Would you have a spin dryer?

[thomasortega]

American and canadian guys, I have something to ask you.

Considering the use of a standard top loader (650 rpm) or any modern top or front loader (1000/1200 rpm) would you consider buying a spin dryer to help drying clothes faster in the dryer and save energy?

A machine made of high impact unbreakable and unrustable and recyclable plastic, silent, easy to use, that spends less than 50W and runs a cycle in 2 minutes for normal clothes and 5 minutes for jeans and can cut drying times in half. Aproximate retail price is 100 dollars and the machine is made to last between 15 and 20 years.

Well, almost everybody here knows a portable spin dryer, but I have seen that almost nobody really has one. Why that? Is that a matter of local habits or simply because they can't be easily found on market or because the few models available are too expensive?

Can a device like that, with that price, be successfully inserted into the american/canadian market?

Obs. The model shown is different from what we're thinking for north american market. The Brazilian version has slower spin speed because of some kind of trauma that another manufacturer created on our local market with their spin dryers exploding at much higher speeds.

 

[cycla-fabric]

The Laundry Alternative Spin Dryer

Well I will say that I bought a spin dryer and think it is great. It spins out the excess water from the really heavy fabrics and cuts dryer time by 10 to 15 minutes. I find myself putting everything but shirts in the machine to lighten the dryer load and it spins at 1300 rpms. I think it works really well, glad I have it.

Doug

Drying Machines

www.laundry-alternative.com

 

[tomturbomatic]

People in the US have never been too concerned about water extraction. As long as the laundry was not dripping when they unloaded the washer, they were satisfied. The new HE machines spin better than anything since the Frigidaire Unimatics, but there was no outcry when Frigidaire dropped the spin speed to 850. Millions of Kenmore users were satisfied with mediocre spinning for decades so the US does not seem like a hot market for spinners.

 

[westie2]

our toggleswitch had one and it blew up on him.  i think there are others that have them.

 

[foraloysius]

I have a Miele. A pity Miele doesn't make them anymore.

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[whirlcool]

We bought one of the earlier models that The Laundry Alternative carried. We still have it and use it. Toggles had the same model and I think someone else here had one two and they both blew up. These are the Pakistani made models. Ours is still functioning.

It's not quiet at all! If you have the clothing just a little bit off kilter it's even louder. When we use ours it's in the bathroom adjacent to the laundry room and when we use it we load it up, set the timer and get out of the room closing the door behind us. We're not taking any chances with it.

It does remove a lot of moisture and more importantly soap residue from your laundered articles. A surprising amount. So clothes dry quicker. But I have found that towels we spin in the spin dryer seem to be more stiff when finished up in the regular tumble dryer.

After we had ours about two years the plastic piece that you put over the clothes fell apart. We sent an e-mail to The Laundry Alternative asking if we could buy a new one. They sent us a replacement totally free of charge. That was nice of them to do that.

 

[thomasortega]

@Loius

Hi Louis!

Is that the normal noise of your spin dryer?

It sounds scary like the noise on the previous version of Mueller's spin dryer that hat steel drum and steel cabinet.

The new version is very silent and it's also easier to load because the user don't have to find a way to load it milimetrically balanced. The machine has a suspension system that deal with minor unbalancing issues.

 

[logixx]

I used to use a spin dryer at my previous place and really liked it. It removed quite a bit of water even after a 1000 rpm spin. What I didn't like was that I obviously had to split the loads up in order to fit a full wash load. In the end, the time it saved in the dryer, I spent loading, spinning and unloading the spinner. A large capacity unit would be nice. Is the 10 kg rating for wet or dry laundry?

 

[foraloysius]

@Thomas

The noise in the video is louder than in reality. Normally you mainly hear the air move, the motor is not very loud. I bought that spin dryer in 1986 and it still sounds like it is new.

 

[jamiel]

i was in Argentina last year and in looking at the department store saw the Koh-i-Noor spin dryer and it was quite attractive...I'd be interested in one to reduce drying time. Wonder whether they could export to the US?

 

[aeoliandave]

I would so love to have a stainless steel BOCK centrifugal extractor in my basement. I've been looking for one of these for 8 years, ever since they disappeared from the 3 local laundromats. In fact they seem to have disappeared across the nation; I simply never see them anymore.
Certainly never heard of one of these 'exploding'.
These were made by BOCK and were a common sight in any coin laundry - at least two.

Surely you guys know these machines?

Put in your 2 quarters, close the lid which locks, pops open when the drum stops and it extracts the water to the point you can hang to line-dry or just leave it over a chair back overnight.

10 minutes in the coin dryer was all that was needed for towels, sheets and clothes to be bone-dry.

I guess that's why they were removed...

Dave

Yes, a BOCK really is quiet.

 

[coldspot]

I got a danby twin tub so I sue one weekly. I love it to death. Over my old front loader cloths are almost dry. So I now just hang them around the house and there dry in under a hour.

 

[launderess]

Spin Dryers

Are already sold in the United States.

http://www.laundry-alternative.com/products/Spin_Dryer.html

 

[launderess]

And:

http://www.spin-x.com/

 

[arbilab]

I have used dedicated spinners in Easy Spindry and Panasonic twintub. In a warm climate, shirts come out dry enough to wear and towels dry enough to use. Sheets line dry in minutes. Neither of those units had any problem balancing if loaded correctly or any history of "exploding", but OTOH both were made before the era of junk appliances. I'm not sure I'd trust anything made today running 3000rpm except a commercial machine.

 

[qualin]

I have a Charming Spin Dryer, which was cheaper than a Spin-X.

It's got a plastic top but it has a metal outer tub, so I feel a bit safe around it.

Depending on how I load it, it can make a racket, but it spins up to 3200 RPM, so I can forgive that.

The inner tub looks identical to the ones on 2800 RPM European Frigidaires.

Also depending on the clothing, I can get up to another 4 cups of additional water out of my clothing, because my Huebsch only spins at 1000 RPM for final spin.

I find that it typically knocks about 15 minutes off the drying time.

What does mildly annoy me is that this spinner holds about half the amount of clothing which my Huebsch holds. Another thing is that it spins for a fixed three minutes and turns off. I wish there was a way to make that longer.

They do work, but I find they really only work well on clothing which can absorb a lot of water, like towels, cotton sweaters and jeans. Other clothing doesn't really produce that much water.

My wife is a scared of it, but I think it's pretty safe to use.

Probably the hardest thing to do is, if you don't load it perfectly with heavy clothing like jeans, the inner tub will bash against the outer tub until it picks up enough speed, then it tends to calm down a bit.

http://clothesdrygreen.com/

 

[tolivac]

spin three min and shut off.

Couldn't you just repeat the spin cycle if you wanted more time?

 

[dirtybuck]

Hoover Washers

I know they have (had for the ones that used to be sold here in the US, as they're now extinct) a separate compartment for spinning water out of the clothes. What was the standard RPM on those?

 

[mrb627]

Charming

That Charming Spin Dryer looks like a very nice unit.

I may order one.

Malcolm