Appliance manual handling

Some datacentres have nice flat trolleys with inbuilt scissor lifts for positioning servers into racks, but I think I'd struggle to borrow one!

My thoughts were along those lines, but PIR is 'too good' for that, bricks, concrete blocks, chopped-up sleepers ... books getting too precarious at that height

Thinking about it, that sounds way heavier than I'd expect?

Likewise! They also weight a ton and you'd need a lift to get the lift in the car.

That's what I thought: 1m high books, all in different sizes, sounds like a dangerous game of Jenga.

A sheet of 50mm EPS is £20 at Wickes and you'd need two, but still seems wasteful, and while I might be able to reuse PIR not so keen on EPS. Maybe not covering the full 60x60cm area would reduce the usage, but then it'll compress more.

A stack of planks seem possible, but 1m is still quite a height to get with them, and again danger of slippage.

Theo

Technically the instructions say 'Weight 115 lbs' because the random copy I found on the internet is American, but I can't see why their machines would be heavier than ours? (it is the right model number). Capacity 10lbs dry weight which sounds about right?

Theo

Is it a heat pump dryer? “Normal” dryers weigh next to nothing and are easy to pick up.

If it really is that heavy and if you have room I’d probably try lifting the front edge enough to slide a long plank in (like a scaffolding board) and then wriggle it all the way in. After that use the plank as a lever to tilt the machine forward and then slide it down the plank/ramp. Admittedly probably needs more space than most people have available.

Tim

Engine hoist or a block&tackle ?

You'd rent one of those, rather than buy one.

To do a simple lever with a plank, you might not have room to move the easy end of the plank far enough for the lift. And lateral control would not be very good.

For a block and tackle, you'd need to build a frame so that nothing gets damaged, finding a way to hold up the block. You would not normally have a way to sling a block above the object.

Paul

No, but it's 40 years old. They don't make 'em like they used to?

I suppose the 'weight' in the manual could be the shipping weight, but even if they shipped in wooden crates in those days I don't imagine it would have added that much?

That's a thought: there is a back door facing it so maybe can spare 3m with the door open? I wonder if it would work with a ladder rather than a plank? Support the end of the ladder in some way, tip the machine onto a board and slide the board down the ladder.

Next question is what will securely hold the end of a ladder 1m off the ground...? (the ground being a slippery tiled floor). The washing machine is probably not happy about a load focused in that place.

I suppose there is this kind of flexible ladder:

or a saw horse maybe?

Theo

That's a thought. How to do it when the top of the machine is 2m in the air? Normally the engine hoist is lifting the engine from <1m so the top of the hoist is maybe 1.5m high, but the problem here is the machine is taller than the hoist, and there's only maybe another 0.5m to the ceiling. I'm sure there are truck-sized hoists but they probably need a truck-sized workshop to fit them.

Theo

Get a man, or two, in. I'll bet it was installed using only muscle power.

Our old gas tumble dryer (similar vintage) was still very light.

Before you go too far I think you ought to at least have a go at just picking it up. Maybe the data you’ve seen was for a washer/dryer?

Tim

I doubt mine is even 15kg

I could probably still just about lift it with two hands

try to find someone to lend a hand for the price of a 12-pack of Tesco's Finest lager?

Is that weight for the combo?

If you go to the ao.com site you will find the weights for dryers. Looking at various brands - around 30kg for a vented model, 35 to 40 kg for a condensing model and around 45kg for a heat pump model.

There is only a few kg differences between 8 and 10kg load models.

Surely a whole lot easier, cheaper, less time consuming and more flexible to just borrow another person to assist?

Theo <theom+ snipped-for-privacy@chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote

Not a great idea stability wise. Concrete blocks are much more stable.

What is used for car engines would work. They are hireable.

And it needs to work when putting it back.

Although it has been confirmed now that the dryer is not a heat pump dryer, just 40 years old - I can confirm that heat pump dryers are heavy ... ours weighs 43.5kg.

I used to safely raise and lower commercial A3 size photocopiers (>50Kg) on a ramp made from 2, 3 to 4 m long lengths of Dexion 360, with cross-ties. Some bits of carpet to slide over the Dexion holes and the dome heads of the tie bar bolts. Dexion available from mezzanine flooring companies or if lucky from ferrous scrap yards.