Thread Number: 47988
Reversing on modern White Knight dryers et al? |
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Post# 695985   8/12/2013 at 08:00 (3,903 days old) by AquaCycle (West Yorkshire, UK)   |   | |
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Hi Folks,
I've always been a big fan of White Knight dryers - simple, easy to use, very little to go wrong and reliable. However, I am reliably informed that the latest models do not reverse in the same way as the old ones. Instead of tumbling in each direction, the machine will tumble in a single direction, then tumble in the opposite direction for a few seconds, then go back to tumbling in the previous direction. They also only do this once every 5 minutes or so, instead of every 2 minutes as they used to. I know that my Hotpoint Aqualtis dryer did the same thing as does the Siemens I currently have and new BSH dryers don't reverse at all. Does this leave the basic Hotpoint and Indesit dryers left on the market that actually reverse properly? I wonder what is encouraging manufactures to use this method, rather than the old fashioned multi-direction tumbles? Is this method supposedly more efficient or is it better on the motor, or purely just cheaper to make dryers that do this? Has anybody noticed any substancial differences between the 2 methods of reverse tumble? Chris |
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Post# 696023 , Reply# 2   8/12/2013 at 12:11 (3,903 days old) by Haxisfan (Europe - UK / Italy)   |   | |
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The Hoover tumble dryer I got last year (2012 model) reverses at different intervals depending on the program selected. The relax cycle reverses every minute or something and the 'mixed and dry' cycle takes a long time before reversing in either direction. The ordinary time and sensor cycles tumble to the right for 5 minutes and reverse for 1 minute. I think there's a program that does not reverse at all... 'Shirts' if I'm not mistaken.
The 'Wool' reverses like the sensor cycles but after it's reversed once, it pauses for a while, a bit like a washing machine... then it restarts on the other direction. My old Hotpoint did exactly the same reverse intervals (2 and a half minutes each direction) on any cycle. |
Post# 696094 , Reply# 4   8/12/2013 at 16:53 (3,903 days old) by logixx (Germany)   |   | |
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I never, since the 80s, used a dryer that would reverse for more than seconds. They were all condenser dryers and you could hear that the air stream would weaken when the dryer reversed. I read that Miele dryers will reverse when they sense items balling up.
I have a modern BSH dryer and have found tangling not to be too much of a problem for the loads I dry - but when it it happens, you're really better off just drying the item(s) on the line. Mixed loads of everyday clothes - fine. Shirts - fine. Jeans - fine. All towels - fine. Large load of fitted sheets - a little tangling but will dry just fine in the end. Covers*, medium to very think - fine. Covers*, thin microfiber - for get it! Won't take a minute to ball up. Bottom line: most itmes dry just fine in the Siemens but it cannot handle thin fabrics. Not even, if I mix my microfiber sheets with regular ones. Dryer balls don't do anything, either. * Duvet covers = 135 x 200 cm, pillow covers = 80 x 80 cm Alex Here's some video evidence: CLICK HERE TO GO TO logixx's LINK |
Post# 696101 , Reply# 5   8/12/2013 at 17:27 (3,903 days old) by ozzie908 (Lincoln UK)   |   | |
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Post# 696108 , Reply# 6   8/12/2013 at 18:09 (3,903 days old) by AquaCycle (West Yorkshire, UK)   |   | |
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Post# 696219 , Reply# 9   8/13/2013 at 10:59 (3,902 days old) by AquaCycle (West Yorkshire, UK)   |   | |
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We went years with a single direction dryer. Infact, the dryer my Mum currently owns is the first reversing dryer she has ever had. Prior to that, she had a Philips D162 for about 20 years and then a Hotpoint TL51 for 12 years and neither reversed. I can't say I paid enough attention to either machines to really comment on whether or not the reversing made a difference, especially as I didn't do the ironing. Since moving out of my Mums, I haven't owned a dryer that didn't reverse.
I have noticed more and more moving towards this new, slightly bizare method of reversing. Whilst Austin's explaination above does cover the need for this on condenser dryers, I cannot see the sense in it for vented. |
Post# 696226 , Reply# 10   8/13/2013 at 12:02 (3,902 days old) by Haxisfan (Europe - UK / Italy)   |   | |
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From this thread it emerges the fact that the condensor tumble dryers' reversing method has recently been adapted to short reverse intervals. Like other members, I also see the logic of what Austin says above... i.e. the fan does not cool the steam when the motor goes in the opposite direction.
Since I never owned a condensor dryer and only vented 1s, I'm now wondering, what where condensor dryers like before this new tendency in reversing method took over? I mean, on the premise that condenser dryers have been reversing for a long time now (at least a decade?)... did they have some special kind of fan blades and the machine could reverse for longer allowing the steam to be blown away? Well... I'm puzzled! I saw on YT a condensing version of my vented Hoover tumble dryer and it looked that it had the exact same programs as mine... and the 1 shown (relax program) behaved exactly the same as in mine by reversing every minute. I assume that on those cycles where my machine reverses for a long time (I think the 'Mix and Dry'), that machine wouldn't... well, I told you... puzzling :-P |
Post# 696246 , Reply# 11   8/13/2013 at 14:27 (3,902 days old) by foraloysius (Leeuwarden, Friesland, the Netherlands)   |   | |
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Post# 696251 , Reply# 12   8/13/2013 at 14:59 (3,902 days old) by Haxisfan (Europe - UK / Italy)   |   | |
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Post# 696252 , Reply# 13   8/13/2013 at 15:03 (3,902 days old) by logixx (Germany)   |   | |
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I think it really depends on the shape of the fan blades. The cooling fan on my Siemens is optimized to run in one direction. I suppose you get more air intake if the fan is "optimized" without increasing speed. However, these optimized fans will only deliver maximum power when running in the right direction, so too much reversing wouldn't do the drying process any good.
If you pause the video at 0:30 seconds, you can see the curved blades of the fan. CLICK HERE TO GO TO logixx's LINK |
Post# 696256 , Reply# 14   8/13/2013 at 15:17 (3,902 days old) by ozzie908 (Lincoln UK)   |   | |
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I think it does come down to cost I have owned a few condenser dryers and all but the Miele reversed for less time than in the main direction due to the fan and cooling steam etc the ones that did both directions equally do have separate fan motors and this of course makes them more expensive.
However I was recently at my Mothers and she has a Zanussi vented dryer that behaves just like the condenser ones and reverses for a short time only I have not noticed that it balls bed linens and nothing has been said so it must do a reasonable job. I have myself invested in a heat pump dryer and so far I have only used a cotton cycle and that has short reverses I will experiment and see if it behaves differently on other programs. Austin |
Post# 697232 , Reply# 18   8/18/2013 at 04:26 (3,898 days old) by ozzie908 (Lincoln UK)   |   | |
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Post# 718378 , Reply# 20   11/29/2013 at 02:25 (3,795 days old) by ozzie908 (Lincoln UK)   |   | |
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have so far not found any program that reverses for more than a few seconds and I am confused as to why this is? As it has got a separate fan for cooling etc I think it must be that even the Turkish designers have used generic parts for the electronics etc as it does the same as other dryers. I would like to find a way to dry bedding without it balling up any tips anyone? Austin One thing that I have found is although it says do not dry duvets etc it does in fact dry these extremely well !! |
Post# 718561 , Reply# 21   11/30/2013 at 11:26 (3,793 days old) by electron1100 (England)   |   | |
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I had a white knight years ago, it was about 5 mins forward and 5 secs back, well in time I got a slightly larger bendix dryer with no reverse, that pissed me off so I took out the white knight timer, took it apart and modified the the reverse cam so it reversed for 30 secs and also modded the heater cam so it went off for 30 secs. better arrangement for drying in a small dryer.
The Hoover I have now is 37 secs in each direction no probs with balling up anything |