9.10.2008

Battle of the Blomberg

My new dream guy? The Maytag repairmen. Go ahead and laugh at the image of Ol' Lonely, waiting by the phone to ring, hoping that someone...anyone...would have a mechanical problem with his or her Maytag. I remain resolute in my choice.

As a matter of fact, in my fantasy of fantasies, Ol’ Lonely, tired of being under appreciated and under utilized, moves next door to me in Bad Dürkheim, and enthralls me by fixing my German-made, A-rated, energy-efficient, Blomberg clothes dryer.

Needless to say, Max isn’t too worried about my fantasies.

In order to get our clothes “Shranktrocken” or dry enough to put directly in a wardrobe, my machine runs 2 hours and 20 minutes. The problem is, after this ridiculously long cycle is complete, the clothes still aren’t dry. No wonder most Germans use drying racks instead of a machine!

I refused to believe that my high-end machine was operating properly, and braved language barriers to call the Blomberg equivalent to the Maytag repairmen.

Mr. Not-So-Lonely came a week later and, after running a few diagnostic tests, informed me the machine was fine. He said the problem was that my Blomberg washer spins the wet clothes so dry, there isn’t enough moisture to trigger the dryer’s built-in pump, which suctions the water off into a filter and needs to be emptied after each use.

Even though I knew enough German to tell Mr. Not-So Lonely that I’ve never had to empty my water filter, he simply shrugged his shoulders and again insisted there was nothing he could do. My machine works properly.

I’m tempted to call Mr. No-So Lonely back, make him sit through a 2-hour cycle, and then ask him if he would put still-damp clothes directly into a wardrobe to mold. Or maybe I should join my German neighbors, give up, and and get a drying rack? Then I ask myself, what would the Maytag repairman do?

What would you do?

20 comments:

Simple Answer said...

Tear my hair out. That is what I'd do!

christina said...

Aha, those Kondenstrockner are notorious for taking literally hours to dry clothes. I used to have a small combination washer/dryer and I never used the dryer part because it took over an hour to dry a single pair of jeans. Ugh.

I'd recommend you switch to an Ablufttrocker if at all possible. You need to either cut a hole in the wall for the vent hose or let it vent out the window somewhere, but the results are WAY better. That said, my dryer still take 90 minutes to dry a load!

Other than that I guess you could reduce the speed of the spin cycle on the washing machine to leave more water in the clothes?

Anonymous said...

Ahhh... the European dryer! I remember those - NOT! Having lived in Italy for 2 years, that is one of those things that I had to get use to NOT USING, (and taking shorter showers, less the heater ran out on me and I ended up with soapy hair!) less I go crazy. I gave in, and used the drying rack, which I ended up liking better, since my clothes smell fresher from the sun. Back in the states, I now dry my jeans, sheets, towels outside in the sun, and leave the dryer to do the small loads.

C N Heidelberg said...

I just dry mine on a rack, because I'm cheap. It takes a day or less at this time of year, but longer in winter.

Unknown said...

We often do both. Leave them in the dryer on the 'medium dry' cycle and then hang dry the stuff (about 30% depending on how many times we've restarted the cycle) that's still damp. And yes we have one of those crappy dryers that have to be emptied. We have it hooked up now with a hose zip tied to the laundry sink in the basement so it can just drain. When we were in our apartment we had to empty it of the water every thirty minutes or so.
I get thrills when we visit my parents in Idaho and I can not only wash ALL my clothes in one load but they come out dry as kindling from the dryer too!

jaded said...

Dry them on a rack...You're probably not interested in hearing about y dryer that takes less than forty minutes...

Unknown said...

Dry em on the rack... Although I do have a pretty "American" Dryer... that always works... /knock on wood

kenju said...

I'd look for a new dryer. That doesn't sound right to me at all.

Anonymous said...

Aren't you planning to have a baby? Save the energy and just use a drying rack! Save the planet for your unborn child!

Cowgirl Warrior said...

If you've got your mind set on using the dryer, I'd just stop the washer a little earlier so the clothes are a bit more damp.

Anonymous said...

dude, buy a new one. esp. if you want a kid. try miele. I've had mine for five years and it does take about 1.5 hours for a full load, but i'd not trade it for a rack dry for anything. I like my undies and towels soft, thanks.

Mine is a condensation dryer but i had it hooked up so that the water drains via a small hose to the abfluss. I never touch the water tank thing.

that being said, i had a small problem in the beginning and the Miele man came, fixed and showed me a couple of things. So i'm kind of biased now.

Anonymous said...

Dude, 2 hours 20 minutes? Yikes. Of course I only have use of a communal laundry room and mine takes an hour. To its credit everything's bone dry afterwards but I can't get it out of my head that the hot air it blasts onto my stuff has blasted someone else's underwear before mine. EW! :)

Anonymous said...

Wow...yet another thing in America that I take for granted everyt day! I wear jeans almost everyday and can't imagine how long they would take to dry on a rack, that being said we didn't have a dryer at home until I was about 8 or so....clothes dried on the line are sunshine fresh I will say!

Connie said...

Reminds me of the piece of junk dryer I had in England. Thank goodness that our old house there had radiators everywhere. They were always warm (those did not work properly either and always seemed to be on, even when switched off - oh well!) It may have been unsightly to have clothes hanging all over the house, but they dried very fast so it was only temporary tackiness! And it was soooo snuggly-nice to put on radiator warm clothes on a winter morning!!

meno said...

That sounds like a crock from the repair guy.

I'd use the rack, but on him.

Who is Felicia? said...

We have a European washer/dryer combo, a Thor. It washes and dries in the same hole. Well, it washes in the hole. A full load has to be divided into quarters and then each quarter takes 4 hours to dry. 16 hours in the hole to dry one load. Our recent research is that this is pretty standard with this unit. We found that air drying takes less time and obviously uses less energy, or rather, no energy. Our alternative is the laundromat down the street. Or to wear dirty stinky clothes every day. It's not the repair guys fault.

Snooker said...

My two cents... go to hanging the clothes. You will save lots of energy (think about what it takes to run that thing two hours) and money (sell the thing). As long as it is pretty much the two of you, and you have place to hang the clothes, I suggest it.
I had a little adjustment time myself (gosh, once in a while I would really like to get 4 loads of clothes washed and back in the wardrobe in only one day). But now I like they way they smell better and enjoy the feel of the crisp jeans.

Jul said...

Our dryer is useless if you try to dry a whole load at once, but it can get a few towels or a set of sheets completely dry in about an hour. I think the key is to not give it too much to do at once.

I hang our clothes to dry. It's better for the clothes, better for the planet... but no way am I putting up with scratchy line-dried towels every day!

Jill said...

Wow, that's a mighty long time. Mine takes 1 hr 20 min for relatively dry clothes. Though sometimes you have to figure out what "relatively" really means...

My opinion? Save yourself the money and buy a rack!

vailian said...

The condensation dryers are complete crap. Take DAYS and the apparel still smells... odd.
We always hung things up (the spinner on the washing machine is pretty efficient and the drying process didn't take that long), but when I found myself single I bought myself a normal dryer.
OK, it is not as fast as the American versions, but uses far less electricty. I can't vent it (who can in Europe??) but I find if I leave the windows open it is fine.
(My son prefers to leave the window shut and open the bathroom door, "so the whole house can smell like clean laundry!"