7kg LG Washer/Dryer Combo
Hi,
My best friend in Sydney has a LG Washer dryer combo. THey've given up using it as a dryer, instead they now send most of their washing to the laundromat.
Choice reviewed Washer dryer combo's recently and the biggest complaint was the number of hours required to dry a load.
I've attached their pro's and cons
Washer-dryers
Pros and cons
As a washer
Generally these machines worked as well as conventional washers: the MIELE, LG and HAIER in particular all performed comparably to other front loaders, with the HAIER scoring especially well for dirt removal even with a full load and the MIELE offering great spin and energy efficiency. The ARISTON, however, scored only 56% for dirt removal, which was disappointing for an otherwise comparatively good machine with excellent energy efficiency. It’s quite unusual for a washing machine to score so poorly for its primary function.
As a dryer
When it comes to drying the real weaknesses of the washer-dryers become apparent. For a start they can’t dry full wash loads — you either need to wash a half load (or whatever size the manufacturer recommends for drying) and let it go through to the dryer program, or wash a full load and then take half out before you dry.
Considering their smaller drying capacity, all are also slow compared to most conventional dryers, with the LG, for example, taking nearly three hours to dry a half load. But at least it actually dried the clothes — it and the MIELE are the only two that can really be recommended as performing reasonably well as a dryer, the others all leaving clothes damp at the end of a single drying cycle. And we gave them a good chance: if they had a dryness sensor we used it, and if not we set the time to maximum.
These dryers are condenser dryers. As such, they use water from the mains to condense the steam from the clothes back to water when drying, then flush this with any lint down the drain. But while this has advantages — you don’t need to duct hot, wet air away and there’s no lint filter to clean — most use an awful lot of water to do it. The worst offender, the OMEGA, uses a full 72 L per drying cycle — the equivalent of six flushes of a standard toilet and more than it uses on its normal washing cycle. It doesn’t have to be like this: the efficient MIELE only uses 12 L for drying. And the water used for drying isn’t included on the dryer energy label on the machines, as only the washing function label is required to include water consumption. We’ve noted the water each machine uses for washing and drying in the table and included this in our running cost calculations. High water use could particularly be an issue if you intend installing one of these machines on a tank-water system.
Running time
You wouldn’t want to be in a hurry for clean clothes: none of these machines is quick to run, particularly if you want them to go all the way from wash to dry. The LG, for example, takes five and a half hours to wash and dry a half load (but at least that’s 4 kg). Even the best-performing MIELE still took three and a quarter hours — a long time to wait for a machine that’s washing and drying just 2.5 kg of clothes. If you have the space for two machines, it’s worth weighing up this time (and the small load sizes) against how long it would take you to wash and dry a load with a stand-alone washing machine and dryer. Based on previous CHOICE tests, we think it’d often be quicker. Plus with separate machines you can run both at the same time.
Ease of use
When you’ve got one machine performing two functions, the controls need to make it easy to work out what you’re trying to do when. The LG is particularly clear and intuitive and, along with the MIELE, was assessed as easy to use. Unfortunately the others weren’t so easy to figure out.
Clothes too creased?
A letter from a subscriber alerted us that some washer-dryer models seem to crease clothes excessively. We noted that the LG creased its load more noticeably than the other models.
The bottom line
There’s no question that the space-saving aspect of these machines is attractive, and some work well as washing machines. Overall, though, if you have a choice we think you’d get better and faster performance with a separate washer and dryer.
THis is their reccomendations on what to buy
MIELE Honeycomb Care WT945S $3499
LG Intellowasher WD-1480RD* $1999
The MIELE is the best of the five washer-dryers tested, but it’s expensive to buy (but cheapest to run) and fairly small, only drying a 2.5 kg load. If you want a bigger machine the LG is the best choice of the rest, though you’ll have to put up with very long washing and drying times.
Brand / model (in rank from left to right)
Miele Honeycomb Care WT9455 LG Intellowasher WD-1480RD (A) Ariston AL128D Margherita 2000 (B) Haier XQG50AB1100CTX (C) Omega WD1052
Performance
Overall washer / dryer score(%) 78 73 68 61 59
Washer / dryer ease of use score (%) 80 90 70 70 70
Overall washing score (%) 78 76 70 74 73
Overall drying score (%) 76 62 65 44 40
Overall water used (wash, L) 59 106 75 91 56
Overall water used (dry, L) 12 57 31 38 72
Noise (dB) 66 66 72 66 70
Cycle time, wash (h:min) 1:56 2:40 1:30 2:11 1:56
Cycle time, dry (h:min) 1:20 2:51 2:32 2:00 2:20
Features: Washing
Delay start (hours) 1-9 3-19 1-12
Out-of-balance correct Y Y
Anti-crease Y Y Y Y Y
Select spin speed Y Y Y(D) Y Y
Load sensor Y Y
Extra rinse Y Y Y Y
Water-saver option Y Y
Cold-only connection possible* Y(E) Y ns Y
Features: Dryer
Controls sensor & timer sensor & timer sensor & timer timer timer
Reverse tumble Y Y
Temp-settings 4 4 1 3 2
Overheat protection Y
Specifications
Capacity (wash / dry, kg) 5 / 2.5 8 / 4 6 / 4 5 / 2 5 / 2.5
Dimmensions (H x W x D, cm)** 850 x 595 x 600 850 x 595 x 620 850 x 595 x 535 850 x 595 x 550 850 x 595 x 550
Warranty (years)† 2 2 2 3 2
Origin Germany Korea Italy China ns
Manufacturer / distributor Miele LG Electronics Arisit Pty Ltd Haier Electronics Smeg (Hagemeyer)
Costs
Running costs ($ / 10 years) 2353 3969 3146 2786 2922
Price ($)†† 3499 1999 1999 999 1590
