Customer Reviews

Household Essentials R-400 40-Foot Single-Line Indoor/Outdoor Retractable Clothes Dryer

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

I've had this retractable clothesline for about a year or so. It's not hard to install: you screw it into a handy wall or fence post. Make sure that it's tightly fixed into something sturdy. Then you need to install a hook for the other end of the line, which can be any sort of sturdy cup hook. The flimsy decorative one that I started with (it was already installed and had been used to corral a line of Christmas lights) did not work.

When you want to hang something outside, you pull the plastic D-ring out of the spool, walk it over to your hook, and then go back to the spool and loop a little extra cord around a saucer-shaped stopper on the bottom. That loop (which I prefer to pull very tight) holds the cord in place. If you don't do that, then the first thing you put on the line will make more cord come out of the spool until everything's on the ground. When you're done, just unwind the loop and unhook the end. The line will automatically retract.

This device is useful for any length of space up to about 40 feet. I'm currently using mine in a sort of zig-zag pattern so that the line makes three trips across a space that's about thirteen feet long (using a total of three hooks). The advantage to this is that I can use a relatively long and narrow bit of my deck to hang up the laundry and still get quite a bit of line space, since it uses all of the available line. Forty feet will hang a total of twenty T-shirts or pairs of jeans.

The only thing that I dislike about this is the material that the actual line is made from. After enough use, it tends to stretch a bit, and it's really hard to keep it from sagging. I think that my next clothesline will use proper vinyl-coated, wire-reinforced clothesline, just like Mama had.

I don't like giving bad reviews but in this case it's justifyed. I have owned 2 of these, thinking that the failure of the first may have been a fluke I bought a second one. Both units were very flawed, the lock that holds the line will suddenely unlocks and lets all of the extra line loose, sending the clothes crashing to the floor. It's not a matter of overloading the lines either. I've had it to unlock with only 1 shirt. But if you unlike me, enjoy picking fresh laundry up off the floor then by all means this is the one to buy. Maybe it should be remarketed as exercise equiptment! lol

While the overall design is basically OK, the mounting bracket is plastic and broke after 10 months of light use rendering the entire product useless. The bracket should be made of metal to better support clothes pin to 40' of line. Don't bother with this item unless you don't mind replacing it within one year or are only planning on hanging underwear and socks on the line.

This is similar to http://www.amazon.com/Lehigh-RC20-20-Foot-Retractable-Clothesline/dp/B000WQ19I4/ref=pd_sim_hg_2 - the same manufacturer, but different distributer. I've owned 3 of these things over the last year, and 2 have broken after occasional usage. Cheap plastic parts, lousy workmanship, poorly-made products that fall apart much too quickly ....in other words all the hallmarks of a product Made In China! From an engineering/design standpoint, there's no reason why a simple device with few moving parts shouldn't last 10-20 years. This garbage product breaks after 6 or 7 months? [...].

I have just come back in side after picking up the clothes that were dropped all over my lawn when the plastic housing on this product cracked open causing the whole thing to fall to the ground. And I didn't have nearly the 350 lbs on the thing that it was supposed to hold. I have only had this up for about four months. Perhaps it would be better if you were intending on using it inside, but if you plan to expose it to cold, sun, or any other moderately extreme weather, think about another product.

I also have never been happy with the way the cord retracted. I never got it to fully lock and always had to wrap the cord around a post a couple of times to get the tension I needed.

Using a clothesline has been great, but I will have to give it another go with a different product.

This is fantastic. I bought my first one 13 years ago and put it up in my Florida room. It has been through three major hurricanes. I was thrilled to find the exact same model this year. Mine has never broken, but it has gotten weather beaten. I put up stronger bolts for it because I hang heavy rugs and jeans on it. The line itself has never broken. Be sure you wind it around the little disk below the mechanism at least twice, then it will never slip on you. I have used it forever and it has saved me thousands over the years; I just hang everything out and then fluff it for 5 minutes in the dryer. This is an excellent product and very well made, has held up through everything including leaving it outdoors in my screened room for 13 years.

Ours was mounted outside. In the Pacific NW, relatively mild weather. But it seemed to get brittle (from the sun?) and the mounting bracket broke. Too flimsy to be of any long term use. A little metal in the mounting bracket would be nice. This is cheap plastic.

With all the talk of retracting force in the product description, I half expected to "duck" when unhooking one end of the line. Turns out, that isn't the case.

The instructions that come with the product are a bit vague, too.

Once I got the thing up and mounted, I about decided I could have done the same thing with two eye hooks and some clothes line from the local hardware store.

But, hey, it arrived ontime, intact, and does work.

So, no real complaints.

I'll add my voice to others telling you to skip this one and buy a different clothesline! I didn't pick this out and was disappointed when I saw the all-plastic mounting bracket, but the purchaser wanted it hung so... today I was picking laundry up out of the grass when the bracket broke. Can't say as I was all that surprised.

It's great to use a clothesline rather than the dryer whenever possible, but please, look for one with metal parts unless you want to purchase a new one after just a few months of use.

The plastic will crack, and then you will spend the money to buy the one with a metal bracket (I got the one made by Lehigh; is a bit bigger, but much more burly). Just save your money/time and get the more bomber one.