The 21st Century has witnessed some growth in technological advancements and innovations, and the laundry industry is part of it. Combining the washing machine and dryer into one unit seems like the latest laundry convenience. You just put your used laundry in and it comes out clean and fresh! The best part, it consumes a small area in the house instead of the usual space for two appliances. Sounds rather convenient to have

Reviews and appliance owner discussions all around the internet show that these machines sometimes can’t match the performance of their separate counterparts. So if you’re thinking of buying and washing and drying units, we can help you make a decision that you won’t regret. Let’s take a look at the advantages and disadvantages of buying a washer-dryer combo.

Advantages

• Washing performance is comparable to that of a stand-alone washing machine, especially when compared to a front-loading washing machine. Natural detergent pods work on this type of machine, as will most brand liquid detergents, powder detergents, and natural laundry detergents.
• You’ll save on space. A combo washer-dryer takes half the space of two laundry units.
• You have the choice to use the washing or drying function individually. No need to use both functions. For those delicate garments that require handwashing, you can use the dryer function to dry those clothes. Same thing if you wash your clothes with the unit and have them air dry.
• The running cost of the dryer-washer combo is almost equivalent to using both a load washer and condenser dryer.

Disadvantages

• The dryer component can roughly dry half the size of the washer. So if you washed a huge load of clothes, then you need to dry them in two different cycles.
• They can use a considerable amount of water for drying since the dryer’s condenser uses water for cooling. Not counting the water used for washing so one can say that they aren’t eco-friendly in their water consumption. However, heat-pump washer dryer combos are available, which don’t use any water for drying but are quite costly.
• Takes up too much time! A combined wash and dry cycle take a long time. No matter how efficient and good your laundry detergent is, it will take a long time to wash and dry.
• Studies show that washer dryer combos are the least dependable laundry appliance. Appliance owners of these units also had significantly lower satisfaction than top- and front-load washers.

Conclusion

Unless you have a limited choice, an all-in-one, single-drum, washer-dryer combo is unusually the best way to do your laundry. The washing feature works fine, but drying takes much longer hours than a normal dryer would, and that’s if you have half the normal load inside the machine. So while they are advancements in the laundry industry, washer-dryer combos still have a long way to go.