AEG L7WB65684 washer dryer combo - surprisingly good

[henene4]

I am currently spending some more time at my partner's place.
He bought that machine in 2020 with his then partner due to availability issues in the early pandemic times.
They needed a machine that wasn't to deep and readily available - and that was what was in stock then, even if they didn't want a combo in particular.

I think AEG always had a reputation for making pretty good washer dryers. And I think that's still true.
It's certainly not the same as seperate machines, especially when considering power and water usage, but it's performance is really good.

Washing is the same as any current AEG.
It has a 50-ish liter drum, which is enough for 1 or 2 people.
Wash times are long, but you have the double time saver as needed.
Results are great and rinsing is decent enough.

But drying really impressed me.
It does crease items simply due to drum size and it isn't fast.
But it drys really well. Did not have one load not dried well, across everything from delicates to huge cottons towels loads.

And it's surprisingly gentle.
The only cycles running hot enough to keep the door from opening during drying are the cottons cycles, but even there, items weren't baked feeling.
It even managed to dry a huge, thick blanket on the delicates cycle basically perfect.
You can dry full synthetic items without any issues on the easy cares cycle.
And all is actually dry to the point.

It does use quite a bit of energy and about 12l of water per hour of drying.
And a full cottons dry cycle takes 3-4h.
But at least it works.

It doesn't do thermo spinning from what I saw, but the load sensing is incredibly accurate. The initial weight based sensing is actually pretty much spot on.

Only gripe is that the final spin is about 50min long if you select non stop wash and dry on the cottons cycles.
It's a bunch of 5 minute pulse spins to 1200rpm before the final 1600rpm spin. I think it's to prevent the load sticking to the drum, but still, halving that time might be a better idea IMO.

 

[launderess]

Few years ago now had chance to purchase AEG combo unit

Same story as with one's AEG Lavamat toplader.. Unit was purchased and bought to USA by German household that moved house to USA. They were returning to Europe and didn't wish to bring washer/dryer combo unit back with them so had it on offer.

Given one's previous issues with AEG toplader (voltage and frequency requirements) was not eager to go down that rabbit hole yet again. Though now since one does have equipment to make AEG toplader run in theory shouldn't have been an issue with AEG combo unit.

Unlike AEG toplader that was free (all one had to do was fetch it), combo unit was selling for several hundred. Then there would have been shipping costs...

While idea of steam and other functions were interesting one never followed through in getting the combo. Have two AEG washers already plus the Lavatherm condenser dryer. Would have had one's head handed to one on a platter if tried to bring another washer into this place. Well not unless was willing to get rid of something , which was not prepared to do atm...

Don't know if it's something to do with German market but have noticed washers and dryers sold for that country tend to have generous electricity requirements.

My AEG toplader pulls more heating power than the Lavamat 88840. Later was sold and programmed for North American market, while former for Germany.

 

[launderess]

Another thing....

Looked at cycle times for AEG combo on offer and it put one right off. As it is one doesn't use AEG toplader often as one would otherwise because of exceedingly long cycles.

Idea of a combo unit would have meant a machine tied up for many hours doing just the one load of wash. One doesn't always have that kind of time....

 

[combo52]

AEG combination washer dryer

It’s too bad it doesn’t start the drying process while it’s doing all that high-speed spinning to warm things up and start getting water out of the clothes load.

Some of the older US combos the dry cycle started during spin

Hi laundress that AEG combo may not have worked in the US because the tumble would likely have been too fast unless there was a way to change it to 60 cycle operation and the clothing just all stick to the drum. That’s also true of a lot of European dryers that people try to use here Without proper conversion to 60 cycle power

The idea of a washer dryer combination just really does work without at least a 4 ft.³ drum for it for more than a single person. It’ll be interesting to see how popular full-size combos like the new GE become in luxury new housing in Europe, now that the energy usage is so low, there would be no reason not to use them other than the size and there’s nobody in the world who wouldn’t like a machine they can throw large items in, and have washed easily as well as drying them when they want. I predict these machines will become quite popular the world over at least an upscale housing and condos.

John

 

[launderess]

@combo

"Hi laundress that AEG combo may not have worked in the US because the tumble would likely have been too fast unless there was a way to change it to 60 cycle operation and the clothing just all stick to the drum. That’s also true of a lot of European dryers that people try to use here Without proper conversion to 60 cycle power"

I've got that cracked....

Launderess vs. Electrolux AEG Lavamat - Round Three

Know some of you have been on tenter hooks wondering about how one is getting on with that AEG toplader washer; NOT! *LOL* But for those so inclined let me recant recent history. First there was: https://www.automaticwasher.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?75899 Then came...

www.automaticwasher.org

 

[combo52]

I forgot you had that power converter you could be selling 50 cycle power to your neighbors in the building.

John

 

[bewitched]

it sounds like I got my zenith tv right from your country just to discover that it needed 60Hz... I had to rent a gasoline generator (that i put in the living room) just to turn it on! Anyway Aeg (the real one) never did combo machines despite it had one in catalog. The model was turbo 2005 but was not made by them just like the actual ones (simply rebadged electrolux machines). I remember the mother of a friend put a

 

[bewitched]

... bra inside of it and she got it stitched to the drum. very funny thing at the time...

 

[foraloysius]

AEG Lavamat 2005 Turbo

That’s correct. It was built by Lepper.

How’s your German?

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_Lepper

 

[launderess]

Original owners had two AEG washers they were giving away; toplader and front loading. They ran both off a generator (gas or diesel one does not know), which meant frequency requirement was moot since they could get desired output from source.

One imagines since they were living in country generator was outdoors and cords run inside.

Obviously for health and safety reasons one was not going down route of gas powered generator. Thus another solution had to be found.

Looking back if one had space should have taken both AEG washers.

World over people who move house or otherwise take AEG washers out of Europe/50hz territory to 60hz have issues. Modern machines from that brand (and one assumes all Electrolux appliances meant for Europe) will simply not work on anything but 50hz.

 

[combo52]

Top load 50 cycle washers

Should generally work fine on 60 cycles they’ll just spin an agitate 15% faster, it’s front loading washers and dryers that have a problem because they tumble too fast to allow the clothing to fluff and dry and the washer may work OK but again it will tend to tumble a little too fast and not wash as well.

Have a 1984 German built Frigidaire front load washer in West Virginia. That was a 50 cycle model. I used it for years up there and it worked quite well. Probably didn’t have enough fall in the tumbling but the cylinder was so small anyway that I don’t think it would clean as well as a bigger cylinder front load washer.

John

 

[henene4]

Some interesting things

The machine had the typical issue where when ever the machine fills through the prewash, some water would end up in the softener compartment.
It had it since I knew it and the issue was so bad I had to wait until after the first rinse to add the softener.

So I took the detergent drawer housing apart today and soaked everything to descale.
That issue just is down to the 2 valve 3 compartment design and lime scale.

But that revealed some surprising things.

This machine does not have a separate condensation channel.
The condensing water valve connects directly to the drawer housing and it just runs down to the tub.
Some very basic Indesit branded washer dryers had a similar setup but used the wash valve for cooling water.
This has the third low flow valve but no separate condenser.

It also has only 1 heater in the sealed housing.
The fan motor has a 44W rating.

All in all a very compact design, very simple.

 

[mrboilwash]

Haven`t owned or worked on a combo for at least 20 years so it`s very interesting to see a newer one with the "hood up"

I think as long as it doesn`t impair performance or efficiency simplicity is a good thing.
Condensation channels have always been prone to clog up with lint when the surface gets coarse from hard water minerals. Shouldn`t be a problem here.

On the other hand simplicity can also be your enemy like on the dispenser set up.
Saves one valve but doesn`t make any sense if it fails in such a short period of time just because someone lives in a hard water area. Unfortunately BSH has been doing this kind of planned obsolescence for decades too and seems to get away with it.