Washer and Dryer Combo Unit – One Machine that does BOTH!

The history of how I ended up with a washer and dryer combo unit goes all the way back to when I first moved in here in 2015. I went with a budget to our scratch and dent LG store on a wing and prayer hoping to purchase everything: a microwave, dishwasher, refrigerator, stove and washer and dryer for under $4,000. And though, six years later, I have nothing good to say about LG dishwashers I’m still thrilled with the rest of our appliances – I was even able to get them all in stainless steel! I had every intention of having the traditional two units in our laundry room and had already run the electrical for the washer and the dryer along with the plumbing. What I had not done yet though was squeeze into the crawl space to run the dryer vent.

When I went to the store and told them what I wanted the employees were so excited to show me the washer and dryer combos they had available. (They had all already been converted and had ditched the two machines in their own households.)

Of course I wasn’t totally sold initially but there were SO MANY advantages.

COST: That one washer and dryer combo unit cost less than $800 – half the cost of buying two separate machines!

WATER: They use a lot less water than even the most efficient washing machines on the market.

ELECTRICITY: These units plug in to what is a very normal outlet in most homes today. They run on a 20 amp breaker which beats the heck out of dryers that need a 40 amp breaker. That means they cost a lot less to run too!

VENTLESS: You heard me right – they’re VENTLESS! They don’t vent outside or anywhere! Buying a combo unit meant I didn’t have to brave our nasty crawl space and cut a hole in the side of our house to run the dryer vent.

FORGETFULLNESS: Never again would I forget to transfer my clothes from the washing machine to the dryer and thus, have to wash my clothes again. One machine, one cycle, it washes and then it dries and the clothes are done.

SPACE: It obviously only takes up half the space as two units which is so great for people in apartments or who have limited space. (It meant I could totally revamp my laundry closet like I did a couple of years ago into its own little room.)

I was sold.

My one regret was not knowing about the unit sooner because I had already spent the money and run the dryer line along with installing the 40amp breaker – bummer, because that wasn’t cheap!

Our washer and dryer combo unit was still trucking along when Lodi and I decided that we could afford to purchase a new one.

The one I purchased back in 2015 always had a few quirks that took some getting used to. These units have a door lock mechanism that, if it doesn’t engage, won’t start a load.

For us that meant having to open and slam the door shut twice. Unfortunately for us it would also get stuck locked closed from time to time. All we needed to do was turn the machine off and on again to get it to unlock but still – it was annoying.

And its main spin cycle made it sound like it had a bowling ball in it no matter how perfectly level we got the machine! Poor thing had just had enough!

So, we decided to pool our resources and give this to ourselves as an Xmas / dual birthday present earlier this year.

A brand new unit!

You know you’re an adult when something like this makes you squeal and bounce up and down lol!

I had really thought that after six years these units would have become a lot more mainstream considering all of their perks so Lodi and I headed out one weekend excited to browse and pick one out together.

I WAS SO WRONG.

NO ONE had one of these units in stock to look at. Not Lowes. Not Best Buy. Not Fleet Farm. Not Menards. Not Home Depot. Not Walmart. Not any single appliance store we could find in Fargo or Moorhead.

A few sales men had heard of them but, more often then not, they were stunned to hear that single units even existed. (One salesman even spoke poorly of them and tried to talk us into buying two machines even though he clearly had never even seen a single unit in his life…)

We love ours!

We’ll never go back to two machines.

Feeling totally defeated we went to lunch and sat down together to browse our online options.

All of the stores I mentioned had multiple washer and dryer combo units available online like they’re the most common thing in the world.

(As if I didn’t already hate shopping in person – now I’m totally unreasonable about it.)

Washer and dryer combo units are very geared toward energy efficiency and “green” living. You have to make sure and tap the dry button before starting the machine or it will just wash the clothes.

You can set a specific dry time or, if you put it on the “normal” dry setting, it will sense how long it needs to dry the clothes and dry them accordingly.

CONS?

Normally our new unit takes about 3 1/2 – 4 hours from start to finish. I think two units take less time but only if I were to remember to move the clothes from the washer to the dryer in the first place and not have to rewash them two days later…

The clothes come out a little damper than out of a regular dryer.

They just do.

It doesn’t bother us at all.

One AWESOME thing about that though: We never have to worry about wrinkles and our clothes don’t shrink because they don’t get dried to death. Because of that it is much easier on our clothes than a standard washer and dryer.

All of the heat and humidity stays in the house.

Because our washer and dryer combo unit is ventless it helps keep our house warm in the winter time far more than a regular dryer. (Great for us for the majority of the year in northern MN but maybe not so great for someone who lives, say, in Florida…)

Unfortunately, also because its ventless, all the crap, dog hair, threads and stuff that come off our clothes stay IN THE UNIT.

So, we have to wipe it out every time – this is my biggest complaint about it – I wish they would figure out a better trap of some kind.

I don’t know if big families would prefer this but I think its perfect for a couple or a single person. Its awesome for small spaces and still just blows my mind that all you need is a water hook up, a drain and a standard outlet to run it.

We REALLY splurged on our new washer and dryer combo unit (see it here on Home Depot’s website) I wanted a larger capacity machine so that meant quite a bit more money. (New ones can run anywhere from $700 to over $2,000.)

We got ours 20% off for $1599.

The reviews on our new unit are totally worth reading, this one made me laugh out loud: “…but like someone else said you just have approach the way you do laundry differently. Smaller loads and more often. Its actually kind of fun now, just whenever I feel like it throw in a load, set it and forget it, like a crock pot.”

LIKE A CROCKPOT! LOL

Something totally ridiculous:

Home Depot’s website attempted to convince us to add a dryer electrical cord and a dryer vent when purchasing… seriously, a cord that won’t work and a vent for a ventless machine…

They should just label these “washing machines” because that’s literally what they are according to their hookups with the added perk of a dry setting.

Like any high efficiency machine it requires “high efficiency laundry detergent” or, better put, low suds laundry detergent which is great because the homemade recipe we use is very low suds, really inexpensive, green and hypoallergenic. (We also use a little vinegar in place of fabric softener.)

Not all of the reviews are good (of course) but most people seem to really be happy they made the switch to one unit instead of two.

I know we are!

I can’t imagine going back to two machines!

Once we installed the new unit and did one load I literally could not help myself – I washed everything I could find in the house that needed it lol!

(Lodi snapped that pic of me and sent it to everyone.)

It just works SO WELL

Why on earth they wouldn’t have these in stores just blows my mind. The only reason I can find is the obvious one: money.

Two machines cost twice the amount, require twice the maintenance and they sell twice the warranties as well. What a sham!