Washer Dryer cycle time combo vs stacked

[uhftx]

I have a question. I was recently looking at washers and dryers. One of the comments in regards to a household combo single machine was the cycle time was in excess of 5 hours for the wash/dry total time. This is a full size machine which means a larger load and increased capacity which may account for the longer cycle time.

What are your experiences?

Just food for thought since it has not been discussed here.

[DQDick]

Takes me about 11/2 to 2 hours to do a load of laundry in our Splendide combo. IMHO the main reason to have both, if you have the space, is so you can have another load washing while the first is drying. That said, those of us who are retired have the time so I don't think it matters that much.

[BB_TX]

We have a 6 yr old combo, so not the larger capacity. Never really timed it but I think something in the range of 2 hours max. Like Dick and Joyce we don't really worry much about the time. Since it washes and dries we typically just throw in a load, start it, then forget it and go about what ever our plans may be until we happen to notice the red light blinking.

[Alwims]

We are in the same boat as a lot of folks. When the light starts blinking we go take the clothes out, or if it is a large load of whites, I'll just turn that annoying red light off and do them latter. Sure does make the wife mad when her cotton panties look like crumbled up paper though. I keep telling her, what does it mater, no one else better be seeing them but me. We've just gotten used to it taking however long it takes. That being said, we do watch for shirts to get done as if you don't get them out while warm, it's wrinkle city. On a side note, we have discovered, since we got our whole rig water softener that our shirts don't wrinkle as bad. Sorry, got off topic a little, but I seem to do that the older I get.

[DQDick]

Wrinkling is a problem. We use a water softener and fabric softener and still take the shirts out before they completely dry. We have an folding outside hanger (bought at the Amish flee market at the fall Rally) and also a rack I made to dry clothes in the shower and use them if need be. Operation of the combo is simple if you read the directions the first time. Since I do the laundry and I'm a guy I figured I'd washed clothes for years and didn't need to read the instructions. How hot could that little bitty dryer get. Hot enough to turn Joyce's socks into doll socks on my first load. Needless to say, since then I have read the instructions.

[K0LCB]

I like the Splendide combo washer and dryer. I have noticed that if you leave clothes in too long they get wrinkled. I seem to have the same problem at laundromats. The combo s much more handy, I wish someone would come up with a way for it to fold clothes, then it would be perfect.

[pineranch]

Have no problem with wrinkled clothes, told my DW that ironing would give her something to do while I play golf. Now out of the back brace and you hardly notice the limp.
Mike

[mhs4771]

Hey Mike, you're probably lucky that you can at least Limp!

[subra1228]

We have an all-in-one splendid and the wash cycle I mostly use is 35 minutes. As far as drying, the time varies from 40 minutes to 80 minutes (towels, and ours are FLUFFY ones). I find that clothes wrinkles less if I take them out a bit damp and hang them, but it's really no big deal. I've said it before and will say it again - LOVE the combo W/D!!

[Recumbent]

We have had both combo and stackable(side by side) DW likes s-b-s best. DW washes and drys often and said the time it takes with the combo is similar to the other comments. She likes drying and washing at the same time. DW just said the side by side do not wrinkle as much. A little side note: This week in hot, hot Casa Grande, AZ with 50 Amps with both washer and dryer going and both air conditioners going at 112 degrees outside with tv and two or three lights on the zone 1 AC circut breaker kept tripping. Stopped the dryer and turned off the lights and that breaker would trip a little less often, but still trip. Also, stopped the washer and breaker would stay on. Don't know much about electricity but 112 outside temp will push the ACs to the limit.

[Wayne and Carolyn Mathews]

We have the Splendide combo and really like it. To do a complete wash and dry cycle for cottons generally takes from 1.5 to 2 hours, depending upon the load size.

Like others have mentioned, wrinkles can be a problem, but I stop the dryer after about 10 minutes and pull out and hang (to dry) anything that I don't want wrinkled. I haven't had to iron anything in years.

Carolyn

[washley1]

To finish drying shirts so they do not wrinkle, we take ours out of the Splendide when they are still a bit damp and hang they on a slender foldable rack we got at CW. It was designed to go in the shower, but if we don't have company coming we usually just stick them in a corner of the living room area.

[BusyCarol]

We have the Splendide 7100XC VENTLESS system and we LOVE it!!!! It does take a while so we are ditto what everyone else says! We just do smaller loads more frequently. I only do a 20 minute dry time and then take them out when they are still damp. At home during the summer I line dry my S&B loads so I am used to line drying in the trailer. We have a rack for the ladder but have not been able to use it at the RV resorts we have stayed at so far. We don't have one that fits in the shower so I do the Girl Scout thing and hang a line from one cupboard handle in the bedroom to the top of the shower and it works great. Clothes are dry in a short period of time that way. The ventless system is wonderful. We did not have to cut any holes into the trailer and no condensation issues at all. Good luck choosing the one that works best for you!

[Art-n-Marge]

I have a question for you W/D equipped rigs. I think I understand when you are using a combo unit and it washes then dries the clothing for ever how long, 1.5 to 2 hours or whatever, how much power is it using? If one is fortunate to have a separate washer and dryer, then how much power does each use and can you do this with 30 amp with careful monitoring of power usage, or is this something that should only be tried while on 50 amp. I can't imagine if two A/Cs are going, the Washer AND the Dryer, then one fires up the microwave. WOW, what power management?

We don't RV enough and don't mind using external laundry facilities so I am just curious, with no intention of getting either of these setups, but I've always wondered.

[subra1228]

quote:Originally posted by Art-n-Marge

I have a question for you W/D equipped rigs. I think I understand when you are using a combo unit and it washes then dries the clothing for ever how long, 1.5 to 2 hours or whatever, how much power is it using? If one is fortunate to have a separate washer and dryer, then how much power does each use and can you do this with 30 amp with careful monitoring of power usage, or is this something that should only be tried while on 50 amp. I can't imagine if two A/Cs are going, the Washer AND the Dryer, then one fires up the microwave. WOW, what power management?

We don't RV enough and don't mind using external laundry facilities so I am just curious, with no intention of getting either of these setups, but I've always wondered.

We once figured how many amps each electrical component takes, but I can't find the data. But when I can tell you is that when we are on 50-amp, we don't think that much about how much the dryer pulls - we'll have the refrigerator, hot water, A/C and dryer on with no problems. Now when we're on 30-amps, that's a whole different story - we will keep the refrigerator on electric, put the hot water heater on gas, then use the A/C OR dryer. I'm sure someone out there will have exact numbers for ya! I'll look again to see if I can find them.

[Alwims]

We're almost always on 50 amp and never give power usage a thought. I do laundry while Carol sleeps during the day. She works nights. She uses the air conditioner in the bedroom and I have the whole house air on also. The air in her room makes enough noise so that I can vacuum and it doesn't bother her. Just never gave it a thought as to how much power we are using, but have never blown a breaker, yet.

I will say, because we also use our solar for 12 volt power, we don't run the Charger/Converter much anymore except to help charge the batteries after a few days of cloudy conditions. That thing draws over 1200 watts when it's running. When we are hooked up to shore power we don't use the Inverter during the day also so all of our AC power is drawn from the 50 amp shore power. Since we have no intention of running the W/D off solar, I've just never looked it up or tested it, but the Splendide machine is really energy efficient.

[sreigle]

We can run both washer and dryer in our stack on 30 amps. However, if we want to run A/C as well then we need 50 amps.

Assuming the washer time and the dryer time on a combo are similar to a stack (and that's something I don't know for sure) then the first load would take about the same time with either setup simply because you first have to wash a load before you can dry it.

However, with a stack, the second load can be washed while that first load is being dried. So I suppose it all comes down to how do you use the washer and dryer? If you do a single load on any one day, the combo would meet our needs. If you do all laundry on one day, as we do, then the stack is probably faster.

Bottom line, you have to way the pros and cons as they apply to you and make the decision that's best for you. I think you're smart to ask these questions so you have the firsthand experiences of others to help you with that decision. Good luck to you.

[sreigle]

quote:Originally posted by Art-n-Marge

I have a question for you W/D equipped rigs. I think I understand when you are using a combo unit and it washes then dries the clothing for ever how long, 1.5 to 2 hours or whatever, how much power is it using? If one is fortunate to have a separate washer and dryer, then how much power does each use and can you do this with 30 amp with careful monitoring of power usage, or is this something that should only be tried while on 50 amp. I can't imagine if two A/Cs are going, the Washer AND the Dryer, then one fires up the microwave. WOW, what power management?

We don't RV enough and don't mind using external laundry facilities so I am just curious, with no intention of getting either of these setups, but I've always wondered.

Art, we've had a washer and dryer stack since we started fulltiming more than ten years ago. In two different Montanas.

We are able to run both the washer and dryer, easily, on 30 amp. We also have the water heater, fridge, two computers, various lights, TV, DVR, satellite receiver, and other misc items running at the same time.

However, to run the air conditioner along with all of that we need to go to 50 amp service. On 50 amp, we can do all of the above plus one air conditioner. But if we turn on the second a/c, then we risk popping the breaker. So we make a habit of using only one air conditioner on laundry days.

Hope this helps.

[rving2us]

Looking at sid by side washer and dryer of whirlpool verses splendid. Which in your expertise works best?