SAN ANTONIO – Just because space is tight in your apartment or house doesn’t mean you have to lug your laundry to a laundromat. Consumer Reports just tested about a dozen compact washers and dryers to find the best one.
The washers and dryers are just like regular ones, only smaller — about 24 inches wide, 34 inches high and the sets can be stacked. Unfortunately, the price tags aren’t smaller. But can they perform as well?
Consumer Reports ran cleaning and efficiency tests on all the compact machines and also measured noise and vibration levels. A loud washer or dryer may be a deal-breaker for some. Turns out, vibration was an issue for many of the compacts.
When the washer and dryer pairs were stacked, vibration didn’t change much, and in fact, it’s one of their drawbacks. But having a washer and dryer in your home may be better than going to a laundromat.
With dryers, there are two choices —vented or ventless.
Ventless dryers condense the moisture out of the humid exhaust air instead of venting it outside. This comes in handy if you live in an apartment or condo, where you may not have access to an outside wall.
Consumer Reports said the $2,700 Bosch 800 series set with a ventless dryer is a very good choice. (The Bosch 800 Series: Washer Model No. WAT28402UC and Dryer Model No. WTG86402UC)
If you have access to a vent, you can opt for a Samsung compact washer and dryer set for about $2,100 (The Samsung compact set: Washer Model No. WW2K6800AW and Dryer Model No. DV22K6800EW)
Both the Bosch and this Samsung offer very good washing and drying performance.