I have got a Zanussi condensing tumble dryer which I bought second hand. All seems find - it turns round, it heats up and collects water in the tank. However, it does take ages for cloths to dry - even if there is only a half load in there. I have taken the back off and nothing obvious springs to mind and looks fine. Now, I have put it in the shed outside, so here is my question
- is it possible that outside is just too cold and the heating element is not strong enough to heat the air and get it dry?
- do heating elements deteriorate and not get as hot as the should? (and therefore need to be replaced)
- is there something wrong with the "drainage" of the water?
Unlikely I would have thought, and the cold external air will tend to assist the condensation process. If you open it after 15 minutes do the clothes seem as hot as they should be?
They can fail but this mode of failure would IMO be quite unlikely unless the current was being reduced by say a bad connection, in which case something else (the connection) usually gets rather hot in a fairly obvious burning plastic sort of way.
Maybe. Also the airways may be clogged with fluff as may any filters in the airways. This is usually grey lint which having been in the presence of water vapour, will often form a stiff felt like mess.
I don't know the Zanussi - my Bosch has a metal plate heat exchanger unit that is removable from the front - if you can find yours and remove it, give it a good blow out in the shower - then wash with Flash (helps to loosen the remaining crud) and wash again. That's the first bit that gets clogged up on mine that impairs performance, other than the lint filter in the door which is obvious.
Near the heat exchanger plate on mine is a large black foam filter pad that is also (carefully) removable for washing.
well, they are hot but I don't know how hot the should be, really - it's my first tumble dryer
burning plastic would smell and I have not smelled anything, so I guess that one's out
Yes, I have a heat exchanger which I have pulled out and cleaned with the hose - but has not made much difference. I guess the Flash might be an idea. The lint filter is cleaned regularly by me.
Nothing there on mine. So I guess I will give the metal place heat exchanger a good go.
BTW: how happy are you with your Bosch? It's my make of choice, really, but could not get hold of a (cheap) second hand one...
Ok - depending on heat setting (Low/Normal) if you open the door on a load of wet washing after about 15-20 mins, you should find it mildly steamy and hot-bath sort of temperature. Vaguely warm or stone cold is no good. Consider the thermostat or temperature sensor. Is the machine electronic?
If you've flushed it out and it's presumably not packed solid with soggy lint it should be functional. The flash is a nicety I used just to get it sparkly clean - but sluicing with water usually does a good enough job - if you can see through from one side to the other both ways (across sides and front to back).
The other thing might be a failing fan. It's a bit tricky to test the internal air circuit that goes through the drum. You could try putting some dry broken up cotton wool or lint previously collected in the drum and see if it all gets blown into the lint filter after a few minutes of running - best test I can think off right now.
But you should get a good blast of air out the back exhaust from the other circuit.
It doesn't just cut out too soon does it - or is it running forever and just not drying the clothes?
Very. I got a Hoover the first time. My "must have" feature was auto sensing
- stops when it's dry, so I could switch it on at night and have nice clothes the next morning without baking them to death. Had to be a condenser too.
The Hoover didn't work at all. Cut out too soon leaving clothes wet. After 2 or 3 fitter call outs, I told the shop to take it back and refund me as unsuitable for purpose, which they did.
I went for the Bosch Logixx, which is the high end of their range and it's been very reliable. Had it about 5 years now and it still works perfectly and results are always consistent.
Looks like I have had success! The key phrase for the metal heat exchanger was "from both sides". I had looked through the short side before and cleaned it out before but could not work out why I could not look through the long side - until your message made me have a closer look and I realised that the metal plates are slightly offset and in a criss-cross pattern. I soaked the thing over night and then spent ages cleaning it out (with a ruler, could not think of anything else to poke through it). I then also noticed that the door contains a duct from the main lint filter to the metal plates which was totally blocked. So I took off the door and cleaned it all thoroughly - I then tried an almost full load of towels as an extreme test and while it took quite a while, it did dry it - something which would not have worked at all before, so I take it its fixed.
Thanks so much Tim, I was on the verge of buying a different dryer!
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