Filtrator VS water-condensing dryer - which is best?

[turquoisedude]

The neighbours were warned to get their generators and kerosene lamps ready... The nut on Laflamme was going to be playing with vintage dryers tonight!  Yes, it's time for another totally unscientific turquoisedude laundry test. 

 

I was curious to see which dryer performed better, specifically on towels - the Frigidaire Filtrator or the GE Combo used as a dryer.   

 

So, having a good-sized load of towels to wash I devised this test:  one bath sheet, one large bath towel, one bath mat, and one washcloth for each dryer.  The items were all washed in the Frigidaire WO65 washer; all items were equally well-spun for the test.  

 

[turquoisedude]

The Filtrator load was set to dry on High heat, 35 minutes to start.   I had to put the dryer on again for a total of 50 minutes to completely dry the towels. 

 

[turquoisedude]

The load in the combo was set at the usual start point of the dry cycle; the dry control was set at the middle of the 'normal' range (as recommended in the GE service manual).  This would deliver high heat from both Calrods.  The first thermostat trip point was at 25 minutes - I'll bet that would have taken a heck of a lot longer if the towels had been washed and low-speed-spun in the Combo.   The cycle completed at 45 minutes.  

 

[turquoisedude]

Well, both loads dried.... 

 

[turquoisedude]

But how did they 'stack up'??  I figured the best way to evaluate the towels was to measure them.  And....

 

It's pretty much a tie!  The larger green towels were equally soft and fluffy.   So my allegeance to GE is still intact.  Too bad hubby wasn't here to adjudicate...  

 

I'll have to try a full towel load in the Combo one of these days to see if that hot water final rinse does make a difference!

 

[appnut]

I heard on the news tonight there was a brown-out in Quebec province today. 

 

[turquoisedude]

I do have that reputation... LOL 

 

[danemodsandy]

Bob:

The way I hear it, no matter what happens in Ogden, the lights never go out completely....

 

[gansky1]

That's interesting, condensing drying towels makes for some of the softest and fluffiest towels.
The Frigidaire may have taken a little longer to finish the cycle, but used less water in the process. Considering it takes an average of 95L of water per KWh to generate and deliver electricity to your home, the Frigidaire probably wins all around on the efficiency front. But both would still get you an Energy Slap from the green party ;-)

 

[jetcone]

Damn the Green party

Filtrators Ahead !!

 

I love these T.U.T.L.Tests !! 

 

Rich did a similar test with his filtrator and a regular air dryer, towels came out almost 2 inches higher if I recall correctly. 

 

My lights did flicker down here Dear !!

 

 

[tomturbomatic]

Both machines are dependent on the temperature of the condensing medium, whether water or air. In a chilly basement, the Filtrator condenses faster than in a warmer room. The heat can be welcome in the winter, but not so much in warm weather. The GE combo condenses faster with colder water. Some places have cold water year round and in northern locales, cold can be in the upper 30s during the winter. Other places, like Florida, have very warm cold water that almost feels like bath water in the warmer months if the water travels through pipes buried in the sand and slightly colder water if the water comes from a well so drying slows greatly in a water condensing dryer as it would in a Filtrator using warm air to cool the Filtrator cartridge.

I would tend to think that a water condensing dryer would be better at flushing the lint away from the condensing surfaces so the causal user would not lose drying efficiency like would be lost in a Filtrator dryer with a linty Filtrator cartridge, but that is at a cost of around a half a gallon of cold water per minute of operation. If you drained that outside to water plants, it would not be a total loss.

 

[jetcone]

I always thought about

trying to make the water condensers more efficient by using an intermittent spray pattern and a spray panel that was cooled electrically with a pizeo-electric effect, instead of a constant dribble. There's no need to have a constant flow of water.

 

I bet that could be a real efficient design.

 

[alr2903]

Just water the plants with the filtrator water,  then you are eco friendly again.

 

[tomturbomatic]

I used to have my WCI58, the DCI58, the Bendix Duomatic and the KDS14 in a row. I would drain the condenser water, once it started coming out warm, from the Duomatic into the WCI58 and use it for warm washes. The water was nicely warmed, but not hot. I would drain the water from the three rinses in the KDS14 into the Frigidaire for nice hot washes. Early in the morning while it was still dark and no one was about to see what I was doing, I would pull the drain hose of the WCI58 out of the standpipe, attach an extender to it and drain the rinse water out the window onto the plants.

In cold weather, when I used the DCI58, I kept a rug on the floor in front of the air discharge so that the warm air heated the room instead of the cold concrete floor.