Customer Reviews

29" Twin Tub Portable Washer with 10 lb. Capacity 2 Wash Options Lint Filter & Separate Spin Extractor

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I love this machine and would recommend it to people who understand and appreciate the below points.

If you have lived in Asia or Europe, you have seen some version of this machine before, on peoples' porches and patios.

One powerful idea is you control how many times you want to rinse (I love double and triple rinsing my clothes - get the dirt AND the detergent out!). You control how many minutes to agitate. You can customize how you want to do your clothes. It's super for soaking and gentle-agitating your fine washables - use a mesh laundry bag! Soak as long as you like - it's not the laundromat!

The best idea is the super efficient centrifuge like spinner. Yes, it's the flap side on the right, yes, you have to load that side separately. However, the spinner is so fast, faster than the spin mechanism in ANY other type of washing machine, that your clothes are just moist, not sopping wet when they come out. This means your clothes will air dry pretty fast! I would guess that not even the best conventional washing machines spin clothes as well as this spinner.

That's why the spinner in this machine is separate - it's a completely different function.

This design is why they don't use clothes dryers in Asia and Europe - because of the centrifuge spinner.

As for load size, I do laundry for two adults and one 5 year old every couple of days - I hate letting a week of dirty stuff pile up. It would be hell to air dry a week's worth of wet clothes. However, doing smaller loads more frequently allows you to avoid using the clothes dryer. You can have fewer clothes, too. Another $$ saver. (Having more underwear and socks is NOT the answer!)

The dryer not only costs $$ and is ecologically incorrect, it destroys and shortens the life of your textiles so you do want to avoid using it anyway, right?

The small footprint means it fits nicely in our small Manhattan apartment's half bathroom. I doubt any other machine would fit in there. No installation is necessary - you just need a sink. The casters make moving it around easy. It's pretty lightweight - I am a petite woman and I can move it myself. In our prior apartment, it slid around nicely in our small kitchen.

For the best reviews, see [...]- there are like forty reviews there, more fair and comprehensive than the two here.

This is my original review of this washing machine, posted shortly after I received it:

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This washing machine is both unusual and very fantastic. It gives you much more control over your washing process, as well as your water usage. This is important if you are trying to cut down your water bill, or if you are merely trying to be ecologically responsible like I am.

The "twin-tub" washing machine model was popular in the U.S. in the 1940's and 50's; they are still very popular in the UK, Australia, the Middle East, and Asia. It's really cool Danby makes a model for the U.S. market.

You control how much water you fill the tub with - the input hose connects straight to the tap, and you adjust the heat and pressure of the water, etc, directly from your faucet. This is a good feature as it means the hose does not need to be pressurized, which means you are less likely to have leaks. Since the washing tub and most of the rest of the washer is plastic you can not use water over 120 degrees. But not washing clothes with piping hot water will also conserve energy, and the washer only weighs about 65 to 70 lbs due to its mostly plastic composition. (The washer is on casters which roll back and forth - it'd be nice if they rolled side to side too, but since the washer is so light-weight, it's not hard to slide sideways.)

There is a low, medium, and high water setting - the highest setting holds about 15 gallons. The tub holds a surprising amount of clothing (about 6 to 7 lbs, although it says 10 lbs): I can do a week's worth of my laundry in here easily in one load (e.g. several shirts, a few dresses, several pairs of tights, a few pairs long underwear, several pairs of socks all at once). I can also wash a queen size flannel sheet set (fitted sheet, regular sheet, and 2 pillow cases) in one wash, with room for more.

The washer has an intermittent agitation method, and 2 wash settings (gentle and normal) - I've found it gets my clothes very clean. It is somewhat inconvenient that the spinner only holds about half of what the washing tub holds, but I can deal with that. The good thing is that the spinner spins at 1400 to 1600 rpms and gets one's clothes half dry just from the spin. Clothes dry within several hours, or overnight, on a drying rack after a wash.

You control the number of washes and rinses manually just by repeating either or both yourself. You can set a wash/rinse cycle from 1 to 15 minutes. A spin cycle can be set from 1 to 5 minutes. If you need an extra wash or soak, just fill the tub with water and detergent and let your clothes soak before setting and starting the wash cycle.

This washer is not very loud, but it's not entirely silent either. If you are worried about it being heard by neighbors I think it very likely any sounds can be effectively masked by playing music. I cannot hear it running inside when I go outside my apartment and listen.

You save on energy and water use with this washer; the compromise is you put more manual energy into the process - switching your clothing from the wash tub to the spinner, and back again, etc (you will want to invest in a pair of rubber dish-washing gloves, otherwise you'll have to get your hands very wet). So, it's not for everyone. But there's lots of room for ingenuity, e.g. re-using the wash and rinse water for multiple loads if you'd like and conserving water this way.

Overall, I love this washer. It is very liberating to not have to go to the laundromat anymore, and I like the control I have over the wash process and my resource consumption with this. I would give it 10 stars if I could!
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One and a half years, and many loads later, I am happy to say it is still working wonderfully. I have had no problems with any of the motors (agitator, spinner, or pump), and virtually no problems with leakage.

One minor issue: I have found that the area where the hose from the faucet connects with the machine can leak a little bit if the hose isn't positioned _just right_ and although it hasn't caused any major problems, I will probably look into sealing up that connection in the future.

The only other issue I had was with the faucet adapter that comes with the washer - about 8 months into its use it somehow became stripped and wouldn't screw onto the faucet anymore. I had to order a new one from Danby (in fact I ordered two in case I had similar issues with the new one too), and customer service was very friendly and efficient, the replacements arriving quickly. I have not yet had problems with the second adapter; I'm being very careful to avoid damaging its delicate threads.

I would also like to slightly amend my assessment of its noise level: Although I *have* actually been able to hear the machine running outside my apartment now, I still think the machine's noise could be effectively masked with music or a loud movie if you're worried about a landlord or a tattling neighbor.

All in all, I'm still really really happy with this purchase!

We had problems with a longer delvery time than initially promised. Company took an interest in resolving this problem.

The unit is reliable and cleans nicely. It is very easy to use and is lightweight.

We do have an issue with the spinner "rattling" and making noise.

With 2 babies in the household, we save money by not using a laundromat.

Quite a satisfactory product.

I bought this model from a scratch n' dent online auction for about $150, but first I came here to read up on the many, many compact washers out there. I was sold on this one because of the separate, super-high-speed spin dryer, which I read would make the compact dryer I also purchased work much better. That was good advice; the high-speed spinner on this Danby Twin does get the clothes pretty darn dry. (You absolutely *must* get a compact, vented electric dryer, though, like the Avanti D110; more on that when I review that unit.)

What the other reviews & product descriptions didn't mention (or I missed) is that this machine has no automatic water control (except, thank god, for an overflow sensor that activates the drain if you accidentally leave the water running), and no automatic cycle control. This means you've got to be constantly running back to the machine to turn the water on, turn the water off, activate the drain, turn the drain off, rinse, repeat... you get the idea. It's an inconvenience I hadn't anticipated (who knows, maybe all of the portable washers out there are like this), but I must say, it's still much more convenient than going to the laundromat. I can get other things done around the house while I'm running back and forth to take care of this needy machine. At the laundromat, I'm held hostage for 2 hours.

Other than that, this thing gets the job done. As a person who is new to the mini-appliance world, I have a strong desire to put too many clothes into the machine. This results in nothing but sorrow: twisted, stretched clothing, piling on sweaters, generally un-clean clothes. If, however, you do as so many good people have suggested and force yourself to do small loads (don't fill it more than 1/2-2/3 full of *dry* clothing), then you won't be disappointed. Do get a sweater bag though; in the small space that is this machine's wash tub, your sweaters and other delicate garments will really take a beating from buttons and zippers on sturdier clothes.

Oh, and one final grouse before I give this thing a well deserved 3-stars: the wheels only roll on one axis. So you can pull the whole machine toward you or push it away if you are standing right in front of it, but you cannot push it along the skinny edge without wearing flat spots on all 4 wheels and marring your floor. This is also disappointing. Being designed for people with limited spaces, it really needs to roll wherever I want it to. I can see, though that, given 360-degree spinning casters, this thing would be dancin' on the ceiling in no time flat.

...the darned thing would just work right. The first one I got wouldn't spin correctly and spat water all over the floor. The replacement had one definite improvement: it spun things out great (but still sprayed water all over my floor). Both machines arrived with small cosmetic dents on the metal body.
My other big issues with this machine deal with it's size and maneuverability, or lack thereof. This machine is a lot bigger than I thought it would be and it's kind of heavy.
Making things more difficult is the fact that you can only push it from it's widest side which makes it easier to tip over and harder to get it through doorways; this may not be the best machine for a small apartment (especially if your floors can't handle a minor deluge now and again).
The spinner is pretty nifty though, now that I've seen it in action. It definitely sucks quite a bit of water out and if you paired it with a small dryer, or even a drying rack this product could probably handle a job as a full time laundry machine.
I wasn't as impressed with the wash cycle though; even though I used the spinner after every rinse, I still had trouble getting the soap out of my clothes. And I'd used less soap than the manual recommended. This machine doesn't seem to save on water usage at all.
And while it was kind of nice to be able to control the length and number of washes to the degree it allows (the controls are just timer knobs), this also means you can't just leave it to cycle. In my case, this "babysitting" aspect was worsened by the product's tendency to wet on the floor.

So, in summary:

Pros
Spin dryer + washer is a great buy
Wheeled base
Faucet adapter worked great
Lots of control over wash times, number of rinses

Cons
Machines tend to arrive damaged
Will get water on your floor
Possibly a lot of water
Extra manual controls mean you must babysit
Hard to move
Fairly large for a mobile washer
Wash cycle isn't very efficient

Finally, as a word of caution, remember to save all the packing materials just in case the machine doesn't work. Otherwise, getting a refund is impossible.

This is so ridiculous I don't even know where to start. First of all I was totally fooled by the "twin tubs". First it says to fill to the desired wash size. That means hook it up to the sink, open it up and watch it fill until you see it on the measuring stick on the inside. Then you turn a "timer" for it to agitate, then you drain it then you watch it fill up again then you drain it again. Then you take the sopping wet clothes out a little at a time and put them in the tiny "twin" tub to spin the water out. This takes at least 2 or 3 times, depending on the load size. Since I was very dissatisfied, they said when I called to return it, that it would cost more to ship it back and pay a restocking charge, "why didn't I just sell it in the paper?"
BEWARE BEWARE BEWARE BEWARE BEWARE BEWARE BEWARE BEWARE

First of all, I did not buy this through Amazon but through AJ Appliances but as I found it originally through Amazon, I thought I should leave a review here.

This washer is larger in space size than appears from the image but it works. The wheels aren't bad and it moves without too much effort even on the deep grouted tile kitchen floor I have.

I decided on this washer style as opposed to the single tub washers due to the great claims in reviews I read on the second tubs ability to get clothes dry. And all the reviews are right-- when your clothes come out of the spin tub, they are very far from damp and much less wet than clothes coming out of a traditional washer.

As far as getting the clothes clean, this machine does the job. I do one wash, put the clothes in the spin tub for 3 minutes (usually if the load is really big I have to do two separate spin cycles as the spin tub is significantly smaller than the wash tub), then put them back in the wash tub for a rinse with fabric softener, then do a final spin, and then I hang the clothes to dry. Because the spin gets so much water out, YOU DON't HAVE CRUNCHY CLOTHES. I really want to reiterate that, for anyone who has dried jeans from a traditional washer-- out of this washer they don't get crunchy as the clothes don't dry with the excess fabric softener/detergent stuck on them. Also as a result of the spinner the clothes dry fast! I washed a stuffed quilt and it was dry by the afternoon.

Capacity wise, this machine holds about 2/3-3/4 the capacity of a regular home washer and is larger in capacity than laundromat machine that claims to be 2 loads.

This machine is much more laborious than shoving your clothes in a washer with detergent and starting the machine. But when your nearest laundry mat is difficult to get to or always crowded, this machine is a godsend. However, if you don't want to do any work, then the Avanti upright washer might be better for you.

Additionally, I purchased this machine as reviewers stated that it lasted longer than a year, an issue I came across in other machine reviews (with every single tub machine I came across and searched reviews for across multiple sites, there were always a couple reviews claiming the machine died after a year and was nearly impossible to fix). I've only had it for a few weeks now but I bought this machine for the long run.

Noise concerns are not as big of an issue I would worry about as much as vibrations from the spin cycle. If you live in an apartment on a higher floor where neighbors may complain, keep the machine on a cushy rug. As I do loads more frequently and therefore only one load a day, the brief noise my machine makes is spread out over two-three days a week.

Lastly, I found the directions hilarious with this machine. They were obviously badly translated from whatever country this machine was manufactured in so they will give you a chuckle if you buy it.

All in all, I'd recommend this product to anybody who isn't lazy and wants the convenience of being able to do laundry at home.

I really love this machine, when it works. Unfortunately it has been broken more than it works, there have been 3 different things that have stopped working, and we are now trying to get the 4th wrong thing fixed. I didn't think this would be possible for such a simple machine. My husband and I have lost a ridiculous amount of days at work waiting all day for a repair guy to come and fix it. Sometimes they don't even show up and you go through the whole charade again. We have lost countless hours calling customer service, only to be referred to a repair shop that won't service out neighborhood. I'm really sick of being given the run around with Danby and regret ever spending a penny on this machine.

Oh! but when it works (less than half the time we've had this machine has it actually worked) it cleans clothes very well, and the spinner is very efficient, it's easy to move around the kitchen. I just think that $300 is a little too much for something that is effectively a sloping kitchen counter 60% of the time.