folks do that too, we are asking ourselves how they wash their clothes! This is what is so great about the 'verse, all the little, normal stuff.

One of my friends suggested that they visit the laundromat at the port when they land. However, as they have a propensity for getting into situations that require rapid retreat, I can see a lot of clothes getting left in washing machines all over the 'verse or hauled back to the ship wet and soapy. (Hum, I feel a fanfic coming on.)

When I lived in England one of the houses I lived in had a washer/dryer combination under the counter in the kitchen. I worked pretty darn well.

I also have visions of Simon hunched over his sink scrubbing blood out of his white shirts with futuristic OxyClean and a toothbrush.

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Friday, February 3, 2006 7:13 PM

NCBROWNCOAT

Being active duty Army and Reserves pre-9/11 I can tell you how us girls got clean in a field environment with just 2 canteens of water.

First you find a private space(hard)and sponge down the vital parts while keeping your clothes on-a bit tricky and dripppy but it can be done. Baby wipes work great too.

For the hair, drape a towel around your neck and lean over,wet your hair (ahhh luxury!)with half a canteen of water-shampoo it up and rinse with the other half. Used hospital brush out type dry shampoo too.

I don't know how Zoe got that mass of hair washed and curled and looking good all the time, much less Inara. My hair always looked like a rats nest and more like Kaylee's out in the field.

I figure the BDH's used similar techniques to wash. Water would also be recycled with showers maybe once a week or so.

Not to sure about laundry though. Could be a chemical process similar to dry cleaning (which has lots of fumes though)or a highly efficient combination washer/dryer to save space.

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Friday, February 3, 2006 7:27 PM

TEALCANDTRIP

yeah, Micheal, but this door is aft port...

The nook is starboard forward. Check out where Jayne is... he's standing in the kitchen, which is on the starboard side. About three feet to his right is the nook of mysterious purposes... and to his left is the couch area.

In this scene, River had just gone up the infirmary stairs which lead to the engine room hallway, not the forward crew quarters hallway.

Yes, this is something I obsess about.

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Friday, February 3, 2006 7:44 PM

BELOWZERO

In ep1 Mal washed his hands pretty much by just getting them wet. For me it appeared to be a conscious effort to keep water usage to a minimum.

Did you notice there was no SOAP? is that just a guy thing or what?!

"Do not go gentle into that good night....
Rage, rage against the dying of the light. . ."
--Dylan Thomas

If you make my favorite show disappear forever, you *will* go to a very special level of hell, one reserved for child molesters, people who talk at the theater, and Fox executives.

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Friday, February 3, 2006 9:04 PM

TEALCANDTRIP

Okay, I just watched the movie again.... so here goes:

The dining area consists of the following:

Dining table in center room

Starboard wall middle = kitchen

Port wall middle = cabinets like those in the kitchen (only real way to tell these apart is to look for the kitchen counter)

Forward Port = Kitchen pantry where they stowed crazy River in the movie

Forward Starboard = nook of unknown purposes

Aft Port = door of unknown purposes

Aft Starboard = lounge

Also note: aft port and forward starboard are 3 promising looking cabinets installed before them.

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Saturday, February 4, 2006 7:14 AM

TEALCANDTRIP

I think it is a guy thing... At least, it's been in my experience (two older brothers... shudder).

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Saturday, February 4, 2006 10:43 AM

CYBERSNARK

Quote:
Originally posted by Cliomuse:
I also have visions of Simon hunched over his sink scrubbing blood out of his white shirts with futuristic OxyClean and a toothbrush.

I can see Jayne doing the same with any bloodstains he encounters.

With Simon's toothbrush.

-----
We applied the cortical electrodes but were unable to get a neural reaction from either patient.

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Sunday, February 5, 2006 8:24 PM

BELOWZERO

Yeah....must be genetic, my son needs to reminded what SOAP is for, and ya know what? I didn;t see any in the kitchen either..

"Do not go gentle into that good night....
Rage, rage against the dying of the light. . ."
--Dylan Thomas

Though my soul may set in darkness
It will rise in perfect light.
I have loved the stars too fondly
To be fearful of the night.

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Monday, February 6, 2006 11:24 AM

PWORKS

How about exposure to hard vacuum in lieu of dry cleaning? Place the washed clothing into some sort of take-down rack that keeps them from disappearing into space, evacuate the airlock and then let 'em sit for a spell. Should handle any residual drying needs so long as they're not so wet that they turn into ice cubes. Then again, with water conservation such an issue I guess the washing machine, if it's ever found, would turn out a garment that is almost dry again.

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Monday, February 6, 2006 12:00 PM

FOLLOWMAL

I hope in future eps or movies ( yay, both!) they hint at this.

What other tv show can you think of where we'd all care about this so much? Great huh?

If they do hint at where the washing machine/dryer is I hope they also tell us... is the crew responsible for their own or are there laundry duties? Do they draw for it, play tall card or is it assigned?

" You hold. Hold til I get back." Mal

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Monday, February 6, 2006 12:06 PM

CYBERSNARK

I'd imagine there's a "chores board" set up somewhere: things probably rotate by week, unless someone wagers on a round of Tall Card.

-----
We applied the cortical electrodes but were unable to get a neural reaction from either patient.

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