Dryers today

[brucelucenta]

Now that there is an abundance of washers that accommodate huge loads, we need dryers that will reverse tumbling to keep things from rolling up into a ball. It would require separate motors for the drum and blower, which is probably why no manufacturer has made one. I end up splitting large loads of wash, which my washer handles with ease because the dryer isn't capable of doing the same. Sheets are the worst problem, they roll up into a ball and I have to open the dryer and untangle them at least once or more before they are dry.

 

[DADoES]

 
Love my Fisher & Paykel SmartLoad dryer with reverse tumble.  Interesting design that does not involve two motors.  Unfortunate they were discontinued.

GE has frontload-match models that reverse-tumble, and F&P offers it rebadged as a toploader-match under their brand.

F&P DE7027P1

F&P DG7027P1

GE GFDR485EFRR

GE GFDR480EFWW

 

[yogitunes]

I had the Frigidaire with reverse tumble, it still only used one motor.....

the concept and idea was unique, but actually did not work....did not dry any faster, and loads like sheets still rolled into a ball.....

but agree, dryers should be 2x the size of any matched washer.....so for these 5 cu ft washers, the dryers should be made 10 cu ft to match......

when will people wise up....advertising for a washer that can wash 20 pairs of jeans in one load, yet no mention that the dryer can't handle it!....well, it can, if you want them creased and wrinkled!!!

still don't see why people have to have these huge washers......what are they washing?...life rafts?, tents?, sails from a boat?...

 

[combo52]

Reverse Tumble Dryers

Like Martin mentioned Frigidaire built RTDs in this country in the 90s [ Philco Ford also built them in the 60s ] and I never could see any benefit. And when I compare the poor results of the 20+ European dryers I have used over the last 25+ years in terms of drying speed, freedom from wrinkles etc, I certainly could only conclude that having the dryer reverse only makes it a less effective dryer.

 

If a dryer is going to tangle clothing reversing it from time to time will not do any good, it will only tangle the clothing in the opposite direction, and the dryer will probably still stop when the clothing is balled up. It just does not make any sense to reverse a dryers tumbling.

 

A dryer can be built for an ideal tumbling and airflow pattern if it runs only in one direction. This has been demonstrated in almost all modern North American full sized dryer designs for decades now.

 

[DADoES]

 
Must disagree with that John.  I ran a quilt several years ago in the Calypso-match dryer, on the designated Bulky cycle ... although perhaps the design of it doesn't compare to the older style.  The quilt ended up still damp (had to be run again) and rolled into a wad.  The same quilt in my SmartLoad comes out perfect every time.  Different strokes for different folks, I suppose.

 

[norgeway]

Westinghouse dryers

In the 60s and 70s, while not the best dryers, had staggered  vanes and they NEVER tangled anything!

 

[kb0nes]

Variable speed tumble

I have a pet project in my head (where its likely to stay due to lack of time) of adding a variable drum speed. I have a method schemed out that would work well on a standard Whirlpool dryer that just adds a small drum motor and a variable frequency inverter.

The drum speed could be adjusted over a wide range or even varied during a cycle. Simply altering the drum speed would likely break up the harmonic set up by the tumble speed and the vanes that causes balling. I suppose reversing would be possible too but the belt tensioner would have to be redesigned I'd think.

 

[launderess]

My AEG Lavatherm Reverse Tumbles

Sheets and other linen loads still tangle. Worse because it is a condenser dryer opening the door to untangle the load wastes energy.

Reached the conclusion that in order for sheets not to tangle there must be large enough room for them to tumble about. Sheets rarely ball up into a tangled knot when using those large Laundromat dryers.

 

[mark_wpduet]

I so AGREE with this!!

My Duet is 3.8 cu feet I think and my matching dryer is 7.0 cu feet I think, it's been over ten years so I can't remember if those #'s are correct, but the washer can handle more than the dryer. I sometimes split the loads up too and I HATE that, especially if I go to long without doing laundry and end up doing larger loads.

 

[Practigal]

Not every machine....

After having read thousands of reviews it seems that only some machines of a certain model will roll everything into a ball and not other machines of that same model. People describe all kinds of means to solve the rolling into a ball problem but it seems that if the machine did it in the first place none of their solutions will ever work...which begs the question-why only some of the machines?

 

[henene4]

Balling is such a radom thing.

First, one has to divide into balling and tangeling. Tangeling usually happens if the load is to big and items just get "knotted" up. Balling happens if one item wraps around other items. For example if a sheet opens up and the rest of the load gets surrounded by it.
Tangeling usually increases creasing, but is less likely to cause uneven drying.
Balling causes creasing as well, but usually results in the surface of the ball being dried fast, activating the sensors to stop drying and thus leaving everything inside the ball wet.

Reversing can help, but only if done in short, equal intervalls, or if done by sensing. Even Miele's reverse logic fails some times, and it is by far the most advanced as it senses for certain patterns in the motor data and decides when to reverse.
I recognized as well that reversing is more likely to reduce tangeling than to reduce balling up.

I know that for me drying a load of equal items makes balling more likely. Mixing big and small items helps to a certain point as smaller items easyly get caught in bigger ones.
The number of itmes plays a role as well. Only drying 2 sheets is oftener resulting in balling than drying 4 sheets. At 6 sheets however, they start to tangle.
Some dryers have lifter bars that introduce a front to back motion. While this usually improves drying with mixed loads, bigger loads or bigger items tangle more likely.
Some dryers just turn that little bit fast then others. But even this can help or cause tangeling.

I never saw a dryer dry everything each and every time completly untangled or unballed. It's sometime even just a matter of luck.

On a site note: With 4 dryers and 4 different reversing methods, some proved to be better than others. Miele's sensed reversing was just slightly ahead of Mieles old reversing pattern. The today EU Whirlpooö reversing system with its reversing intervalls through out the cycle reduces tangeling dramaticly while only being a slight help against balling. BSH non-reversing was a balling monster, even with all the tricks, but tended to be suprisingly tangle-free.

 

[brucelucenta]

Coming from the commercial laundry and dry cleaning industry, I can tell you that the reason things get balled up in clothes dryers is because they tumble in one direction. Even the old style westinghouse washers used to ball up large items like sheets and blankets because they tumble in one direction. In dry cleaning machines, which are almost all combination units called dry to dry units, they always tumble the same amount of time in each direction and change directions about every minute or so. That is very much like the new front load washers. That keeps things from tangling up into a ball. That is why I think it would be great if someone ever makes a dryer doing the same thing. The dryers that actually do reverse direction don't usually do it for an equal amount of time in each direction, at least the ones I have seen. So you still get balling up of sheets and such. The problem is the heat and blower. They would have to turn the heat off to pause for reverse rotation because the blower would stop. That is why I said originally that if they had a separate blower motor and drum drive motor that problem would be eliminated.

 

[henene4]

I don't think one can compare those dry-cleaning monsters of technical accumulation with a household dryer.
Dry-cleaning machines are usually not loaded with one kind of big items of same weight, size and surface. Even if a dry cleaner only runs a load purley made of shirts, these are not 20 exactly same shirts.
And even modern FLs ball up things. Some do, some don't.

 

[logixx]

I wish BSH still made dryers like this one. Made in 2002 and still running today.

 

[cuffs054]

I remember (perhaps incorrectly) that the Danby dryer I bought at Home Depot had only one motor and yet it reversed.

 

[mark_wpduet]

Tennis Balls

do help somewhat......but even that doesn't always work. If I do sheets, I always throw tennis balls in. I have a thick bedspread that takes FOREVER to dry, and sometimes it will get balled up to. I always HATE washing that bedspread because of that....But I wash it OFTEN because the 2 cats get on the bed.....Surely technology can overcome this issue eventually.......

And I'm sure that tennis ball rubber heating up isn't the healthiest thing, but whatever.....

 

[jeb]

load balling

I found that the Frigidare 1-18 dryer balled things up less than any other I have used. The baffles were triangular shaped and I think that helped keep things separated. Jeff

 

[iej]

I've a Miele dryer with a reverse action and it genuinely doesn't ball up anything.

Clothes mostly go one direction and then every so often it pauses and reverses briefly.

I've never had any issues with knots and tangles.

 

[DADoES]

 
Washed some bedding yesterday.  Here are a few pics of the items at end of the dryer run.

Drum capacity is 6.5 cu. ft.

Tumble reverses for 40 seconds every 4 mins throughout the cycle. Heating is active during reverse tumble but at reduced wattage of 1,400 vs. forward tumbling being 3,600 watts on low & medium temp and 5,000 on high temp.

Nothing was rolled/balled-up.  The sheets load is a queen-size deep-pocket fitted sheet, flat sheet, five pillow cases.  The pillow cases were all "loose," none caught in the pockets of the fitted sheet.  Unloading, simply pick the items up out of the drum.

The (queen-size) quilt was completely dry. It was run on Delicate (low heat, 127°F) at the 4th dryness level (of 5 choices), which is essentially the same as the pre-programmed Bulky Cycle on the Intuitive SmartLoad model.

The sheets were run on Perm Press (medium heat, 140°F) at normal dryness level (3).  Perm Press includes the anti-wrinkle function preselected (tumble for 30 seconds every 5 mins after drying is finished, direction reverses each time). I estimate 45 mins elapsed until I unloaded.

1) Quilt upon opening the door.
2) Picking up the quilt.
3) Quilt partially out of the drum.
4) Sheets upon opening the door.  A pillow case and the fitted sheet on top.
5) The fitted sheet partially out of the drum.
6) The flat sheet and some pillow cases remaining.