Laundry in Germany

Feb. 12, 2013

Oy.  Laundry.  Not my favorite task at home, for sure.  But here?  I have to go down to the freezing basement!  This laundry room has a door to the outside in it and you can see daylight coming through the cracks.  It's freezing.

But let's get to the nitty gritty.

The washing machine is small.  Although since it's a front loader, I can see the clothes washing.  It's like watching TV.

Oooo, Aaaahhh

The washer isn't so bad, just small.  The real problems come with the dryer.  When I did my second load here, I was upstairs and heard a beeping.  I went down and the dryer was stopped and a light was blinking.  It said something in German.  I went back up and Google Translated it.  "Empty Container."  OK, what the heck does that mean?  Is there an empty container?  Or do I need to empty a container?  I saw a handle so I pulled it.  Out came a long container full of steaming water.  HUH?  It's called a condenser dryer.  It isn't vented outside so the steam/water instead collects in this container and you have to empty it after each load.

It's new to me.

The other major issue I have is that the dryer also leaks from the bottom.  The landlord said this is totally normal.

It goes all the way across the room to the floor drain.

See how it leaves a stream of water right under the door of the dryer?  That means every time you drop a sock or other article of clothing when removing it from the dryer, it falls in the water.  Pain in my rear.  I don't have a laundry basket here (didn't fit in my suitcase.)  I have been using a giant plastic reusable shopping bag that my lovely friend Anja brought over full of goodies before we even set foot in Germany.  It's actually a good way to carry the laundry around.  So I put the bag on the stream of water, then the clothes fall in there. Then I carry it upstairs and now the wet bag leaves a wet mark on my bedroom floor.

*sigh*

The other thing about this stinkin' dryer is that it has some kind of a sensor on it so it knows when the clothes are dry.  Or it THINKS it does.  Often times, things are still damp and it won't turn on!!  My lovely friend Karen helped me figure out a few settings so I can actually get things completely dry now.  It just takes 2 to 3 hours for each load.

I never thought I would be looking forward to seeing my own washer and dryer so much!!!