Please explain rotary washing lines and recommend one

[krisskross]

just had a quick look and there seems to be a vast array of them-top spinners, not top spinners, into concrete, not into concrete. .......some are about 50 quid up to about 200!!! this seems v complicated!

can it go into a hole in the grass? do we need to shove something in first? can anyone recommend a model? the john lewis ones get pretty crap reviews.

Thanks!

You can get spikes that stick in the soil -but in my experience pretty rubbish (fall over) especially if you get a longer length/bigger four arm one with lots of washing on.
In the past I made concrete and put it in an old bucket and stuck the (plastic) ground spike in, sticking half an inch out of top of concrete. When it was set I dug a big hole in garden, cut the bucket off and dropped concrete it in there...worked great.
Second time I did this - did the same thing except used postcrete - the stuff you just pour water on -don't pre-mix, had never used before ...wasn't really enough in bucket and I should have added more but didn't bother. Put it in the ground anyway but when really windy it pulled the whole block out ... Neighbour (helping me!) dug a really huge hole and we poued mixed concrete in and put ground spike in...and it has never moved (but if you ever wanted to get rid of it you'd need a pile driver!)

For all of them - you leave spike out of concrete a bit cos when you bury it you cover top of block with soil and grass seed/or turf -so pole goes into the soil a tiny bit (might rust here) before going into ground spike so you can lift it out to mow/to look better...if you are doing it onto concrete/patio you could make it level with the top or lower and fit paving stones over top (but need to cut a hole in slabs -a PIA
You want to be able to remove it - if you use metal and metal and don't lift it out it could rust together over time - then if you need to replace the rotary washing line you will need to cut it off and drill out the hole -

I'd get a cover too - if you leave them up too tempting for DCs to play with - my DC broke the line on mine and a neighbours DC pulled the whole thing on top of her by swinging on them. If you leave them collapsed without a cover the lines can get tangled but worse they are a strangulation hazard for children...