Uten Electric Clothes Dryer Machine, 1500W Power, Foldable Drying Rack

I have a small apartment washer and I have been using this dryer for a few months. I think it works amazingly. It dries clothes in a really good time. I got a lil hanger thing to clip sock and stuff to so they can be suspended so they can dry quickly. It folds and is easy to store! The heater is pretty powerful and it really does get things dry. Very portable. I think it was more than worth my money.

This product is described as a portable clothes dryer. It’s a very nice idea, and there are things to like about it, but it is not very efficient at drying clothes.

The product comes partially assembled in just a plain cardboard box. It includes a storage bag you can use to fold the item down and store it away if desired. Assembly requires no tools, and once you understand the process it takes about 8 minutes for one adult to put it together. Basically the outer frame folds upward, and you just connect 6 cross-pieces and 4 braces, all of which snap into place. Then you pull the blue covering over the constructed frame, and velcro it along the bottom. To disassemble, you just reverse the process and shove everything into the stuff sack.

The key to this unit is the heater, which in the manual they call the “host”, which sits at the bottom of the unit. This is the equivalent of a small space heater. It draws 1500W, and has a mechanical timer that can be set to up to 180 minutes (or a permanent “on” setting, not recommended.) It has a 2-prong plug, and can be plugged into any US 110-120V polarized outlet. The host blows hot air upward into the bag, essentially drying the clothes through forced air induction.

There are two problems with the design. First, as is very clear, the clothes in this unit do not move. There are no openly moving parts. You hang the clothes in the bag, and warm air gets blown on them. This means that the clothes dry unevenly – the portions of any item resting on the crossbars (or on a hangar) only get air flow from one side and remain damp much longer than the rest of the items.

The second, larger problem is that there is no seal between the host and the bottom of the bag. The bottom of the bag has a square hole, and it kind of lays on top of the host, so that the host can blow air up into the bag. This does work, and air does fill the bag; however, because there is no seal, much of the hot air gets blown out along the bottom outside of the bag, escaping into the room, rather than flowing upward through the bag. Most of the blue bag seals up with velcro and zippers, but the lack of any type of seal at the bottom means that a good percentage (maybe 30-40%?) of the hot air from the host never makes it into the bag, it just blows out into the room.

This is problematic for two reasons – first, the clothes don’t dry well. Using my regular washing machine, I washed a small load, did the full spin that any standard washer does, and pulled out one adult large 100% white cotton T-Shirt, and one adult large pair of white cotton shorts at the end of the wash cycle. I put just these two items in this unit, laying them over the middle rack.

It took 85 minutes for them to dry completely… and the lack of motion meant that they were stiff and creased rather than fluffed.

The second problem is that the room in which you use this dryer will get warm. I live in a two-bedroom apartment in San Jose, CA. Right now it’s December, and using this unit has literally warmed my apartment up nicely. However, in the summer time, using this unit would be impossible, as it would overheat the apartment to unbearable levels.

So, as I said, this is a nice idea. I liked the thought of it. I want and need a portable clothes dryer. And while as I said this does work; for me, in practice, it’s not a solution, it doesn’t work well enough to justify the electricity costs and resulting ambient heating.

Bought for use in MH. Works great and folds up to store in the bag provided. Dries delicates, sweatshirts, and small towels perfectly. Great directions and easy to use and set up.