Hi all, looking for suggestions on the best Washer/Dryer combo machines available.
Currently looking at the Samsung option, product code WD85T554DBW - but some mixed reviews online.
We're a bit tight for space in our new home, and I am used to combo machines, but any suggestions welcome!
Thanks in advance.
Sounds like you are pretty handy at the DIY :-)
We also have an 'exhaust dryer' that I have hung on the wall, but it is not vented. It is in the laundry, and when we run it, we just open the back door (which is inches from the dryer), and close the door into the house.
Probably not ideal, and definitely not as good as venting it properly, but the moisture seems to just go outside - so far, so good anyway!
It took me ages to scribe the box on the outside and it is not something I would do myself again :) I'd be better off doing an extra shift at work and getting a builder or tradesman to do it. I am proud I did it though.
So you should be!
:-)
I have a strong ceiling fan where the dryer will be on the floor. Leave it as is or mounted it upside down ?
If it's high up on the wall you can't reach the controls (at the top), so you need to mount upside down and flip controls (if model supports this).
If the dryer is on the floor then you wouldn't want to mount it upside down.
If you are not exhausting the dryer, personally I would spend more for a condenser dryer or even more for a heat pump dryer.
Hey, do you have access to this article on Consumer NZ? If not I can paste it here.
I find it all depends on the amount of use you need. If it's just a couple, then yes it's a good idea. If you have a big family, you'll find out pretty quickly these machines can't really handle the amount of loads when you're washing and drying a full load every second day over winter. We have a Midea, but we're already on our second one. The first one broke after a year or so or continuous 5+ hour loads. But this time around we have also bought a condenser dryer.
Only use the 10kg for washing - very rarely for a full wash+dry cycle. They're not as expensive but if a $2k Samsung will break, we rather have a cheaper one break. 2nd machine has been great so far, no issues, washes well. If I have to use the dryer function, we do it overnight in delay mode, and it's nice and warm and ready to fold when I wake up. But most of it is done on the dryer, and it seems to work very well.
Hope this helps, sorry for the mumbling.
My son bought a Midea and it spent many months in the workshop being fixed. Not that you are looking at them… but the key issues and reason why we would never buy one was that the wash / dry cycle was at least - 5 hours and you couldn't open it during it.
Also, the washing capacity was bigger than the dry - so if you were going to wash & dry you had to do half a load. Absolutely understand the space saving but the hassle was not worth it.
I have the fisher & paykel WD8560F1
Haven’t had any issues with it, works well
Only complaint would be it can be a bit slow but that seems common for all these types of machines
I'm not sure about value for money but we have the Bosch WVG28420AU 8kg with 4.5kg dryer and seems to work great (even better with contact 3 hours of free power).
Can do 1hr wash/dry cycle. Or you can wash, then select dryer function for how much time you want the dryer to run for etc
Can you put a separate dryer somewhere else?
If wall mounting a dryer, because of the weight you generally get an exhaust dryer. The exhaust dryer can be turned upside down so the controls are easier to reach and the controller labels can be flipped so the buttons don't look upside down. The exhaust dryer needs to be vented.
The condenser dryers and heat pump dryers don't need exhaust vents so you can put them anywhere (eg. Another cupboard or the garage). They are very heavy so generally can't be mounted as a floating dryer but they can be stacked on-top of a front loader.
I renovated my laundry and mounted my dryer up on the wall above the laundry bench and then exhausted it straight out the wall. I did this myself. I had to remove the gib and add some 2x4 behind the gib where the dryer attached and then I also replaced the gib behind the dryer with plywood to give extra strength. Then I drilled exhaust hole up high on the wall under the exterior soffit then had to scribe a little box with the exterior wall vent attached to it.