What is a Ventless Washer Dryer Combo?

So what exactly is a ventless washer dryer combo?  Why would you want one?  Where do you get them?  The answers to the first two questions are below.  The third question will be answered in an upcoming article.

Like many people who live in a condo, when it is time for me to do my laundry I go down to the laundry room and I put my clothes in the washer, and then the dryer. The washer and dryer sit on top of the other in what is called a washer dryer combo. In my case the washer is a front loading washer, while other people may be familiar with top loading washers. In addition, the dryer is the standard type, the type that I thought all dryers were. You know the type that sucks in some cool air, heats it, blows it on to the clothes as they tumble in the dryer, and discharges the hot air outside using a vent. However, it turns out that there is another type of washer dryer combo that is much, much more energy efficient. It's called a ventless washer dryer combo.

The first thing you may notice if you see one of these things is that it is not a combo of two machines. Rather, it is one machine that you use to both wash and dry your clothes. It doesn't have a vent because it uses water to dry your clothes. How is this possible? What happens is that the dryer does use the air from the room and heat it, but then the heated air goes through a system, which cools it down using cold water. Cooling down the air makes the moisture in it that came from your clothes condense and run down a drain, together with the water that was used for the cooling.

There are a few disadvantages to the ventless washer dryer combo. The capacity tends to be small, and drying times can be quite long. In addition, since you can't be washing one load while you dry another, this makes the capacity and drying time disadvantages more severe. In addition, there are not nearly as many different models to choose from compared to stackable dryer and washer sets. Therefore, if you have a big family that piles up a lot of laundry frequently, or you want a wide choice of styles, this option may not be for you.

However, for most people the pros greatly outweigh the cons. Probably the biggest advantage of a this type of set up is the energy savings. One used a typical amount consumes less than $20 worth of electricity a year. Another big advantage of the ventless washer dryer combo is that since there's no vent you don't have to worry about your laundry room overheating or figure out how to vent outside. A third advantage is that they are more compact than conventional washer dryer combos. Another important upside is that they are quieter, and finally, there is the fact that when drying, your clothes are subjected to much less wear than with a conventional tumbler dryer.