The Sister To My New Washer, My New Whirlpool WED9400S Dryer Satisfies!

The Good: Dries clothes without excessively raising the electric bill, Surprisingly quiet, Easy operation
The Bad: Stifling initial expense
The Basics: Rather expensive to begin with, the Whirlpool WED9400S Dryer seems relatively inexpensive to operate and is very easy to use!


In suddenly finding myself maintaining two homes, I have had the weird and wonderful experience of having more appliances to review and I've finally gotten around to doing that (the incentives work!). A few days ago, I reviewed my brand new Whirlpool WFW9400S front loading clothes washer (reviewed here!) and to keep my various reviews balanced, it has taken a few days to getting around to its mate. In my new house, I have a WED9400S Whirlpool energy efficient dryer and it is pretty wonderful because I purchased it together with the other unit and I have this stacked atop the washer (no water means this unit it lighter when operating and can be put atop the washer.

Before this, I only had my Frigidaire clothes dryer (reviewed here!), which was pretty wonderful, especially when it came to energy efficiency. My new Whirlpool WED9400S is pretty wonderful in its own right, though and I am finding the more I use it the more I like it, which is a pleasant surprise. After all, in my old place, virtually everything was Frigidaire and while I liked all I had, this gives me some experiences with a different brand. Right off the bat, the WED9400S has a lot more options and controls than my old Frigidaire and while the simplicity of the old unit was nice, the options with the new are pretty wonderful, too.

The Whirlpool WED9400S Dryer was chosen for me and the only real say I had in it was the color, which is a silver finish. I'm a sucker for stainless steel or the closest I could get for this appliance (it's a dull silver-gray color). Like virtually every dryer, this spins clothes around in the z-axis while passing hot air through it. This unit is electric - not gas - and it stacks atop the WFW9400S Front Loading Washer without the need for any other equipment. What impressed me in this regard was that while the WED9400S gets some speed going to the cycling of clothes, it is incredibly stable atop its sister washer.

This is a 7 cu. ft. dryer that I was originally drawn to because of its capacity (fairly large) and energy efficiency for that size it went with the washer that was being purchased anyway, so it made sense. What I don't quite understand is why the washer only 3.8 cubic feet and this has seven, but I assume the additional space is needed to pass the hot air through the clothes and actually operate. Another fairly useless measure (at least for me, whatwith not having scales in my laundry room or the patience to weigh wet clothes!) is that this dryer holds fifteen pounds of wet clothes. I've never had any problem with transferring whatever I have put in the washer into the dryer. Of course, that gets the drying started with a pretty intense spin cycle.

As a result, the WED9400S is remarkably environmentally friendly. It has better-than-average energy efficiency and while it runs on 240 volts (grounded), I've never in the month I've been running this had to put anything in beyond one forty-five minute cycle. The venting for this dryer was already in place when I bought the place so I cannot speak for how easy it is to connect this. The WED9400S sits thirty-eight inches tall by 27" wide with a front to back depth effectively of almost 32" (the front panel is a clear door that curves outward, adding a little more depth to the front than the unit would otherwise have).

As far as the installation goes, I remain somewhat ignorant; I watched the units get installed but it was pretty much a low impact event for me. I did, however, read through the manual and between the installing the dryer (made very easy by the exhaust port being at the proper level) and the stacking of the dryer on the washer, it looked remarkably easy. Reading along in the manual, the directions in the manual were quite handy; they included full details for leveling the unit. I have never had any problems with movement, which still impresses me given how the unit stacks and how quickly the drum inside can move.

Outside installing ducts - which, if you already have a dryer you won't need to worry about - this unit is basically a plug in and go type machine. One of the very convenient aspects of the machine is its easy to use controls. Usage is ridiculously simple. The Whirlpool WED9400S Dryer has fairly intuitive controls and after a few months of usage, I've found it to be very simple. Simply look at what materials are in the load, hit the button for that material, and depress the "start" button. In addition to the Use & Care Guide (a pretty obvious collection of notes on how to take care of the dryer) there is a whole cheat sheet with Dryer Operating Instructions. In truth, though, this unit, which is controlled by a series of push buttons for air temperature and activation, is a remarkably easy appliance to use. This Whirlpool seems to follow the same industry standard as their washers, which attempts to make operating this unit more or less idiotproof and this is very easy to use and diagnose problems when they occur. Indeed, since the first time I set the unit, I have essentially only had to hit the "power on" and "run cycle" buttons and it goes off!

There are ten cycles, with different temperatures, but I tend to just go with normal poly/cotton clothes at high heat and everything from jeans and t-shirts to underwear and towels dries within fifty minutes. One of the neat functions which I've seen used, but have not had cause to use on my own unit, is the moisture detection function. When set, the WED9400S evaluates the clothes in the dryer and if they are not getting dry enough, it beeps and adds ten or fifteen minutes to the drying time. This is an automatic function and it simply resets the digital timer display when it occurs. It's actually an intriguing bit of technology and I'm torn between being impressed at how efficiently my unit runs and disappointed that it has never so "rebooted."

Furthermore, this is a ridiculously quiet clothes dryer. The spin cycle on the accompanying washer is louder than this dryer with its normal or Quiet Mode operation. As a result, I have had times when I am working in the room adjacent to my new laundry room and have no idea where in the drying cycle the dryer is until the buzzer goes off. That type of quiet is pretty wonderful for this machine!

Operating the dryer once a week has not increased any of my electric bills, but this is a bit cost-intensive at the outset. It's tough to shell out $800 for a dryer, just to match the washer, but it does not seem all that expensive to operate. Between that, the ease of the controls and the fact that, above all else, this dryer WORKS, the Whirlpool WED9400S is a pretty wonderful clothes dryer.

Because I have had no problems after two month's use, I cannot speak to the customer service with the one-year warranty, but given how easy it is to use, I assume if anything went wrong it would be more of a freak accident than a design flaw. It is reassuring to know there is a warranty but given how I am flying solo and using this only once a week, I could not justify any extended service plan on it. Again, with the easy of the push-button controls with the various fabric and temperature settings, there are so few parts that even move, it's hard to imagine anything breaking down!

For other laundry-related reviews, please visit my reviews of:
Whirlpool WGD5200 Gas Dryer
Purex Complete 3-in-1
Purex Complete 3-in-1 Spring Oasis

8/10

For other home and garden product reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2011, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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A Rare Miss From Whirlpool! The Whirlpool WGD5200 Gas Dryer Is Just Cheap!

The Good: Inexpensive, Easy to clean.
The Bad: My experiences illustrated it was utterly ineffectual.
The Basics: A drastically underpowered and underperforming Whirlpool clothes Dryer, the WGD5200 Gas Dryer is not worth the buy!


Ahh . . . new dryers, a phenomenon most of us only go through twice or three times in our lives, if we are so lucky. I love clothes dryers, but I am in no position or mood to replace the one I own. However, on my trip to Michigan two months ago, I had the opportunity to help the person my wife and I were staying with with their new clothes dryer and the experience left me deeply disappointed in one of my favorite brands: Whirlpool. I own a Whirlpool High Efficiency Clothes Dryer and have loved it for over a year and a half now. However, our friend was simply looking for an inexpensive dryer and when we arrived, our arrival was quickly followed by the arrival of his new Whirlpool WGD5200 Gas Dryer.

This is a 7 cu. ft. dryer that the buyer wanted originally because it was gas powered (natural gas being inexpensive in his area of Michigan) and it had pretty large capacity. His laundry philosophy is that he wants to spend as little time on laundry as possible and he wants to spend as little money as possible on a dryer. To that end, he used the cost of use and cost of the dryer to make his decision to buy the WGD5200. I had never heard of or used this particular model and I watched as the unit was installed - which was nice, not having to do it ourselves.

The WGD5200 was ridiculously easy to install. The location had been prepared ahead of time and there was an exhaust port for the air right behind the dryer. As a result, as soon as the dryer was connected to the gas line, plugged in and the exhaust port directly connected to the outside, it seemed like our day was going to be pretty simple. The fact that we did not need any ductwork to connect this to the outside exhaust port impressed me. The dryer's exhaust pipe is scalloped to indicate it belongs inside the pipe. It's a male lead into a female exhaust pipe fitting. It fit perfectly in the exhaust port and we were ready to go with our day. On a lark, the proud new owner of the dryer said, "Let's do a load of laundry!" That was fine with me as my wife and I had driven quite a bit and taking a few hours to relax suited me just fine.

We should have quit while we were ahead. After doing a load of wash, we stuffed a load of whites into the dryer and activated the machine. The WGD5200 Gas Dryer is intuitive to use. It has a dial for the various durations of drying cycles - both timed and based on how wet the clothes were. There is the Wrinkle Shield, which we did not need to use because we were there paying attention to the laundry. On the right side of the dryer were the temperature controls, like Hot for whites, Warm for Delicates and "Fluff" (no heat). Turning the temperature dial and setting the time control is all one needs to do to set the dryer running. When the dials are set, simply press down the button on the top right of the control panel and the dryer fires to life.

I was all prepared to be impressed when the Whirlpool WGD5200 shut off after fifty minutes with the automatic drying time setting. I commented on how that seemed quick to the new owner and he smiled smugly, opened the dryer and tossed me a towel, a horrified expression blooming on his face as he did. As he threw the cloth, he realized what I realized moments later when it hit me in the face: it was still wet. It was not that the WGD5200 had left the towel damp, it was still very wet. Both my new friend and I were baffled that the lint trap was filled with lint, but none of the clothes seemed particularly dry.

So, we reset the dryer and made sure: the dial was to hot, the other dial was the longest duration. We even checked the load: it was less than forty pounds of wet clothes. The maximum capacity on the dryer was 100 pounds of wet clothes. There was plenty of room for our load to move around and plenty of room for air to move through the load. Fifty minutes later: the clothes were still wet, though less sopping than before. Now, our host was looking embarrassed and to save face, I suggested that it might be a sensor problem and that we should put the laundry on a timed cycle. So, seventy minutes later, we opened up the dryer and . . .the clothes were still pretty wet. Having eliminated pretty much every option I knew and recognizing there were no gas leaks in the house, we gave up for the night.

The next morning, my friend called the place he bought the dryer and later in the day, it was replaced. It came out as easily as it went in. We took the wet clothes from the night before, which were more damp than sopping now, and we tried again. The long story short is that it didn't work, either, and a repairman sent from the company was unable to diagnose the problem. Air was moving everything was properly attached and the load was balanced. Yet, the air in the units did not heat up.

Our friend decided to ditch this unit and ironically, I sold him on the dryer my wife and I have at home, save the gas model. (It worked.) So, I was left to contemplate this model. The WGD5200 Gas Dryer was easy to use, quiet when it ran and was exceptionally easy to clean the lint trap out of (simple open the front door, which folds down, and pull the filter up and out to clean). However, our experience with two brand new units illustrated that they did not get clothes dry. At all. As a result, this became an easy panning for a product from Whirlpool!

1/10

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© 2010 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.


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