Washer/Dryer Review
I thought I would try to squeeze in one quick review before MiniM wakes back up! That would be on my Washer/Dryer!
My washer/dryer is the Summit 1800 model. Originally I wanted to have a washer/dryer because it seemed ‘normal’. At just under $1,000, it is just under 10% or my budget and up until last month saw virtually no use… The capacity is 13 pounds technically but I found it was about 2-3 pairs of jeans, as set of sheets is two loads… not super convenient. It is great in a pinch (a cold winter day where you don’t want to go anywhere or a rainy day in), I just don’t get into many pinches and I never was very good at doing a load of laundry a day which is pretty much how you would have to do things to make it work for everyday use. Basically it can do the clothes that 1-3 people wear a day depending on the size of the people :). Anyway, I never got out of the habit of saving up all of my laundry for a big laundry day, habits are hard to break! I used laundry as a good excuse to go visit with my other family members :). So, up until MiniM was born I rarely used it and honestly was feeling like it was complete excess and I could have used that space for more storage or something a lot cheaper.
Now though, it’s a lifesaver! I find that I am learning to do a load a day, babies are messy and it helps to be able to throw things in as they get messed and just start it when I need to. It is essentially an overpriced Diaper Genie but I do now find it convenient to use and I’m glad I have it!
So, that all being out there, I am not wholeheartedly suggesting every tiny house have a washer/dryer but maybe if you have a kid it’s handy :). But then that is a really small portion of the population that has a kid and a tiny house!
As far as the actual unit itself it works really well. When I was researching them I was told to only expect combined units to get things about 90% dry, whichever unit you go with (vented or ventless I hear are the same for this though I only have experience with ventless). I find this to be mostly true, every once in a while things will come out drier than that but for the most part things are slightly moist coming out, throwing them over the back of a chair for an hour or so generally does the trick though. I am surprised at this though because it is a ventless unit, they claim it can be installed in a closet with no ventilation, this baffles my mind! And I don’t clean out any lint which makes me feel like I’m on my way to starting a fire but I guess it’s normal…
It does take a LONG time to do one small load, if I pre-wash and add an extra rinse (which I do, I notice a difference) it takes 3 hours and 50 minutes to do one load. That’s a while! I am glad the weather is getting better again because just doing the wash and skipping the drying (opting for line dried) saves about two and a half hours taking the wash load time down to an hour and thirty minutes. Still a long time but shorter than running to the laundromat… So long as you stay on top of things…
When researching units there was a lot of good and a lot of bad said, the most important bit of advice was not to consider a unit half the size of any washer or dryer to be able to compete head to head with a full size set, it will do it’s job, much slower. I read bad review after bad review about the Haier brand, they are by a long shot cheaper than other units but there were so many reviews saying it worked only 4 loads then broke and that the company won’t warranty anything… because of these reviews I decided to go with the Summit which was a good mid-range, it was about the cheapest one I could find with decent reviews (the only bad ones I read had to do with a user expecting it to compete with a full size set). The LG ones have great reviews but get up to the $1,500-$2,000 price range, that was a bit out of my realm.
All in all, laundromats are great, if you feel like you want a unit in your house though then do it, I would definitely say it isn’t a ‘need’ but can be nice to have. When it comes down to it I have nothing but good things to say about the Summit 1800, it’s been great for the ~100 loads or so I’ve done!
Would your house design have allowed for a stacked w/d combo? I’ve used them and they work great, just want to make sure there is enough space for the option. 🙂
you could certainly allow for it if its important to you, say put one where my pantry is and just have cupboard space where my existing w/d is for example. plenty of flex room for something like that! The part to watch is that a lot of stackables require 220 v power which is harder in a tiny house.