FANCY A QUICK TUMBLE? (Creda Advance Condenser Tumble Dryer)

Member Name: tange

Product:	Creda Advance Condenser Tumble Dryer
Date:	05/02/03 (7939 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Works well, Sensor knows when clothes are dry, good price

Disadvantages: Large, Generates lots of heat

After using our brand new tumble dryer for over six weeks now I feel that I have used it enough to write about it. I've never had a tumble dryer before, so this is a whole new product to me, I only have my own experiences to go on and I don't have any other dryers to compare this one to.

~~~Why we decided to get a tumble dryer.

We don't really have any drying space in our house (just a couple of radiators) because our only fire is in the living room and drying clothes in front of that would obscure the TV (and we don't want THAT!). Drying outside means hanging things out in the back garden, but this isn't possible in winter or when the weather is wet. The main drying areas inside are the dining room and bedroom radiators ~ I am sick of crinkly wallpaper, so the next logical step was to get a dryer.

~~~Which dryer did we get?

Alun looked on the Which web-site and then checked the internet for a suitable (and reasonably priced) dryer. We settled on a Creda T632CW Condenser Dryer, which we got from unbeatable.com. It cost us £214 plus £29.95 delivery ~ even though this was quite a lot for delivery it still worked out as a good deal because the dryer was considerably cheaper than elsewhere. We decided on a condenser dryer because we weren't sure where we going to place it and our wall space for an external vent in the kitchen was limited.

~~How big is it?

It's quite large (bigger than our washing machine) so bear this in mind when buying it ~ it's not slimline by any stretch of the imagination! Its vital statistics are 850mm (H) x 595mm (W) x 600mm (D) and it holds 6kg (13lb) of washing in its drum. In real terms this means I can fit in either a whole load of washing (including loads of Alun's rugby shirts), a full King Size duvet set (including valance sheet and four pillow cases), or all of the covers from our large three seater settee and chair. These fit in comfortably and it
could probably take more, but I don't want to risk overloading it. Despite its size we have taken out a cupboard in the kitchen and it fits snugly under the work surface.

~~~Is it easy to use?

Yes, it's very easy to operate. All the buttons, and the dial on the front, are clearly labelled and they are easy to press and turn. As long as you turn the settings dial clockwise and know how to press a button you will be fine. The door is easy to open (there's no handle) and the water tank and fluff filter are really easy to clean and empty.

~~~Special Features.

TIME DELAY~~ We can set the dryer to come on up to 8 hours in advance.

COOL TUMBLE ~~This is great if you don't want your clothes to come out of the dryer too hot to handle. You can select a cycle that does a final cool section to make sure your clothes come out fine ~ I use this on my loose covers so they aren't too hot to put straight back on the settee.

SAFETY START / RESTART ~~If you open the door the dryer automatically turns itself off ~ great if you catch it by accident. When you close the door again you just press the start button and it resumes drying. There is also a setting on the front dial to stop the dryer coming on if you catch the on button by accident.

HEAT SETTINGS ~~ There's a choice of High or Low heat that you select by either having a button on the front in or out. This is good because you can choose the lower setting for delicate fabrics and not have to worry about them getting too hot.

LIGHT ~~ There's a light (a little green one) that comes on when the dryer is on. The light also flashes on if your water tank needs emptying. It's good to make a habit of emptying this after every wash because if it gets too full it WILL flood your kitchen. Unlike vented tumble dryers, the water and steam out of your clothes collects in the water tank and doesn't go outside.

ANTI-TANGLE ~~ The
drum tumbles one way and then the other so that your clothes don't get all tangled up in the dryer ~ this makes them easier to remove from the dryer and also easier to iron because they aren't all wound up together.

AUTO-SENSOR DRYING ~~ This is absolutely the BEST thing about this dryer. You don't have to programme it to dry for a particular length of time (although you can if you want). You just put the laundry in, select the heat setting and switch it on. That's all there is to it! You can then leave the dryer (go out if you like) safe in the knowledge that the sensor will stop the dryer when your stuff is dry ~ how cool is that? It actually works too.

FLUFF FILTER ~~ This filters all of the fluff and gunk out of your laundry ~ it's especially good for removing the bits of tissue Alun manages to sneak into the washing! It is surprising how much fluff a load generates and I am deciding whether to save it all to knit a jumper!

NO VENT ~~ Like I said before, a condenser dryer doesn't need to be placed next to an external wall and doesn't need a vent. The steam produced by the dryer is condensed and collects in a tank located in the base of the machine. This made it the ideal choice for us and meant that we could keep it in one part of the kitchen before we removed the cupboard to house it permanently.

~~~Performance.

So far I have been really happy with it. I would still like to dry clothes on the line outside (weather permitting) in summer, but for larger items, and when that isn?t possible, I am confident in my dryer's performance. I have had no shrinkage of any of my laundry ~ I was worried that my loose settee covers would shrink, but they were fine too.

My only slight quibble is the amount of heat that it produces when drying, but this is really to be expected because it's got a lot of work to do. Just be careful that you don't put it near to anything that needs to sta
y cool and you will be fine. It makes a bit of noise too but really only as much as a typical washing machine would, so I don't consider this to be too much of a worry.

I have noticed that sometimes not all of the clothes are completely dry, but I think I've discovered why. This is because I was trying to dry several items of very different thicknesses. I now try to wash and dry my items in "types" ~ all the socks and pants together, all the rugby shirts, bedding etc in batches. This means that everything now dries evenly and it makes sorting the dried clothes out easier too. The sensor makes drying so much easier too ~ a woman at work was frantically trying to get in touch with her husband on Saturday because she'd left her son?s jeans in the tumble dryer and thought she might have set it to stay on too long; I don't have any such worries with mine!

I would really recommend this dryer to anyone who needs a good alternative for drying their laundry. It's a good model for the price and produces excellent results. We haven't had it long enough to have to repair it yet, but the service we've had from Creda in the past has been good, so we should be ok there too. If you are after a tumble dryer and have not considered a condenser one before then you can't do wrong by looking at this one.

~~If you need any info on this or any other Creda products go to http://www.creda.co.uk/creda/home.htm ~ there's a link to the Customer Service Centre.

~~If you want to buy anything from unbeatable.com go to www.unbeatable.com

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