Dryer advice needed

[warmsecondrinse]

I've just started to look for an apartment and need to figure out my dryer options. My Maytag is coming with me but I'll need to buy a dryer. I know a vented 240 electric or gas dryer is the best option, but in the event it's not...

My priority is to do my laundry in my place; no laundromat! Long drying times are infinitely preferable to schlepping around bags of laundry.

Is anyone happy or know anyone happy with a condensing dryer, whether 120 or 240? If so which brands/models? So far 4.2 cu. ft. is the largest I've found.

If I'm stuck with a 120v vented electric dryer, what's the largest available? 3.6 cu. ft. is the largest I've found.

Worst case scenario if I'm stuck with 120v and no venting is to buy the biggest combo 120v I can find, wash in the Maytag, then high speed spin and dry in the combo.

Thanks. Any advice or opinions are greatly appreciated.

Jim

 

[henene4]

Being an european condensor-dryer-child...

... I have only used Miele and BSH. And if I have to pick between them: GO MIELE! BSH dryers are drying just way to hot and the results are less than average! But anyway, condensors are takeing longer but do their job well. If you have the ability to vent, go vented!
If not, pick either Miele or Asko. Both are well built machines with a good performance over all...

 

[launderess]

Condenser Dryers In NYC Area

Long before one even owned one had been warned off condenser dryers by various friends and so forth in this area. Coming from the speed and ease of vented dryers most Americans are used to the non-vented sort just drove persons up the wall. Climate here is just not suited to running the things for all put a few months of the year. Suppose if you are further upstate or out in the "country" things could be different.

Know persons with Miele, Bosch, and even Asko, they all pretty much say the same thing; their condenser dryers take hours to dry loads and even then things aren't done the way they like it.

My WP compact will dry things faster than the AEG, but then again it sends warm moisture laden air out via venting and brings fresh *dry* air in to do the job. Where the AEG beats out the WP is in capacity and the fact it reverses. That last bit isn't all it's always cracked up to be as linens such as sheets and what not still often tangle into a ball.

If you are fine with doing washing one load then going about your business for the several hours it will take to dry, then go with a condenser dryer. OTOH if speedier results matter use vented.

 

[henene4]

Wow, don't be mad...

.. but hours to dry? I mean, If I take a whole load of towels (8kg) out of the Panasonic and stuff it into the Siemens as one load, it is done within 2h, on low heat btw. High heat would cut off even more. If I spin this load at 1000rpm or lower, than we talk in the hours range, but for a normal load, the thing is pretty speedy. I dried 4,5kg of bedding spun at 800rpm within 1:45h at low heat, and the load was dry. Of course, longer than vented, but hours? Wouldn't say so...
Anyway, we have ours in our laundry room which is about 4/5 below ground, and temps never rise above 18°C in summer, that may be the thing that changes everything.
So go vented if possible, and no matter how, go 240V/208V! 120V will take a long time, even if vented! And if you have to go condensor, get a nice Miele, these are the best dryers out there in matters of performance and clothes care!

 

[launderess]

By American standards anything more than 45mins to an hour is indeed "hours" when it comes to tumble drying laundry.

A full load (5kgs) of heavy towels done in my Miele will be dry in 30min or less in a gas heated vented dryer.

 

[warmsecondrinse]

Thanks for the info

If I'm able to go vented, I will. No doubt about that!

I should have mentioned that I had an Equator 3600 combo for several years. I actually had no problems with it, except for lint build-up inside the machine.

My only worry is that my beloved Maytag 710 spins at a bit over 600rpm. I wonder how much the slower spin speed will add to the drying time. Maybe a compact FL for a spin?

I can see it now: 3 machines! Wash in Maytag, rinse and high speed spin in a cheap FL, then the Miele for drying.

I'll keep you all posted.
Thanks again.

Jim

 

[launderess]

Two Words

Spin dryer.

I'll say no more.

 

[davetranter]

'Two cent's worth'

Spin dryers save LOTS of time and money. I wouldn't be without one. My Good Lady and I use a small 'counter top' one for anything which needs drying in a hurry. In my own 'humble opinion' most people overload tumble dryers (vented or condenser). I have found that if a washer load is split into (maybe four or five) smaller dryer loads, then the items really can 'tumble' (or even 'float') in the airstream, and dry in a few minutes. A little care taken in grouping items for drying means that fast drying (or heat sensitive) items don't get 'over dried', and slow drying batches can have a little longer. Yes, it's more labour intensive than 'bung it in and walk away', but again it saves time and $$$!!

All best

Dave T

 

[washingpowder]

I've been using a Bosch condenser since becoming an apt dweller and I absolutely loved it. It takes more time to dry a load compared to vented dryers, but let's be honest, you don't have to babysit your laundry so you can turn it on and go. At the end there for an hour it tumbles every two minutes to prevent wrinkling, and you can extend it to two hours by 'easy ironing' button.
It seems it reduces wrinkles much better than vented dryer, maybe its because of the longer cycles or the fact you don't get your clothes bone-dry. There's always a tiny bit of residual moisture left. I actually like it and think it might also be the reason it's easier on fabrics.
Also there's a delay start option. Never used it but friends say it's good to set it in the morning so it's ready to unload when they're back from work.
Clothes are much more fluffy and less damaged compared to vented, 4000W+ dryers.
I'll be buying a 120 vented in a little and selling the Bosch, unfortunately my new apartment does not have a 240v line. We'll see how it works out.

 

[henene4]

You haveing said that...

... Today I hab bedding wash day. Used the Easy-Care-cycle today in the Panasonic as well with and without ECO. Without the cycle will be my new standard bedding cycle, with it is just at a too low temp (not higher than 40°C).
Anyway, i tried to dry 4 sheets at once. After less than 2 min they balled up. So I splitted the load. And even that way, it balled up and the load was not evenly dried.
Next, I dried on bed-set (sheet, pillowcase and cover), which ended up dry, but balled up and wrinkeld.
Our old Miele reversed not often. But I rarley found a load being balled up.
Further, if you try drying a pillow, you'll find that the dryer will shut of way to early AS the 2 sensor bars just check for surface-moisture. The Miele system checks the moisture throughout the load by haveing one sensor-side beging a drumpaddle, one being the drum itself! This enables deep down drying of any size or kind of load!
And, last but not least, the Miele drys in any standard cycle (cotton) about 10°C loser. While the BSH once dry at 75° normal, Miele peaks out at 68°. Low temp is 65° at BSH, Miele never goes aboth 60°, rarley touching 55°!

 

[logixx]

I like my Bosch Axxis but sheets can really be a problem:



On the other hand, even large US dryers don't seem to be immune against this, as this very bad Samsung dryer shows:

 

[launderess]

Oddly enough have found the only dryers that do not tangle sheets up into a ball are those large ones at local Laundromat. Perhaps it has something to do with the drums being so large in relation to load size but things do seem slightly better in that regard. Tangles? Yes, but that is to be expected.

 

[combo52]

Poor Tumbling Samsung Dryer

Hi Alexander, is it possible that the SS dryer is tumbling too slowly?, I would check the specs and see if this is the problem. Many dryers have been made with the wrong motor pulley, it is also possible that you are running a 60 cycle power dryer on 50 cycle power?, doing this will cause very unsatisfactory performance.

Also Samsung dryers are not US dryers, they are cheap poorly built copies at best, LOL.

 

[logixx]

The Samsung dryer is not mine, only the Bosch is. I just found the video because someone on the Laundry Room Forum complained about her Samsung dryer balling up sheets. I posted it as the issue of balled up sheets had been brought up here as well.

Is there a trick to drying sheets?

Sorry if this has been addressed before a million times, my google search didn't find a discussion. A couple (few?) years ago I bought a Samsung WF520ABP washer because I needed a new washer, and a matching DV520AEP dryer because, well, it matched. I'm no laundry expert so these suit me fine...

ths.gardenweb.com

 

[launderess]

Well Fired Up the Lavatherm Last Night

Really don't use this condenser dryer often and think that is what is causing problems. While the pump system is perfectly operational it does not run during the few cycles one has done so far. Found out last night that by "priming" the system (using a hose to shoot in several ounces of water to the system), it then will run without issue.

A mixed 5kg load washed in the AEG and spun at 1200rpms took nearly three hours to dry in the Lavatherm. Towards the end got that fed up and took out the two heavy towels to hang dry. Once one did that the machine quickly went from "Machine Iron" to "Damp dry" which one takes to mean it was the thicker items holding up the convoy as it were.

Heard from friends who have a Miele condenser dryer here in NYC and they are calling in their contractor to see if there is any way to install a vented (gas) dryer. Both they and their housekeeper are that fed up with waiting hours for laundry to dry. As the building is new and has W/D connections there isn't even the option of using an on premise laundry room.

Oh well in a few more months warmer weather will arrive and the condenser dryer will go into hibernation for the duration.

 

[chestermikeuk]

Whyever...

Are you using a 1200rpm spin if you are using a condenser tumble dryer and your washer spins @ 1800rpm? or is it a different washer?

You should max spin at 1800rpm, any slight creasing on certain fabrics will be taken out by the dryer and it will certainly benefit the heavy towels and drying times!!

 

[launderess]

Regarding 1800 spin

Actually did some online research before doing the laundry last night and there seems to be considerable debate regarding the value of spin speeds >1200rpms.

Thus far have used the Lavatherm mainly after laundry was washed in my older Miele with a top final spin speed of only 900 rpms. It should go to 1100rpms but hasn't for ages and after several calls to MieleUSA and tech visits it still won't and they have told me and my machine to get on our bikes! *LOL*

After things came out of the Miele were bunged into the spin dryer for three minutes of 3200rpms then dried in either the WP or Lavatherm. Even with the spin dryer a full 5kg load takes two hours or more to dry in the latter depending upon composition.

Have stopped using the spin dryer and by extension very high spin speeds on everything as one has noticed problems. Undergarments and T-shirts badly stretched out of shape that no amount of heated tumble drying can restore. Elastic bands in particular seem not to last as long. Also began noticing small holes in certain items. In addition it seems the edges of bath linen were becoming shredded.

http://www.washerhelp.co.uk/forums/topic/156-are-washing-machine-spin-speeds-a-con/

Washing machine speeds efficiency | Whitegoodshelp

Ever wondered how much extra water a faster washing machine speed will get out of your laundry? It might not be as much as you think..

www.whitegoodshelp.co.uk

 

[brisnat81]

I've got the 1800RPM Miele and have no issues with stretching or deforming. Nothing goes out of shape or gets damaged, maybe the tiny holes in the honeycomb drub make the difference. The Miele only ramps up to max spin for the final 2 minutes (Total of 8) I think the rest of the spin is done at 1200RPM.

The Dryer Manual for the matching 4888C dryer shows the following differences in Energy usage vs spin speed.

Based on Cottons, Normal Plus which is what I use most of the time, it shows an Energy saving of nearly half a kWh plus a time saving of 13 mins.

However to get those cycle times the dryer must be somewhere that has a very low ambient temperature. Its very rare that it'll complete a load in under two hours unless I remove the condenser.

 

[launderess]

Low Ambient Temperature

One of the reasons one used the Lavatherm last night is due to the very cold weather we've been having. Indeed the handful of times one has used the unit these past few winter months is because it has been downright frigid outside.

Even in a chilly room have found drying times not that much faster. What does seem to happen is condensation drips from the left rear area where the fan/heater area is located. At first one thought this was water leaking from the pump area that wasn't going where it should. But after opening up and cleaning the area(nothing was really there) last summer am sure of things.

Now there is a deflector to send such water down into the sump where it should be pumped up the collecting drawer, but either too much condensate if forming and or just a design flaw, who knows....

Miele and other condenser dryers have listed in their owner's manual optimal ambient temps for proper operation.

Tumble Dryer Installation Requirements

Tumble Dryers Installation Requirements

www.ukwhitegoods.co.uk