Yet Another Cycling Forum
General Category => The Knowledge => OT Knowledge => Topic started by: nikki on 31 August, 2019, 08:45:24 am
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For those of you who have lived with a washer-dryer, are they much cop?
I (think I) know the dryer functionality is reduced compared to a standalone tumble dryer, but is the wash part a direct comparison to a standalone washing machine, or is that also a compromise?
Two separate machines isn't an option for me, and air drying options are a bit limited.
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We have a new washer-drier, purchased after our old drier died. As far as I can tell, it washes at least as well as the old one. When the clothes come out of the dryer they tend to feel a bit damp but that goes away very quickly. MrsC is very pleased with it. We think it’s a Hotpoint but can’t check the details as we’re on holiday at the moment.
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I love mine. It’s a magic box that makes clean clothes.
One thing to bear in mind is if you stuff the machine full of clothes it will wash fine but never dry, so you either have to wash only two-thirds full or do the drying in two shifts. This is much less of a problem with newer machines with oversized drums.
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Interested in peoples views (and possible machine recommendations) for Miss Ham, who has a small flat without room for two appliances, a young baby, with approaching winter.
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Last time we had one of these condensor dryers it used to produce crisps, a Zannusi from memory, so no, we have a separate dryer. This was quite some time ago so whether they have mproved or not, I don't know.
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We had one for a bit courtesy of one of barakta's student houses. It got used for normal washing-machine duties, at which it seemed to perform as expected, and the very occasional drying emergency (visitor's one set of clothes soaked in beer by revellers on train, sort of thing), at which it was somewhere between a proper tumble-drier and hanging things on the radiator in efficacy.
If it's a choice between a washer-drier and a washing machine with a more powerful spin, I think I'd prefer the latter.
(Presumably the modern ones are all condensing, which makes them disappointing by default. If you want a tumble drier to work properly, you need one that pisses away the heat via an outside vent.)
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We had one for a bit courtesy of one of barakta's student houses. It got used for normal washing-machine duties, at which it seemed to perform as expected, and the very occasional drying emergency (visitor's one set of clothes soaked in beer by revellers on train, sort of thing), at which it was somewhere between a proper tumble-drier and hanging things on the radiator in efficacy.
If it's a choice between a washer-drier and a washing machine with a more powerful spin, I think I'd prefer the latter.
(Presumably the modern ones are all condensing, which makes them disappointing by default. If you want a tumble drier to work properly, you need one that pisses away the heat via an outside vent.)
My bold. I'd concur with that.
Tech/cycling clothing that I have, comes out of the machine just about ready (dry) enough to wear and, whichever way you look at it, is completely dry overnight.
Drying jeans? I cannot comment on as I do not own a pair.
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For those of you who have lived with a washer-dryer, are they much cop?
I would first ask how many persons are in your household? We are a family of four, we lived with a combo washer-dryer for some time. Washing was fine, but drying took an incredibly long time, maybe over 5 or 6 hours. Admittedly we used the machine to its full capacity. So I would answer your question by saying okay for one or two persons, definitely no for more!
A
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I was just going to post 'no' and leave it at that...
Previous residents left a washer-drier here when I moved in.
Ability to dry large loads and electricity usage deterred me from using drier much.
When it failed I bought a Miele washer with a powerful spin and dried much outside when I was able.
I now dry everything indoors.
I have a fair-sized house, no damp and good central heating though.
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This flat that we moved into in April came with a pretty decent Siemens washer-drier. Number of times drier used so far = 0.
However, as a washing machine it is excellent, the best I’ve used, and does not seem to have been compromised by the drying function.
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I haven't had any sort of tumble dryer for a decade or so, and clothes seem to last longer without. I do have an old fashioned spinner which removes a lot of water even after the washing machine has done it's best (Though I've never tested it against a top make) and last winter also added a Lakeland Heated Airer with cover. Just me, everything I wear is ready next day, heated when needed but not for the last few months, towels and bedding might need an extra day.
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An airer and a dehumidifier works well for drying indoors.
Probably less electricity and less damage to clothes than a tumble dryer.
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My mum used to swear by her old-fashioned spinner, but by the time it b0rked the then-current washing machine did a good enough job that it wasn't worth replacing.
They're simple, astoundingly effective and just a little bit scary.
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Spin dryers... the one we had was the type with a spout at the front. At full speed it always seemed to need restraint, even with hardly any clothes in it. I think it could just about remain vertical if it was completely empty.
At least twin tubs had the benefit of a metal outer cowling for shrapnel protection and felt a bit safer to be around.
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I would first ask how many persons are in your household?
[...]drying took an incredibly long time, maybe over 5 or 6 hours.
One persons.
I'm coming from a place where long drying time = 3 or 4 days.
There'll be more in the way of heating in the new place (radiators!), but I'm not sure to what extent I'll be able to use it.
An airer and a dehumidifier works well for drying indoors.
Those I already have... *adds to list of options*
I've been looking at Which? reviews - seems there's an awful lot of spread in quality of results.
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A friend has a heated airer which seems to work well for that compromise between drying indoors in not much space and a tumbe drier.
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I currently have a 10 year old washer dryer ( a Hotpoint). A couple of years ago I bought a cheap tumble dryer, as I found the washer-dryer was taking ages to dry a load of laundry.
It seems my washer-dryer is suffering from terminal bearing failure, so I'll probably replace it with a standard washing machine (Probably a Bosch)
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If it's a choice between a washer-drier and a washing machine with a more powerful spin, I think I'd prefer the latter.
Agreed. Our ancient Miele washer-dryer (not quite sure how old - it was in the flat when we bought it 4.5 years ago and certainly wasn't a recent model then) died a couple of weeks ago, and we've replaced it with a standard washing machine with a decent spin. We hardly ever used the tumble dryer function, and have a decent dehumidifier in the spare room.
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An airer and a dehumidifier works well for drying indoors.
Probably less electricity and less damage to clothes than a tumble dryer.
I would agree with this. I used to have a tumble drier, but swapped it for the complete set of books for a law degree reading list.
These days a dehumidifier and a airer over the door work just fine. I have radiators in my current flat, but I only use them in the depths of winter to dry jeans, which they do over night. Pretty much everything else goes on an airer that hangs over the bedroom door. It's all dry within 24 hours in the worst case. If I need things faster and the radiators are full of jeans, then I can put the dehumidifier under the airer.
I find it hard to justify the energy usage of a tumble drier given how fast clothes dry if you are sensible. Especially for 1 person[1].
J
[1] Assuming neurotypical able bodied person.
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My Bosch Exxcel WVH28360GB gets a decent load of laundry dry in 2-3 hours.
I forget to mention the number one great thing you can do with a washer drier, which is if you find yourself with e.g. a toothpaste stain on your best trousers and you need to leave in an hour, it has you covered.
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A friend has a heated airer which seems to work well for that compromise between drying indoors in not much space and a tumbe drier.
On mine, it's the cover that makes the difference.
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No, but to be fair my experience of one is 30 years ago. In a tiny kitchen it made sense, but the half-load washing and the neverland drying didn’t.
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2years ago, we got rid of our Ariston washer drier, coz the main bearings had gone - Ariston probably havent sold to the UK market for about 10 years. :o
I changed the main bearings on a previous Hotpoint washer, and managed to keep it going for about 16 years, but I've decided it is no longer worth the hassle. :facepalm:
We probably used the drier 2-3 times. I used the same sheets and quilt cover for 2 years, managing to wash and dry them withing 12 hours, about every 10 days! :smug:
By keeping an eye on the weather forcast, and having an old (1989) boiler with an airing cupboard and a big enough landing for airers,, we manage to keep washing turnover under control, with no need for a drier. :smug:
I'm probably not helping, but , in my life, I'd probably not buy another washer-drier, coz I can cope without (and, yes - it's maily me who does laundry,as well as cooking, washing up, ironing, driving, earning,etc.) :(
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It used to be (and perhaps still is) that washer-dryers were the least reliable of all domestic appliances. We’ve never had one, preferring a washing machine with a 1400rpm spin. It’s a Bosch, and very quiet. Washing is hung out where possible, or on radiators when not. No dehumidifier necessary in our leaky cottage. We do have the advantage of an airing cupboard.
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I used to have a tumble drier, but swapped it for the complete set of books for a law degree reading list.
[Insert witty comment about hot air]
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We’ve never had one, preferring a washing machine with a 1400rpm spin.
1,400 pah, my spinner is still at the end of the runway warming up at that, chocks away and it's up to 2.800 before it's ready for takeoff. But quiet it isn't.
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2years ago, we got rid of our Ariston washer drier, coz the main bearings had gone - Ariston probably havent sold to the UK market for about 10 years. :o
I guess Ariston didn't go On and On and On Ariston then (as per the tv adverts from yesteryear!)
I think I've settled on a Bosch washing machine, 8kg capacity 1400rpm spin. £379 from ao.com, plus £80 for an additional 3 year warranty (taking it to 5 years in total) for £89 from Bosch... Not sure about the extended warranty though, but at least it's a one off payment, rather than the monthly insurance plans. ???
However, LG has a promotion at the moment, for a free 3 year extension to it's standard 2 year warranty, for certain models. So I think I may end up going for an LG, e.g. LG F4J6JY1W 10kg 1400rpm washing machine, which is one of the models in the promotion... https://www.appliancesdirect.co.uk/p/f4j6jy1w/lg-f4j6jy1w-freestanding-washing-machine (https://www.appliancesdirect.co.uk/p/f4j6jy1w/lg-f4j6jy1w-freestanding-washing-machine)
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More dubious (and in this case, extremely middle class) Kim's Mum wisdom: She'd put the cost of an extended warranty for white goods into Premium Bonds, to be raided in the case of catastrophic washing machine failure.
This was generally a (pun intended) winning strategy.
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Perhaps, if still living where we currently are if we need another one.
We live in a very small flat. Whenever I can I dry outside as there's a garden (this is possible March- late autumn, with occasional good-enough days during winter). No room for a separate dryer. Laundrette is nearby but the dryers were often out of order.
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I know it won't work for nikki, but we've always had separate machines. We try, when we can, to hang clothes, either in the garden or indoors, rather than use the dryer.
The dryer is pretty ancient, and I had to change the bearings recently, but it seems to soldier on otherwise :thumbsup:
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If it's a choice between a washer-drier and a washing machine with a more powerful spin, I think I'd prefer the latter.
(Presumably the modern ones are all condensing, which makes them disappointing by default. If you want a tumble drier to work properly, you need one that pisses away the heat via an outside vent.)
For once I'll (sort-of) disagree with Kim. The heat-pump condensing dryer that we have seem very effective. However, I don't think that anyone makes a heat pump washer dryer.
I haven't ever used a non-heat pump condensing dryer.
I think that condensing washer dryers cool the hot air with water. Non-heat pump condensing dryers use room air, which naturally makes them less effective than water cooling (washer-dryers) or refrigerant (heat pump dryers)
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I haven't ever used a non-heat pump condensing dryer.
I didn't even realise heat-pump condensing driers were A Thing. That seems like a much better way of doing it.
I haven't really used a condensing drier, but I have taken one to bits to work out why it wasn't drying: It had a large tray of accumulated condensate, which was used to cool the air. This struck me as a particularly shit design, as surely the water just heats up until it reaches equilibrium, at which point it's just wasting power?
(The problem was that a float switch had determined the condensate tray was full, cutting power to the heating element, but not stopping the machine or lighting a blinkenlight or anything useful. MIL described the fault, and I went searching for a b0rked element, and discovered a puddle of water. She didn't know that you had to empty it. :facepalm:)
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The LG combi was a choice we made before hull#1 was launched. 1400rpm, 9kg wash, 6kg dry. Having ploughed through countless bamboo nappies and dried them, it owes us nothing now that hull#2 is 5, yet still it keeps trucking on beautifully.[1] Don't use the dryer now though, just no need.
Our circumstances were that we didn't know and couldn't trust to having space and holes in houses we didn't own for the expected period of build and trials prior to (mostly) unspervised operation.
[1] Door release mech from eBay a few months ago, and that's it in 9 years.
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We had one in the last place, never really used the drier. These days we have a washer with a fast spin and then put the stuff out in the spare room with a dehumidifier (not needed this time of year). It's dry overnight.
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If drying currently takes 3-4 days then you've presumably developed strategies to cope. With HEATING that should hopefully come down quite a bit, meaning a dryer's not normally needed. And if it's only needed on the odd occasions, is there a nearby launderette? They can be surprisingly economical for the occasional bit of emergency drying: 50p will dry a machine load (presumably they make most of their money from the washing, as well as the coffee and cake).
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I had one once, never again. After watching it take 8 hours of drying, to not dry my clothes very much and the associated thoughts of :jurek: :jurek: :jurek: regarding the next electricity bill I only ever used it for washing thereafter.
But that's only one experience, but it did put me off.
It's possible I just put too many difficult-to-dry clothes like piles of towels and denim to be fair.
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Yebbut if the clothes were easy to dry, you might not have bothered with the machine...
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I had the use of one in the mid-eighties. It was rubbish. You had to take out half the washing then run the drier twice. I've not idea how much it cost to run as I was on an 'includes bills' rent in a shared flat.
One of the main advantages of the new one (mentioned unthread) is that MrsC, who works part time, can put a load of washing on before work in the morning. It is then ready for her to iron when she gets in at lunchtime. Ditto for over night wash/dry, so ready for the morning.
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I had the use of one in the mid-eighties. It was rubbish. You had to take out half the washing then run the drier twice. I've not idea how much it cost to run as I was on an 'includes bills' rent in a shared flat.
One of the main advantages of the new one (mentioned unthread) is that MrsC, who works part time, can put a load of washing on before work in the morning. It is then ready for her to iron when she gets in at lunchtime. Ditto for over night wash/dry, so ready for the morning.
Sorry, ready to do what with it at lunchtime?
J
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I had the use of one in the mid-eighties. It was rubbish. You had to take out half the washing then run the drier twice. I've not idea how much it cost to run as I was on an 'includes bills' rent in a shared flat.
One of the main advantages of the new one (mentioned unthread) is that MrsC, who works part time, can put a load of washing on before work in the morning. It is then ready for her to iron when she gets in at lunchtime. Ditto for over night wash/dry, so ready for the morning.
Sorry, ready to do what with it at lunchtime?
J
My niece flat-sat for me a few years ago when I was away working in PRC.
I was showing her around... 'here is this, here is that, here's the ironing board.....'
'What's that for?' Came her reply.......
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My niece flat-sat for me a few years ago when I was away working in PRC.
I was showing her around... 'here is this, here is that, here's the ironing board.....'
'What's that for?' Came her reply.......
With many modern fabrics, and careful drying, the need to iron anything is rather reduced. To me, Ironing, like drying dishes by hand, is one of those things for which life is just too short.
This thread has reminded me, I need to empty the washing machine...
J
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My niece flat-sat for me a few years ago when I was away working in PRC.
I was showing her around... 'here is this, here is that, here's the ironing board.....'
'What's that for?' Came her reply.......
With many modern fabrics, and careful drying, the need to iron anything is rather reduced. To me, Ironing, like drying dishes by hand, is one of those things for which life is just too short.
This thread has reminded me, I need to empty the washing machine...
J
Yes! I don't dry dishes by hand either. My boiler is sufficiently efficient that I cannot stick my hand into the hot water flow unless I'm wearing rubber gloves.
That'll do me for killing bugs, rather than some skanky dishcloth.
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Drying dishes is much like using the drying function of a washer-dryer: Something you do in emergencies.
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I've yet to meet the emergency that makes me recreate the regular childhood trauma of dishwashing by hand.
I have an iron. I couldn't tell you were it might be found though.
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I found the iron - and more impressively, the ironing board - recently while excavating the lower levels of the Cupboard Of Doom (somewhere beneath the spare car stuff strata). The board went for scrap. I think we kept the iron in case of RCD testing[1], T-shirt transfers or soggy train tickets.
[1] How ironing didn't kill everyone in the days of metal appliances and wire fuses, I don't know.
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Not enough time, or more to the point not enough crockery, to use the dishwasher much.
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I have a fairly decent washer-dryer. The drying function is mostly used for towels and bedlinen, especially in Winter - the backyard doesn't get enough light to dry anything on the line when the days are short. Most stuff is dried on an airer in the kitchen. When my son lived with me he dried everything in the dryer and it cost me a fortune.
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I had the use of one in the mid-eighties. It was rubbish. You had to take out half the washing then run the drier twice. I've not idea how much it cost to run as I was on an 'includes bills' rent in a shared flat.
One of the main advantages of the new one (mentioned unthread) is that MrsC, who works part time, can put a load of washing on before work in the morning. It is then ready for her to iron when she gets in at lunchtime. Ditto for over night wash/dry, so ready for the morning.
I wouldn't be leaving a running washing machine / tumble dryer / washer dryer unattended for any length of time... :o
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I had the use of one in the mid-eighties. It was rubbish. You had to take out half the washing then run the drier twice. I've not idea how much it cost to run as I was on an 'includes bills' rent in a shared flat.
One of the main advantages of the new one (mentioned unthread) is that MrsC, who works part time, can put a load of washing on before work in the morning. It is then ready for her to iron when she gets in at lunchtime. Ditto for over night wash/dry, so ready for the morning.
I wouldn't be leaving a running washing machine / tumble dryer / washer dryer unattended for any length of time... :o
Seconded. Obviously in the case of tumble-dryers, especially if you're not in the habit of cleaning the fluff filter regularly, but it's only recently that I learned how burny washing-machines can be.
Better to run it overnight, when electricity is cheap and green and the toast alarm can alert you to impending doom.
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When I had to replace those dryer bearings, I got a shock finding that there were inches of solid fluff in the bottom of the dryer, that had got past the filter. Worth checking older machines (i.e. ones that have had time to accumulate it), I think.
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On balance, I would recommend a dehumidifier. EBAC are a decent UK manufacturer. As a by-product, they have also been responsible for ridding the house of condensation, Smells, Mould, Illness, and reduce inside drying time to hours not days.
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Thanks all. In the end I clicked buy on a bog standard washing machine.