Mini Portable Countertop Spin Dryer

I live alone in a converted attic apartment. Its odd shape and quirky features make it awesome, but I don't have access to the main house's laundry room. Instead of fighting with the landlord to honor his advertised promises, I decided to get my own washer, with the added bonus that I'll never have to run (or trip) up & down outdoor stairs to wash my stupid clothes in the dead of winter (and Wisconsin winters are coooold). Also, I layer my clothes (i.e. a camisole under a t-shirt) so I can wear the outer clothing more than once between washings, reducing how often I need to do laundry. I read through many - possibly hundreds of - reviews before choosing this machine (the 45L option). I wanted a separate extractor so that, if the extractor broke, I could still wash my clothes. (I wouldn't have to send the whole machine in for servicing. I'm ok with wringing out things by hand for a few days while a new extractor comes in the mail - thank you Amazon Prime!) If I had more laundry, I might have chosen an automatic machine, but I think this style, akin to the old wringer-washers, cleans clothes better. Anyhoo, on to the machine!1) One person mentioned that 3 minutes is enough to wash her clothes. Ditto - the agitator can be pretty rough on your clothes so you don't want to go much longer than that.2) Someone mentioned that the agitator is very strong and can damage your clothing. Like another reviewer mentioned, put delicates in a *strong* mesh bag to protect them. From my own experience, put enough water in the machine so that the clothes move freely (fill 'er up!). Don't add too many clothes. The agitator should swish the water, not your clothes.3) Many people mentioned problems from using too much soap. I'm using liquid detergent that works in both regular & HE machines. I started out using the tablespoon of soap that one person recommended. I didn't get any suds. I added half a capful the next time I washed. There were suds in the first load but they were gone after I ran the second load through the same water. With both amounts of soap, my clothes came out clean (one wash & two rinses) and not soapy but smelling like... oxyclean. I hate that smell, so I think I'll try other detergents. I'll also try adding a few drops of essential oil or something to the last rinse, but not fabric softener, which doesn't rinse out well according to other reviewers.4) The mouth of the drain hose needs to be higher than the water level in the machine. I took the drain hose extension from my extractor and attached it to the washer's drain hose so that I could completely fill the machine without any drips or splashes from the drain hose (which others complained about). I also place the machine in my bathtub before filling it to contain any splashes, to give the waste water a place to drain, and to keep my floor dry when I'm shifting around my dripping-wet laundry.5) Filling the machine can be a pain. If you have a spigot, you can slide the fill hose on & let 'er rip. If, like most of us, you don't have a spigot, you have a few options. If you can get the aerator off the sink faucet (which I can't), you could get a screw-on spigot attachment at a hardware store for less than $2. You could also get a nut that would let you thread the hose through, seating the rubber part into the nut to create a seal, and then screw the nut on to the faucet. If you have a hand-held shower head, put it in the washer to fill it or take off the shower head & just connect the shower hose to the washer's fill hose. A water pitcher & some elbow grease also work well. I had some 1/2" hose left over from my shower repair debacle... I mean, project... which fits over the machine's inlet tube and inside the provided fill tube, effectively giving me an 8' longer reach. So, with the machine in the bathtub, I hold the rubber end of the fill tube against the sink faucet with one hand, pinch the connection between the hoses with the other hand, and silently swear while the machine fills (because I get bored easily & occasionally spray myself when adjusting my grip on the faucet). I'll eventually get fed up with this & find a better way to fill the machine - one that doesn't require me to stand there the entire time.6) As many have mentioned, this is a more work-intensive way to wash clothes. However, I think they get MUCH cleaner. I actually grew up with a wringer-washer, so I'm familiar with this style of laundering - and prefer it! I fill the machine & wash 3-4 loads in the same water, piling each washed load in the bathtub (or in a laundry basket, which I don't have) while the next load runs. I put in the most important stuff first (underthings), then shirts, then jeans, then towels. I drain & refill the machine two or three times - once for each rinse, and the clothes share rinse water, too. (You could use 2-3 tubs/basins/sinks full of water to dip-rinse instead.) I lightly squeeze the dirty water out of the clothes, back into the washer, as I pull them out. When I pull the first set of clothes out of the last rinse, I start running them through my extractor. It takes some shuffling, but it's at least as quick as an automatic washer and your clothes end up cleaner.7) I was worried about the size of the machine - I didn't want to spend a month laundering each article of clothing separately! That's not an issue. I can fit 2-3 pairs of jeans (size 10), or 7ish shirts (size large), or lots of underthings, or 2-3 regular towels, or one "bath sheet" (~3x bigger than a towel and a true joy to wrap around and around and around myself), or one set of queen-size sheets (minus the pillow cases), etc. I figure that one (heavy) load in a full-sized washer = 4 (light) loads in this washer and it takes less than an hour (unless I get distracted by something shiny) from first filling the machine to hanging my clothes up to dry (about the same as an automatic washer).

I’ve had a few of these through the years – this is my third. Each one lasted several years. I found that I really can’t do without.I use this for summer clothes – gauzy dresses or silk items that I don’t want to put in the washing machine, as well as quick wash-ups where I don’t want to go put coins in the laundry machines (I live in a condo with a laundry room). One of its best uses is for cashmere sweaters and scarves. I wash them in the sink or tub and a few minutes in this spinner and they are almost dry.Note that it does not produce heat. It simply spins clothes very, very fast and pulls all the water out. You can’t squeeze another drop out, no matter how hard you try. So you can hang clothes up and never have anything dripping. They will dry super fast on the hanger.The machine has a dial to set the time to spin. Most items only need two minutes, but it goes up to four. That is the only setting.Be careful to not overfill the tub. If you do, a piece can spin up and down the insides. Not good. I let that happen once, but I’ll never do it again.Be sure to remove the bottom screws before you use the machine. It’s got warnings all over it to do that, but I have a relative who ignored the warnings. The screws are designed to hold moveable parts during shipping and then are to be discarded. They, of course, prevent moveable parts from moving – not good to leave in place!My only complaint is the very short cord. You need to have an electrical outlet near a sink or tub where the spinner can be set so it is flat and where the water can drain out. I live in a very old condo with one electrical outlet in my bathroom. The cord cannot reach the sink and just barely reaches the tub without an inch to spare.

Let me say that I was not expecting a miracle of a spin dryer, but this little beauty totally surpassed my expectations. It will not get your clothes 100% dry - but it will eliminate a good 90% of the water out of your clothes to the point it is able to air dry rather quickly. A regular button down shirt will air dry in about 10 minutes or less. A bath towel about 30 minutes. Maybe slightly more. Larger items like a king size sheet or duvet cover are doable - but takes some work to get balanced right. Dress slacks or khakis are a breeze. Jeans may be doable, but are a major pain to balance and you can only do one pair at a time.Balance with this washer is VERY important. It takes some practice at first, but when you load it and it is working correctly it is almost TOTALLY SILENT and WILL NOT VIBRATE. If it is making any clanking noises or vibrations then your clothes are way out of balance. You may need to open it up and readjust the items some (push them back down and to the center) then close it back up and let it start up again. But get it right and it can get most of the water out of a bath towel in 60 seconds to maybe 3 minutes tops. You can watch the drain hose and see when most of the water has stopped trickling out. When it more or less stops, then your items are mostly dry and can be removed. Doing this over and over and it can help with doing larger batches of clothes as you can break them up into smaller bundles or even individual items and seems to process faster than a single large load. I usually just do single items as it seems almost faster to do that than try and fill the dryer completely and work out any balance issues with multiple items.I totally recommend this item though. It is the perfect match to the Panda Washer. Skip the Wonder Washer - it was a waste of time and can't hold a candle up to the Panda. This dryer and the Panda washer are really the perfect pair for any budget minded person or someone with a cramped apartment with no hookups and no nearby laundry. They both work and do what they are supposed to do with very little compromises.