Comments on: All-in-one washer/dryer

By: WilliamB

WilliamB — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 00:51:39 +0000

Great concept, lousy execution.

There are inherent problems with the concept, the main one being that you do a new wash till the previous load is dry. Another is that if it breaks, you’re out both a washer and dryer. I don’t see any way around this and if you like in a really small place, it’d be worth it.

But there are unnecessary problems in execution. The one that made the machine unworkable for me is that the dry cycle took well over 90 min. The next biggest problem is lack of control over the cycles and times. I couldn’t just fluff, or spin something, or, or, or.

For these reasons, it doesn’t work for me.

By: Washer Woman

Washer Woman — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 09:06:40 +0000

My quesion is:
Re: the LG washe dryer models (I have a WD 14331(6) AD)
How do you use the dryer function alone?? This is driving me crazy. If I put somethign through and it isn’t quite dry how do I then put it through another dry cycle without having to wash the load all over again??
Help!

By: Renee

Renee — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 14:18:45 +0000

My in-laws have one of these in there motor home which they lend us sometimes. It is wonderful. Yes it is very small. I did loads every day so I never had piles of dirty laundry. I don’t think I would want one for at home though.

By: GCB

GCB — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 18:38:21 +0000

I have this unit and it’s great, when it works. Just drop the clothes in in the morning, set the delay, and grab them that evening. It’s a different type of lifestyle, where you are continually doing laundry, but since you are not home it’s ok.

Unfortunately, this model does seem to have a maintenance problem. Combo units? +++! The LG Steam Combo Unit? ….

By: Anton

Anton — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 04:46:55 +0000

I agree with Bob.

Sorry, not so interested in idle speculation, or I had one of these 20 (or 15 or 10) years ago type comments (none of which are this machine or even the brand in question). Geez, it’s like asking for a review on a Honda Civic and you get people saying, ‘Oh I used to drive a Fiat in europe, and compacts stink’ or ‘well I owned a Corolla and it was okay’ or ‘well I like to ride my bike’

Seems to me that of the people who actually own one and responded, it’s a pretty good machine.

So after sifting through all the tripe, I’ll buy one of the 4.2 cu ft units.

By: Tim Stanley

Tim Stanley — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 15:02:31 +0000

I just moved into a converted condo. The old units had no washer/dryer because there was no venting. This machine makes it possible to have an ensuite washer/dryer. Its a brand new LG. Small loads, but if you live on your own its perfect. 4hrs for a normal load, to be washed and dried. Clothes come out completely dry…. but WRINKLED! Im gonna try the downy wrinkle releaser that someone mentioned aside from that, looks like ill be hang drying along

By: Jamie

Jamie — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 23:55:06 +0000

Can’t speak to the long-term maintenance, as my Splendide 2100xc is new to me. But I love it! We live on a boat and there simply isn’t room for many alternatives. The bonus to this model is that it is vented to the exterior so the moisture escapes somewhere other than inside the boat. I would say it actually dries too well and I’ve had to trim the number of minutes on the dryer cycle so it doesn’t bake the clothes. I like the fact that I don’t have to move the laundry from washer to dryer. And it’s incredibly quiet.

By: Bob

Bob — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 18:04:20 +0000

Boy, certainly a lot of speculation (”I’ve heard parts a nightmare or impossible to find”) and negativity about all in ones. I have heard many good things about the LG model. With a little more research I may go for it!

By: Lisa

Lisa — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 10:01:16 +0000

I’m an American in England, and I’ve owned the combo machine for nearly 10 years now (a different brand though) and I *never* use the dryer. There’s no point because it essentially steams everything. Everything has to be hung up to dry – which slowly dries you crazy in the winter months.

We’re moving back to the US later this year and I have to say, I’m really looking forward to owning a ‘tumble dryer’ again!

By: Viv Evans

Viv Evans — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 17:10:30 +0000

We had one in a flat we rented in London and bwah it was so frustrating. I’d like to see the energy use required to run one versus a conventional stacked washer/dryer. We’d set it to start at 3 a.m. and sometimes our light tshirts weren’t dry at 7 when we got up.

I agree with the comment on buying a good spin cycle and airdrying. I think it’s a better option.

Viv

By: Judith

Judith — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 12:55:02 +0000

I have never owned a combo like that, but live in an apartment building with shared washer / dryers, like an in-house laundromat (meaning, I still need Euro-coins for washing). I have never used the dryers there though, but instead hang everything (that’s usually two fairly huge loads at a time, because, um, it tends to pile up a little…) in my apartment. The machines have a very good spin-cycle, so the clothes and sheets aren’t too wet when they come out.

I use a clothes drying rack with fold-out sides that just about fits in my tub, one of those little octopous-things from IKEA for socks on the shower-curtain rod where a sheet can hang also and put another sheet over a door if necessary. Blouses and similar stuff go on hangers that I hang on my furniture so there’s enough airflow around them.

(Recently, I’ve seen a different kind of dryeing racks advertised that stand about 1,5 meters (~ 5 feet or so) high and has three levels. A lot smaller footprint than my drying rack now, should make linedrying in a room much easier. Maybe I’ll get one.)

While not pretty, it doesn’t bother me because I do my laundry in the evening and almost all of it is dry the next morning.

It makes the laundry half as expensive as it would be with dryer-use, and it is a lot easier on the clothes! What you have to pick out of the driers as lint is essentially bits of your clothing, and they keep looking good a lot longer if air-dried. So there’s both the money- and the environment issue to consider, as every bit of clothing that has to be replaced sooner means an extra bit of trash that needs to be reycled or ends up in a landfill.

I know that line-drying in an apartment probably wouldn’t work for a family in tight quarters, but in my single household in just a one-room apartment it’s totally fine.

I think that instead of a combo, choosing a washing machine with the option for a strong spin-cycle (so you can disable it for delicate stuff) is a really good investment, because then air-drying only takes half as long. Seriously.

By: Ms. Brenda

Ms. Brenda — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 02:53:06 +0000

I love this concept. To be able to put a load of clothes in the machine in the morning, come home and take them out and fold them. If need be, put in another load at bedtime and take it out in the morning. This is how I do laundry anyway. (If I can remember to move the load from one machine to the other!) When I had four kids at home, I could have had two machines, which wouldn’t take up more space than my conventional washer and dryer. Seems like this is an engineering problem (My dishwasher washes and dries)as well as a marketing problem. If men did more laundry maybe there would be a significant improvement in the technology that would enable an efficient washer/dryer to be marketed.

By: tay

tay — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 17:40:52 +0000

I am reading all of this and thinking…my uncombined front loader takes about 1-1.5 hours anyway and then I have to factor in my drying time. I still am not to sold on these though. To many negative comments to offset the few positive

By: Nicole

Nicole — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 15:55:58 +0000

I absolutely LOVE mine. LOVE IT! We moved into an apartment in May, and a brand new LG was installed right before we did. The main thing to keep in mind is that it is not full capacity and you can’t expect it to be exactly like a full sized washer and a full sized dryer. In our previous apartment, we had to waste an entire evening doing all our laundry at once in a communal laundry room with commercial machines. They were hard on our clothes and annoying. What I love about my LG combo is that I can throw in a load, set it to wash and dry, and then come back to deal with it in a couple hours. It doesn’t bother me that it takes longer to complete a load. I find that if I load the machine properly, clothes are adequately washed and dried. I also love that I don’t have to wash anything by hand anymore! The machine is very gentle! We haven’t really had that many problems with the wrinkling. For us, it’s worth it because a stacked unit would take away valuable storage space and using a laundry mat would just be a big pain.

By: Carrie

Carrie — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 15:26:10 +0000

Washer-Dryer Combos are common in the UK and horrible – my friend said they can permanently wrinkle wrinkle-free clothing. I insisted on a washer AND a dryer for my UK home. The dryer uses a condenser (not vented) and not as hot as a US dryer. I can’t dry-clean my clothes using dryel-like products (not hot enough) but I can dry some sweaters and silks without overcooking.

By: Jody

Jody — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 14:21:20 +0000

Bought the very expensive Italian one seven or eight years ago. Very long cycle. Extremely small load. Damp, wrinkled, or fried clothing after interminable wait. Sold it when I moved. Haven’t missed it.

By: Janet

Janet — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 13:51:18 +0000

My husband and I bought one of these a few years ago, made by Malber. Despite being just the two of us, we had too much laundry for it to work for us. After a couple of years we sold it on Craigs List, and have been going to the laundromat since. I do miss being able to throw on a load of wash at home, but it took forever, and if you tried to wash more than a few things at a time, everything was damp and wrinked after what seemed like hours of drying. Plus, the sink hookup tended to leak…

By: Josh Kaufman

Josh Kaufman — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 13:18:07 +0000

Believe it or not, my grandfather (Nathan Kaufman) was one of the original patent-holders on combination washer/dryers. He tried to commercialize it via the Borg-Warner Corporation in the mid-1950s, but it was extremely heavy (made from solid stainless steel), and they weren’t able to engineer a gasket that could withstand the temperature extremes of the wash/dry cycle without leaking.

Even now, the most likely point of failure for these machines is still the gasket; according to my cousin who works at Whirlpool, all front loading washers are prone to eventual leakage for the same reasons. Good to know!

By: Kate

Kate — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 13:07:40 +0000

I have a 2 in 1 washer dryer and it’s true, you can only tumble dry a half load which means that if you want to start a wash and dry run and walk away it has to be a half load from the start. For 2 of us it is perfect since we don’t usually tumble dry except in winter when the humidity indoors can become a problem.
In response to Sarah, true- it’s not the most eco friendly to be tumble drying at all but it’s better than smelly, 3 day old damp clothes that haven’t dried yet. In winter or during bad weather when we have the house shut up I tend to air dry 80 or 90% then tumble the last bit dry to finish it off. As long as you remove the clothes from the dryer quite quickly this way also has the benefit of (in effect) ironing the creases out.

By: Tuppenz

Tuppenz — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 13:06:52 +0000

I haven’t seen one of these since the 60’s. I rented a brand new apartment which included this lovely washer/dryer just outside the bathroom. It was so convenient – but did seem to take a long time to complete its work. I recall being very satisfied with its performance otherwise. But that was 1963.