Washer/dryers

whitesatin

Any up to date opinions on combined washer dryers?  I now find myself without space for two machines so have to look into combining both as not enough room to stack.

DullGreyGuy

whitesatin said:

Any up to date opinions on combined washer dryers?  I now find myself without space for two machines so have to look into combining both as not enough room to stack.

They're rubbish, have had them from reasonable brands like Bosch and Smeg. 

They are typically condensing not heat pumps so drying is expensive. Dryer capacity is often half of that of the washer so for a full load you have to wash, split the load, dry the first half, dry the second half, then put the next load in. With two machines you wash one, put that in the dryer and start washing the second at the same time, once they're done you move the dry clothes out and put the second wash into the dryer. 

After our 3rd washer/dryer died we decided to have separates even though there isnt really a space for the dryer. Its taking less than half the time to do the weekly laundry than it did before with less action from us and much lower electricity use (and water but we arent directly metered) 

The fact the new machine is a 1600 spin speed is a big help too, when we last looked there were few washer dryers with the option, looks like a few more now. 

rach_k

I like mine.  I had a Hotpoint one for a long time, and now a Samsung.  

The washing capacity will always be larger than the drying capacity, but not usually as low as half.  It's usually something like 9kg wash / 6kg dry.  For normal family washing, that works perfectly for me - wash it all, take out some things that shouldn't be tumbled and then leave the rest in to dry.  If I want to do a load without stopping after the wash, I just fill it to around 6kg, which isn't horrifically tiny.

If you want to do a whole family's washing in one or two days, or you're the type to let it all pile up and then have mountains to get through in a hurry, you'd probably be better with separates.  If you're happy to spread it over the week and are able to organise that - so it doesn't matter than you can't wash and dry at the same time - I think a combined washer-dryer is a great way to save space.  It probably also helps if you are not wanting to chuck every last thing in the dryer (that's terrible for your clothes, your bills and the environment anyway!).

A washer-dryer has worked really well for my family of 4 plus a pet.  We probably wash more than the average family too, as we don't really use disposable anything.  Two children in cloth nappies is quite a lot of laundry, but it was fine!  

I'd get the largest capacity machine you can, particularly for drying.  I like the smart one I have now as it will send an alert when one load is finished, so if you do have a few loads to get through you're not wasting time by forgetting to check when one load is finished.  I'm not sure I'd pay that much extra for the smart stuff though!  My Hotpoint machine lasted very well for a long time.  I can't vouch for the Samsung as it's only a year or two old.  Both wash well and dry well.  

DullGreyGuy

rach_k said:

The washing capacity will always be larger than the drying capacity, but not usually as low as half.  It's usually something like 9kg wash / 6kg dry.  For normal family washing, that works perfectly for me - wash it all, take out some things that shouldn't be tumbled and then leave the rest in to dry.  If I want to do a load without stopping after the wash, I just fill it to around 6kg, which isn't horrifically tiny.

Its possible to get a 9/6 split but a quick eyeball at my favour appliance store for research (as they have many filters) they have 6 devices available at that split but 12 where the wash is higher than 9kg. On the flip side they have 16 with a 8kg wash load, only 2 have a 6kg dry and the rest are 5kg or less which is getting to be fairly small load for a family doing weekly loads.

You also dont comment on the electric comparison?


Hopefully this is taken in the way it's meant... when was the last time you had seperate machines? I was cynically about the advantage of separate machines too as whilst I've owned only 3 washer/dryers I've used many Landlords' ones before them. I thought they were okish, and the ones we bought were an improvement over the Landlord ones, until we did a long rental on away from home which had separate machines and it was only then that I realised how poor they were in comparison and decided we'd buy separate machines when the current one died (happened 2 years later/ 18 months ago)

tacpot12

As a single person living alone, I found they worked well for me. The Hoover model I had was able to dry just over half a load, and I rarely had more than half a load to wash if I did two loads a week. 

Albermarle

If you put 'Washer Dryer' in the search box, you will see its has been a regular topic over the years.
This was the latest thread.
Washer dryer question — MoneySavingExpert Forum

whitesatin

Thank you, all for your thoughts and opinions and, indeed, the link to previous discussions.

Certainly food for thought there and thinking it through, I think I will go for a combined one.  There’s only myself and my husband so there’s not all that much washing in comparison to a family.  I’ve always dried my washing outdoors in summer so will still be able to do that.  Thinking about it, I’ve never been that happy with how the dryer deals with double duvet covers (they end up in a ball and take ages) so have taken to hanging them indoors to dry overnight.  I’ll also now think about doing smaller loads with hopefully high spin speeds so I don’t have to split the load for drying.

You have been very helpful, thank you.

Bigphil1474

Just buy a washer and also buy more clothes? Seriously, we've never had a drier and not missed having one. Outdoors in the summer, clothes horse in the bathroom in the winter (well ventilated). We couldn't afford one when the kids were home, and since they moved out we haven't really needed one, so never got round to it. 

whitesatin

Got one delivered and fitted this morning.  Now I just need to get my head around the instructions.  There’s an App too but I doubt I’d benefit from that.

DullGreyGuy

whitesatin said:

 Thinking about it, I’ve never been that happy with how the dryer deals with double duvet covers (they end up in a ball and take ages) so have taken to hanging them indoors to dry overnight.  I’ll also now think about doing smaller loads with hopefully high spin speeds so I don’t have to split the load for drying.

Noting we did not buy a MSE style drier but our dryer has a special program for bed linen... it's not perfect but does a lot better job of not knotting it. If you stop it once mid cycle and straighten it you can get it properly dry unlike the previous machines which just weren't worth trying with the outside bone dry but inside the knot still soaking.