Sure, full-size washers and dryers are best when it comes to laundry volume and cycle settings, but their miniature cousins offer a lot of advantages. The biggest advantage, of course, is the small size.
Apartments, condos, trailers and bungalows don’t have a lot of space. Washer-Dryer combos can be more or less permanently installed in spaces as small as a closet. Some units are equipped with wheels. These machines can be hidden, or moved around as needed, since they’re not tied to a dedicated water supply line or power outlet.
Savings do occur on power bills and water bills when the smaller washer-dryer combos are used, but they can be a little hard to figure. Savings depends on the machine capacities and the size and type of laundry being cleaned. If you have a ton of laundry and a little machine, you’re probably going to be doing a lot of little loads and that could mean water and energy waste. Of course, if you throw a small load into a big machine, energy and water savings dwindle there, too. So, there are trade-offs. One excellent advantage to the smaller washer-dryer combos is that they usually come equipped with a moisture sensor. This gadget checks the moisture of the clothes being dried and cuts off the appliance when they’re done, rather than running on a timer well beyond the time actually needed.
Anyway, since a smaller washer-dryer combo uses less water, they use less laundry detergent. This may not lead to a significant savings immediately, but over the long-haul, it still helps the budget. A lot of washer-dryer combos can be found in the homes of young families. That being the case, many manufacturers have put child-locking mechanisms on the machines to prevent little kids from climbing in.
A number of styles are available to fit your space-saving needs. Many combos are stacked – that is, the dryer unit sits above the washer unit. Some take up even smaller space since they use a single drum for both the washing and the drying. But, do you know how these mighty miniatures are real savers, and not just of space and water? They are tops when compared to the inconvenience, the time, the poor sanitation and the amount of gasoline involved in coping with a public laundromat.