Any Tumble Dryer Experts out there? Now with test drive

[VRS Mike]

Seems great. I don't use it but the Mrs hasn't complained. We had a hoover before and it was garbage.

It has an internal light when you open the door which is a nice feature

[GentleGiant]

Then please explain why our Miele condenser dryer still drys clothes as well as it did since the day we bought it.

Apart from regular removal of lint from the filters and the odd descaling of the mesh filters as required it's been faultless.

No unsightly hoses, no need to use a core drill through the brickwork to properly vent it, a laundry room that's dry as a bone and clothes that are perfectly dry. (cupboard dry).

 

You realise you can buy external, passive, condenser boxes, so the vented dryer can be vented inside the house without steaming it up?? Even better, this helps keep my utility area warm during cold winter nights.

 

Lady E talks about a wash system to keep the heat exchanger clean, probably your Miele uses a similar system, I can only talk about the condensers I have had to work with, none of them did this, and they were all crap at drying clothes.

[GentleGiant]

I have a White Knight tumble dryer. It has been resoundingly abused for about 8yr and hasn't missed a beat.

 

It doesn't reverse spin so it does indeed tie larger items into knots but so so badly I'd replace it.

 

It can also do amazing things. If you put a duvet cover in it without buttoning it shut it can put all the clothes inside the duvet cover then tie it in a ball. How the F does it do that? Magic I say.

 

 

Newer White Knights (or more expensive models), do reverse, but they still manage to get all of your clothes inside of a duvet cover. I have had two, I gave the first away when I bought my first condenser dryer, not realizing how awful it was going to be; and bought its replacement a year later. Both are still going strong, the first is about 25 years old now, and the "new" one about 10 years old - and still looks like new.

 

You may notice a striking resemblance between WK dryers and some branded dryers, this is because WK make them for the big brands, that is how they first started, they were making dryers for about 20 years before they started to sell them under their own brand name.

[@Lee]

You realise you can buy external, passive, condenser boxes, so the vented dryer can be vented inside the house without steaming it up?? Even better, this helps keep my utility area warm during cold winter nights.

 

Lady E talks about a wash system to keep the heat exchanger clean, probably your Miele uses a similar system, I can only talk about the condensers I have had to work with, none of them did this, and they were all crap at drying clothes.

you mean those unsightly plastic boxes that they recommend you put ice into to help the steam condense more rapidly?

Yeah, they're crap. My sister had one before she bought her Bosch condenser dryer.

[rum4mo]

I have a White Knight tumble dryer. It has been resoundingly abused for about 8yr and hasn't missed a beat.

 

It doesn't reverse spin so it does indeed tie larger items into knots but so so badly I'd replace it.

 

It can also do amazing things. If you put a duvet cover in it without buttoning it shut it can put all the clothes inside the duvet cover then tie it in a ball. How the F does it do that? Magic I say.

 

I'd not in charge of domestic matters, but, when our very old "quality branded" vented drier called time a few years ago, it is located in an semi external store room, we went looking for another "quality branded" vented drier as the first one had lasted for a very long time with very little "help" - what we found at that time was that there were no "quality branded" vented driers available and so went for the White Knight one, many years later it is still working well.

I get a bit concerned about some of these designs with "efficiency" add ons, these are all well and good in an industrial size and setting, in the domestic setting as said earlier the energy savings overall just don't seem to exist and cost a lot more.

[Adam_]

White knight. Made in the UK. Although I'm slightly bias. I work there.

[GentleGiant]

White knight. Made in the UK. Although I'm slightly bias. I work there.

 

Back in the late 80s/early90s they were touting the place as the most modern factory in Europe; has it aged well??

[keystonedriving]

We are on our second White Knight drier, both have had reverse action.  The first lasted more than 10 years, the second has done about 5 years so far.  They don't just do the normal washing, they also do the horse stuff.

 

I think the phrase is 'bomb proof'!

[Adam_]

Back in the late 80s/early90s they were touting the place as the most modern factory in Europe; has it aged well??

As well as the UK manufacturing sector.

[GentleGiant]

We are on our second White Knight drier, both have had reverse action.  The first lasted more than 10 years, the second has done about 5 years so far.  They don't just do the normal washing, they also do the horse stuff.

 

I think the phrase is 'bomb proof'!

 

I agree.

 

30 years ago I used to refurb and sell white goods, dryers from other makes regularly used to "leak" fluff into the innards of the carcass, which if allowed to build up, can cause fires (had one myself while testing a machine). SO I have always performed annual fluff checks on every dryer I have had/ had to work with. I have NEVER found an issue with a White Knight dryer, and like you, my first one was bought a long time ago and still going strong (I gave it to friends who needed a quick replacement after their Hotpoint one died).

[Breezy_Pete]

Hotpoint TDC62 owner here, more than a decade old I think (the dryer, I'm even older), cleaned the condenser out a total of about 3 times, defluffed the main body once, a couple of years ago. Works well. Never caught fire yet.

I am quite reliable at cleaning the filter out every time I use it, like a good boy.

[VWD]

Ooh that looks interesting

Do I sense a Foxie Cohen atmosphere rising ?

[skomaz]

Creda here and ventilated but still going strong 16 years on

[VWD]

White knight. Made in the UK. Although I'm slightly bias. I work there.

Adam- problem is that a lot of the makers are joining forces and ( especially the UK ones) are becoming ore unreliable . Lots ( over 30 years ago) , I jumped from the dole queue to a job in a large UK electronics firm ,with branches in almost everything from telecoms to washers & washer dryers. Special offer to staff via the staff shop, and deducted from salary was a new ,all singing /all dancing washer dryer. We got one, and it lasted for lots of years. On the strength of this, our newly married eldest daughter bought the new version, which had a speciality of breaking down- regularly. SIL at this time worked in a ( modern term ) metal recycling plant, and one of the main recycled washers was this model, so he kept it going for peanuts.

Skomaz- once upon a time, Creda was the poor relation of the maker we had, but now, I'd say it's becoming the Skoda of the industry.

We once relied on Hotpoint/ etc as a good reliable fridge /freezer -these days- the time to break down has reduced from 10's of years to years to months.

[Lady Elanore]

Well I looked at Miele, White Knight etc etc, read reviews, Visited loads of retailers to look at the machines then read a few hundred owners reviews and comments (I'm nothing if not thorough ) and ended up back at Bosch. The model I've just ordered has well over 100 documented owners comments and overall it has a very good score. Reliability seems not to be an issue In fact the only thing that ever seems to come up in comments and then only occasionally, is the usual "doesn't always get clothes dry". But similar to most other comments of this nature on other machines, there are many owners who subsequently wrote, " but you have to read the instruction manual/ learn which setting works best for you". Tangling doesn't seem to be an issue either, except for occasional trouble with bedding, something that even the reverse tumble machines sometimes struggle with. 

 

It comes on Thursday and I'll update this thread with a road test once it's run-in

[Lady Elanore]

Do I sense a Foxie Cohen atmosphere rising ?

 

 

It's not my Porn name if thats what you are thinking

[VWD]

Lady E- it was the tendency to mention sizes that got me thinking . On the more serious side. Our Hotpoint washer dryer lasted almost 30 years( as opposed to daughter's one which lasted about five), to be replaced with a Zanussi which suffered after about ten years with terminal bearing rumble. Now replaced with a Bosch silver something washer dryer, which Swimbo is most happy with. The only problem with this machine is in areas where the water board have problems with algae in the water supply, and the jet stream in the machine gets clogged with black muck. Now we've got a separate plastic pipe supply, we've no problems. If your Bosch is as good as the one I got Swimbo, then I'd say you will have an easy life. Personally, I have no problems programming most things, but Washing machines- that ,to me is a foreign language. I gave up after one session at training school, when three of us dud some washing in a laundry and ended up with pink stuff after one lad put in a red shirt.

[Lady Elanore]

I think we have all had the ''pink stuff'' moment in one way or another. I had a 'lime green' moment only a few weeks ago

[VRS Mike]

Well I looked at Miele, White Knight etc etc, read reviews, Visited loads of retailers to look at the machines then read a few hundred owners reviews and comments (I'm nothing if not thorough ) and ended up back at Bosch. The model I've just ordered has well over 100 documented owners comments and overall it has a very good score. Reliability seems not to be an issue In fact the only thing that ever seems to come up in comments and then only occasionally, is the usual "doesn't always get clothes dry". But similar to most other comments of this nature on other machines, there are many owners who subsequently wrote, " but you have to read the instruction manual/ learn which setting works best for you". Tangling doesn't seem to be an issue either, except for occasional trouble with bedding, something that even the reverse tumble machines sometimes struggle with. 

 

It comes on Thursday and I'll update this thread with a road test once it's run-in

 

Yes this is what we found, my partner changed the settings and it's always dries our clothes. I was concerned when I read the reviews but it seems most don't read the manual and send them back as faulty lol

[XLBaconDoubleCheese]

Im amazed so many people have so many clothes that can be dried in a tumble dryer. 90% of our stuff cant be put in them :( 

[GentleGiant]

Im amazed so many people have so many clothes that can be dried in a tumble dryer. 90% of our stuff cant be put in them :(

 

1/2 the stuff we tumble dry has "Dont Tumble Dry on the care label - but we only ever use Low Heat settings, and the only thing that has melted/shrunk was our daughters swimming cap - which got in by accident.

[Lady Elanore]

I have the manual downloaded and against best working practice on a car forum, I'm going to read it Beginning to wish i had gone for the options of the upgrade Audio, Midnight pearlescent paint and adjustable suspension, but you can't have everything.  

[GentleGiant]

oh noes!! Lady E has gone to RTFM !!

[Lady Elanore]

Oh yes indeedy! I'm already considering my first mod (swap the door sides over)

[GentleGiant]

Just dont connect it to the internet, I did that with my fridge; now it has Cryptowall and managed to encrypt all my dairy produce before I could switch it off!!!