Would you buy a washer-dryer again?

[Paul H]

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.
 

[BrianI]

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.   

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

[Kim]

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.

[Palinurus]

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.

[drossall]

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

[Diver300]

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)

[Kim]

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.   )

[McWheels]

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.

[ian]

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.

[Cudzoziemiec]

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).

[caerau]

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    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.

[hellymedic]

Yebbut if the clothes were easy to dry, you might not have bothered with the machine...

[SteveC]

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.

[quixoticgeek]

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

[Jurek]

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.......

[quixoticgeek]

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

[Jurek]

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.

[Kim]

Drying dishes is much like using the drying function of a washer-dryer: Something you do in emergencies.

[ian]

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.

[Kim]

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.}

[Cudzoziemiec]

Not enough time, or more to the point not enough crockery, to use the dishwasher much.

[Ruthie]

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.

[BrianI]

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...   

[Kim]

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...   

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.

[drossall]

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.