Spin dryers - anyone got one?

Justamum

I bought a spin dryer last October. I like to tumble dry towels, and resented paying for electricity to evaporate all the excess water out of them, plus I had to dry them in two loads because of the weight. Now I can stick a whole wash load in the TD as the spin dryer gets so much more water out. It does take a few minutes extra, but that doesn't really bother me. If you aren't careful it will jump about, so I hold it still until I can feel that it's found its centre of gravity and stays still.

joedenise

Bettie wrote: »

and we could recycle the water in the automatic and get four wash loads out of one filling, how money saving was that. :rotfl:

Agreed, especially now most of us are on water meters, would be very :money:.

Denise

dianasnan

If you fancy trying one have a look in a secondhand electrical shop or charity shop that sells electricals as they can be picked up quite cheaply. get a gravity drain one so that it can empty into a container otherwise you have to loop the hose into a sink.

Mine came from a Sue ryder sale for £8 and was like new. Brilliant in the winter for getting extra water out of clothing. Yes you have to balance the clothing but that only means spiralling the clothing inside the drum and putting the mat on top. Excellent when you want to get something dry quickly.

would willingly have a twin tub again as it was very economical- wash whites first then reuse the water to do the coloureds and had a built in spinner.

cheerfulness4

In the eighties when I first left home I was given a spin dryer by an elderly friend of my mothers. It was wonderful and really got my washing dry ( I was hand washing at the time) and the kitchen smelt lovely of soap powder.

suzybloo

These ones now a days are quite little 34x 34x 60, so will fit in a cupboard quite well, likewise if I could I would go back to my old twin tub, twice the amount if washing done inhalf the time! Remember it well trying to get the loads evened out to stop it dancing, or forgetting to put the rubber ring in properly and the thing rattling away like mad!n Will see if I can pick up a second hand one, especially if they can get so much more water out of towels etc for winter, as really need to cut down on the tumble dryer etc as Scottish power has increased our d/d by £37 a month :-(
Many thanks for your replies x

kas42_2

I still use both a small spin dryer and a twin tub machine. My kitchen cannot house an automatic machine.
I concur with water and energy saving. Only got a tumble dryer a couple of years back and that is only used on days where other drying is not an option.
You can still buy spin dryers, the last one I looked at was in Comet, but I am sure that others have them still. My last one came reconditioned from a trader at a Sunday market. I use it often for small items such as underwear and tops. It does take a bit of practice to get the balance right both in the spin dryer and the spinner part of the twin tub.

fpcat

I bought a spin dryer for my grandmother back in the early 70s. When she died I inherited it, and it was in daily use when I had my child (1978), and for many years after. I have just taken the poor old thing to the tip, having found it had rusted whilst in storage for a couple of years. I would have loved to keep it, having found it again, but I was a little scared to switch it on, because I didn't know how much of the motor and spin mechanism had seized. I didn't want to be chopped off at the ankles by something exploding in it. For that extra water extraction it was really good, and it seemed better than my automatic spin cycle, making it much more viable to dry stuff on an airer indoors, and saving electricity.

Justamum

I bought mine last year in Currys for £118.

phyllis88

I bought one second hand a few years ago. It is a useful addition and you could use it instead if you are organized. It definitely gets rid of more water than a washing machine and you can always leave it on longer and adjust. Getting the balance right is easy but don't overfill it that is the trick.

buffers

I have had spin dryers for years (despite having owned a launderette) and would not be without it. It is invaluable for all my hand washing and getting excess water out of the heavier items of washing (as has been mentioned). It is easy to stop them from 'jumping around' by making sure they are loaded properly, even putting a hand towel in if there is not much to spin and pressing everything down evenly.

They are to be found in charity shops and second-hand outlets but I find that new ones last much longer if the machine spout is emptied over a bowl after each use. The bottom does not then rust out!;)