Thread Number: 72704
/ Tag: Modern Dryers
reverse direction dryers |
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Post# 960740 , Reply# 1   10/5/2017 at 10:05 (2,387 days old) by jkbff (Happy Rock, ND)   |   | |
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The only one I've ever found that was American was the GE profile dryer with the tear drop door.
I wish I would have never sold that dryer. It was dual motor, so the air flow was never compromised. I do like the Miele condensing dryer, but a lot of people don't seem to like them. As soon as I can figure out the circuitry I am going to rebuild a Maytag Dependable care to reverse tumble on a timing switch. |
Post# 960752 , Reply# 3   10/5/2017 at 12:16 (2,387 days old) by DADoES (TX, U.S. of A.)   |   | |
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Fisher & Paykel's SmartLoad topload dryers have reverse tumble, as I have discussed numerous times, but unfortunately were discontinued several years ago so specimens available now are only what may come up as used on CraigsList or at resell shops. The reverse pattern is 40 seconds of reverse every 4-1/2 mins so it's not fully equal-time for both directions. However I have found it to be effective for sheets, blankets, bedspreads, and such. It also reverses on each tumble-cycle during the intermittent-tumble wrinkle prevent function. F&P's frontload US-market dryers are sourced from GE. The redesigned TOL model after SmartLoad discontinued had reverse tumble and was surely based on the "tear drop" model that jkbff mentions above. That feature also has been dropped since the initial model redesign. As an aside, upon checking F&P's web site a few mins ago, they are now offering a condensing dryer Model DE4024P1 on the US market. (ETA: The user guide indicates the F&P condensing dryer has reverse tumble on the designated Sheets cycle but doesn't say what's the reversing pattern.) |
Post# 960753 , Reply# 4   10/5/2017 at 12:20 (2,387 days old) by RevvinKevin (Tinseltown - Shakey Town - La-La Land)   |   | |
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I have 3 dryers that reverse tumble, a 1997 Frigidaire Gallery (stacked w/ f-load washer), a Fisher Paykel top-load dryer and the little Miele vented dryer I picked up in April.
The Frigidaire was my only dryer for about 15 years and it runs about 5 minutes one direction, reverses about 30 seconds, then back. The blower isn't optimized for both directions, as both the noise and airflow out the exhaust is noticeably less when reversed. I feel the "reverse - tumbling" was more of a marketing thing as it has little effect on preventing things like sheets from balling up. (photo is a GE badged dryer, but it's exactly the same)
It's been a while since I used the F&P dryer, but as I recall it ran an equal amount time in each direction, but I could be wrong. I haven't run enough variety of loads in it to know if things ball up or not. I need hook back up and use it again.
I don't use the Miele much as it's electric and I prefer gas dryers due to their speed and lower operating cost. While I haven't timed it, the Miele seems to run one direction about 5 minutes, then reverses for 1 or 2 minutes? Airflow and noise out the exhaust is the same either direction. An interesting note, it only has 2 baffles or paddles in the drum rather than the usual 3.
Kevin |
Post# 960760 , Reply# 5   10/5/2017 at 12:37 (2,387 days old) by nmassman44 (Brooksville Florida)   |   | |
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Its nice to see a pic of my GE dryer being used here...that dryer does not reverse but I have had a Frigidaire version that reverse for 20 seconds or so ...with the heater on mind you...and very little airflow...so you can imagine when it reverse back to clockwise tumble, the air being pulled into the drum was super hot after the reverse. That size dryer drum did benefit from reversing especially with sheets and jeans.
My Miele 9800 dryer did reverse and it did so randomly. That dryer did ok but the weak spot is the drive system which uses 2 belts. Anything over 20 lbs of wet wash and you were asking for a broken belt. And having said belt replaced was not cheap or simple to replace either. |
Post# 960762 , Reply# 6   10/5/2017 at 12:54 (2,387 days old) by henene4 (Heidenheim a.d. Brenz (Germany))   |   | |
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AFAIK they have a pretty sofisticatd sensing algorythm tha is supposed to reverse when ever needed. Works 90% of the time in my experience. |
Post# 960790 , Reply# 7   10/5/2017 at 14:09 (2,387 days old) by Yogitunes (New Jersey)   |   | |
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Post# 960797 , Reply# 8   10/5/2017 at 14:51 (2,387 days old) by henene4 (Heidenheim a.d. Brenz (Germany))   |   | |
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Having slept on fitted sheets with elastic all my life, I can say that at least on a compact dryer (standard here in the EU), reversing can help. It just has to happen often enough. |
Post# 960800 , Reply# 9   10/5/2017 at 15:03 (2,387 days old) by DADoES (TX, U.S. of A.)   |   | |
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Post# 960811 , Reply# 10   10/5/2017 at 15:37 (2,387 days old) by Maytag85 (Sean A806)   |   | |
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Reverse direction dryers aren't that common in the US. Reverse direction dryers are better for things like towels and sheets, but they have a couple more moving parts than a conventional dryer that has a drum that turns in only one direction. Reverse direction dryers are common in Europe, but I am not sure how well they would sell in the US market.
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Post# 960819 , Reply# 11   10/5/2017 at 16:54 (2,387 days old) by jerrod6 (Southeastern Pennsylvania)   |   | |
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My large Miele gas dryer has reverse Tumbling. Don't think it is now available. |
Post# 960822 , Reply# 12   10/5/2017 at 17:03 (2,387 days old) by Launderess (Quiet Please, There´s a Lady on Stage)   |   | |
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Works well enough one supposes for clothing or other loads; bed linens little less so. That is things like fitted sheets still tend to ball up regardless often enough. Maddening thing is opening the dryer to sort the mess out (if machine does not on its own), releases all that hot steamy air, so dryer has to work interior conditions back up again.
Ironically if one choses "quick dry", the machine does not reverse tumble at all until the "damp dry" portion of cycle. That is when cycle is pretty much already over. Since one rarely machine dries bed linen this is a minor quibble. Still have always said things rarely ball up in large commercial or laundromat dryers, and they rarely reverse. Must have something to do with the large drum volume. |
Post# 960837 , Reply# 13   10/5/2017 at 18:19 (2,387 days old) by Spinspeed (Far North New South Wales Australia (originally London UK))   |   | |
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I have a Maytag Atlantis dryer and it does not reverse tumble. I have found if a load of sheets and duvet covers is big, no balling at all. If the load is small then sheets etc ball up really quickly and much time spent interrupting the cycle to de-ball, which is very frustrating. So I always make sure the sheets and duvets, or dunas, as they are called here in Australia, loads are big and full to the dryer capacity and they dry a treat without reverse tumble.
I also have F&P front load dryer that takes 5kg load and it fully reverse tumbles and is a great little machine. My preferred dryer has always been the Maytag Atlantis purely for its huge capacity. |
Post# 960839 , Reply# 14   10/5/2017 at 18:42 (2,387 days old) by brucelucenta ()   |   | |
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The Frigidaire reverse dryer is a joke and the F & P one pretty much is too. They also are both small capacity. I was talking about a real dryer that will hold something and dry it. |
Post# 960841 , Reply# 15   10/5/2017 at 18:50 (2,387 days old) by jkbff (Happy Rock, ND)   |   | |
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Speaking of more moving parts and increased complexity...
What makes me mad with appliances is that American dryers really haven't changed much over the years yet they are the same exact price as the washing machine. From a retail stand point: A washer costs us the same amount as a dryer. We are charged the same amount to ship a washer as we are to ship a dryer. A washer does not weigh the same as a dryer. Talk about not getting a good value for the money spent.... |
Post# 960846 , Reply# 16   10/5/2017 at 19:07 (2,387 days old) by DADoES (TX, U.S. of A.)   |   | |
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Bruce, unfortunate that you've had such bad luck with F&P SmartLoad dryers. I recently successfully dried in mine a queen-size *very* heavy cotton, thickly-quilted bedspread. It fits for washing only in my Neptune TL and that requires a small bit of "stuffing-it-in." The care tag advises to wash in a commercial frontloader. |
Post# 960850 , Reply# 17   10/5/2017 at 19:23 (2,387 days old) by brucelucenta ()   |   | |
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Which is why I have a nice big front load washer that will wash a king size feather comforter with ease, just wish the matching dryer reverse tumbled. Neither F & P or Frigidaire would come close. |
Post# 960858 , Reply# 18   10/5/2017 at 20:37 (2,386 days old) by DADoES (TX, U.S. of A.)   |   | |
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Post# 961057 , Reply# 19   10/7/2017 at 04:42 (2,385 days old) by marky_mark (From Liverpool. Now living in Palm Springs and Dublin)   |   | |
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I have found that American dryers that don't reverse do tend to ball up bedding. I think it's a shame that reversing isn't an option as I suspect it might alleviate the balling up problem.
My Miele T1 heat pump dryer only reverses for 10 seconds every 5 minutes. There is no logic/sensing/randomness to the reverse procedure. It's a good dryer and can dry my American kingsized comforter, but almost always balls up fitted sheets and duvet covers. I have tried drying them separately and all together but they still ball up. I had a technician out but he couldn't do anything. Miele have been promising an update that hasn't happened. Very disappointing.
I took this photo when I tried drying the bedding with towels to see if the large load would help. I loaded 13 items -- they came out as just 3 items! The duvet cover had swallowed up 10 items knotted inside it.
I have an old Miele vented dryer from the 1980s that rotates equally throughout the cycle 1 minute in each direction. This never balls the bedding and it dries just fine.
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Post# 961061 , Reply# 20   10/7/2017 at 05:00 (2,385 days old) by foraloysius (Leeuwarden, Friesland, the Netherlands)   |   | |
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I have an older Miele dryer that indeeds rotates equally. It doesn't happen often that my duvet covers ball up. Only now and then. When I add fitted sheets, it happens more often, so I dry them separately. No problems otherwise.
BTW, when I wash the duvet covers and fitted sheets together in my Siemens washing machine, the whole bunch of laundry ends up in one of the duvet covers rather often. |
Post# 961067 , Reply# 21   10/7/2017 at 06:20 (2,385 days old) by henene4 (Heidenheim a.d. Brenz (Germany))   |   | |
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Either has programmable reversing or equal reversing, which works wonderfully. On washers, I found that asymetric drum padles which induce a front to back movement, tend do make tangeling verry likely. Our Panasonic (VG4 series) was the biggest contender for that. |
Post# 961363 , Reply# 23   10/8/2017 at 17:29 (2,384 days old) by friscosudz (Portland OR)   |   | |
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I have a T1415 Miele that reverses. It's a vented electric model that was discontinued around 2007 or 2008 (i think), but there are similar models out there. It runs for about 3-4 minutes in one direction, then reverses for about 2 minutes. I typically iron my sheets / duvet on a rotary ironer, so I figured out a system that works well when running bed linens. I take the whole load out of the washer, shake everything out, and put it all in the dryer on the "rotary iron" setting. While the dryer is running, I turn on the ironer and let it heat up. When the rotary iron cycle finishes on the dryer, I take out the flat sheet and pillow cases (all of which may or may not be balled up inside of the fitted sheet at that point). The fitted sheet then goes back into the dryer by itself, on a regular dry cycle. I run the sheets and pillow cases through the ironer while the flat sheet finishes drying in the dryer. It only takes me about 5-10 minutes to iron the sheets and pillowcases, and it takes about the same amount of time for the flat sheet to finish drying. Once the ironing is done, the fitted sheet gets folded and the whole set goes back to the linen closet until the next rotation.
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Post# 961365 , Reply# 24   10/8/2017 at 17:37 (2,384 days old) by Launderess (Quiet Please, There´s a Lady on Stage)   |   | |
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Is one has known how to make beds with mitered corners for yonks. Once learned and mastered (back in the days when hospitals never saw fitted sheets and you got one if not more changes of clean linen a day), it is a snap.
As such once moved out on my own have rarely bothered with fitted sheets. This suits since nearly all bed linens are vintage to antique American or French that all predate the invention of fitted sheets. |
Post# 961367 , Reply# 25   10/8/2017 at 18:04 (2,384 days old) by brucelucenta ()   |   | |
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It seems as though only in the USA can you not get a good dryer that reverses direction equally. I wish someone would come up with one. |
Post# 961392 , Reply# 27   10/8/2017 at 21:08 (2,383 days old) by combo52 (50 Year Repair Tech Beltsville,Md)   |   | |
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After reading this thread so far there does not seem to be any indication that RTCDs work any better than ones that don't.
First of all, all dryers seem to tangle fitted sheets
Second, If a dryer tangles in one direction and reverses for a while it may or may not untangle said clothing and it has no way of knowing when the clothing is actually tangled or untangled, so at very best it is entirely hit or miss.
Full sized dryers like WPs 29" machines [ widely regarded as the best clothes dryer ever on this site ] are built to function running in one direction, trying to make a 29" WP dryer to run the other direction would be stupid, it would take longer to dry and endanger clothing with excessive heat exposure to the clothing. You would face similar problems trying to make a MT SOH dryer reverse.
If you think about it the only reason that FL washers reverse is because it is so easy to do and costs nothing to do, and some tangle some loads anyway. Early FL washers in the US and Europe did not reverse and none had any problem with tangling except models with slanted tubs.
Fact: all my vintage combination washer-dryers only wash and dry in one direction, NONE of them have the slightest problem with tangling clothing with the exception of the Easy combo that has a slightly tilted tub.
John L. |
Post# 961423 , Reply# 28   10/9/2017 at 02:17 (2,383 days old) by foraloysius (Leeuwarden, Friesland, the Netherlands)   |   | |
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Post# 961516 , Reply# 29   10/9/2017 at 13:38 (2,383 days old) by DADoES (TX, U.S. of A.)   |   | |
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Post# 962713 , Reply# 30   10/15/2017 at 14:01 (2,377 days old) by Revvinkevin (Tinseltown - Shakey Town - La-La Land)   |   | |
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Post# 962811 , Reply# 31   10/16/2017 at 01:01 (2,376 days old) by norgeway (mocksville n c )   |   | |
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Philco dryers reverse tumble, but I think the cross vane Westinghouse dryers solve the problem pretty well. |