Landlord replaced my washer-dryer with just a washing machine

robert87

I rent from a private landlord through a letting agency. A few months ago the built-in washer/dryer broke down and an engineer determined that it was beyond economical repair. This led to the landlord getting a replacement machine (bit of a fiasco when they initially bought the wrong thing) and despite their insistence that the machine match like-for-like the broken one, the new one doesn't have a dryer.

I've checked the property description in my letting agreement but it is only listed as a 'Washing machine'.

It's not the end of the world but it is inconvenient that I can only wash a load of clothes every other day while I wait for clothes to dry on the airer. I googled the new machine that landlord bought and found washer-dryers that are cheaper so I don't know what the reasoning was here.

I'm prepared to buy & get installed a new machine myself if the landlord is unwilling, I'm just wondering if I should notify them first before doing it. I know I shouldn't expect them to support any future maintenance on a machine I bought myself but I'm concerned that if I tell them I plan to do this they might try and prevent me from doing so.

Any thoughts?

foxy-stoat

I would do nothing and dry your clothes for free rather than using a dryer - or buy a small cheap tumble dryer and use that, as they are miles better than a combined unit.

robert87

My kitchen's not very big though, I don't know where I find space to install a separate tumble dryer without smashing the only decent sized cupboard I've got or putting it in a separate room.

esuhl

I'm not sure if it helps (or is completely irrelevant!) but I don't have a tumble-dryer (or any radiators) so drying clothes in winter was always a bit of an issue.


A year or two back I got a dehumidifier, which I point at the rack of drying clothes, and it really dries them quickly without the house getting damp.


Just a thought...

danlewi2

I 2nd the dehumidifier idea - more cost effective as well. Asumming your in a flat and dont have any out door area?

robert87

That's right, 4th floor flat with no outdoor area. Any recommendations on a dehumidifier? A quick search on Currys shows some as expensive as tumble driers!

PasturesNew

You can get them cheaper than that.... £50 would get you a small one that's adequate for your needs.

What would be handy is if a geek could let you know how much water theirs usually has in it once their washing's dry...

My parents used to use a de-humidifier AND a hot air fan to speed it up! It was mad in there...

circuit

We had the same issue. We now have a heated airer and a dessicant dehumidifier - works better than a tumble dryer. Our dehumidifer was a refurb from eBay. I strongly suggest the dessicant type, they are much more effective than the cheap ones you can get.

robert87

I hadn't considered a dehumidifier, this one looks pretty popular https://amzn.to/2yhGFS7

pascal22p

500ml capacity, forget about it.

I was frequently pulling out 2L of water overnight when drying clothes.
Dessicant are much less noisy if you run it overnight.

A lot of thick clothes were not dried after one night. A combination of a heated dryer and a dehumidifier should be very efficient. A bit pricy to run though?

I have this one: https://www.amazon.co.uk/DeLonghi-148110002-DEM10-Dehumidifier-White/dp/B000BP81DW
It was £130 back then. It is noisy, it is not a dessicant

stator

Don't buy a small dehumidifier, they really don't work very well at all.


You need to spend at least £100 if you want one that works (although ALDI had a cheap one last year). You can get one from LIDL at the moment with a humidistat. This turns it off automatically when the air is dry enough and back on when it gets wet.


They all make quite a bit of noise though.


If you did buy a washer/dryer, what would you do with the landlords machine?