8 out of 8 people found this review helpful.
I like this dryer. Having 2 compartments suits my drying needs quite well.
Date of Review: Sep 17, 2007
The Bottom Line: I like the upper drying compartment for slowly drying clothes so they don't shrink. It's also handy for sweaters and other things that need to be dried flat.
Manufacturer's Product Description:
"The Neptune? Drying Center combines a 7.0 cu. ft. dryer with a unique 17.3 cu. ft. drying cabinet on top that gently dries, prevents shrinkage, reduces wrinkles, eliminates clutter, and saves time."
I think that two of the descriptors from the manufacturer about this product are not quite accurate. The garments still often are somewhat wrinkled when they come out of the upper drying cabinet. Also, in what way does it save time when it typically takes about 3 hours to dry clothes in the upper compartment? Also, if you put in too many clothes (it has room for 9 garments), they aren't dry after 3 hours. However, it is a timesaver to put blouses and slacks in the upper compartment and still dry other clothes in the lower compartment.
The truth is that the upper cabinet does dry garments gently and they don't shrink. Also, if you have a small laundry room like mine, the upper cabinet makes a convenient place to hang clothes when you are taking them out of the lower compartment.
I've owned this dryer for 2 years. I use this dryer for laundry for my husband and me. My daughter uses it when she comes home from college.
PROS:
I have owned this dryer for 2 years, and I like it. I am a woman who is 5 feet 11 inches tall, so I hang my blouses and slacks so that they don't shrink. I don't have space in my laundry room to hang clothes, so finding space was an issue. The dryer suits my needs quite well.
I use the upper drying unit all the time and like the results. The clothes sometimes are a bit wrinkled and stiff, but I toss them in the lower unit on "air fluff," and they look OK. I have to admit that my priority is on having the clothes not shrink.
I also use the racks in the upper dryer to dry sweaters and things like place mats that I don't want to shrink.
I do my own dry cleaning, for the most part. I use a Dryel kit. I put the items in the Dryel bag with the Dryel cloth for 30 minutes on medium in the lower compartment. Then I hang the clothes in the upper compartment and it takes out all the smell of the dry cleaning. I do this for my husband's suits when they just need a light cleaning and they come out fine.
I really like the choices for the bottom compartment--air dry, wrinkle release (18 minutes of low heat--really works), sensor dry (sometimes leaves things a bit damp), and timed dry.
CONS:
The only major problem I had was a massive lint buildup when I dried a very fuzzy rug in the lower compartment. I could smell something burning. I didn't have a fire, but it did bother me. The repairman said it wouldn't have caught on fire. This could have happened in any dryer with the amount of lint shed by the rug. Won't try that again!
Also, the lint filter is a bit flimsy. After two years, I broke the thin plastic rim on the filter, and it's now a pain to get it in and out of the slot that it fits into in the lower compartment.
A minor problem is the water bottle that fits into a compartment at the side of the dryer. Filling the water bottle is a pain--poor design, spills when you return it to the cabinet.
The upper compartment has the capacity to hang dry nine articles of clothing, but if you put 9 damp garments in, they aren't dry even after 3 hours. Five or six items works much better.
Upper compartment takes two or three hours to dry clothes. I often have to put them in the lower compartment on air fluff for a few minutes to make the clothes less stiff.
In the lower compartment, the clothes are sometimes still damp after sensor says they are dry.
I did buy the service contract from Sears for this dryer, something I normally don't do. It was new technology, so I didn't trust it. The only repair problem I've had was the trapped lint.
