Yes, to a degree. Something may very well be wrong in your case. A couple hrs is may be a typical cycle time, but 6 hrs is extreme.
No drain line or dryer vent installed. Condenser dryers don't require venting, which is the one advantage they have for installation in situations such as your condo.

They can be either air-condensing or water-condensing. A water-condensing unit, of course, would require a drain line.

Several major manufacturers (Maytag, Frigidaire) had stand-alone condenser dryers in the 1950s and into the 1960s. Frigidaire was known for their Filtrator air-condensing line. Bendix, Maytag, Kenmore, and GE had water-condensing combo units (wash and dry in a single machine) into the 1960s. GE units may have been available into the early 1970s.

That's not right.
It may need to be cleaned (not just the lint trap).

I've never dealt with a condenser dryer but I think there are coils that need to be cleaned.

Check with the owners manual or look up the manual online.

Best of luck.

Here is a link that might be useful: Maintaining Your ASKO Condenser Dryer

This post was edited by georgect on Sat, May 4, 13 at 11:55

Did you have to empty the condensate tray several times and was it always full? If so, then the load was way too wet to go in the dryer.

Other causes: is the condenser unit clean? Is there sufficient airflow going in and out of he dryer - this "cooling air" is needed for the condensation process to be effective. The room temp during the cycle mustn't exceed a certain threshold - I think it's like 85F or something. You'll find cleaning and installation advice in the manual.

Other than that, does the dryer get hot enough? There could also be a problem with it not heating sufficiently. My Bosch Axxis dries a load in an hour.

Alex

We ahd to empty the condensate tray after the load. Did another load, of light cotton clothes, and that took "only" about 2 hours to dry. That also required an emptying of the tray. The Manual says to empty tray about every 5 loads.

Everything seems to be clean - filters, coil, etc. Where the problem may lie is that there is no way to get Cool air in the closet where the dryer is installed. THe dryer is very loud, and the closet is right between the 2 bedrooms, one of which is our bedroom, and the other is a home office that is used as an office all day. Dryer is very very loud, so we really need the door closed. Catch-22 - if door is closed, it won't dry properly? If door open, not only too noisy, but open door blocks hallway for us to walk around.

Are there other units that can fit in a closet that work better?

Any condensation dryer needs plenty of cool air to do its job. If you cannot leave the door even partly open or have a louvered door, no condensation dryer will work.

You might want to look for a quieter dryer.

The building we are living in is only 9 years old - 150 Units. Beautiful luxury apartments. But I can't understand why they put in Condenser Dryers! In a closet. So we have no choice over the machine nor where it's located. We have to use what is here.

Just ran yet another load - dried it with the door open. After 2 hours, not dry yet. Actually, quite wet.
The clothes are warm. The druer itself is quite warm, as it the closet it is kept in - even with door open.

Frustrating.

They put in condensing dryers because they don't require a vent to the outside of the building, which saves money during construction and prevents cold air from entering the building during winter.

I wouldn't want one either. I'm spoiled by my gas dryer.

We live in NYC as well and have had friends with condenser dryers. To a one aside from those who had previous experience with them (mainly from Europe or the UK), people hated the things with a passion. If one is used to American vented dryers then condensate versions will drive you up the wall.

Unlike vented dryers that basically blast clothing with heat and push the moisture and or heated air out of the machine via venting, condensate dryers work on a loop back system. That is the air is heated often to a lower level, and the resulting moisture laden air pulled through coils (much like your AC) to wring the water out of it, then said air is sent back into the drum to pick up more water. This cycle is repeated until items are "dry". Dry being the operative word.

Because condenser dryers work on a sealed system the only air used is what is pulled in via intake vents. That should be cool and dry otherwise it increases the work load on the dryer and or affects performance. Basically if you've got warm moisture laden air inside the unit and the same outside the unit there isn't enough difference for the condensing system to work efficiently.

Condenser dryers are popular in Europe/UK for the same reasons your developer put them in the apartments; no outside venting required means this sort of dryer can be located any where without the expense and bother of running exhaust systems.

Having lived in Europe (Paris) for extended periods and used condenser dryers, am here to tell you about two hours is normal for an average 5kilo (11lbs) load. This is for washing spun at around 900 rpms to 1100 rpms. If final spin speed is increased to say 1600 or 1800 rpms then drying times fall.

Miele and other makers of condenser and vented dryers list or at least listed average drying times for a full load. In all cases the vented dryers are faster.

The other thing about condenser dryers is that one must adapt one's idea of "dryness". Unlike vented high heating dryers that can "bake" washing bone dry, condenser dryers gently evaporate the water out of laundry in an often steamy internal environment using low heat. Therefore it is natural for laundry to feel "warm" and not "hot" as with vented dryers. Also washing emerges slightly damp from condenser dryers. One is supposed to take some items out and allow the remaining moisture to evaporate whilst hanging or draped over something. Many persons aren't bothered by this and feel it is a more gentle way to dry laundry thus protect textiles. OTHO if you are used to pulling things from the dryer "dry", folding and putting away, you might have to rethink that process.

As noted in posts above you cannot keep the door even partially closed when using a condenser dryer. These units require a steady supply of cool air to work properly. To the same end during the hot and or more humid months such as a NYC summer you may find performance of your dryer suffers. Again this is for the same reasons, hot/humid air going into the unit means the unit cannot reach the balance required to evaporate moisture. Some persons work around this by turning on the AC, but that means you are now using energy on *two* fronts.

Best advice one can give is to echo keeping the filters clean and if at all possible use the highest spin setting on your washer. This would be especially true for heavy and or thick items such as towels. The less water remaining in your laundry translates into less work for the condenser dryer.

Thanks for the descriptions of hw these $%^*$%& dryers work. Never experienced this before - we like to remove the laundry & then fold & put away. There's really no place to Hang clothes here.

You described it perfectly saying this is driving me up the wall! :-)

I tried something on our most recent load. THe load has been drying for 3 hours & still not dry. However, 2 T-shirts that I placed ON TOP OF the Dryer ARE DRY!!! SO there's the answer - put hooks in the closet where the dryer is & hang clothes on the hooks to dry while the dryer is running!!!!! :-)

I also put a thermometer in the closet where the dryer is running. With the closet door part way open, the temp is reading 86.

The people who were here before us were the original occupants. The SUper here told me that they NEVER called him about anything. We had to have an A/C guy here the day we moved in because the A/C was not working. What he found was that there was ZERO Freon in the Compressor. NONE. NADA. And no sign of a leak. His belief is that the people who lived here never used their A/C, or if they did, it could not have cooled for at least the past several years. Evidently, they never did wash here either. We believe the former residents owned a Deli - they probably did everything at their store - all signs point to them not using appliances here for many years. Just My Luck!

Tomorrow I'll have a talk again with the SUper to see if there is something that can be done - at least find out what others in the building are doing. This is an Over 55 building and the average age is mid 70's - I am sure they are not schlepping laundry around!

Thanks again

I think 86F is pretty hot. My Bosch lists 95F as the max. so 86 might already be too much for the Asko.

Two things RE: Cimberlie's post: a) condenser dryers work with pretty high temps, actually. My Bosch cuts the heater off when the temp inside the drum reaches 167F. It will, however, automatically switch over to low heat once the load reaches the Damp Dry level to protect fibers. b) Condenser dryers do dry clothes fully. Absolutely no need for clothes to finish drying "hanging or draped over something".

Also, remember that there's more to a condenser dryer than just the filter. Just like one should clean the duct of a vented dryer once a year - I clean my dryer. This is our previous dryer.

Here is a link that might be useful: Dryer Cleaning

American dryers internal temps:

GE dryers circa 1994 hit 135F for 'Cottons/Normal' see link.

So while the 167F of your Miele would be considered hot to very hot by such standards, 85F is much cooler.

Here is a link that might be useful: GE Dryer Internal Temps

Just snooped around the web and it seems the average internal temp for American tumble dryers on "High" is 150F to 180F

I would look at the washing machine. Sounds like the clothes are not being spun out enough. Make sure younaremspinning at or close to the maximum spin speed for the cycle. Drying times could be greatly reduced by this

MRB

This may be of some assistance:

Here is a link that might be useful: Service Manual Asko Dryers

I'm also thinknig maybe the washer may be at fault. The washer only allows spinning at 800 or 1200 rpm. For permanent Press, they recommend spinning at 800. What this washer does that is different from all others I'm experienced with is that when I open the door after the spin cycle, the clothes are all lying on the bottom of the drum. I'm used to seeing the clothes stuck to the sides of the drum, not in a pile on the bottom. It seems a little better when run at 1200, but wondering if that will harm the fabric. BUT I think no matter how wet the clothes are going into the Dryer, it should not take nearly this long to dry!

We are now up to 6 hours drying a small load of permanent press clothing, and still very damp.

BTW - the Washer is an Asko W6021.

I just got rid of the Asko 6021. The 1200 rpm spin was good at extracting and most things were stuck to the sides.

No idea about their condenser dryer but I had a Bosch cd in an apartment closet. It did get very hot, as everyone said, but things dried very quickly and there was hardly a difference between that and my vented dryer.

With the Asko washer I found if there's the slightest small thing in that pin trap the washer doesn't work properly. If the p.o.s didn't maintain/use, I would definitely check the washer's pin trap and then the cd filter. My Bosch got quite a lint accumulation quickly and it had to be cleaned regularly. However, even my vented Asko dryer wasn't the greatest.

I was refering to the room temp of 86F as being too much.

So the bottom line is, on loads that are spun at 800 (due to the material being washed), a small load is taking 4 hours to dry, AND the Dryer is incredibly loud with the door to the little closet it is in being open.

Is there something that will dry better under these conditions?

So the bottom line is, on loads that are spun at 800 (due to the material being washed), a small load is taking 4 hours to dry, AND the Dryer is incredibly loud with the door to the little closet it is in being open.

Is there something that will dry better under these conditions?

I never used the 800 rpm spin. I would use the 1200 rpm spin. Unless you're washing silk I don't think the spin speed would be a problem.

Not saying there isn't something amiss with the dryer. But worth a try.

It definitely does work better when spun at 1200. Even better when I do an extra spin. BUT - many "delicates" are not supposed to be spun that fast, I think.

Also, in terms of energy efficiency, aren't you in essence using the Central Air COnditioner to help dry clothes? Wastes an awful lot of electricity. Not looking forward to seeing my bills, esp in summer.

I wish there was an alternative.

It definitely does work better when spun at 1200. Even better when I do an extra spin. BUT - many "delicates" are not supposed to be spun that fast, I think.

Also, in terms of energy efficiency, aren't you in essence using the Central Air COnditioner to help dry clothes? Wastes an awful lot of electricity. Not looking forward to seeing my bills, esp in summer.

I wish there was an alternative.