Washing machine or washer dryer?

413x

413x

413x

Caporegime
Joined
13 Jan 2010
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Location
Llaneirwg
Need a new washing machine imminently as hopefully moving to first house without one.

I've been considering a washer dryer combo for winter.
Here winters are always wet so drying would otherwise be on a rack. And the ability to wash and dry in same cycle seems really useful when you're working. Also, sometimes I forget to take wet washing out and have to rewash

So cons I've heard
-Not as effective/efficient as separate (but won't be getting separate)
-More points of failure
-more expensive

In flat have now (won't have much longer) it's been a nightmare trying to dry stuff in the winter, hence the question


Any views would be appreciated.
 
Get separate washer and dryer and stack them one above another to save space if you can. I wouldn't get a combo personally, heard nothing but issues from those who have them.
 
413x said:
Need a new washing machine imminently as hopefully moving to first house without one.

I've been considering a washer dryer combo for winter.
Here winters are always wet so drying would otherwise be on a rack. And the ability to wash and dry in same cycle seems really useful when you're working. Also, sometimes I forget to take wet washing out and have to rewash

So cons I've heard
-Not as effective/efficient as separate (but won't be getting separate)
-More points of failure
-more expensive

In flat have now (won't have much longer) it's been a nightmare trying to dry stuff in the winter, hence the question


Any views would be appreciated.
Click to expand...

Budget is key here as you are asking one machine to do the job of two.

Had one many moons ago and from memory it couldn't dry all the wet clothes at once (assuming it had been fully loaded) or as efficiently as a standalone dryer but that is the trade off. The clothes never seemed to be fully dry on the one i had.

I assume they are better now but won't be as good a two standalones. A quick search suggested there are plenty of models for all budgets.
 
Well, looks like the washers only are 300-400 and washer dryers are 400-500.

That's the price range and similar models

Most of the time will be just a washer. Will rarely use a dryer (winter only)
 
I've been using a washer-dryer for about 4-5 years now, a Hotpoint Aquarius + to be specific.

As a washing machine it's great, as a dryer not so much.

The 'ready to wear' function puts the clothes out still somewhat damp, the longer dryer functions take eons to the point where it's faster to just hang your clothes up at the windows or put them over a radiator for half an hour.

I initially bought it as at the time I was moving into a flat with limited space that had old storage heaters, so I didn't have much choice in the matter unfortunately, but in hindsight even with my past circumstances I'd have just bought a washer. Since then I've moved and as mentioned, if the weather is bad it's better to just slap the heating on for 30 minutes.
 
Very little issues on my old washer combo.
Ok its now quite old and has some front panel issues with the control but the actual washing and drying bit... not a lot of problem.

Wouldnt have anything else, mainly cos my kitchen is so small!
 
If you don't have room for both then make do with a washer dryer, at least it will get your washing mostly dry whereas hanging up towels / bedding etc in winter takes ages and looks a mess. If venting outside is an issue then get a condenser dryer.
 
Puzzled said:
If you don't have room for both then make do with a washer dryer, at least it will get your washing mostly dry whereas hanging up towels / bedding etc in winter takes ages and looks a mess. If venting outside is an issue then get a condenser dryer.
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Agree totally. Better than nothing at all and clothes soaking wet causing condensation etc.
 
Never owned one, but stayed in an apartment in Chelsea for a few days that had one - took absolutely forever to dry and they still needed hung up afterwards. And as @Orionaut states, if it breaks you've lost both.

I use mine all year for bed clothes and towels (apart from those 4-7 days of summer we get - even then I would for a while to get cat hair of the bedsheet and finish outside). I couldn't live without it.

If you're moving to a house and even if you don't have room for one indoors, if you've a garage or a decent shed with electrics, pop the dryer in there.
 
If you absolutely cannot have a separate dryer, then having a combo is better than not having a dryer at all. Just pitch your budget to get a decent one.
 
especially if moving to a house, just get a washer with decent spin rate and holey drum
... watching the weather for heavy duty garments so they dry outside.

a dehumidifier to accelerate indoor drying for light weight stuff is an idea i've toyed with.
 
We bought a washer dryer and don't regret it. Yes it may not dry a full load, but we probably also don't help with that. Come winter months we were fed up hanging up clothes and having to leave them for a day or two to dry. I have now had stuff hang up and come back half an hour later and the residual dampness has gone. I'm not even sure if tumble drying clothes to a bone dry state is even healthy for them, but that's my own belief.
 
Puzzled said:
If you don't have room for both then make do with a washer dryer, at least it will get your washing mostly dry whereas hanging up towels / bedding etc in winter takes ages and looks a mess. If venting outside is an issue then get a condenser dryer.
Click to expand...

IIRC all Washer Dryers are condensing dryers by default. I have a Bosch Serie 6 Washer Dryer, purchased as I didn't have room for separate machines. Yes, the dryer isn't great, takes too long and often the clothes come out pretty creased, but it's better than nothing. In the winter months I use the dryer to 'help along' the drying process of my clothes; I'll bung the dryer on for an hour or so after a wash before I put the clothes on airers/radiators just so they dry a bit more quickly. Better than nothing!
 
I've recently had a new Hotpoint washer dryer installed in my rented flat as the old one stopped drying properly. It seems to do just fine at both things, although it seems to trend for modern washing machines is to have insanely long wash cycles, which is annoying in an open-plan kitchen/living area when you really want the whole thing done as quickly (or at least quietly) as possible.

It's got a few different drying options; you can either dry by time, in which case it seems to just use the hottest setting for the time you set. Or it has three settings for iron ready, hang ready and cupboard ready which are a bit gentler but take much longer. It is at least mostly very quiet when drying although the water pump runs every now and again while drying and is intrusively loud. Clothes tend not to come out creased if you use one of the presets, though to help things along I'll remove some of the damp items and run two loads for drying.

If I was buying one for myself I'd try to set a pretty decent budget, and get one with the largest drum I could to facilitate the drying. Occasionally things get clumped together in mine which results in weird damp patches that haven't dried at all.
 
TheVoice said:
I've recently had a new Hotpoint washer dryer installed in my rented flat as the old one stopped drying properly. It seems to do just fine at both things, although it seems to trend for modern washing machines is to have insanely long wash cycles, which is annoying in an open-plan kitchen/living area when you really want the whole thing done as quickly (or at least quietly) as possible.

It's got a few different drying options; you can either dry by time, in which case it seems to just use the hottest setting for the time you set. Or it has three settings for iron ready, hang ready and cupboard ready which are a bit gentler but take much longer. It is at least mostly very quiet when drying although the water pump runs every now and again while drying and is intrusively loud. Clothes tend not to come out creased if you use one of the presets, though to help things along I'll remove some of the damp items and run two loads for drying.

If I was buying one for myself I'd try to set a pretty decent budget, and get one with the largest drum I could to facilitate the drying. Occasionally things get clumped together in mine which results in weird damp patches that haven't dried at all.
Click to expand...

Can i ask which one you have? Was looking at a hotpoint myself

We have room for both but dryer will be used so infrequently
 
We had one when we did the kitchen. The combined cycle time takes an age. It was a real PITA and a nightmare to do mixed colour loads. Got rid.
 
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