Household Essentials Aluminum Clothesline Spreader - Quickly Hang and Dry Laundry Outdoors

Joan E. BeaudoinJoan E. Beaudoin: I have purchased these multiple times for use on my pully controlled laundry line. I LOVE them. They do exactly what they should, stopping the load bearing line from sagging from the weight of the wet laundry. They really are perfect for keeping your laundry from sagging to the point that it is dragging on the ground. My only complaint is that they can bounce off the line when taking items on/off the line while there isn't enough weight on the line. Also, be sure to put a pin to hold the first spreader from travelling down the line as you pull the line. I have had to retrieve these from the other end of the line with the use of a ladder, or from the ground when they bounce off. What would likely solve this is a spring closed latch like that on a carabiner. A small design issue for these fabulously useful spreaders that are really a lifesaver for people who hang their clothes on a pully-based line.

United States on Jul 14, 2021

iem: Absolutely no complaint about the aluminum part of this clothesline spreader. Functionality is perfect when the item is brand new and unbroken. However, I hang clothes on a pulley line over a concrete sidewalk. My children have dropped the spreaders or at times the wind has blown so hard that with clothes on the line, the spreader has been blown off. When they drop on concrete, the plastic wheel gets broken. When the wheel is chipped or broken, functionality is dramatically reduced. I have still used them but they do cause drag. A lot of muscle is needed to pull the line one way or the other as the broken wheels do not roll like they are intended. All 4 of my spacers were broken in less than 6 months. This spacer would be so much better with an aluminum or other solid wheel which does not chip or break.

United States on Jul 30, 2018

Paul C: I like it a lot. I recently began using a closeline I setup years ago... It was very rarely used. I've been doing more laundry lately, and I've learned that towels in dryer mean the dryer needed to be run twice. If I run the towels in bulk, and stick them on the line, they dry quick, and I'm not running the dryer a bunch of times. So now I have a drooping line of heavy damp towels. I happened to be looking for a clothespin bag, when I saw this, remembering Mom used to have one on her clothesline. This keeps that center part of the line suspended. I can fill up the line with a bunch of towels. It dries outside while I'm running regular clothes through the dryer.

United States on Jul 21, 2015

Lotus54: My clothesline is the pulley type, about 40 or so feet long, but I'd say about 35 feet of usable space since one end is under a tree so I don't hang anything on that end. I had a plastic 'clothespin with a hook thingie' that I was using to lift the gap when the laundry hung too low; I'd clip it to the lower line and hook it to the top line. That worked well enough for a few years. This year my clothesline finally broke, and while I was researching what type of new line to get (cotton, synthetic, etc) I discovered this gadget, that much to my surprise was designed specifically for what I had been using my clip thingie for. Not sure how I got through 40-something years not knowing these existed, but I ordered it along with my new line.

I was, and still am, slightly confused about how the design is supposed to work, since some of these only have one wheel and others like this model have two. I imagine it's supposed to slide along as I hang laundry. It does technically do that, but I find it creates a drag on the movement of the line and my line pulleys along much quicker and smoother without it. I'm also never really sure where the line will droop at it's lowest, depending on...

United States on Jul 02, 2015

Smithsonite: Ordered 2 of these. One was fine, the other had a wheel that would not spin. Closer inspection revealed that during the peening process of the pin, the operator must have misaligned the device, which instead of peening the pin over and locking it in place, missed the pin & struck the pot-metal body, bending the pin and marking up the surface. I'm sure I could've returned it either to Amazon, or to the manufacturer which states a free replacement up to a year from purchase, but I'm impatient. I fixed it myself. First I straightened the pin in the vise. Then, I fed the pin in the opposite way so the large head covered all the damage the factory did to it, and was able to peen the end with a punch while holding the unit and the pin in place in a vice. I did a better job than the factory did - nice and tight with no play whatsoever. It's all installed now, the wheel now spins freely, & the device works great since installing the line tensioner we purchased as well.

United States on May 26, 2013