apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I'm in the same situation. About a year ago I got an Avanti "Eco-egg" mini-washer off of Craigslist. It was great until it broke and now the company no longer makes them. I've been wondering about the Cyclone an am eager to hear what others have to say about it.

Do the washers in your building not have a gentle cycle option? I have to cart my laundry six blocks to the nearest "clean" laundrymat and I just wash my delicates separated into different lingerie bags in one washer set to gentle, using a laundry soap for delicates. I take them home to hang to dry. It seems to work fine. I wish I had laundry in my building, on my floor would be even better.

While all of you very resourceful people are at it... maybe you could share your experiences regarding ventless washer/dryer combos?

I'm moving into a condo and there's no way to install a traditional dryer - but I could get the ventless kind. I've just heard mixed reviews. Anyone actually used one before?

I remember reading somewhere that using a salad spinner filled with water and a little woolite is a good thing for washing delicates... I haven't tried it though because my salad spinner looks too small for it to work! That Cyclone Washmate looks pretty cool though.

Me too! The no-electricity-needed Pressure Hand Washer and Rapid Washer at Lehman's look interesting: http://www.lehmans.com/jump.jsp?itemType=CATEGORY&itemID=674&i1Cat=679&i2Cat=673&i3Cat=674&i4Cat=0, and there was a lot of talk about the Avanti Eco-Egg washer recently: http://www.amazon.com/Avanti-Eco-Egg-Mini-Washing-Machine/dp/B00009OWL9

I have the Cyclone Washmate II (Pictured) and it is great for delicates that you can hang dry. The Cyclone doesn't have a rinse or spin cycle, so it does take a few turns with clean water to rinse. Warning: it isn't very good for anything bigger/heavier than underwear, socks and t-shirts, though, because jeans, pants, etc. just cause the machine to shake and rumble. That being said, $60 (or so) is a good deal for the convenience, especially if you have nice lingerie or delicate sweaters.

David --

A good friend of mine has a megajumbo LG ventless washer-dryer, and she raves about it.

I don't know if this was typical, but I had a horrible experience with a ventless Equator washer/dryer. In less than a year it broke down three times - and customer service was abyssmal. Coupled with the fact that everything was always horribly wrinkled and still damp, I'd strongly recommend against the brand (and possibly the concept, too).

i have a ventless dryer - the washer is a separate unit, but i imagine that the dryer setting in a combo machine would work the same way as my separate unit does. it works pretty well, but is a little slow. it gets the job done, so to speak, but it won't get your soaking-wet jeans bone dry in 50 minutes, either. but it does work, and i am ridiculously grateful for having it.

two of us share the in-unit Malber WD1000 washer/dryer combo and love it- but, it does seem to need regular service about every 8-months as a tune-up.... so, go w/ the GE extended warranty for free service....

we absolutely love it for a small, electric combo.

-kellen

I live in NYC, where if you are lucky enough to have W/D in your unit, you almost always have a ventless one; I have a stacked unit from Eurotech. Although small, both units have mostly worked fine.

However, they are not that quiet, particularly during the washer spin cycle, and the Eurotech models are also a nightmare to get serviced since few people are familiar with them.

Note also that the condensation in a ventless dryer either needs to be collected in a tank inside the unit which you will have to empty, or have a tube hooked up that sends the water down a drain. Mine does the latter, if you pick a model/have a setup that requires the first I bet it would be a pain.

Several years ago, when our baby came, we bought a Malber washer/dryer(non-venting) combo and simply put it in the bathroom to make drain in the bath tub. Even we were renting at that time and not supposed to have a washer in the unit. Luckily, it was pre-war building with rock-solid floor and wall, no one in the building noticed we had it. We loved the Malber, never broke, easy, use tiny amount of detergent. One downside was because its inside is much smaller than regular washer/dryer, all sheets came out with enormous wrinkle... So any big stuff, we use the laundry room in the basement.

Maybe my roommate and i are just simple, but we just have a regular old bucket in our bathroom that we regularly fill with lukewarm water and woolite or baby shampoo, and just let our delicates soak for half an hour or so and then hang them up to dry. Works fine, and you don't need to purchase another appliance. I guess this is technically "hand washing", but i don't think it requires much more effort than putting your clothes and detergent in a washer would...

It may not be appropriate for a studio apartment, but I am totally in love with my Danby portable washer. I haven't been to the horrible laundromat in almost a year now. It's small-ish (Depth: 20.5"; Height: 34.75") and very, very quiet. You can read my complete (obsessive) review of it at epinions (http://www.epinions.com/content_233935769220). As far as portable dryers go, I initially wanted to buy a combo washer/dryer, but the overwhelming consensus seemed to be that they took forever and never actually dried the clothing.

Just a word of caution to renters -- check your lease, I have lived in buildings where having a washer of any sort in one's apartment was forbidden. Guess it uses too much water. sigh.

The ventless washer/dryer combos are ok, but don't get in a hurry. They do take a while to do one load of clothes. Also heavy articles like thick socks or jeans never get fully dry...not a problem if you hang everything, but could pose a problem if you prefer to fold all your clothes. Other than that, the couple i know with one thinks it's brilliant. :)

If the problem is just that the washer on your floor doesn't have a true gentle cycle, then do what I used to do: Let the machine fill the tub with cold water and Woolite, then stop it before it starts to agitate. Put your clothes in, soak, swish around with your hands, then advance the setting to spin, let it fill with rinse water, stop, swish, then advance it to spin. You get all of the benefits of a hand wash without having to clean out a sink, roll everything up in towels, stomp on them, then deal with an apartment full of soaking wet towels. And you'll save the money you'd spend buying one of these other gadgets.

Sorry x2--don't know why that happens.

I got one of the washers pictured up above as a gift last year. I don't think it's terribly useful. You could wash silk garments or washable woolens in it, but I don't have any. Women might find it more useful than men. It might also be more useful if you have NO laundry facilities in your building - you could do emergency loads in it of lightweight pants or shirts or underwear. I've also used it to pre-treat bad stains.

No spin or rinse cycle, so it's not so much a washer as a motorized bucket that swirls your garments for you.

I had one of the ventless washer/dryer combos - a small one that fit underneath the kitchen counter - when I lived in London and it worked all right, as long as I didn't put too much in it and didn't expect the clothes to come out crispy dry. It did, however, made sounds like a rocket or airplane going off during the spin cycle, which made for some difficulties watching tv.

My one piece of advice: make absolutely sure you've emptied everything out of pockets and such before doing a load in the washer. My roommate left a bobby pin or something in a pocket, so when I did my load after hers, the washer didn't drain completely. It got fixed, but it was an incredible hassle, and a couple of inches of water definitely got all over the floor.

I have one of those washer/dryer combos (lg wm3431) and it works great. It does take 4 hours to do a small load but I just set it, forget it and in four hours I have fresh dry (bone dry) clothes. The dryer did stop working after a year. I called for service but they were of no help. They came over twice replaced some parts but the dryer still did not work. After some research online I figured how to fix it myself. It took about three hours of elbow grease but it works like new now.

When old buildings forbid washing machines, it's not because of water use, but old pipes. A washing machine will actually suck water from the pipes and put extra stress on the whole system. Also, it will cause extreme variations in water temperature for your neighbors in the shower.

Be good to your neighbors and don't sneak in a washing machine! A mini hand washer like the one pictured above is another story, those should be fine. It's the ones that hook into the water line or faucet that cause problems.

Portable washers are different from regular washing machines. They hook up to the kitchen faucet using an adaptor. The portable washer doesn't "suck water from the pipes." Rather, the water is turned on in the kitchen faucet, and the aerator allows the machine to accept the water during the wash and rinse cycles. The Danby portable washer I mentioned uses 7 gallons per cycle (for 2 cycles), about the same amount used when the toilet is flushed.

The link I posted in my message doesn't seem to be working, but if you click on my name it will take you to the review. Sorry about that...

Why not just buy some mesh bags in different sizes for your hand wash? Small ones for tights and lingerie, and larger ones for sweaters, you can just throw them in the washing machine with your other clothes.
It works just fine-I've been doing it for years.

Dear "Ben" who posted on 2/14 -- where can I learn how you fixed your LG ventless dryer by yourself? I am a landlord and I bought one of these LG's for my tenants (to replace an Equator, which croaked, grr) and I've just learned it has stopped drying the clothes; happened gradually, they say. Don't mind doing things myself, especially if calling the company will get me nowhere. Thanks!