What happened to the Whirlpool combo that was supposed to be released this year ?

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Question for 'appnut'

I see your reply on here. Is there a particular time of year that most makers introduce new machines? I never think about it until I have to go shopping. Consider myself very fortunate that I wanted a new w/d right when SQ is d/c'ing the 432 at the end of the year. My local dealer is having trouble keeping them in stock.
 
John,

 

I think some are announced in the spring and some in the fall.  Also, some products have been introduced at Consumer Electronic Show in January but aren't available for sale until late spring or summer.  KitchenAid just put a few new dishwasher models on their web site as well as on Home Depot.  GE announced September 19 a new line of slide-in ranges.  Have been expecting them for a while given they've had little new activity since their acquisition by Haier.
 
I might actually be interested in this since space is limited in this house and its going to be time for a new washer soon,  but NOT with all the wi-fi , touch screen, Google nonsense on it......just say NO 
 
will be interesting to see

I hope it's a 240v model , My washer in my house is 7 years old so I am thinking it's life expectancy is limited. I would toy with the idea of pairing the combo with a gas dryer since I already have that.
 
Is it supposed to be heatpump?

LGs new Signature combo is heatpump technology, was the Whirlpool one supposed to be heatpump as well?

Don't get why manufacturers don't realize the potential of a heatpump washer dryer combo.
A full size heatpump unit for a dryer over here pulls less then 1kW, so you could actually build a 120V combo without compromising on drying time vs a 240V standard combo.
Especially in a full-size unit with a direct drive motor, you should verry easily be abled to fit a full heatpump unit in the bottom of the machine. Maybe you'd have to do a GE RightHeigth kind of design to gain a few inches of space, but that would be a selling point as well.
With an inverter heatpump in use, you should verry much be abled to run heatpump, fan motor and drum motor with 1.2kW of power on a 120V supply. The air paths might not be optimal as they'd have to enter the drum a few inches above the water line, but still, that should be capable of finishing a normal 8 pound load in 3-4h.
 
New WP Combo

A 3-4 Hour full cycle time is NOT acceptable, we had combos in the US that only spun at 200 RPMs that could get a 10 pound load done in less than 1 and 1/2 hours.

 

For a full sized heat-pump dryer or combo to work it needs around an 18,000 BTU refrigeration system, unfortunately the European compact [ 24" ] dryers built so far and a few full sized dryers only have around a 6,000 BTU system.

 

Vented clothes dryers are by far the most popular type the world over, even in Europe the majority of clothing and linens that are dried in mechanical dryers are dried in vented dryers a good percentage of which are NG heated.

 

In order for a full sized combo to be at all successful in the US it would need to be 240 volts or gas heated and vented. Less than 4% of US homes and apartments that have a place for a W&D do not have 208-240 volt or gas available for a dryer.

 

I am a big fan of Heat-Pump dryers, My friend Pete and brother Jeff and I invented the concept of a HP CD over 35 years ago, the idea holds great promise for certain homes and situations, but they will never be very popular as long as NG dryers are so much less expensive to build and operate.

 

John L.
 
combo52

I actually have to disagree with you on the heatpump size. These machines will have a 4ft³ drum. 24" dryers have 4ft³ drums. Thus, they can hold about the same load for a drying cycle, reasonably about 8 pounds.
Lower efficency 24" heatpump dryers here can dry an 8 pound load with 60% residual moisture (equals 1000rpm spin in a 24" FL) in about 100min. Given the average cycle time for washing might be somewhere in the ballpark of 60min, and that a higher spinspeed of 1400rpm compensates for less optimal air ways, you get a pretty decent selling point:

A 24"inch combo running on 120V washing an drying an average sized load verry efficently and gently in just over 2.5h.

Show me a setup that could beat that on 120V.
 
A 24" WP Gas dryer will dry that load in 35-40 minutes and a 120 volt WP 24" dryer will dry that load in a little less than 90 minutes. [ as Laundress she does it all the time ]

Running the gas dryer at US rates for gas will cost less than you guys can run a HP dryer for, the 120 volt dryer would use around twice as many KWs as your HP dryer.

But my main point is Americans will not accept dryers that keep tumbling their clothing for 2-4 hours, it is simply too much clothing wear and too long to wait when you have several loads to get done.

John L.
 
With Whirlpool having already been in the combo business you'd think they would already have a combo model to build. The Neptune was a lot like Maytags failing front load combo without the dryer. If you look at the stacked Neptune you see the same dispenser set up in the opening frame. Our Lady Kenmore lasted our family of eight almost thirty years with one major repair (balance system lock assembly) and we washed at least three loads a day. I hope Whirlpool will make

A. A 220 V electric.
B. A 110V gas
C. A 110V electric
D. A 24" model in either of the models
E. Direct drive
F interior drum light you can turn on or off while in cycle.

If they were to do this, it would be perfect. Our average wash to fold cycles were around 90 minutes. Usually a twelve minute wash
Three deep rinses three minutes each and a final high spin. Then a sensor dry cycle.always got clothes really dry. Really clean too. Looking forward to seeing the new models.
 
I called and spoke to a Whirlpool rep and they said that their combos won't be out until Spring of 2019 and there's no available specs or info yet. However,they were sure there will be a gas model and a 220 V electric .
 

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