Hung out to dry? Washer-dryers have two-in-one convenience, but do you get twice the performance or double the problems?(Test: washer-dryers)(Product/Service Evaluation)

Publication: Choice (Chippendale, Australia)

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COPYRIGHT 2005 Australian Consumers' Association

If you live in a flat or have a holiday house, a washer-dryer seems like the ideal solution to space problems, combining both washing and drying functions into one unit that can easily sit under a kitchen bench.

But do you really get a machine that washes as well as a washing machine and then dries as well as a separate dryer? Based on our test results of all the washer-dryers we found on the market, we'd weigh up the pros and cons of buying one pretty carefully, as most don't really give you the same performance overall that a separate washer, and especially a separate dryer, would.

AS A WASHER

Generally these machines worked as well as conventional washers: the MIELE, LG and HALER in particular all performed comparably to other front loaders, with the HAIER scoring especially well for dirt removal even with a full load and the MIELE offering great spin and energy efficiency.

The ARISTON, however, scored only 56% for dirt removal, which was disappointing for an otherwise comparatively good machine with excellent energy efficiency. It's quite unusual for a washing machine to score so poorly for its primary function.

AS A DRYER

When it comes to drying the real weaknesses of the washer-dryers become apparent. For a start they can't dry full wash loads--you either need to wash a half load (or whatever size the manufacturer recommends for drying) and let it go through to the dryer program, or wash a full load and then take half out before you dry.

Considering their smaller drying capacity, all are also slow compared to most conventional dryers, with the L6, for example, taking nearly three hours to dry a half load. But at least it actually dried the clothes--it and the MIELE are the only two that can really be recommended as performing reasonably well as a dryer, the others all leaving clothes damp at the end of a single drying cycle. And we gave them a good chance: if they had a dryness sensor we used it, and if not we set the time to maximum.

These dryers are condenser dryers. As such, they use water from the mains to condense the steam from the clothes back to water when drying, then flush this with any lint down the drain. But while this has advantages--you don't need to duct hot, wet air away and there's no lint filter to clean--most use an awful lot of water to do it.

The worst offender, the OMEGA, uses a full 72 L per drying cycle--the equivalent of six flushes of a standard toilet and more than it uses on its normal washing cycle. It doesn't have to be like this: the efficient MIELE only uses 12 L for drying.

And the water used for drying isn't included on the dryer energy label on the machines, as only the washing function label is required to include water consumption. We've noted the water each machine uses...

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