Condenser Dryer

[brooklyngal]

I realize this board is all about washers but what the hell.

Does anyone have any experience with condenser dryers? I'm considering getting the Malber TD800 (link attached) but am curious how people like them. About how long are the drying cycles--do they take longer than other compact dryers? I have no way to vent outside so it's either this or venting into a cup, which I hear comes with its own set of problems.

And for those of you who helped me tremendously on my 24" washer needs, I believe I'll be going with the Maytag. Yippee.

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[toggleswitch]

Good things come in small packages.

BEWARE of the need for 220v power.

Wrinkle-avoidng cooldowns take HOURS, BTW.
Clothes emerge "dew-y" and take a few minutes in the open air to dry a bit more.

I'm looking for one of these in std. (North American) 120v
As far as I know only avaiable as an LG brand combo washer/dryer.

Can anyone direct me to just a 110v condenser dryer?

 

[lavamat_jon]

Hi there,

Well, I have a love-hate relationship with my condenser dryer, and that's a high end AEG rather than a Malber which is made by Servis (a very low-quality, low-spec manufactuer, best to be avoided IMO). But anyway, in terms of the condenser dryer I've listed some pros and cons:

Pros:
- No need to vent
- Doesn't blow out heated indoor air to the outside
- Can be installed anywhere
- The room the dryer is installed in is heated as an output

Cons:
- Takes 45-60 mins to dry a load of towels after a 1600rpm spin, versus about 30-40 mins for my vented dryer
- Noisier than vented dryers due to a second fan
- Drum doesn't tumble each way for the same amount of time as the condenser fan is linked to the drum - therefore they will tumble one way for 5 minutes and only reverse for 10 seconds, before tumbling for 5 minutes or so again. Is OK on most loads, but on loads such as sheets it can cause balling, whereas my vented dryer which reverses more frequently and equally for each direction doesn't cause sheets to ball.
- More maintenance required - have to clean the heat exchanger every 20-30 loads. If you don't then drying times seriously skyrocket.
- Pump a lot of heat into the room but still need cool air so that the air cooled condenser plates work - so you can't operate them in a closed room (have to have a door or window open).
- Although they don't blow heated air outside into cooler air, they still use more energy due to longer drying times.

All in all, the best dryer to get is a vented dryer, and only go for a condenser dryer if you really must. (And, IMO at least, I would stay away from Malber, as I have mentioned before they are manufactuered by Merloni, a company which enjoys a not so reliable reputation in Europe).

Hope this helps

Toggle - although my condenser dryer does take a long time, it doesn't take hours and my laundry never comes out wrinkled unless I leave it in there for a few days . They also come out fully dry, although you can set them to come out dewy dry if you wanted by selecting the Damp or Iron Dry programmes .

Jon

 

[lavamat_jon]

Wow!!!

My computer is letting me post!!!

 

[toggleswitch]

on 110v!~~ it would take hours!
I meant the cool-down takes hours!

The ones I have seen here are water-cooled to date, so the heat is not really pumped back into the room on those.

Worst-case scenario I would vent a small portable electric dryer to the out-of-doors in summer and indoors in winter.

Why?
Tell-tale stream of dryer vapor (steam) [visible in winter] via exhaust hose could get me in trouble with the future landlord. We shall see.

 

[toggleswitch]

I may just get a large regular US electric dryer and modify to use 110v.(regular house current, here)

1- The heat ouptput is equivalent to a hair-dryer.
2- The moisture level will be the same indoors whether I rack-dry [heaven forbid!] or use a machine. Just must remember to space loads two days apart!

 

[the7]

"I may just get a large regular US electric dryer and modify to use 110v.(regular house current, here)"

The large electric dryer requires 240V 30A supply and has a heater about 5000 watt.

Maximum power from 120V 15A supply is 1800 watt and the common practise is to limit it to 1500 watt.

It is nearly impossible to modify this large dryer to work at 120V 15A supply, because the heating could not be more than 1000 watt and some power is needed to run the dryer motor.

Even if you do, it would take at least 5 times the drying time.

 

[tomturbomatic]

Most big dryers successfully operate on 120 volts. The wattage drops to 1/4 of what it is on 240. If you can find an old Westinghouse, Gibson, Wards, etc. 27" StackMate electric dryer, the model that has the temperature selector switch has a low heat setting and the operating instructions clearly state that if you connect the dryer on 110 or 120, low is the setting to use; in fact it will not even start on any setting except low and fluff. You have to use the timed cycle which goes up to 2 hours or better. If you can find one with the funny slanted vanes that give "criss-cross" tumbling, you will not even have problems with king size sheets rolling up. If you have space for a dryer like this, you can dry loads with less wrinkling than in a smaller dryer and, with the exception of the WP & Sears compact dryers introduced in the 60s, the larger ones are generally better made and quieter. You do need a dedicated line with a good 15 amp breaker. When I moved into my first townhouse, I did not have a 220 outlet where my Maytag 806 dryer had to sit, but there was a 120 outlet and a radiator. I moved in at the end of October and the heat was on, so I backed Mary Maytag up against the radiator and took advantage of the radiator's heat to warm the dryer air. Since the electronic dry system was triggered by moisture, not heat, it worked fine while I had to use it that way. Toggle, if you have to use a drying rack, get a good small fan to circulate air or even one of those Vornado fan/heater combinations. Air circulation really helps speed drying and if you really load up the rack, aim the airflow in from one end so that it has to travel through all the inside stuff.

 

[hoovermatic]

I agree with Jon's pros and cons - I have had a condenser dryer for 6 years and it is slower and higher maintainance but if I want a dryer at the moment, it is the perfect solution. Mine is a Zanussi with a very small porthole, which is my only other gripe. When I FINALLY get my kitchen re-configured, I want to go back to a vented dryer.

 

[Designgeek]

How'bout this: Where does the steam from the shower go? For example do you have a vent or a window in the loo?

If you have a vent: install a suction fan in it, "to take out the shower steam faster as a preventive because you're allergic to mold." If you have a window, maybe use a small window fan to exhaust steam from the shower.

Then the next step is, just get a long length of dryer duct, and snake it along the floor to the WC whenever you're running a load in the dryer. Turn on the vent fan or window fan, and if the pesky landlord comes sniffing around, "you like to take showers at odd times of day/night." Roll up the ducting when not in use, and say it was for an "art project." And that's not a dryer, it's an expensive nest for the cat, with a self-cleaning feature to get the shed cat-hair out of the bedding! Right!

 

[askomiele]

Lavamat_jon: All dryers from AEG and other brands reverses only 10 seconds. Indeed it's a problem with sheet, but even towels and bigger stuff get sometimes wrinkeld. So they just have to deconnect the fan from the drum motor. Problem
solved!!

 

[lavamat_jon]

Actually, my Bosch dryer tumbles each way for equal amounts of time, as well as my older vented Hotpoint dryer. I know some brands (even vented) only reverse for 10 seconds (Darren's AEG does this), but most vented dryers I've used reverse each way equally. I've never had trouble with wrinkling - just trouble with large items such as sheets balling up. Only time I suffer from wrinkling is if I forget to unload the dryer until the next day!!

My aunt's older Miele (T640) also tumbles each way equally, although I've heard that even though the newer vented Miele's don't there is a programmable function to change the reversing pattern. Plus the Miele dryers don't have half as much a problem as they have an anti tangle sensor, so when items such as sheets ball up it will automatically reverse the drum until it is untangled.

Jon

 

[brooklyngal]

You guys are the best.

Jon-it's so helpful to have your thoughts, thank you. I didn't realize Malber was troublesome. The only upside, I guess, is that they're based near me so getting a technician out wouldn't be a problem.

Designgeek, that's quite a creative solution! However, my laundry closet is 4 rooms away from the bathroom, so I'd need a pretty long exhaust pipe. Also, I'm not so worried about the landlord since I *am* the landlord--of my own domain, anyhow.

I really do not want to spend over $800 on a dryer, so my choices are limited to Malber and the Bosch Axxis WTL 5410 (this via eBay). I'm looking into the AEG model but am having trouble finding it in the U.S.

I've been convinced by others not to do the vent-in-a-bucket route. So at least that's solved.

 

[hoovermatic]

There are always those portable condenser units that are no bigger than about 30cms square. You plug the vent hose from your regular dryer into it and off you go - the best of both worlds. I have no experience or anecdotal evidence of these but see them in magazines all the time. I have tried to find a piccy of one to attach but can't track it down

 

[launderess]

Personally I'd suggest looking into a spin dryer such as those sold under the "Spin-X" brand name, and put the money set aside for the dryer for buying a TOL front load washer.

Like yourself have lived in a small apartment and used "compact" 120v clothes dryers. In all cases except for drying lightweight items like sheets, drying took ages. The only saving grace was we had the dryer installed near the kitchen window, so could exhaust that way.

Spin dryers are laundry appliances which spin at 3,300 or so rpms. This removes much of the moisture and detergent residue, leaving many items almost dry. So dry in fact even the most heavy terry cloth towels will hang dry in less than one hour or so. You can of course couple a spin dryer with a small portable dryer, and that would be the best of both worlds. The spin dryer would remove much of the remaining moisture/water leaving the dryer with little work. This would leave the dryer's function to mainly "fluff" and finish drying items that are pretty much "damp dry" already. On 120v this is perfectly fine.

P.S.

Older Malber units were made in Italy by SPA Compo (sp?) company and had a great record for use and life span. We had a Malber P1-8 that ran for 9 years or so without any problems. Malber has their own NYC area service rep as well.

L.

 

[Designgeek]

I'll second Launderess there.

The SpinX will pay for itself in 5 years anyway due to electricity savings: it takes much less power to remove water by spinning than by tumbling in hot air. By pulling most of the water out with the spinner, you cut your tumble-dryer time in half (another effect of which is that your tumble dryer will last twice as long, and your clothes will last longer due to less wear from friction while tumbling).

So let's say that a normal 240 volt dryer does a load in 45 minutes. If you use a spinner first, that'll be 22 minutes.

If a 120 volt dryer takes 1-1/2 hours for the same load, using the spinner will cut it back to 45 minutes: the same time you'd get with the 240 volt dryer (but of course half the power consumption).

BTW, even the high-speed 1,000 rpm spin in most modern washers doesn't get as much water out as the SpinX. You'll see a significant difference from the first time you try it.

 

[Bearpeter]

pity you can't get....

...AEG or Zanussi in the states!
The drying of their Washer dryers is exceptional as far as combined units go!
Good luck with your search!

 

[brooklyngal]

This spinner idea is interesting. However, I am already planning to install a 220v line in the room where the dryer is going. I too wish AEG were available.

Malber's self-venting dryer has a lot of fans in NYC, it seems, but few on this board. Has anyone used Bosch's 24" ventless dryer?

Argh, decisions.

 

[SactoTeddyBear]

Re: Malber Condensor Dryer:

Hi! brooklyngal I've got a Friend that I E-Mailed, because he has a Malber Dryer, but I couldn't remember if he had the Vented or Condensor Model. As it turns out, he has the Vented Model and told me that the Malber Condensor Models aren't any where near as good as the Vented Models. If you are able to Vent the Dryer where it will be located/operated at, I would certainly go with a Vented Dryer as well. I've got a Compact LG Combo and even though it does a real good at Washing and Drying, it certainly does take quite a long time, especially with Heavier Clothing and Towel Load Items to Day and even the Cool-Down too.

Good Luck with your decision and choice. I don't really know much about the Bosch Models, other than I think that the Dryer Doors look like they designed it from a Toilet Seat Lid.

Peace and Happy Laundry Drying, Steve
SactoTeddyBear...