Whirlpool HybridCare Dryer Review

[pierreandreply4]

Not good

this is not good for me aspecaly since laundry is on the second floor i would much rather have an electric convental dryer and the more time the dryer takes to dry a load this is not good in term of the electric bill the washer dryer in the fowllowing is much better 1 the washer is a much better cleaner than any wash plate topload model or front load model and the dryer is more energy conservative

 

[beekeyknee]

Congratulations on your win and they are nice looking machines, but... Good Heavens!
An hour and 30 min. or 3 hours and 26 min. to dry a load of towels? My Maytag will dry anything in 40 min. or less. Do you enjoy spending that much time fiddling with laundry?

 

[murando531]

I'm probably one of the few people that wouldn't mind the longer running times. I usually use the low heat setting on my year old Oasis dryer, and with a full load of towels it runs around 1:20. Depending on which washer spun them out, it could be less time with the Bravos' high spin speed. I've always been concerned with the intense heat of even the low setting being too strong, and if there were a lower setting I'd use it. Most of the loads being dried are done at night, especially in the summer heat, and half the time I end up going to bed before it's done anyway. If the dryer's only option were the Eco-mode, it could be frustrating if I needed something dried quickly, but because the machine gives the choice between traditional drying or condensing drying, or a mix, I'd be the one always using the gentle eco mode. I care for my clothes a lot so lower heat is a plus to me.

 

[pulsator]

A mixed load of clothes (3/4 full in my Oasis) generally take about an hour and 45 minutes to dry on Eco Mode in this dryer. At some point I will do some comparison testing of identical loads dried on Eco Mode vs Speed Mode. I highly doubt this dryer uses less power than a gas dryer, after all, a gas dryer only uses power to run the blower, tumble, and ignite the flame. This dryer uses less power than an electric dryer.

 

As for tumbling, I've actually noticed the opposite of what you'd expect, despite having a much finer lint screen, this dryer seems to accumulate less lint than my old top filter Whirlpool dryer.

 

As I've said previously, I use low heat for EVERYTHING. Towels will take an hour and a half to dry in a regular vented dryer for me. They come out softer that way and the lower heat is far less damaging. Aside from towel loads, this dryer doesn't take too much longer than what I'm used to with my old dryer. If I wanted it to take the same amount of time, I could, by putting it on Speed Mode. But I prefer Eco Mode and am happy to live with the longer dry times.

 

[a440]

Very Cool Jamie!

That is one cool dryer!  If for anything....it is a work of art as far as dryers in the USA right now.

It would be interesting to do a full load of towels at Max everything just to see how long the drying time would be. 

I do think the big sale of this dryer is not efficiency but "non venting". 

I would love to know however how long a full load of towels would take at the "max" setting.  (Whatever that means for this dryer)

For instance I washed 14 large bath towels in my ancient HE3T this morning and dried them in my ancient HET Gas dryer.  It took 38 minutes for perfect drying. 

Savings wise I just wonder several things.  The cost of the dryer?  The amount of actual energy used to dry loads over the life of this unit.  I guess it all equals how long this dryer would have to be in service just to break even?

I would love to use it  just to figure these things out.  I would not like to pay for it however.

So on this note!  Yay Jamie!  Congrats on a nice free addition to you collection!

I do think it will go down in history.

Brent

 

[mrb627]

Life Expectancy

I suspect that due to the mechanical complexity of this unit, the life span will be short compared to a standard dryer.

Lowered lint collection could be due to lowered air flow through the drum. Hopefully, the interior of the cabinet will remain lint free too.

Would be interested to know the weaknesses, most common points of failure, and the cost of replacement parts. Like the refrigerant module. Is it replaced as a single part and does it cost 900 bucks?

Malcolm

 

[repair-man]

Life expectancy ?

Not just because of the mechanical complexity but the fact that it runs 2-3 times longer each load.

 

[henene4]

I don't think the air flow is lower. At least here, these dryers were designed to have a way more efficent and stronger air flow. But compared to vented dryers, this might be different. And lint collection within the cabinet is limited to the lint the cooling fan sucks in. To get a somewhat efficent heating up in a reasonable time on the Eco mode, the system has to be suffeciently tightly sealed. For example, the EU energy label has to state condesation rates. Most heatpump dryers score 90% or higher. This means that, from all water that's been removed from the load, 90+% are collected.
The compressor units are indeed modular and only exchangable as one piece. And they are the most expensive part. But AFAIK these are not an overly common failure. The most problematic points in the EU designs were condenser units blocked with lint and fabric softner reidue, blocked condensation pumps and broken electronics.
And they are not mechanicly extensivley more complex. Parts added are the heatpump unit and the cooling fan as well as the condensation pump.

 

[combo52]

Heat-Pump Dryers

It will be interesting to see how such long running times affect the life of the dryer, here in the US we have become use to dryers that commonly last 30 years or even longer. I would guess that the long running times could easily reduce the useful life in half of these dryers, which is more like what we see here with the imported dryers which don't come close to the life of good US dryers.

 

The long times and still considerable use of electricity really still make the case for a gas heated dryer, as Brent and I suggested the best use of these dryers will be for owners that do not have the option of a vented dryer and for people that do not mind very long drying cycles, most larger families will not be candidates for these dryers.

 

I do find it interesting that some of my customers also like drying their clothing at very low temperatures, someone will have to prove to me that it is better for your clothing to dry them twice as long at 120 F vs 160 F for 1/2 as long, I cannot ever recall ever ruining anything in a dryer in my life and as most people who know me can attest most of my clothing is so old and outdated fashion wise LOL, as most of it seems to last forever. One of my other big concerns about low temperature drying is you may lose the sanitizing effect on sheets, towels, underwear, socks, dish towels and on and on, this is one reason that I do not line dry clothing.

 

[henene4]

Low-temp drying

I guess it's less about lasting, but more about the feeling.
I feel that on towels: Our old Siemens dryed at 75°C (~170°F) on normal temp. Towels did feel kind of crisp. At 65°C (150°F, low temp on that dryer), they came out softer. In our heatpump dryer, they come out even softer.
Jeans had to be dried on low as they shrank pretty easy on the higher temperatures. And even then they shrank a bit.
Just try it yourself once: Dry a simmilar load on a high heat and a lower heat to compare them. You should feel the difference.
On sanitizing: Without opening the debate about its necessarity, 140°F (60°) are generally the border thats considered as the start of sanitisazion. So 30 minutes at 140° shouldn't make a big difference to 160°F. And especially the bacteria unfriendly enviroment of a dryer (hot, dry) should kill most of right away. And given you washed your laundry in a hot solution of detergent (which itself has a certain effect againts bacteria), I guess the really dry air in a heatpumpdryer cancels out some of the lower temp, especially with the longer drying time.

 

[warmsecondrinse]

I think Combo52 and A440 have it right. The non-venting feature is what will draw people in. This still needs a water inlet and drain like a conventional condensing dryer, correct? I know of some condensing dryers that have a jug for the condensate that the user empties once it's full.

There are a lot of people living in old buildings in cities in the northeast. Most of them (or at least all of my friends) would be willing to pay quite a bit for a dryer that required no venting and no water hook-ups, even if it meant filling a reservoir and emptying a condensate jug by hand. Even better would be if it could run on 120v. Yes, I know that using 120 instead of 240 would greatly increase already long run times. However, the fact remains that many buildings don't have 240 available.

I'm willing to bet there'd be a lot of people who'd love to have a dryer they could literally stick wherever. People hate laundromats and I think the industry as whole greatly underestimates what people would do or spend to avoid having to go. I can see it now: A combo in the kitchen and dryer put where it fits. Do your wash in the combo, put half the clothing into the separate dryer and let both do their drying thing. Who cares how long it takes!

Jim

 

[pulsator]

There is no water inlet with this dryer nor a water reservoir. The only hose coming from this dryer is a drain hose that the dryer pumps the condensed water out of and down the drain.

 

[jkbff]

I'd love to hear feedback on the non eco mode (full power) on medium heat to dry towels or rags or something.

 

[mrb627]

Hybrid Merger

They need to merge the hybrid dryer into a washer/dryer combo and it might be easier for the consumer to adjust. Doesn't seem like it would be all that difficult to do.

Malcolm

 

[henene4]

Well, it is complicated!

It is fairly complicated to do so. If you look at a standard W&#92D-combo, they are fairly tightly packed already.
Now you need to add a compressor to this all. The compressor is quite vibration sensitive, so it has to be mounted to the frame of the machine, but must not block the swinging-area of the tub.
You need 2 heatexchangers with a fairly big surface. Of course, they need to be located on top of the drum so no water enters them, which means the space on top is pretty much used by now.
So the compressor hast to go in the bottom of the machine, which means a pretty complicated pressurized pipeing job.
Then, you need a pretty effective filter to keep these fairly sensitive heatexchangers free of lint.
Because you dry at lower temperatures and the pretty complex air ducting, the fan needs to be a certain bit more powerfull as well.
Now the compressor has to be cooled as well. Another fan.
The condensated water needs to be drained from the cold heat exchanger.
And the thermistor sensing of residual moisture won't work any more either as you heat up to slow and work at to low temperatures. So, you need a nother sensor.
This all has to be wired and grounded, and the electronic control has to keep track of all the additional parts.
For me, this dosen't sound easy at all.
But, it has been done. In Japan, such units are standard. And E-Lux launched a version under the AEG brand here in the EU last year. They start at around 1200€, which is a pretty big pricetag for a washer dryer. Only Miele is more expensive (1600€ upwards).

 

[mrb627]

IMO

It wouldn't be all that difficult to move all the drying functionality above the tub while all the WRS mechanicals stayed below the drum.

I think Electrolux has already done it.

Malcolm

 

[logixx]

 

[henene4]

@mrb627

Yes, as I said, E-Lux did it already. However there is no way to put a 1kW compressor unit above a tub unit in a FL. The size of those compressors is comparable to one in a fridge.

 

[mrb627]

Sub Zero

Makes their refrigerators with the compressor above the unit. So, I don't think its an impossible task.

Malcolm

 

[henene4]

We are talking about washers. Sorry, but my post clearly states "a tub unit in a FL". So there was no talk about fridiges.
Of course you can change everything around so it would fit, but that would not only be inconvenient for the user of the washer (and I am only talking of washers), but would make the product even more expensive to build.
My teachers always say "Read, think, than write!" Took me long to learn, and I thought I would never be the one who has to quote this to someone else.