Ahh, The Joys Of *Vented* Dryers

[launderess]

Past few days have seen a return to warm and humid weather so was not that keen on using the Lavatherm dryer again. Dread of going through all that prompted one to finally jig up the venting hose set to the Whirlpool portable.

Used 4"x4' semi-rigid coming off the vent as a transitional, then 4"x8' foil hose for the balance to window. Sections were joined by a vent hose joiner kit (added a bit of duct tape for extra security),fitted on an aluminum window plate to that end and away we went.

First load of mixed cotton garments washed in Miele, spun at 900rpms, the bunged into spin dryer (3200rpms)for three minutes; dried in about 35mins.

Second load of heavy terry cloth bath linen, same treatment as above, dried in about 45 min.

And when we say "dried" we mean just that. Not moist, dewy, damp, and so forth as with condenser dryer; but hot, crisp *DRY*! *LOL* Well maybe not so "hot" as the "cool down" phase on the WP does just that; pulls cooler room temp air into the drum. No water leaking, no wondering where water has gone, no wondering *if* dryer is making water, or any of the other bother of AEG condenser dryer.

If anything one would probably look to an older Miele tumble vented dryer (the early 300 series) if given a choice over the current condenser.

 

[frigilux]

As venting is an option for you, that's definitely the way to go. Do you have to remove the vent from the window when you're finished drying for the day, or does it stay in all the time? It's probably worth the effort, in any case. Your report on the AEG dryer was not enthusiastic.

 

[wayupnorth]

I do exactly that when I want to vent outside. I made a board that holds the vent and take it out when done drying after finding frozen clothes in there from the previous day when it was vented permanently outside. My washer and dryer are in the bathroom, so I can put my towel and robe in the dryer, exhausting in the bath for 5 minutes, heats just that room, nice warm towel and robe after showering. Probably costs me as much electricity as making toast.

 

[cfz2882]

convert condenser to vented

I've thought about modifying my litte asko condenser to be operable as a vented-noticed I could make a panel that fits where the condenser matrix seals into the housing,then mounting a 3"pipe with a 90* to lead to a discharge pipe exhausting through a hole cut in lower right of dryer.Before I go to the trouble though,i'll try with condenser chamber blocked and access door open to see if I like it as vented.With setup described above,could be converted back to condenser in a couple min.

 

[launderess]

Used the board method until...

Found a job lot of aluminum window dryer vents on fleaPay going cheap. Paper board tended to bend, become damp (especially if it was raining or snowing outdoors), and so forth with use, so swapped when chance presented itself.

No, we do not leave venting system up when dryer is not in use, but stash it to side of appliance until next required.

Don't get me wrong, am sure condenser dryers have their place. As noted previously in other threads if one lives in any of the climates and or conditions were the things were intended then things are fine. If you cannot drill a hole or otherwise have the required opening to outdoors for a vented dryer, then condenser is probably better than hanging wet laundry allover the place. Or is it? *LOL*

Also if you live in a cold or at least cool climate that is also preferably somewhat dry (not damp) for most of the year, again a condenser dryer is up your street.

The AEG dryer does have some advantages over the WP portable. Drum is larger thus can do big loads. Lavatherm also reverses which in theory should cut down on tangles/and bunches. Unlike the WP my AEG has sensors so will shut down heating when things reach a certain level of dryness.

When really cold weather arrives may switch to the AEG to avoid the telltale give way using dryer when one shouldn't, wafting plumes of steam billowing out of dryer vent.

 

[frigilux]

"When really cold weather arrives may switch to the AEG to avoid the telltale give way using dryer when one shouldn't, wafting plumes of steam billowing out of dryer vent."

 

Oh my god, Launderess!  Are you a renegade?  The home laundry equivalent of Robert DeNiro's character in Brazil?

 

[launderess]

Hardly

*LOL*

Just something NYC multi-family housing dwellers must go through to keep things under cover as it were. It is one of the reasons persons purchase those awful "condenser" water bucket kits.

During the warmer months some will pass dryer window vents off as those used for portable air conditioners, however that reason literally flies out the window during colder times of the year. First who would be running an AC when it is <40F outdoors? Then there is the thing about all that steam which oddly smells like Downy or other laundry products. *LOL*

 

[pulsator]

I had the same issue when I was at school this past year. On campus apartments that were 2 years old. I lived right across from the laundry room but the machine in there were NASTY (typical of college washers/dryers) and I refused to use them. I snuck a washer and dryer into my apartment. I hooked the washer up to the bathroom sink and used the dryer in the bathroom as well. I aimed the dryer's pantyhose covered vent at the bathroom exhaust fan and let it do it's thing. Worked perfectly. I was up on the second floor so no one smelled the steam exhaust coming out of the bathroom vent and it was a bathroom vent, maybe I was taking a shower! No one knew!

 

[iheartmaytag]

Laundress

Just something NYC multi-family housing dwellers must go through to keep things under cover as it were.

Why are they forbidden? How do they suppose the tenants keep clean clothing if they don't have a washer/dryer?

I am just glad that I live in a single family home that no one can tell me what I can have in it, within reason of course.

My washer was ill a few years back and I almost died waiting that week for the parts to come in. One trip to the laundry was enough for me.

 

[launderess]

Most every apartment lease or agreement (co-op or condo) historically in a good majority of NYC apartments forbids the installation of washing machines and dryers. Where or how residents got their washing done is not a concern of the landlord or co-op/condo board.

Main rationale behind this is due to the very old housing stock often found in NYC. Pipes and plumbing cannot handle the loads from say every resident having a washing machine. Well that is their first line of defence and most stick to it. The other reasons range from fears of property damage due to water (flooding, leaks, etc..) to both the building and or persons living below.

This does not mean residents didn't install, even housing estate buildings persons snuck them in where possible. However there have been many cases of landlords and or condo/co-op boards finding out and threatening eviction if the things aren't removed. People have even purchased apartments with W&D sets installed, then when something broke down and they needed replacement, and or whatever reason alerted the board to the units presence, were told to get shot of them because no approval was ever granted.

Being as all this many new development in NYC, especially Manhattan *MUST* have W&D connections if not actual units or the value drops and or it can be hard to sell. People simply do not want to use laundry services and or machines in basements, etc.... In short they want their own.

Dishwashers and food disposers were once rare in NYC apartments due to the above rationale, but DW's soon became necessary for the reasons given. Rubbish disposers have had some restrictions lifted by NYC government (who restricted them out of fears how all that ground up food waste would affect sewer systems and treatment plants), but they are still rater uncommon.

 

[iheartmaytag]

Thank you for explaining. Interesting how people live in other parts of the country/world, is what makes this site so wonderful.

I know back in the 70s the powers that be wanted to restrict disposals, they reversed themselves when it was pointed out the sanitary sewer was much better equipped than the landfill.

We got tp keep our disposers, of course home incinerators went away.

Thank you again for explaining in your most elegant way, as always.

 

[launderess]

No Problem. Feel Free As Always!

Can see building owners/boards having problems with washing machines in NYC. It is not telling tales out of school when the giveaway to a "hidden" appliance was someone in the same line having plumbing problems. This could range from froth and what not bubbling up their (usually) kitchen sink, to the aforementioned leaking down floors which is of course the person's below stairs ceiling.

When water backs up the super and or plumber are summoned and it more often than not is determined either pipes are clogged with lint and or not dissolved laundry detergent (probably more so back in the powder only days), and or the washer simply puts out too much water for the drains to handle at once. In many older NYC apartments often the kitchen and bathroom drains (usually the former's sink and latter's bathtub) share drains. If both are draining water in excess of what can be handled it has to go somewhere. Usually it just backs up and or slowly drains out.

The other thing today is many co-op, condo and rental buildings have contracted with route "in building" laundry guys. These are the persons/companies that install and maintain washers and dryers on contract for multi-family buildings. Well if tenants/residents have their own equipment then they aren't going to use the route stuff. That presents a problem for the landlord/building since they are on the hook each month for paying even if revenue from the machines does not. Clearly then something must be done! *LOL*

Historically, well at least since one has lived on our own in Manhattan having a W&D in apartment was not a huge deal for many. After all NYC was (and still is) a city of renters, and often singles at that. It became stuff of legend to go to laundry rooms or Laundromats to chat with neighbors and or even meet a date.

However much has changed in NYC with more and more families with young children staying put instead of moving to the suburbs. Today's mothers are not like their grandmothers. Having grown up with all the mod-cons they are not feeling the love for going to Laundromats and or the expense (and often dubious results) of laundry services.

 

[NYCWriter]

Launderess ...

... you realize that venting out of a window is a major NYC fire code violation, yes? Instant $5,000 fine if you're discovered. The FDNY doesn't piss around.

That being said ... yes, as a co-op board president I am planning on flouting my own building's "no washers" rule. But I have no intention of becoming a problem tenant. I intend to swap out my regular kitchen sink for one of those deep "farmhouse" style sinks (probably in copper) so I can have the wash water drain through the sink. It's when washer outtake pipes are connected directly to a drain when things cause problems; no matter how little water your machine uses, the water is *pushed* out (not "drained" out) at a rate of about 24 gallons a minute, overtaxing old, narrow pipes designed to handle no more than 8 gallons a minute (which is the rate at which gravity gently pulls the water down a drain, as in a bathtub). When the water is *pushed*, air and standing water in the pipes has to go somewhere in a hurry to get out of the way, and usually that means into the neighbors' sinks and bathtubs.

Draining the water through the sink would mitigate that potential problem. As would keeping a filter on that drain hose to catch debris.

People on the "American mainland" can't begin to comprehend the frustration of Manhattanites who can spend a million dollars (or more!) on their homes and STILL be forced to schlep their laundry to a laundromat or some crummy, cockroach-infested basement to use common washers that held God Only Knows What before YOUR clothes were loaded in.

For most Americans, laundry is a menial task -- like loading the dishwasher -- that takes just a few minutes, in the privacy of your own home. Just load the sucker, turn it on, and walk back to your tv/computer/Parcheesi game/orgy. No fuss. No inconvenience. No worries that someone is waiting for those machines, and if you're just 30 seconds late, they'll unload your nice clean clothes onto the basement floor.

For most New Yorkers, however, laundry isn't a task -- it's an *EVENT*. It requires getting dressed up, packing up the laundry (only as much as you can carry, of course), packing up your detergent/softener/pre-treater/etc., and leaving your home in (often during rain, ice, and snowstorms), often walking for up to 15 blocks to the nearest laundromat, then STAYING THERE -- with your book/laptop/whatever -- until your stuff is clean. "Doing the laundry" for most New Yorkers means blocking out *hours* at a time to get it done.

This is why we risk exhorbitant fines to smuggle washers into our apartments during the dark of night like we're running an Appliance Underground Railroad.

 

[frigilux]

I was right!  

 

Victoria (actually Launderess, but she now requires the protection of an assumed name for her assumed name) and NYCWriter are home laundry renegades! While this appellation doesn't carry the street cred of, oh, say, being a hit man for the mob or the proprietor of a meth lab, it certainly elevates them to 'cool kids on the block' status in the AW neighborhood.

[this post was last edited: 9/25/2013-07:20]

 

[NYCWriter]

Oh Eugene ...

... you really don't get New York, do you?

Washing-machine smuggling carries WAY more street cred than taking out a contract or running a meth lab.

WAY more.

Trust me.

 

[frigilux]

As no Bonnie & Clyde-styled film addresses this particular strand of sociopathic behavior, the least I can do is rewrite the words to Morrissey's "The Last Of The Famous International Playboys" in your honor!

[this post was last edited: 9/25/2013-06:51]

 

[dj-gabriele]

What amazes me the most is that the same people that pays millions to get a flat in NY, a terrible one apparently, won't update the services in the building!
Gosh, you couldn't even rent or live in one it it were over here until all the utilities received update and that includes plumbing!
And don't even think saying it can't be done as there are old houses (and I mean OLD, not turn of the century 1900, dating as far as 1000 years ago) that have fully functional plumbing and services!

 

[NYCWriter]

Gabriele ...

... it's all about MONEY and LOGISTICS

Most buildings -- even the expensive ones -- cannot afford to update all of its plumbing.

Nor would most residents be willing to have their walls torn up, along with the accompanying mess and noise, for upwards of an entire year.