Connectionless

People who live in a home with limited floorspace, such as a condominium, an apartment, a mobile home or even a small house, look out for laundering appliances that take up as little area as possible, a reason that stackable, mini, combo and portable washer dryers exist. A bigger problem is what happens when the small home lacks standard washer and dryer connections.

Some houses do not have the vent that allows a connection to the exhaust pipe of a dryer. Without the vent, the dryer cannot pump hot, moist air to the exterior. The hot moist air cannot be simply released into the interior of the house because it diminishes the efficiency of the dryer by elevating the local temperature of the room, as well as increases mold-inducing moisture. This is not a trivial problem because older homes such as Victorians or Edwardians do not have the right laundry set up even in the basement or garage. Trudging to the local laudromat is a less-than-ideal solution involving weekly searching for quarters, lugging sacks of dirty or wet clothes, and adhering to the laudromat schedule.

Portable?

Is a ventless washer dryer the same as a portable washer dryer? The answer is no. The portables are much more limited in size and do not have the space for the engineering needed to dry clothes with no vent.

The Ventless

The answer lies in a ventless washer dryer. Almost all of them are combo units that can do washing and drying in the same compartment space. And almost all follow the ventless design principle, drying with condensation rather than piping hot, moist exhaust out of the dryer. How does condensation drying work? As the moisture leaves the tumbling, wet clothes, it condenses on the inner surface of the dryer where it beads up and runs into collection channels that drain to the outside. The condensation process is slow which explains why these dryers take much longer (up to two times longer) than vented or exhaust dryers. Therefore the ventless washer dryer is convenient but at the expense of longer wait times.

Paradoxical Energy Savings

Although the time taken to dry in a condensation unit is much longer than an exhaust unit, it turns out the energy usage is much much less. The reason is that the interior temperatures are never very high. Instead the unit relies upon slightly elevated dry temperatures but a condenser on the interior that is at lower temperatures. All moisture forms there where it is collected and then piped out as run-off. The coolant that runs through the condenser is liquid water rather than freon or other refrigerant as found in air conditioners and refrigerators that use a similar principle for cooling. The lower operating temperatures means that there is less waste and exhaust heat, and therefore lower operating temperatures and lower operating costs. See the Energystar site for more information on saving energy.

Alternative Names and Models

People searching for these units may come across other equivalent names, such as ductless washer dryer or condensing water dryer. But not all condenser units work in the manner described. Some actually do not use water as a coolant - rather heating up interior air and piping cool air in to create a temperature differential across a metal fin grid. This causes moisture to be drawn out of the hot air and condense on the surface of the fins where it is collected. This principle is at work when the car window fogs up on the inside of a warm, humid car when the exterior climate is much colder.

Major Manufacturers

A large number of companies make ventless washer dryers, among them are Thor, Equator, the South Korean conglomerate LG, Ariston (a subsidiary or brand of Italian Indesit), and Chinese powerhouse Haier. Consumers should consult with representatives of each company to gain a better understanding of how products will fulfill their needs. If this site were to make a recommendation, it would suggest trying an LG, a company noted for its high standards, advanced engineering and superb quality.