GE Dryer - any good? Help me please

[gorenje]

Hi guys,
I'm very tempted to buy this never used GE dryer from our biggest second hand online site for just 100 EURO.
Don't ask me how an American dryer ended up in Slovenia. Have no clue !!??!

How good / reliable is this model?
I'm single. I don't do a ton of laundry but I would like to know whether this dryer is reliable enough.
I'm now using my 8 years BOSCH condenser.

Thanks for the help.

Ingemar

http://www.bolha.com/dom/gospodinjs...ty-ameriski--1278568325.html?aclct=1395813953

 

[appnut]

This is not a condensr dryer. It has to be vented to the outside. Generally I've read here these are pretty much a piece of junk dryer.

 

[gorenje]

Thank you appnut. Yes I know this is a vented dryer, but this wouldn't be a big problem.

Hmmm ... I see, so it's not that good

 

[nmassman44]

Well I have a GE dryer that is similar and I can tell ya it's not junk. I have had mine now for a few years and have had no issues at all with it. The dryer in the pic doesn't look like it's been used at all. It will dry much faster than your condenser dryer. Like in less than 45 mins and the capacity is is much bigger than anything you might have used.

 

[retro-man]

Actually I have this dryer in a hair salon and it runs multiple times daily with load after load of towels. Mine is a gas unit. No problems what so ever with this dryer after 7 years. Also when we built a new high school we put this matching set into the cosmo dept and they also run multiple loads of towels daily and no problems with either of them. The school dryer is electric. Not all results are the same but I think you would be impressed with it.
Jon

 

[yogitunes]

for the ones I have come across, these are somewhat a tinny feel to the metal, a very light dryer compared to most....

that being said, they do dry well, handle a large load, and if taken care of, will run for years...oddly enough I know of two running still, and this after 10 years of heavy use...yeah, it's a suprise to me....

as with anything, get it home, clean out all the lint from underneath and inside, grease the rollers, and inspect the belt.....and you should be good to go for a long while...

 

[mrb627]

True That!

Preventive maintenance is the key to longer appliance life, most of the time. If taken care of, most clothes dryers should long outlive their washing counterparts.

Malcolm

 

[logixx]

Is it gas or electric? If it's electric, do you have a suitable power supply?

 

[passatdoc]

US electric dryers are 220 V, but the plug will likely <span style="text-decoration: underline;">not </span>have the right configuration to fit an European socket. US 220 V plugs have a much different appearance. 

If it is a gas model, it needs 110V power supply as well, to turn the drum and run the control panel.  

 

[logixx]

The ad says 220V. Not sure about the electrical situation in Slovenia, but if I wanted to have such a dryer, I'd have to add special wiring (or at least fuses) to accommonate the power draw of such a beast without risking an electrical fire.

 

[gorenje]

Hi guys, thank you very much to all of you.

Well, since I will be using it not that much I think it will be good enough for my needs.

As I said I'm very tempted and for that price I cannot even dream to get an imported overseas machine like this.

As Nmassman44 said it will dry much faster than my current dryer.
This GE dryer has a capacity of 12 KG !! OMG, that's huge! I can dry even my duvet in it.

@ logixx : It's electric. And the ad says it's 220 V. I have no problem with multiple machines running at the same time at all. We have 6 Kilowatts of output.
But tell me please what do I have to be careful about? Why could it be risky using it?

Maybe I shoul run it always on half heat to reduce the consumption?

 

[gorenje]

... the plug would be the minimal "problem". I will just cut the cord and connect it to a Schuko plug.

 

[logixx]

It all depends on your set up, really.

The laundry room I am using right now is 230V and has a 20 amps fuse, which is enough to run three washers at once. The laundry at my old place had 16 amps and running three washers would blow the fuse.

Looking on eBay, most of these "commercial" dryers call for 20-something to 32 amp fuses, might need to be hard-wired and some dryers, like Miele's Little Giants, want 400V.

 

[gorenje]

Oh I see ...

I don't know... I hope it could be possible 'cos now I'm more and more interested to buy it.

 

[henene4]

Just ask...

... how it is wired right now. Or what plug is on there. But if it is a real standard unmodified US dryer, a simple Schuko plug wouldn't work I guess. US 240V dryers are conected via a 3-phase system (am I right? I don't know exactly..) like EU 400V systems. But the standar 220V sytem is 1-phase. Not an expert about that, but I think I got this right.
Anyway, even if you conect it at 220V single phase, you would have an approx. draw of 28 amps or more at 6kW which would mean a standard fuse should not be enough.
Anyway, just phone the seller and ask him how the situation looks like wiring wise/ what the data plate (there should be one) says.

 

[cfz2882]

US 230v dryer

if the dryer is meant for use in north America,the timer and motor operate on 115v,the heater on 230v-basicly 115v-neutral-115v connection-heater circuit connected across the two 115v feeds for 230v.

 

[foraloysius]

GE made a 220V version for other countries. I remember seeing it on a dedicated 220 appliances site. So, you'll have to investigate what kind of dryer this exactly is.

 

[whirlcool]

And be careful not to chip that gasket that goes around the entrance to the dryers basket. If it's chipped you can't buy a new gasket, you have to buy a new front to the dryer! A friend of ours had that happen to them. They solved the problem by using high heat duct tape to cover the chip. Before that buttons would hang up on the chip and get torn off.

 

[gorenje]

@ henene4 : I've called the seller and he said to me that the dryer arrived here from Canada. So I guess all my hopes are gone. That means it is a non modified dryer (for the American market) And that means I cannot use it because I don't have a 3 phase system at home. :-((( Sad

 

[henene4]

Question time!

To everybody out there:
Would it be possible to fit the Bosches heater (or any other) in there and conect it via the heater-switch and the timer to 220V with an 2nd external plug and than use a transformer to run everything else at 120V?
What I mean is haveing kind of an 2nd circuit inside only for the heating which conects first to the timer-terminal for the heater, than goes to the heat-switch and than powers the heater going back out. You would than have 2 plugs, one for the transformer and one for the heater.
You would of course have to buy a transformer, than do some metal work to fit the heater and than figure outh how the heat-switch works.
I guess there are 3 possibilities about the heat-switch:
1. That would be the easiest: The switch is conected to a thermo-sensor which shuts the heater down as the selected temp is reached.
2. A simple switch that turns on 1, 2 or (I guess there are 3) 3 parts of the heater. The dryer would run all heater sections for full heat (thus 6kw surge), only 2 for medium heat (gues something about 5kw) and than, finaly, only the smallest for low heat (4kw or something).
3. A combination of both.
For 1 I would run the heater-circut over the temperature-switch (and of course all the other parts that have been conected to the heater-circut in the original set-up) and thus still have all choices of temperatur.
For 2 and 3, I would just no longer inclde the heat-switch into the circut thus only haveing 1 temp but haveing way less trouble.
Just a thought of me. Tell me what you think.

 

[DADoES]

3-Phase??

 
Typical 240v dryers on the U.S. market are not 3-phase ... unless I'm not understanding what is the reference to 3-phase in this discussion.

 

[henene4]

Said I'm not a profi abou this, but....

... a normal 120V-plug (220V in Europe) has 1 ground, 1 "hot" wire and 1 neutral, or am I wrong? And as far as I know a US-dryer has 1 ground, 1 neutral and 2 "hot" wires?
Sorry, but I may have in fact been dumb this time. I meant 2/3 "hot" wires and one neutral...

 

[DADoES]

 
Well, yes.  2 hot legs, 1 neutral (and 1 ground if the outlet is 4-wire).

That's not 3-phase per U.S. standards.  3-phase would be 3 hot wires.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3-phase_AC

 

[henene4]

Jep, messed that up!

Sorry for that, ment what you said, just being dumb.
But any way, even with 2 hots, he still has the same problem...

 

[cfz2882]

the north American market dryer could be modified to work on a European 220v circuit if a step-down transformer of enough capacity to run a ~1/4 HP motor is connected to power the motor/controls side of the dryer,~5.5 amps- though transformer might need to be oversized to start the "split phase"motor reliably.Motor and timer will run a little slower on 50HZ,but that probably won't cause any trouble.

 

[gorenje]

@ cfz2882 : Excuse me for my stupidity. I don't have a good knowledge about electricity. But if the dryer is in some way "already" 220 V which transformer would it fit?
A 380 V transformer to 220V?

OMG what a pity!
Now I understand why no one bought it.

 

[henene4]

Well, no...

.. we talk about 220V to 115V. This dryers timer is running at 115V but the heater can handle somewhat between 208V and 240V. So your heater is despite a bigger fuse that would be needen (30A probably) not the problem. But your timer can't handle this power. Further, this cord has 3 wires (I got it right now...) plus a grounding, a normal EU 220V socket has only 2 conectors plus grounding.

 

[gorenje]

...aha ok, now it's clear

 

[combo52]

North American GE Dryer

If this is really a US style dryer it would need to be modified in several ways to run in your country.

This dryer is designed to run on 120-208 or 120-240 volt power @ 60 Hz. To use on straight 200-240 volt power you would need a transformer for the main drive motor, it runs on 120 and the timer motor would also need to run on this transformer or you could use a resister to drop the voltage to around 120.

The biggest problem is if you have 50 HZ power is the drum will turn TOO SLOWLY and the clothing will just ball up and not dry well at all. The motor pulley is not replaceable on this dryer, but there may be a way to cut off the end of the motors shaft and get a bigger 50HZ pulley and attach it, otherwise I would not even brother with this dryer.

These GE dryers are only average at best among US dryers in durability, but this again would be the least of your problems for the light use you would give it, but when compared to European dryers it will still seem very durable.

 

[foraloysius]

"but when compared to European dryers it will still seem very durable."

Must be based on your experience in a secret life in Europe as a repairman...