QUALITY
The build quality of this washer/dryer combo is inconsistent: On the plus side, the machine is heavy enough to stay put, and the drum feels so solid that you could wash bricks in it. Giving 10 years warranty on the motor is also a nice touch. On the other side, the entire front (including the secondary "glass" and shiny bezel around it) is made of plastic, the control panel gets hot (can''t be good for the electronics), and I have observed kinks, such as a program starting in the middle maybe 1 out of 10 times, requiring an extra off/on.
THE WASHER
Frontloaders are only now making inroads in the US market, and if you believe "the internet", they are magical. I can confirm at least some of the claims in this specific incarnation: First, the washer is extremely frugal with all consumables involved: I''m down to 2 tablespoons of detergent and 1 of softener with no adverse effects; water is kept no higher than a puddle at all times, and the 1 hour cold cycle runs on a measly 0.1 kWh (or 3 cents for me). Second, the machine is easy on clothes: there are Delicate and Wool modes to give you an idea, plus I have successfully cleaned neoprene wetsuits (with special detergent), which are said to be shredded by agitators.
The major downside to the design is that the horizontal drum causes vibrations that many US homes cannot easily absorb. Consider my case, top floor of a pre-war walkup, woodbased building: even on medium spin speed, the contents of the fridge next to the machine would rattle loudly, and I only saw some relief after I bought Sorbothane Silent Feet. I''m fairly content now, but I still feel the machine should have better built-in vibration reduction, especially considering that LG is the company that showed off a washer operating on 4 glasses a few years ago!
THE DRYER
The dryer is the weaker part in this package. For starters, a full cycle runs for 4 hours (on top of the 1 hour wash), which makes this machine unsuitable for big family laundry days. There is no lint filter, so you''ll have to pry things out of the seal afterwards, and one low-temp cycle eats up 1.5kWh (= $0.50), somewhat negating the overall efficiency advantage. And as if all that wasn''t enough, I swear I see more wrinkles than before, with my Brooks Brothers "wrinkle free" shirts now coming out in MORE need of ironing than regular shirts!
Now all that said... if you can navigate around those issues (also see TIPS below), the advantage of the combo design begine to shine: all you have to do is drop in the dirties, set the timer, go to work, and come back to a readily washedanddried package! I''ve gotten used to doing this during the week, and found that I have more clean clothes available than before at any time, therefore donated some, AND gotten rid of my large dirtylaundry container! That was an unexpected triplewin in the space department for me, and worth the tradeoffs.
OPERATION
I find this machine easy enough to use, although there is room for improvement. Basically, you go from left to right: fill in the detergents, pick a cycle (cotton is the default), pick options (extra water, etc), select a dry mode, and press play. What irks me a little is that selections crossinterfere: for example, the machine may override your just-picked spin speed when you select a dry mode. Also, some drying combinations are missing: you can do time (30, 60, 120), dryness (damp, normal, extra), or "low temp", but no other permutations. For my wool pants or dive suits, a delicate wash cycle followed by 30 mins of lowtemp drying would have been perfect, but nope....
One nice feature worth mentioning: you can interrupt the program at any time, change any setting or open the door, and then resume. Even with the Extra Water option selected, nothing will pour out (like I said, frugal).
NOISE
This machine is specifically marketed as quiet, an important feature when you want to sell to urbanites who perhaps plan to sneak it into their apartment (usually forbidden) . And yes, the directdrive motor is a winner: all you get is a gentle hum at normal wash speeds. However, there are two problems (three if you count vibration, above):
The water inlet valves open/close/open/close/etc... up to six times each time water is added, and this triggered buildingwide "water hammer" events in my case. I used to think that this, too, was my building''s fault, but I found that many people experience this with LG machines even in new construction. Thankfully, there is a solution to it: socalled "water hammer arresters" like this Sioux model help out a lot.
The pump that gets the water out is loud. That being a vague qualifier, I ended up measuring it (we''ve all got issues!): washing or drying registers around 60dB, but when the pump comes on, the sound level jumps to 70dB. For comparison, these numbers happen to be the range of human conversation: it''s like someone speaking very softly (60 dB), then suddenly borderline shouting (70 dB). This keeps happening during the 4hour dry cycle as well, not just the washing.
TIPS
After a couple months of use, here are a few practical tips I''d like to pass on:
Use powder instead of liquid detergent. You''ll be able to do a prewash this way as well as use the timer feature. The softeners is ok in liquid form and won''t drip down.
To save on electricity and ease ironing, make sure you pick the fastest spin speed possible, then shorten the dry cycle. For business shirts or synthetics, I''m getting away with as little as 30 min drying time.
To run the dry cycle by itself: select "drain and spin" on the knob, set your dry option, then unselect the spin speed et voilà! you can dry your clothes some more or use Dryel sheets this way.
RECOMMENDATION
One the one hand, this is the best appliance I''ve ever purchased: spacesaving, efficient, and a heavenly luxury compared to the alternative which is an inconvenient and pricey "wash and fold". If you''re in a similar situation, I predict you''ll absolutely love this machine for what it does to your routine. On the other hand, there are some considerable flaws, mostly the noise level, slow drying, and the vibration issue. Overall, if you actually have the space for two machines, a separate washer / dryer would be the safer bet.
I got this unit because I have space constraints in my apartment, and few other washer / dryers would fit near the plumbing lines without taking down walls or anything... If you live in an apartment where venting and space are issues I would recommend this. In a house, I don''t think it would make sense over normal units.
As a washer-dryer it functions as you would expect and is really only slightly smaller than a standard sized unit. For a family, I could see the capacity being a problem, but for a couple or a single person living alone I highly doubt you''d need more capacity than this machine provides.
-As a washer:
It has a number of different wash settings, functions as an HE washer (so use HE detergent), and does a normal sized load in about an hour.
-As a dryer:
I was concerned before I bought this as to how well this would function. It turned out much better than expected.
A key feature is that it is ventless, so no need to run an exhaust vent anywhere. It uses "condensation drying", not really sure as to the mechanics of how it is different, but I think steam builds up in the chamber where the clothes are loaded into, and the steam is slowly ''condensed'' and pumped out from the drain line.
Other reviewers may have noted that the clothes come out moist, but this isn''t the case at all... Upon removing clothes from the unit, a lot of residual steam is usually in the clothes chamber.
Remove the clothes, give them about 30 seconds for the steam to float away, and you''ll notice they are *bone* dry... When I first used this machine, I used the standard drying settings, and noticed that my clothes came out overly dry (at risk of shrinking) because of how well the dryer worked. I''ve since set the machine to timed drying, and usually set it to about one hour.
The one caveat is that clothes do need to be taken out soon after the dry cycle is complete otherwise the residual steam in the chamber will slowly condense back in to water and leave the clothes a little wet. I haven''t found this to be an issue, as I usually fold my clothes right after they dry anyway.
I load the machine with one full set of clothes (filling the chamber fully without compressing any clothes), no less and no more. I find it works well. Towels or jeans to dry and I might load it a little less.
For a complete cycle (washing and drying), I''ve found it to take just a little over 2 hours.
I don''t know about the durability of this machine yet, as I''ve only had it for 6 months or so but from what I understand, it''s very important to clean out the pump filter (small hatch on the lower front corner) every month or so, and brush lint off the front door of the machine, as there is no lint filter. Without this maintenance, the lint will build up inside the pump or motor and cause a whole lot of issues this seemed to be the cause of 90% of the repair issues from other reviewers I''ve seen on the web.
I bought the extended warranty just in case (I usually don''t buy ''em), just cause this is a combo unit, and it does seem a little sensor / electronics heavy.
The only cons I''ve really experienced are as follows, and some of them can be mitigated:
1) I would recommended using water hammer arrestors, as the inlet valves turn on and off very abruptly when first starting cycles. In buildings with older piping, I could imagine this could (but not necessarily) be loud, and / or cause damage to the supply lines. Not really an issue with the water hammer arrestors installed I haven''t noticed any sounds / vibrations on the hookup lines.
2) Unless this unit is *perfectly* balanced, it will vibrate a lot, and make a lot of noise during the spin cycle. When it''s not in the spin cycles, it sounds like a normal machine. When I ran the first spin cycle, it sounded like a low speed jet engine... I since leveled it as best as I could, got anti-vibration pads for the feet, and put in anti-noise / vibration foam around the sides which has dampened the sound somewhat... without taking these steps, I''m sure my neighbors would be complaining... even so it still is a little loud.
During the dry cycle, the drain pump is also a little loud, but that might be because I run my drain line to my tub while in use, and the pump may have to work a bit harder to get the water out.
If this machine ran quietly with the same functionality, I''d give it 5 stars. Without my custom mods, I''d probably give it 3/3.5 stars, because I could see neighbors complaining about the noise.
All-in-all though, the convenience of doing my laundry in my apartment trumps the hassle of setup. I''d recommend this machine to apartment dwellers.
Buy LG WM3455HS 24 Front Load Compact Washer/Dryer Combo Now
This unit does exactly as LG says it will do. It takes about three hours to transform your dirties into clean/dry laundry. The machine washes like a champ, but the drying takes time. The machine also requires a FIRM surface along with proper leveling. I live on the second story of a house in SF built in 1907, the floor is made of cheap wood... it took special rubber feet along with three hours of leveling and tweeking the feet in order to suppress the vibration caused by the spin cycle. It still vibrates and I''m sure my downstairs neighbors can hear which, but you can live with it, just make sure the machine isn''t on top of a bedroom.
Bottom line:
Its a washer first
A dryer second
It''s not good for a family, but for me... my house which has two single guys, it works nicely. I will admit, it''s a cool machine... it''s slick, sturdy, and kinda fun to use!
Read Best Reviews of LG WM3455HS 24 Front Load Compact Washer/Dryer Combo Here
This is a great product, but takes some getting used to. I have had this washer/dryer for a little less than a month. I was a little disappointed at first, but after trying different settings now love it. Here are the tips that I have:
1. Use the speed wash setting with high spin setting and cold water. It will wash in 24 minutes and use a minimal amount of electricity and water, but still do a good job.
2. USE ONLY THE TIME DRY!!!!! USING THE SENSOR DRY WILL EXTREMELY OVER DRY THE CLOTHES!!!!! CLOTHES MAY FEEL DAMP WHEN TAKEN OUT, BUT WILL DRY IN MINUTES ONCE TAKEN OUT.
3. Dry 30 minutes for synthetics. Dry 60 minutes for cotton clothes (not including jeans). Jeans dry 30-60 minutes then hang dry for 4-24 hours. For mixed load of cotton shirts and jeans dry 30 minutes, hang dry jeans, dry remaining clothes for 30 minutes.
If you have the space I would buy the larger LG Washer Dryer Combo, but if you are limited on space like me this one is great. This is definitely the best looking washer dryer combo on the market.
If you are scared of other stories you read about 4 hour dry times, don''t be. They are using the sensor dry and it over dries the clothes. I haven''t had to dry anything for more than 120 minutes. If you use the sensor dry jeans will come out wrinkled, better to take them out damp and air dry the rest of the way. If you do this jeans will come out less wrinkled than using a large/normal sized dryer plus it will save a lot of energy. They will air dry quickly because the spin does such a good job of pushing the water out of them.
Want LG WM3455HS 24 Front Load Compact Washer/Dryer Combo Discount?
We have had this unit about 21 months at this point. Overall, it has been a champ. For 2 people & a dog, it is a great size and it cleans clothes really well. It wouldn''t be the first option if we had room for full size laundry machines, but for a size-strapped city condo, it is a perfect fit. It takes about 3.5 hours from start to finish and clothes come out ridiculously hot and dry. So hot I have to give them a minute to cool down before removal. It dries them well (albeit slowly), but if clothes are not removed immediately, the wrinkling sets in. And boy, the wrinkles can be bad unless clothes are hung/flattened as soon as they are finished.
Aside from the wrinkles, this machine is great for day to day use. Really, it does a good job.
And for the bad:
-No timer. One would think a machine this pricey would come with a timer. Oh well.
-Water hammer. Just awful. It sounded like someone was shooting up our laundry room. It was so loud we bought the water hammer arrestors to help. And they do help, but that was an additional cost that should not be required.
-Flood-safe washer hoses are a bust. We had to go back and buy regular hoses. Hope they don''t leak or fail!
-In the 21 months that we have owned the machine, we have had to call a repairman to clean out an internal duct 2 times. It seems lint collects in the bowls of the machine and this lint can not be removed without taking the machine apart. So, $100 a pop for those cleanings. I understand that lint has to go somewhere, but you think they could make that area user-accessible so we could do it ourselves. And additionally, it seems that it has backed up again, so I''ll be calling the service guy again. That will be 3 times in 21 months it needs to be taken apart. Essentially, when this happens the dry sensor malfunctions and the machine thinks it is finished after the spin cycle (when the clothes are still sopping wet). Remove a fist full of backed-up lint and it runs like new again. Sigh.
I have used these filters (ZR-017) for about two years and they seem to work well. They filter to zero on the enclosed tester for a very long time with our extremely hard water. They eliminate hard water spots on the stainless steel pet fountain which means they really are filtering out a huge amount of minerals. One spot would ordinarily create a white crusty ring that requires Lime-A-Way treatment to remove without scratching the surface with abrasives.
