> They had a hard time believing that single-unit washer-dryer units have existed for quite some time.
Indeed, and unfortunately they still aren't good. Just useful if space is a premium (e.g. apartments).
I was recently reading extensively on them, and the consensus seems to be that the washer part is roughly as good as a stand-alone unit, but the dryer is significantly worse (slow and inefficient). Often taking twice as long to dry the same loud.
This seems to be because the dryer is a condenser dryer (stand alone dryers are typically vented dryers). This means instead of pumping warm-wet air outside, they use a heat exchanger to cool the warm-wet air, causing water to be deposited which is then drained.
This results in the combo units consuming water to DRY. Since the heat exchanger has water pumped through it to keep its temperature low, and that water has to be discarded when it gets warm.
Indeed, and unfortunately they still aren't good. Just useful if space is a premium (e.g. apartments).
I was recently reading extensively on them, and the consensus seems to be that the washer part is roughly as good as a stand-alone unit, but the dryer is significantly worse (slow and inefficient). Often taking twice as long to dry the same loud.
This seems to be because the dryer is a condenser dryer (stand alone dryers are typically vented dryers). This means instead of pumping warm-wet air outside, they use a heat exchanger to cool the warm-wet air, causing water to be deposited which is then drained.
This results in the combo units consuming water to DRY. Since the heat exchanger has water pumped through it to keep its temperature low, and that water has to be discarded when it gets warm.