January 2006
New Washing Machine
Technically, I didn't really need it. My apartments laundry room is about 200 feet away down the hall and up one set of stairs. The fact is, that I never trusted the machines there after some of my clothes were damaged due to a leaking vibration damper, and one of the machines is ultra slow due to a faultily adjusted cold water valve. So I would usually wait until all my laundry was dirty (about 3 weeks) and shlep it all up and down three flights of stairs to the local Laundromat.
I would have to sit around for hours waiting for 6 or 7 machines to finish and then dry all the stuff, and fold it. All the while passing time watching the 26" TV playing Univision [which my brother accurately refers to as the bikini channel] soap opera's in spanish. I'm always paranoid that if I turn my back for a second $600 worth of Diesel jeans will be snatched and I'll be pants less. And by the way people laugh and point you'd think they have never seen day-glo Zebra striped G-string underpants before.
Anyway, I had been dreaming of a single unit washer/dryer combination and so I Googled around until I found a site dedicated to small appliances. In Japan they have countertop dishwashers that are designed to clean a couple small plates, some chopsticks and maybe a sake cup if you are good at three dimensional puzzles. I was amazed at the sophisticated washers they had over there, but most people still dry their clothes on outdoor racks.
The unit that I settled on was an LG Electronics WM3677HW I had to do a bit of plumbing in order to get it hooked up to the kitchen sink. I replaced the sink's drain-spout with one that provided a 3/4" branch for a dishwasher. Then I built two T receptacles out of brass pipe fittings for the water supply, and connected them to the existing sink feeds. Lastly I drilled a 2 1/2" hole in the side of my sink's cabinet to run the drain and supply hoses.
The machine doesn't use an exhaust vent, it has a condenser unit that converts the steam to liquid and pumps it out the drain. It takes longer to dry clothes that way, but it has a nice timer that allows me to put a load in in the morning and when I get home from work it's done. If I'm late, it's smart enough to keep fluffing the laundry every few minutes to prevent wrinkling. The only thing I need to deal with is using liquid fabric softener instead of sheets. A small sacrifice for the convienience.
Posted by Bakafish at 4:07 PM | Comments (2)
