 |
Hotpoint TCM580P
by rosaliecullen
==Overview==
We were bought this tumble dryer as a very generous wedding present from our parents. We didn't choose the dryer ourselves so really we just had to hope that it would be suitable for our needs. Luckily it does seem to be....for the most part. The dryer is a condenser dryer which means that the water collects in a ... tank within the dryer. I'm not certain what other type of dryers there are but based on the space we had available this was the sort we needed.
==How to operate==
The dryer is really simple to operate. The door has a spring function so you press the door and the door springs open. You put your clothes inside and close the door. There is only one dial on the front of the tumble dyer which is clearly 'time'. The maximum you can dry for is 2 hours 40 minutes (160minutes). Obviously you can put the dryer on again if you need to. You then decide if you want to put it on a high heat or low heat. I'm a bit of a maverick here and put everything on high heat (and occasionally wonder why my cardigans seem smaller!) and it seems to do OK. Then once you have selected the heat, you press the start button. To stop the dryer your just press the large door and the dryer stops instantly.
==Drum Size and Drying Time==
The drum size is 8Kg which is brilliant, but typically if you fill the drum the clothes come out quite creased and take AGEEEEEEEEES to dry. Small bits (i.e. less than 10 items) for short bursts of time seem to work best and really reduce creasing. However, most of the time we seem to forget to do this and just throw the entire washing load in the dryer and wonder why it takes ages to dry. The drum size is good for drying sheets and even a double-bed throw fits into it with a bit of a squeeze. Compared to the "other" type of dryer that my Mum owns, this seems to be quite slow at drying clothes. She has used this dryer when hers has been on the blink and found it very slow in comparison. I'm not sure why, perhaps this is something that condensing dryers do?
==Noise==
The noise isn't too bad. Our dryer is perched on top of a worktop (washing machine underneath) and doesn't jump around at all. It is in the utility room which is tiled and echoey, so I do think it makes some noise, but is generally quiet compared to our very old (old) washing machine which used to sound like an aeroplane taking off. This has a loud hum to it but nothing too bad. Might feel differently if it was in the kitchen but we can close the utility room door so it isn't as loud.
==Extra features==
1. Fluff gatherer - I'm certain this isn't the technical name for it, but essentially there is a fluff gatherer on the front which you can take out (and must take out) regularly to throw the fluff in the bin. I like this feature as compared to my Mum's older dryer, the fluff used to get everywhere in the shed and make a mess so I'm glad this feature is in our dyer.
2. Water gatherer - As I mentioned earlier there is a water tank which is basically a long drawer with a handle (you can see it on the picture). The water is drawn out of the clothes and condenses into this tank. When it is full, a red light comes on and you pull the drawer out of the machine and empty it down the sink. The worst part of the dryer is that if the tank is full and cannot hold any more water, the machine doesn't cut out. It keeps on drying to no avail as there is nowhere for the water to go. A better design would be for the dryer to cut out once the tank was full. Therefore if you think you are going to be doing a lot of drying, make sure you check to see if the tank is full or not. I think it holds a gallon of water if memory serves me correctly.
==Overall==
Overall, I do like this dryer, but would be interested more to know how the drying time compared to other dryers out there as I feel our dryer is on for a long time sometimes and it must use a lot of energy up. We haven't had any problems with it in the 2 years that we have had it. Would I buy it again? I'm not sure. I'd definitely want to do more research into the best drying times of condenser tumble dryers rather than just going and buying anyone. The drum size is useful but again putting full loads of washing in takes hours to dry. The quality of the parts seems good as I would expect from Hotpoint.
Read the complete review |
 |
Hotpoint TVF770G
by thedevilinme
As all guys know the primary reason for the belly button is somewhere to put the gum on the way down....before she tickles your toes. It's also the principal gatherer of lint, that small spool of fluff naturally harvested from your clothes and snuggled up in your naval like a new born squirrel in some warm moss and leaves. The body has ... everything covered and even does its own hovering! By the way girls, if a man does have the old wool ball in the belly button he doesn't wash enough and so not marrying material. Mine is fully exfoliated if you're asking. That lint, of course, was the primary cause of a series of house fires in the 1980s where sub standard tumble dryers did exactly the same thing as the naval with lint through a major default where the fluff could gather in the rim where the spinning drum created the most friction and so occasionally ignited the material, causing a horrendous spinning fireball chasing you around your house. Today the modern versions are designed not to catch fire and, rather ironically, the only piece of kitchen hardware that does catch fire is those Beko fridge freezers.
Like egg boilers and yoghurt makers a spin dryer is a bit of an indulgence in recession and something you only really need if you have big family or live in a flat with no garden space or drying area - or you are simply a lazy sod. We purchased ours as the footy team's kit needs washing and drying every week and prefer to build up a big pile of clothes of all colours and materials from the week and stuff them in the washing machine and leave it to dry in the drum after it's washed. In this way you just get a snow shovel and spade it into the tumble dryer. If there are no women around to pick up and put washing in the machine and dryer at the correct time then what's a guy to do? Its surprising what you can use gardening implements for in the house.
As with getting rid of old kitchen equipment and brining in the new these things are dead weights and hard to get rid off, like getting shot of a dead body, a furtive dumping operation for the middle of the night to avoid sizeable costs for legal disposal, up to 50 quid to get rid of stuff like old freezers and washing machines these days through the council. Its ok to purchase a cell phone made with metals extracted from illegal Congolese mines by likewise child labour at gunpoint but it's not ok to expect the bin man to pick up an old toaster for nothing!!
The chosen model we rocked into the kitchen just before Christmas was the Hotpoint TVF770G, £179 with delivery from Currys. A sign of the times saw a rather attractive young woman deliver it. I didn't ask her how to use it or, indeed, could she test it with that big pile of washing over there in the corner. I gave her Typhoo and she left.
As I said before we bought this to wash all the sports kit quickly and do weekly washes over daily ones to save money. If you put your best stuff on the washing line in our street the chavs from the nearby estate tend to steel it. I wouldn't say the machine effortlessly dries stuff and you need a good hour. With a generous 7.5kg drying capacity you can stuff quite a bit of gear in there and it will dry around 2o thin items at once, like T-Shirts, or ten or so thicker items, like rugby tops and jumpers. Fleeces and the occasional thick material coat demand more work from the cylinder so don't put too many of those in guys. The unique 'Bed & Bath setting' (according to the blurb) is designed to give those larger items a good drying. There is a 'Refresh' setting, which is supposed to air your lightly soiled clothing so you don't have to re-wash needlessly, which can be a very useful if you're in a rush but your clothes still have stains on them. I have tried this and I'm not sure if it works. It's a bit like the Dolby button on your stereo, an extra button that doesn't do anything but makes your kit cost that little bit more.
It's not that noisy and makes a satisfactory whirr, enough to detract burglars when you're out and about. The previous one my brother had sounded like the last car I drove back in the day when I started it up, a chug and violent bang or two or three with accompanying blue smoke and screams. The piping in the back is a little fragile so be careful when you push it square to the wall. Any squeeze on those pipes and its flood time. There is a vent back there to and also needs to be kept clear. These things need to suck in a lot of air to not overheat.
It looks sexy in black or the blue steel grey model and the door shuts tight. If you do hit it with your knee against the hinge it does look vulnerable to damage over time, and we all know how expensive white goods replacement parts are from dealers and the makers. A new glass dish for our current microwave cost more than the actually microwave! With no real complexity to the programs and a cheap price I can fully recommend this baby!
Read the complete review |
|
|
Hotpoint TVM570
by Willow_Warren
We bought this tumble dryer as we were fed up of having loads and loads of washing hanging around the house, on airers and over the radiators, during the weeks of dam and wet weather we had this spring. Since having it delivered it has had weekly use.
This model is not as deep as some models which is useful if you are a little ... short of space, however it does have a large drum, I have to confess I do not know what 7kg of washing looks like, but it has not struggled with what I have sensibly put into it.
It has very simple operation, two heat settings and a timer which, is any thing up to 120 minutes, it doesn't have a sensor but you soon get used to how long things take to dry. It also vented rather than a condenser, but I think this makes it more simple and less likely for something to go wrong. I did however have to buy a longer hose for it to reach the door as the one supplied is quite short.
It basically does the job for what we bought it, it dries the clothes evenly and leaves them lovely and soft. I use it to dry complete loads of washing and also to "finish stuff of" which we have hung outside which usually takes about 20 minutes, so being able to set the time accurately is a good thing with this machine.
It doesn't have a consensor or sensor, but it is a good basic machine.
Overall very happy with the first few months of ownership.
Read the complete review |
