My washer-dryer is not, um, drying. What do I do?!

[fuzzpig]

It's never been brilliant at the drying part TBH, but it is ridiculous now. It doesn't seem to be a drainage issue as there's no water left in the drum.

Is it time for a famous MN maintenance wash? And if so, how do I do it?

[StaceymReadyForNumber3]

A maintenance wash is an empty wash at a high temp. Not sure how much good it will do but worth a go.

My advice however un useful it is is get a seperate tumble dryer, combo washer/dryers are useless IMHO.

[nancerama]

Is it a Hotpoint? If so, that's your problem.

I did the maintenance wash on my Hotpoint and "poom" it shorted out the electrics in the house and never worked again.

I recommend this cause of action. DH went online that night and bought a Miele.

[PagingDrFaggot]

The filter on my washer dryer is hidden away Inside it (helpfully!) when mine no longer drys it's usually because that's blocked . I have an extended warranty thing which costs me a fiver a month so I just ring them up and they come and fix it for me . Dries perfectly again for 6 months then gets clogged up again it's an AEG btw not sure if others have Internal filters ?

[onehitwonder]

Could be that the heat element thing has overheated (due to blocked filter?) and a trip switch is now stopping it heating. That is what happened with ours. Got a nice man round who put in a new filter and reset the trip switch and it is fine now.

[fuzzpig]

Getting a new/separate one not an option at all - no space and no money!

It's an indesit if that makes any difference. We manage without a dryer, but it'd be nice if it worked! The washing part is fine at least.

[fuzzpig]

Ah, the filter. That sounds probable. I have no idea where it is although DH probably knows as he has fixed it in the past he found a shredded breast pad in there once

[nancerama]

Indesit and Hotpoint are the same company. Their machines are fragile.

[Needingsomeadvice]

I've never met a washer dryer that worked well personally. I sympathise. Can you not use a stacker (we did)? And is renting a dryer an option (for now)?

[fuzzpig]

What's a stacker?

Anyway DH showed me where the filter was so I checked it. It was a bit like giving the machine a prostate exam but all clear.

I wish we had known about washer dryers being crap, TBF it worked really well for ages (we've had it nearly 6 years) - it's only been quite recently that it doesn't dry well.

[Needingsomeadvice]

I mean you can buy a stacking kit which allows you to put the tumble dryer n top of the washer . We have had one for about 10 years since we didn't have space for both.

[vodkaanddietirnbru]

when ours wasnt working we had to get an engineer out to it (had insurance cover thing for it) and when he moved it out and took the top off one of the wires had become disconnected. He re-attached the wire and it worked again.

[Some0ne]

Ours is the same, you could leave a single pair of jeans in there for 3 hours and they still wouldn't be dry. It's a Hotpoint. I really, really wish I had room for separates.

[crackcrackcrak]

Yikes. Mine did this after dd was about 18 months (heavy use). It wasn't the filter it was a part that had broken which couldn't be replaced because idiot exp had removed the serial number sticker. It should have cost £80ish quid but we had to replace as we were in the middle of selling the flat. Bastard thing!

[pushmepullyou]

If it's got a lot worse than usual it is probably the condenser that is jammed up with fluff. Depending on how intrepid you are feeling you might be able to fix it yourself, we've done ours several times. Ours is a zanussi so it might be a bit different on an indesit, but we take the back off and inside there is a big plastic flatish bottle type thing which is the condenser. Ours is quite easy to clip out and then we hook the fluff out with a coathanger and run some water through until its clean. We had a man out to it once and he made us buy a new condenser for lots of money so since then we've done it ourselves.

Mind you it has died completely today....

[AngieC01]

Just an experiment I tried: after the usual wash I did two extra spins at 10 minutes each then a 100 minutes dry session. The washing was definitely not as damp as usual - I hung it on a clotheshorse indoors overnight and it was ready in the morning (I forgot to see what it was like after three or four hours - my guess is that some or most of it would have been done).

[Alifryer1978]

I've just brought a beko washer dryer and I'm now on my third cycle test. None of the cycles I have used dries the washing. Reading reviews on here now I'm gutted I brought one! They're absolute rubbish.

[Deetom61]

I have a hotpoint washer drier how do u use just drier plz

[MummyofOscarandLola]

Mines not drying either, my hubby cleaned out the filter thingy at the bottom. It's been on dry for 3 hours now and still wet! what else can we try? I've got a mountain of dirty baby clothes to get through

[Cakescakescakes]

I have a Hotpoint washer dryer. No room for separates. If it as stopped drying it's probably clogged up with fluff. This is rwallly hard to get at so we have a monthly insurance to cover someone basically coming out to sort this.

I find I can wash a full load (full-ish but not totally crammed) and then need to split that in two and each half takes 2.5hrs to dry. If it's a full load of towels then each half takes 3hrs to dry. I do an extra spin after it has finished the wash part as well which helps. One load of washing takes all day!

I wish I had room for separates :(

[Ulysses]

My stand alone tumble dryer stopped drying because the fuse blew. I hadn't been cleaning out the filter enough so water was getting in somewhere it shouldn't have been. It cost about £80 to repair, parts and labour.

[e1y1]

6 years? Indesit? 6 YEARS? .

I'd call the Guinness world records - oldest surviving Indesit - especially for a washer/dryer combined .

It is possible, that it has just reached the end of it's life, so could be something faulty like a thermostat/heating element. Does it heat up at all in the dry cycle?

[yomellamoHelly]

We've had 2 washer-dryers. They both got like this towards the end of their lives. Second time round we grinned and bore it 'til we moved house and had room for separate machines. Was the first thing we sorted out in the new house!