Fisher and Paykel Topload dryer (Post images below)

[iej]

Voilà - cuisinière combiné avec lave-vaisselle:

By Rosières

(Also available with induction, or gas burners or a mix of both.)

And, it even has a rotisserie!

France still has one or two quite interesting appliance designs. The combination stove dishwasher is something I’ve never seen anywhere else and honestly, it kind of makes sense if you’re just renting a little studio while discovering yourself in Paris or something… or if you’re just down the country, hanging out in a little place for the summer and just need to do a rotisserie and wash some plates and wine glasses and don’t want the hassle of separate appliances. Dishwasher and oven just slot into the same space as a standard slot in stove. All you need is a water and drain hookup.

It means you can have a small dishwasher without all the fuss of reorganising an old (possibly historic) kitchen.

love the way you can still find some of these unusual appliances in France. It makes things interesting.
[this post was last edited: 2/23/2022-11:59]

 

[logixx]

Never heard of Rosières

but I know this appliances as the Candy Trio.

 

[iej]

Same owner. Afaik the Candy ones were made by the French plant. Production there only ended in 2021 after the Haier take over of Candy. Seems they are moving Rosières to higher rung of the ladder to distinguish it from Candy. I think they may be using the same strategy for Hoover in some markets too.

I actually think Candy’s quality has gone up since Haier took other which is quite an indictment of where they had drifted to.

 

[launderess]

Love my toplader AEG for many of reasons noted in that YT vid. You can see why French homes, in particular flats, like these sort of washing machines. Never understood why top loading H-axis washers never really took off outside of France and few other European countries. Of course in North America there have been top/side loading "pony" commercial washing machines for ages.

One thing YT reviewer didn't mention, and perhaps it doesn't apply to his washer, is that by filling with warm or even hot water throws off washer's programming. Thus the confused appliance will shorten wash cycle (basically substracting portion of cycle allotted for heating water), and get rid of certain other bits as well.

Both my AEG washers will do this and it's sort of a pain in summer when tap cold water is quite warm. Not only will washers abort heating portion of cycle, but usually last ten or so minutes of recirculation spraying is gone as well.

As for balance of YT reviewer's comments, they were spot on regarding energy use.

Plenty of boat owners of all sorts face issues regarding running modern washing machines on "ship" power. This was less of an issue with older washers with electro-mechanical controls where temps could be set independent of cycle, and or were dual hot/cold fill.

 

[smartdrive1100]

I never knew that another brand made top loading dryers, interesting.

 

[henene4]

The TL dryers as shown are no longer being made.
The last model was a condenser and discontinued many years ago from what I know.

On Laundress's comment:
If an EU washer is made for hot fill, it will say that and have 2 fill ports.
Otherwise, the machine will run into errors in its logic and thus behave erratically.

Main reason H-axis TLs don't catch on is that they are overall worse performers in ways.
They generally have smaller drums even at the same footprint.
They are considered more of a hazzle as they aren't terribly ergonomic and fiddling with additional lids isn't well liked.
And they generally use more water per kg as their sump and tub design can't be as optimized as a normal FL.

Once you try to size these up reaching down into the drum becomes harder and harder.
The loading opening is relatively small.

It's really more of a niche product as a normal FL offers more general performance and convenience for less cost overall.

That said the Miele and Electrolux desings for these have largely been unchanged for decades now and are both very good for what they are.

Electrolux makes the only ultra high speed spin washer in that format and has a ridiculously easy bearing exchange system so that basically anybody can change them out in a matter of minutes.

Mieles are obscenely durable and efficient. Quiet and heavy. And most like a normal FL to use IMO.

 

[foraloysius]

Not only the topload dryers have disappeared from the market, but also the topload combo's that were so popular for small Paris apartments. I guess they couldn't be made efficient enough to the latest standards. But the demise of this particular appliance means that there is no substitute for the only combo that some Parisians depend on.

 

[henene4]

Top load combo

Yeah, they were both made by Brand, the dryer and the combo.

I think they later had that design made by Fagor as they carried the TL dryers aswell.
Then Fagor went under and with it both designs.

Though slim depth dryers started to become a thing recently and while not a direct replacement, they can be put even more wherever compared to normal compact dryers (I've seen quite a few people buy slim depth dryers and putting them in hallways).

 

[henene4]

Also just remembered

There are several pretty decent slim depth combos that take the space of a TL, just with an FL loading door (so 45cm deep).

 

[launderess]

Don't forget Whirlpool top loading H-axis washers.

Almost nabbed one, it was here stateside being sold by a French family who brought it over from France in a house move, but were going back and didn't want it any longer.

Should have gone ahead and taken the thing, if for nothing else but fun. But was going through it with the AEG/Electrolux at the time, and thus had hands full.

https://www.automaticwasher.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?41733

https://www.automaticwasher.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?57525

https://www.automaticwasher.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?30436

https://www.automaticwasher.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?35014

Whirlpool holds number of patents for top loading washer H-axis for ages now, but they've done little with them far as one can see.

https://patents.google.com/patent/CA2148152A1/no

Zanussi H Axis Jet System Top Loader, Perspex Lid Demo



BOSCH WOH 1010 Toplader



Bauknecht WAT Prime 652



To be fair WP's top loading H-axis is wider, more like industrial side loading washers.

 

[foraloysius]

The Whirlpool models that are available nowadays are exactly the same width as the AEG/Electrolux models, they are both 40cm wide. Miele is 45cm.

Actually the Whirlpool is a relabeled Indesit product just like the latest Bosch and Siemens models and some other brands. Electrolux machines are sold as AEG, Electrolux, Zanussi and some other labels. The difference shows in the detergent dispenser. Dispenser on the lid is an Indesit product. Removable dispenser at the back of the drum is an Electrolux product. There are some more manufacturers (Miele and others), but these two dominate the European toploader market at the moment.

The quality of the Electrolux products is way better than that of the Indesit products.

 

[iej]

I think the main reasons they didn’t take off is they’re cumbersome to load and unload through that small hatch in the drum. They’ve improved the design, but it’s still a bit fiddly compared to a porthole door.
The older models even had issues with things getting lost down the outside of the drum as there was a significant gap.

The other issue is the fact that they have a top opening and a lot of people prefer machines to be built under countertops. Even in a utility room / laundry room you’ll typically find the machines are under a countertop that gets used for putting things on and you also, obviously, can’t stack them.

I know one french household which had 3 of those top loaders in the garage next to a regular front loader dryer. They just used all three simultaneously to get through a lot of different types of laundry. The whole setup was very compact and flexible compared to one big machine.

They not exclusive to France but they’re very niche in most other markets. I mean I think you can get them here but I think I’ve only ever seen one on display once. In fact, I would say if you encounter a top loader here, it’s much more likely to be a U.S. style agitator machine. There’s always been a niche market for Speedqueen and Whirlpool. Also I have encountered the Australian brand Simpson here. They used to find a lot of use in light commercial contexts like B&Bs etc.

The rise of big capacity front loaders and the poor energy rating of the agitator machines seems to have caused them to all but disappear in recent years. You definitely used to see maybe one model on display in some larger retailers. These days I’m seeing Electrolux Pro and Miele Little Giants in that semi commercial space.

You can definitely still buy Speedqueen gas dryers here though.

 

[launderess]

Don't find using top loading h-axis washer a bother, this even with "two lids". At least to one reaching down often beats having to squat down to load/unload washers with front door or porthole.

Also with my toplader can just take things out and drop into basket, again as opposed to bending over and having to haul things out of drum and dump into basket.

Some of this might come from being an American and thus quite used to top loading washing machines both fully and semi automatic.

Suppose it really all comes down to what tickles one's fancy.

 

[iej]

It depends. If one has back problems, there are ways of raising a front loader. I’ve seen plenty of laundry rooms here that have a raised plinth for the machines taking them up a couple of feet off the floor. In my grandmothers house it was just a concrete platform in the garage. Slightly awkward if you ever need to service them, but not all that big a deal.

The other factor in this market anyway, I can’t speak for the whole of Europe, was that “top loaders” were generally seen as old fashioned by the 1970s as the first automatics here we’re almost always front loaders. There was one notable exception - a Hotpoint that basically a europeanised ‘Filter Flo’ machine with smaller cabinet to fit a the standard modular “unit” dimensions, an internal heater and a faster spin. However, in general top loaders were associated with semi automatic drudgery and seen as obsolete.

You’d kind of talk about “top loaders” in the same context as “round pin plugs,” Brillo pads, Vim scouring powder, 78s, valve radios and black and white television. If that makes sense?

I’m not saying they are old fashioned just that’s the instant perception.

Top loader tends to trigger this in my head lol :

[this post was last edited: 2/25/2022-20:27]

 

[smartdrive1100]

Got a video from someone about a dryer.

Any thoughts about it?

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[foraloysius]

The main reason for the reduced interest in toploaders in Europe is the wish to stack a dryer on top of the washing machine, at least on the European continent where a laundry set often is installed in a bathroom rather than in a kitchen. A stacked frontloader and dryer have a smaller footprint than a topload washing machine and dryer next to eachother. Also the fact that there are no heatpump dryers available as toploader reduced the interest in topload dryers.

I still see a lot of topload washing machines in older people's homes, especially when they line dry everything. You often see it here in houses from the 70's that are on the market. Most of them owned for many years by the same owners. Often a rather new washing machine in a house with a decor from the 70's.

 

[foraloysius]

Here's a picture I posted before. The Siemens topload sets were the first topload combinations.

I told the story before, but I never get tired of telling it. lol

I mailed Fisher & Paykel this picture with some others of topload dryers when they launched their topload dryer. The campaign said it was a world's first. They responded that they would look into the matter. Their campaign was stopped and later they came with a new slogan: The world's first large capacity topload dryer. I guess it's the only time I had a little influence on the white goods market. lol

 

[DADoES]

 
Smartdrive1100/Callan, your video link doesn't work.  It appears to be a link to a FB message you received.  I don't think those can be shared as working links, anyone clicking the link would need to be logged-in to *your* FB account to view it.  You'd need to save the video as a file on your computer, then upload it for public view to YouTube or other photo/video-sharing service and provide that view-share link.

 

[iej]

The use of appliances in bathrooms also varies a lot. It’s basically completely illegal here, and in the U.K.

Our wet area regulations don’t allow any socket outlets, or light switches the you can touch, never mind washing machines, in bathrooms. The only exception is a shaver/toothbrush outlet that is connected via an isolation transformer, and that uses a different two pin plug and that’s limited to providing well under 1 amp.

So washing machines in those kind of areas just never were a thing here. You can’t even use a hairdryer in a bathroom and that’s despite RCDs (GFCI) being mandatory here (later in the U.K.) since the late 1979s sometime.

I would suspect if those top loaders are becoming niche, there’s also a probability that the economies of save aren’t there anymore. I notice a lot of them across multiple competing brands seems to be outsourced to the same plants too. I had a look across some of the French online stores and several machines looked identical.

FagorBrandt/Vedette, wherever they’re being made and despite ownership changes, seems to dominate that market niche in France.

 

[logixx]

Ah, yes. I remember all the female exchange students being upset they couldn't use flat irons etc. in their UK dorm bathroom - the only room with a mirror. I was only irritated by two separate faucets for ice water and lava.