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lanag12

Silly question about stackable hookups

7 years ago

Hello everyone,
I've googled, but must be using ineffective keywords. Forgive me if this is silly. I have a basic GE stackable washer/dryer. I love it. I live alone, so its small capacity is great. No extra electronics to break (which I've had bad luck with before with fancier machines), just basic knobs. I've had several repair people say the basic ones last the longest, so now I'm biased toward mine.
I may be moving soon to a place with side by side hookups. The previous owners are open to leaving their fancy washer and dryer.
1. Assuming height is not an issue, can I hook up my stackable in a side by side spot? I may be wrongly assuming the hoses are long enough, and I don't know if there's more to it.
2. I see the side by sides as unnecessarily big (for me) machines with more electronic parts to break. Is there a compelling argument for giving up my 3 year old stackable for their side by side (age and history unknown, possibly only 2-3 years old)?
Thank you all.

Comments (6)

  • 7 years ago

    Also, regards to your GE unit, rotary-dial controls on a washer or dryer does not necessarily confirm there are no electronics involved. Many such machines have a computer board and the rotary dials (instead of buttons or a touch panel) are selectors to set the cycle/options on the board.

    Clues to the presence of electronics are:
    - cycle progress lights
    - a Start/Pause/Stop button
    - the selector dial has positions labeled for various cycles or fabrics and stays on the selected cycle at the end of the operation ... that is, it does not progress from a starting position to an "Off" position.

    lanag12 thanked dadoes
  • 7 years ago
    last modified: 7 years ago

    Adding to what Weed said about "if there is more to it" than just longer hoses, you also might or might not need an extension for the drain hose (cheap and readily available at hardware stores) and also will need to run some dryer ducting over to, down to or up to the space's existing dryer vent outlet (also cheap and readily available at hardware stores.) If the washer and dryer go against an exterior wall, you could have a new dryer vent outlet cut into the wall up where the stacked dryer's vent sits. Otherwise, running a vent down to, up to or over to the existing vent outlet will require few pieces of 4" rigid metal ducting and a flexible elbow or two. Do not fall prey to the temptation to use the even cheaper flexible foil or vinyl wrapped dryer connections that look like large slinky toys.

    Could you clarify what your existing washer-dryer is? When you said "stackable," I pictured one of GE's compact front load washers with a compact dryer placed on top with kit -- something that looks like the set-up shown in this link. But, when you said "no extra electronics" and "basic knobs," it sounded more like one of GE's unitized "laundry centers" like the one in this link.

    If you have one of the front loader set-ups, you could just unstack them --- you'll already have done that to move them, anyway --- and they'll be "plug-n-play" with new place's hookups.

    As for keeping your present three-year old set, which you like, versus opting for having the sellers leave their larger units of unknown provenance, it strikes me as a six-of-one- and-half-dozen -of-the-other kind of thing. There is something to be said for keeping a set with which you've been happy and that is suited to your modest laundry needs. GE load washers have an okay but not great reputation for durability and longevity; may be worth seeing what you can find out about the sellers' model and brand for comparison's sake. There's also the consideration that your GE set is well sized for your needs and practices. There would be a learning curve with the seller's larger ones and they might not do as well with your modest wash loads. Over the years here, posters have reported some full-size machines have difficulties properly balancing smaller loads for both washing and spin cycles; others have reported having no problems running smaller loads on their full-size front loaders. Further, how hard would it be to find out what the sellers' laundry practices have been? (Might be easy, might not.) Some folks will have followed the kinds of laundry practices strongly recommended by the regulars here (who tend to be laundry-philes if not laundry-holics). Those are using appropriately downsized detergent dosing, limited use of fabric softener, running regular drum clean cycles with very hot water, and running a goodly proportion of their loads with warm and hot water washes (for fabrics allowing warm or hot). OTOH, I know many folks who have have extremely firm convictions that they should do only cold-water washes and believe strongly in using lots of detergent and fabric softener. There's a recent thread here where Dadoes posted some pictures of how those latter practices could wreck a Samsung washer in less than five years. (If curious, you can find Dadoes post [about half-way down in this thread [(https://www.houzz.com/discussions/have-only-cold-water-pipes-for-washing-machine-dsvw-vd~5655826?n=16)from a few days ago.)

    lanag12 thanked jwvideo
  • 7 years ago

    "The previous owners are open to leaving their fancy washer and dryer."

    Take them up on it and leave the old appliances for the next person. You'll have to take apart the stack, transport the appliances to the new place, and reconnect them there, all the while risking damage to them. And you'll have to pay for all that. Accept the gift.

  • 7 years ago

    It's common that the nomenclature is crossed-up and used incorrectly between stacked and stackable.


    Some unitary stacked sets can't be disassembled for transport, some can ... as opposed to stackable, which are separate mechanisms that can be run in either a stacked or non-stacked configuration and can always be separated. The OP didn't cite the model(s) of his/her unit(s) or include a picture so we don't know exactly what kind is involved here.



  • 7 years ago

    Thank you everyone. Mine is indeed a GE "laundry center," (top load washer, front load dryer) and to my knowledge cannot be unstacked. I toured yesterday and theirs is also a GE, side by side front loaders. My genius mother suggested to keep them both since there is ample storage in the garage. Decide which to sell later, if at all. I'm glad it's possible to set mine up, even if it involves a little bit of shopping for hoses. Thank you again!

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