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.