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pprioroh

Shallow depth - Are modern W/D too big??

pprioroh
9 years ago

House has a 32" (MAX! with door just barely not hitting) depth from back wall to door clearance. Width is 5 foot

I'm not sure when I see the dimensions of a washer/dryer how much additional space must be added to allow for installation of vent pipe, etc or if that's included in the dimension of the dryer.

Almost every modern front loader I see has sizes about 30-32" or more and if that does not include the dryer pipe vent then there is no way they will fit.

Wife wanted LG set based on consumer reports, but that doesn't look like it will fit. I don't want to get a tiny top loader.

Anything we buy must be well supported by common stores (sears/lowes/home depot) as we live in small town an hour away from big city and already got burned once by terrible service on a failed high end (miele) dishwasher.

Any suggestions???

Comments (7)

  • practigal
    9 years ago

    I have found the search parameters on the aj madison site to be the best. Their site lets you conveniently search by the difficult dimension, they seem to have a good selection but don't carry every model/brand...that being said it seems to me that it is just dumb luck if you get a great appliance and not a lemon...the smallest lg WM1377hw appears to fit, BUT if that is not the exact model number in CR that your wife was looking at you should not expect similar performance. The installation instructions for each model will tell you the exact extra space required for hoses, etc. so be sure and review the installation instructions carefully before pulling the trigger on the buy.
    Back to your original question yes I do think that washers and dryers have gotten too big..and some of their cycles are an hour and a half. You also need to know whether or not you are doing large loads or a lot of smaller loads. If you really have smaller loads be very careful to make sure that the larger machines handle smaller loads well or you may be better off with one of the smaller more "European" models.
    On this website there are many people who favor miele over all other brands, but miele has diminished its own reputation in recent years. The next most popular brands seem to be Electrolux (for the modern crowd) and Speed Queen (for the traditional crowd). People like Speed Queen because they are made like a tank and because they have dials. Many people believe that there is no circuit board behind those dials and that it's all mechanical but that is incorrect but they do seem to be more reliable...They are also not inexpensive.
    For me the biggest issue with any of these washers including the Speed Queen is that they do not have a filter that really gets rid of detritus from the laundry. Worse yet, some of these models only have a filter that can be accessed after you have removed the front and side panels. Since you seem to be in a remote location that will matter to you. (I came across a stacked Speed Queen for an incredibly low price --the man was selling it solely because he had had to hire somebody to come out and clean out the filter it cost him around $280 he was furious and was selling the machine before it needed the filter cleared again.) If you're a handy kind of person you should spend some time on YouTube looking at the repair issues that people are dealing with -- for instance seeing how difficult it is to put new brushes in the motor or how difficult it is to replace the "boot" these are time-consuming but not particularly difficult to accomplish repairs but watching them go through a repair or two you get a really good sense of how the machine was put together (or not).

  • pprioroh
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Thanks for your help. will check their site. I agree with you by the way about why isn't there a washer filter... we had a washer when i was a kid that all the water ran through a little plastic "comb" like filter right up top. Of course it was top loading, but we would take that thing out and empty all kinds of crap out of it. I have wondered where that stuff goes in modern washers.... :(

  • dadoes
    9 years ago

    Regards to lint filters ... frontloaders by design do not very well support active filtering.ÃÂ A few brands/models many years ago had a passive sort of scoop-filter integrated into one of the drum baffles.ÃÂ Otherwise a separate recirculation pump would be required to actively run the water out the bottom of the tub, through a filtering mechanism and back in.

    The kind of filter to which PractiGal refers is not to catch lint off the clothes during the washing and rinsing functions. It's a pump protector to catch debris and stray small objects such as coins and screws from getting into the pump impeller when the machine drains.

  • enduring
    9 years ago

    Electolux apparently has a new set just out that is a smaller sized like the European sized sets. Have you looked into those?

  • malba2366
    9 years ago

    Electrolux full size is 31.5 inches in depth and depending on where your dryer vent is located it can be placed flush to the wall. If you actually have a full 32 inches these units should work for you.
    I

  • Mags438
    9 years ago

    The full size (does king sized comforters), front loading Electrolux laundry set we have has the 31.5" depth specs. Our set is housed within base cabinets. Installed, including the countertop supports, the width is just under 5' wide. The depth is just under 33" deep. All the appropriate sized plumbing. If IRC, it's really tight between the back wall (no baseboard molding there) and back of washer, however, it all works without any problems. All electrical outlets and steam plumbing there too. I did put the emergency water shutoff valves in the basement ceiling instead of behind the laundry set. I thought I had a pic looking down into rear section behind washer before countertop installed, but couldn't find. HTH

    Edited to include pic. Also another thing I briefly considered in order to reduce the depth was to remove drywall from behind the units. That wasn't going to work for us since it was an exterior wall and we 're in a cold climate.

    This post was edited by Mags438 on Sun, Nov 30, 14 at 11:27

  • whirlpool_trainee
    9 years ago

    One thing to keep in mind is that the Lux set has spring-loaded doors that appearently open all the way if not locked. Keeping the doors shut can (but of course doesn't have to) lead to mold. You would need to leave the laundry room door open for the time it takes for the washer to dry out - ideally.

    The pretty identical Frigidaire units have a "Vent Latch" that keeps the door ajar just enough to allow for air to circulate. Depth is 30.3 inches.