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Comment by vaksel | Hacker News Reader

A washer/dryer combo that works as a single unit, so that you don't have to move things manually from one to the other.

I see it as a 2 story contraption, washer on top, dryer on the bottom. After the washer is done, a trap door opens and the clothes fall into the dryer, which then auto-starts.

As you can guess, I was doing laundry recently

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Already exists. These are the norm in Europe, I have no idea why they're not popular in the US. We Europeans enjoy mocking antiquated American home appliances and can't believe you still use stovetop kettles and blenders from the 1950s. http://www.gelighting.com/apo/products/appliances/clothes_ca...

It looks like a regular washing machine, you just put your clothes in the front, set the buttons, and 2 hours later they're clean and dry. It's awesome.

What kind of kettles and blenders do you guys use in Europe? I want in :(

Stuff like http://images.google.de/images?q=wasserkocher is common.

Here in Italy, people mostly use solar power to dry clothes, rather than a dryer, which very few people possess.

That wouldn't work in northern Europe for large parts of the year, because of the climate.

There are both advantages and disadvantages by air drying. By drying them outside, you get a more "fresh" smell. But if you use a dryer, the clothes are often "softer".

Northern Italy is not exactly hot during the winter either. At that time of year, you hang stuff next to radiators, or on them, if you're in a hurry!

I hope these links are somewhat more helpful, though the blenders aren't much different than those in the states.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_ss_w_h_?url=search-alias%3D...

Yeah better. I just grabbed the first linked that looked relevant. I was amazed anyone would not know about these.

If you have room for it, it is more practical with a separate dryer and washing machine. You will lose the ability to dry clothes while another batch is washing. But if you are single and don't have to do more than one wash at a time, it is of course not a problem.

I also think that they had some problems in the past, where the clothes didn't dry as well or that the machine could wash a larger load than it could dry. If you wash a full load and need to take some of the clothes out, a combo will lose some of its practical use. But that was years ago, so they have probably improved a lot.

If you have room for a washer, you usually have room for a dryer since you can just put the dryer on top of the washer (the dryer weighs nothing)

Actually, we use electric kettles here too nowadays.

As for the wash/dryer, haven't seen it around here.

I have experienced these 'spin driers' built into washers. They spin my clothes for two hours but don't contain a heating element, so nothing happens.

Possibly everywhere I have lived has happened to have a broken one.

A spin drier and a heated tumble drier are rather different.

I owned one of these when I lived in a studio in Avalon Apartments in SF. They're not very good at drying though (or at least my model didn't work so well).

I've used at least a dozen different ones. They all suck compared with dedicated washer/dryers. Besides that, it seriously slows you down if you want to wash a lot of stuff.

Yeah I've had experience with a couple and they were terrible. One would just boil your clothes for an hour so when you took them out they would be creased beyond hope of any iron, and still wet.

I don't think I've been especially lucky, as I've had 3 of them at different times and they all worked OK. Caveat: they were all in Europe. Perhaps the ones sold in the US are deliberately sucky so as to drive you into wanting two specialized units?

Edit: might be a 220v vs 110v issue as well.

Mine only drys about half the amount it washes so you have to part empty it before drying or put less in a the start (thus wasting water)

And of course, the Asians wonder why you have to set the buttons, when figuring out how to wash the load is a task better suited for artificial stupidity than human concern. E.g. http://www.in.lge.com/Product/Products-Details.aspx?cat=137&...

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