Although a combo unit has been excellent for my specific scenario, there are downsides to consider.
The first, and most frustrating, is durability—online reviews of my specific machine point to an expected lifespan of about five years. This may be a result of inefficient lint removal due to the LG WM3555HVA being a condenser dryer, or due to the fact that combining washing and drying greatly increases wear and tear on a single machine. At two and a half years, mine still works excellently. But for added peace of mind, I also purchased mine from Costco since their customer service really shines in the case of manufacturing defects. If mine does last only five years, then I still would think the purchase was worth it; spread out over that period, it comes out to roughly $200 a year, or $17 a month, which is cheaper than doing multiple loads at a laundromat, not including time saved.
Another major downside is the dry time. In a standard stacked washer and dryer, the dryer’s drum size is typically larger than the washer’s drum, which allows for garments to tumble evenly. A combo unit has only one drum, which means that in the case of a full load, the unit is automatically overstuffed during the dry cycle.
This leads to absurd dry times, occasionally lasting four or five hours. My wife and I have started playing a casino-like guessing game that involves shouting out times at one another to see who can guess the closest. (Something in the realm of 3 hours 35 minutes usually wins out.)
The time it takes to dry clothes is legitimately out of control. To think that I can watch three and a half episodes of The Sopranos in the time it takes to finish a medium-sized dry cycle is, frankly, preposterous. And yet, to me, this is a small price to pay for the otherwise extreme convenience of having an in-unit washer and dryer. If I’m pressed for time, washing only a handful of items can yield significantly lower dry times (but rarely anything under an hour). And still, this is a faster turnaround than sending clothes out to a wash-and-fold service or spending time at a laundromat.
Then there is by far my least favorite thing about this machine: the whine, or so it is described online by some LG owners. I prefer the term “shriek”—a long, nearly inaudible, high-pitched, unending shriek that wails throughout the dry cycle, penetrating even the thickest walls, filling the air with a kind of mechanical agony. It is like listening to the soul of a robot dying for three hours straight.
You might think this is a dealbreaker. And for me, it nearly was. I spent hours trying to determine whether I got a defective unit (I didn’t), whether it might stop entirely with time, or whether repositioning the unit or trying different dry cycle combinations might soften the pitch. Nothing worked, and I seriously considered returning it.
And then, I just … got used to it. Really, I barely notice it anymore. I can still hear it if I listen for it, but it turns out the human brain is brilliant at blocking out certain sounds. When it did still bother me, I found that running the dry cycle at night while I was asleep helped significantly.
Andrea has tested the GE Profile UltraFast Combo. “Condenser and heat-pump drying technology has taken huge strides in recent years, and in testing we were pleasantly surprised by the GE UltraFast combo,” Andrea says. The GE unit has double the capacity of the LG WM3555HVA, a more efficient dryer, and a real lint trap, and it overall appears to make less sacrifices in performance than other combination units. It also stands at roughly 53 inches tall compared with the LG model’s 33 inches and costs roughly $2,200. So if you have the space and budget, you may want to consider the UltraFast Combo.
People make many sacrifices living in an apartment in a city rather than in a house: limited closet space, dorm-sized bedrooms, the all-hours ambient buzzing of the streets and creaking footsteps of neighbors, a paucity of natural light and a paradoxical overabundance of unnatural light. But an agonizing laundry process doesn’t necessarily need to be on this list, and thanks to this slow, shrieking lint trap sitting in my kitchen, it isn’t.
This article was edited by Hannah Rimm and Maxine Builder.
