is a washer dryer better than a washing machine

March2012

and a separate drier. just winter coming in now...we dont have a utility room to dry it on so thought need to get some kind of drying tips!!

evoke

Generally, no. It's hard to find a washer/dryer that is very good at both functions, plus there's an awful lot more to go wrong. A washing machine and separate drier is generally better and will probably cause fewer headaches for you in the future.

You'll also find that the drying time of a washer-dryer is not as quick as a separate dryer.

The other big advantage that I have found of having a separate washing machine and a separate dryer is that you can chuck in another load into the washing machine whilst the first load is being dried in the dryer.

aliasojo

Wouldn't give one house room.

Awful things. Jack of all trades and master of none. They are generally not as reliable as separate machines and if the dryer part breaks, then you have no washing machine either.

Get separate machines. I don't particularly like condensing versions but at least that means you can put a dryer pretty much anywhere.

HappyMJ

Agreed generally no. Look at the load levels. A washer dryer typically is 3kg and a separate washing machine and dryer can handle at least twice as much.

GwylimT

We have one, it must be quite old as my wife had it before I even met her, it takes our whole basket of washing, so just as much as a normal washing machine. I'm only supposed to dry half a load in it, but I leave it all in and put it on the dry function and everything is iron dry with synthetic fabrics being completely dry.

macman

A typical w/d can only dry half the full load it can wash, and much more slowly than a dedicated drier.

Dimey

NO
I bought a Meile washer dryer (earlier this year) so you don't get much better quality and if that doesn't work then nothing will.

I went for Meile as all my other kitchen goods are Meile and I wanted a long laster. I went for a washer dryer as I wanted to save space and thought for 1 person it would work OK.

But you have to reduce the load that's washed as the dryer can't take as much washing as the washer so you can't pre-programme for cheap rate overnight electricity to wash and dry in one continuous programme. You have to stop the machine, pull out washing and dry in separate loads.

Worse still is that the washing comes out very damp so you have it hanging round the house. If you programme to dry for longer then it comes out with really bad creases heat set in that are impossible to iron out, especially in sheets.

I really miss my old tumble dryer.

matty17r

IMo definitely separate. I have an electrolux integrated washer dryer and have only used the drier a couple of times as it takes so long. Have a separate drier in the garage which is far superior. A real waste of money when I bought the washer/dryer but saying that it is 10 years old and the machine is still going strong with a family of four until a couple of years back

ic

HappyMJ wrote: »

Agreed generally no. Look at the load levels. A washer dryer typically is 3kg and a separate washing machine and dryer can handle at least twice as much.

Things have moved on - mine is 8kg wash, 6kg dry. There are others with a larger capacity still. Perfect for me, I only use the dryer for larger things like sheets that I can't dry indoors in winter.

I would agree that separates are best, but otherwise a washer dryer is a good compromise if you don't have the room. The washer of a washer dryer will be just as good as any other washer, the dryer on the other hand will never perform as well as standalone dryer - and will take longer.

fluffymuffy

We hang things on the bannisters and on a clothes horse - but we do have a dehumidifier. Saves a fortune not having a tumble drier.

Torry_Quine

If you have room for both then seperate machines are better as you can wash one load and dry another at the same time.

I don't have space and so have a washer/dryer and it has always worked well. It's at least over 10 years old for me and wasn't new when bought. Here I can't get washing hung out from at least October to March so would be lost without it.