Here’s an option for laundry doers who want to save some energy and are willing to add an extra step to the process. This clothes dryer uses centrifugal force to remove water from your laundry. The manufacturer claims that the Spin Dryer could potentially reduce total household energy (more)
usage in the USA & Canada by 6-10%. The conventional tumble dryer is one of most power-gulping appliances in the home, and accounts for approximately 6-10 percent of household energy. A typical tumble dryer may use up to 5,000 watts and often run for 40 to 60 minutes per cycle. This spin dryer uses 300 watts maximum and has a 2-3 minute cycle.
The Spin Dryer has a 3200 revolutions per minute spin cycle — many times faster than the spin cycle on a top loading washing machine, which is normally in the 500 revolutions per minute (RPM) range. It also doesn’t have a heating element, so it doesn’t get clothes 100% dry. It removes about as much water from the clothes in only 2-3 minutes as a tumble dryer would in 20-35 minutes, which should result in significant energy savings. After the cycle is over, the clothes can either be hung up to fully dry, or run through a tumble dryer for a few minutes to remove the last bits of moisture.
The Spin Dryer is gentler on fabrics and is said to extract more detergent and other chemicals from the clothing than conventional dryers, which bake them on. If used with a conventional dryer it can significantly extend its lifespan. Connects to any 110V outlet, no installation or hookup required. Ideal for solar power, RV’s or other situations where power supply is limited.
The unit does seem a tad small at 13.7″ x 13.7″ x 24″ (lwh) – though it purports to hold 12.2 lbs of wet laundry.
Anyone who’s tried one, please chime in.
$134.95 @ the laundry alternative
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i’d love to hear anyone’s experiences with one of these. i was actually window shopping it a week or two ago, looking for something to help dry the things i wash out in the tub (i hate constant drip-drips under my wooden clothes rack).
can anyone speak for it?
Regarding the size, it is rather small. However unlike a washer or dryer drum, you can pack it very tightly with clothes. This is because you don’t need water or air to freely circulate as you would with a washer or dryer. So, the most important factor to consider is the load size, not the tub size.
I purchased one of these spin dryers recently, and I love it. It really cuts the drying time, holds more than I thought it would, and is sturdy, reasonably quiet, and easy to use.
The Laundry Alternative also shipped it quickly and it arrived well-packed and in a timely manner. For the price especially, I couldn’t be more pleased.
I purchased one of these from Corey @ Laundry Alternative along with the Portable Washer. Let me put it this way, by the time I finish washing clothes by hand, spin the water out, and then I hang them to dry on a rack by a box window fan, they are done drying in 15 – 20 minutes unless they are my super thick cotton items. I’ve put everything from my military uniforms to my bed sheets in the spin dryer and couldn’t be more pleased. Now tell me, what dryer can dry that fast? Beats paying $1.25 for washing plus $1.00 for drying per load, whites + light colors + dark colors + red = $9.00 to wash once a week for one person living alone x 52 weeks = $468.00 savings each year. Plus or minus a few loads in between for a single person. If you have kids, more loads, more cost…do the math. I am glad I did.
Check out the 80 plus posts on Treehugger.com on this company:
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/11/portable_spin_d.php
They have a terrible record with the Better Business Bureau: they simply never answer any complaint with the BBB. The owner is rude and verbally attacks customers if they have a complaint. I had a very bad experience with this company. There are many negative posts on treehugger.
After checking out a number of websites “customer comments” it looks like you either “love or hate” this company. What got my attention was the unusually high number of unsatisfactory complaints posted sharing a similar unsatisfactory experience with this company. What is my experience with this company? I have not purchase a spin dryer but I am interested in the product. I have tried several times with no success to contact them by phone. They did not answer my phone call. I could not leave a message because their voice mail box was always full. My conclusion is that they probably sell a great product but it looks like their customer service stinks. Good luck if you have an issue. Not for me.
My wife and I are using the smaller version and the Wonder Wash for cloth diapers. I occassionaly do some t-shirts, socks, workout clothes and underwear too.
THE DRYER
1) Works great
2) Yes it can be loud if the load is unbalanced
3) I sometimes start it and stop it real quick and move everything around to rebalance and that seems to help.
4) The construction is pretty good. I don’t expect too much at these kind of prices and for a non-mainstream product. The volume is probably not high enough from a contract manufacturing standpoint to drop the price (I work in logistics and with US Customs, so I am familiar with importing products).
THE WONDER WASH
1) Works good too.
2) You need to be a little gentle with it since it is not high quality plastic.
3) Metal would be better for the stand and crank, but it would probably increase the cost and perhaps the weight.
CUSTOMER SERVICE
1) Didn’t have any problems but I only tried to get a hold of them through e-mail and got a response in a timely manner.
2) For a small one/two man company you can’t expect too much in the way of Customer Service, this isn’t AMAZON.COM I think people’s expectations are a little ridiculous sometimes when it comes to this issue.
OVERALL
B+
The products work and everything was shipped in a timely manner (for a small online retailer).
But if he does not have patents though, someone with more know how and better sourcing, and a little better engineering can probably put out a better product eventually. Unfortunately, I didn’t want to wait so as early adopter I am satisified for now.
I bought one and it worked good for 2 months then broke. I called the company and was told too bad. I will NEVER buy from them again. Beware!
I bought the LA’s Spin Dryer – floor version, back in late March ’08. I had read the posts regarding the company’s customer support, but had no problem when I emailed them with a question.
I’ve also had no problems with the dryer – and won’t be without if at all possible!
I have found that the heavier the fabric, the more carefully you have to load it AND that placing something small on the top helps control the noise significantly.
I extract 3 quarts of water from every washer load after the washer’s low speed spin. The difference in water extraction was negligible using the high speed spin on the washer, so don’t bother wasting the energy using it anymore.
It has cut our electric use by at least 10%. Old dryer, living where almost half the days are unsuitable to hanging clothes out, no room to hang them inside and a lot of cotton clothes!
With electric prices having jumped 67% since January (in my region at least), this paid for itself already. The money I’m saving is going toward a new more efficient dryer.
Let’s put it this way – how long does it take to boil off 3 quarts of water? That’s how much you’d be saving per load of laundry.
This dryer is amazing. We live in an apartment and are laundering cloth diapers. I use a countertop washer by Avanti that hooks up to the sink, and was wringing out and blotting the clean items in towels. Then I’d hang up the diapers and the towels, and it wasn’t so great having all the damp towels drying. This spin-dryer spins powerfully fast and the items only have to hang dry for a short time.
Yes, it can be noisy if it is unbalanced. We’ve all had that experience with washers. It’s the same issue. Make sure you carefully load the spin dryer evenly, and if it starts to sound like an airplane taking off, take hold of the sides and stabilize it and it will calm the heck down.
Also, load the spin dryer fully if possible. And the instructions show a little cup placed at the drain spout. It is likely you will need to place a small basin there. This thing really spins out the water and it runs out quickly.
I would buy this dryer directly from the manufacturer if possible, but I don’t have the time, patience or energy to deal with a business that has a record dealing with customers that this company has demonstrated. Does anyone else sell it that is more reputable or can I buy it directly from the manufacturer? Better yet, should I just design and produce a better, stonger replica of this dryer and sell it to a reliable distributor?
Try http://www.clothesdrygreen.com there’s is stainless steel and they will stand behind it.
Thanks Ken! I will check out the “other guys”. I have only been able to find “Laundry Alt.” and UK sites. Tried flea markets, re-sell shops and local retailers. No one carries this in Chattanooga, TN!
[...] our old dryer was highly inefficient. I will be adding a few racks to expand drying capacity, and a spin dryer in the next few weeks, but I feeling pretty good about this whole exercise. Forget the [...]
Anyone know how these compare with the (much more expensive and heavily hyped) Spin-X spindryers? At close to 4 times the price, I have to wonder whether it’s really worth it.
I bought the Charming Spinner from this site: http://www.clothesdrygreen.com a couple of months ago. It was shipped right away and it works great! I can’t believe how much water is removed. It has a one year parts and labor warranty and they say it is fully serviceable.
This is not some “miracle”. Spin dryers have been used in Europe since the 1940ies, primarily since (hot air) dryers required a lot of room and is horribly expensive to run (take heated, or cooled air from inside the house, heat it even more, and dump it outside – = very inefficient).
Many modern front loaders have good spin cycles, but you need to look at a washer with a spin cycle that reaches at least 1,400 rpm, anything below that is useless, and only good for marketing.
A separate spin-dryer like discussed here can be very beneficial, even if you have a good front loader with a good spin cycle, due to the higher G-forces in a dedicated unit. The dryer the stuff comes out of here, the less you will need to use a hot air dryer, or drying rack.
Loading these are simple, and if a bit unbalanced, open up and move the stuff around. Even if you run one of these for 30 minutes (really not needed since most water will have left the fabric after only a few minutes), the energy “wasted” still stays in the house in the form of heat generated by the motor, and not disposed of outside like in the case of our favorite clothes dryers.
If you have $200 laying around, do your own laundry, this is not a bad investment.
We have used one of these for 3 years and it is the greatest thing! We travel and nearly always have to do laundry by hand. This machine really helps get the clothes cleaner and so little water is left that the clothes dry in a fraction of the time they take right out of a washer. If we go to a laundromat it seems that the clothes are very wet compared to using the spin dryer. THE only problem we have had is finding a new one. There must be a tremendous demand for them to be so hard to get!
I bought both the countertop spin dryer and the larger spin dryer from Laundry Alternative. The countertop spin dryer (it’s mostly plastic) died after two years. The larger one is incredibly noisy and it’s an art to balance the clothes. Even when the clothes are balanced, the lid makes an extremely loud rattling sound (like an ack-ack gun) – and that’s with me holding on to it for dear life. If you look at professional extractors in laundromats, the design is short and stout. These are tall and thin – that’s why they are so hard to balance. They are a poorly made/poorly designed product from China. I don’t know what the Spin-X dryer is like – it’s much more expensive but looks similar to Laundry Alternative’s so I wouldn’t be surprised if it has the same problems.
It’s interesting that there are posts from Corey Tournet and Ken above promoting, respectively, the Laundry Alternative and Charming Spinner products. According to the BBB records on both companies, these are the names of the owners.
Either it’s an impostor, or they use their real names but they don’t bother to mention that they are affiliated with the company.
A Corey and a Ken tend to turn up quickly whenever there is a thread on these products.
Guys, either say that you are the owner or use a false name. It’s a bit odd to go halfway like that. Not everybody is a spin dryer groupie who will instantly recognize you, so you ought to mention it.
Signed,
A. Terrorist Whale
Not an employee of Spin-X Incorporated
Like with anything, you buy cheap, you get cheap.
If it’s made of low grade plastic (average person can tell by just looking at it) you can guess how much use you will actually get out of it.
The Spin X cost more, but you’ll get better use out it over the long haul.If you like to waste your money, buy cheap. If your worth the price of good quality buy the Spin X. You’ll be happier. I am.
You can view our newest model spin dryer at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQXWG1ev0rE
I am the owner of The Laundry Alternative. If you wish to get objective third party information on our customer satisfaction, you can view the data on Amazon.com