Anyone Have Experience with AliExpress Washing Machines?

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by Swiftboats

I am constantly amazed that the race card is so overused. I don' like AliExpress because of their business practices. I don't care where you are from, treat people like you would like to be treated.

You call them a rip-off company which is simply false and shows your bias which has nothing to do with race. Do you even realize or know which company you actually bought from or do you think the marketplace is to blame for whatever vendors do?

Did they return your money after you returned the item? What exactly was the rip-off?

[mako]

AliExpress is interesting. Sorta like an Amazon. Focused mostly on smaller, cheaper products, versus Alibaba, where you can shop for a 150ft tuna boat. Since there are so many resellers on Ali, it sounds like @Swiftboats unfortunately connected with one with poorer service.

As a generalization, since you're dealing with smaller, independent sellers (many likely working from their apartments) then there's a higher chance of dealing with less scrupulous sellers.

My brother and I both have purchased directly from Chinese sellers, but have connected through Alibaba instead. Have also contacted Onwa electronics directly and had superb customer service working with them, even though their sounder turned out to be mediocre (it was a test-bed for me anyway).

None of this has anything to do with race. I avoid buying from small (unproven) resellers in America as well and have been burnt quite a few times over the years when I broke that rule.

[mako]

BTW, regarding to the comments about avoiding the combined washer-dryer units, I used to hate them but now have only mixed-feelings.

I used one in my villa in Qatar for several years and it was horrible. It was the condenser-dryer model which is vent free. I don't recall the brand and it may have been Chinese like most of our appliances, but I don't think that was the reason. Our fridge, stove, deep freezer were all sino and worked great, as does my Hisense TV here in America.

But I just moved here last year from Brussels, Belgium and had a combined unit there. However, it was vented and (perhaps being 230VAC) it created an adequate amount of warmth when drying.

Both units were small compared to our ginormous American units, but if you don't have the luxury of space in your boat, and have no choice, then go with the combined but only a vented unit (typical 4" flex hose).

DISCLAIMER: However I don't want to come across as saying that I actually like combined units . Right now we have the luxury of designing our new boat and I am making the room for a separate washer and dryer, although they will be the smaller apartment sized units.

My best advice.

[jonathanv]

I bought the Winia/Daewoo Mini from Ebay from a South Korean supplier for about USD1000. If you don't mind the display being in Korean (I have a table with what is what) then it's a neat little machine.

On Ali: I have purchase 100's of items over the years from Ali and I've never had an issue. Even when I didn't receive exactly what I ordered or if it was damaged, the dispute system gave me an almost instant refund. Mind you, you often get what you pay for. It's not always stellar quality but it matches the price. Their shipping system has also improved over the years, offering 10/12 day shipping when you combine a few items.

Great for outboard spare parts and electronics. I purchased all my LED light conversion bits for a tenth of the price.

[justinfinity]

I looked all over for the mysterious Daewoo front loader, couldn’t find it, plus it is really expensive. Went with a Giantex top loader. Inexpensive and works great.

[mhagen]

I have had the Winia combo now on my monohull for 2 years and love it. It runs so well I bought a few of them for my RV and cabin. Works just fine with a $100 inverter from Amazon also. As previous comments, I would agree the dryer function is just so-so and I use it sparingly just because of the water usage (it's water cooled on the drying setting). I have two units still brand new in the box here in Texas if you're interested.

[Kudos]

I was also told that Daewoo only makes a limited number of these each year, I had to wait till I found one, and I'm glad I did. Just save a search on ebay and wait for one to show up again. It does have Korean writing and such, but that's nothing a label maker can't fix.

[JAFO]

Originally Posted by SV Confianza

We've been trying to get our hands on a Daewoo/Winia Mini wall mount washing machine for a couple years now. They seem impossible to find anywhere that will deliver to the US, except one source in Australia that's charging an exorbitant amount.

We here in Australia get this problem a lot, with US companies that won't ship outside the US/Canada.

There is a simple solution.

Use an international parcel forwarding/shipping service. For instance, you could buy something in Japan, from a company that won't ship to the US.. the service provides you with an address in Japan, that the company will send the item to. The service then forwards that item onwards to you, in the US. They can, for very reasonable fees, provide other services as well. For instance, they can open the package and photograph the item for you to inspect, they can provide more/better packaging if you are not satisfied with how well packaged it was originally, they can repackage several small items into one larger package to save on shipping costs, and they can handle the customs declarations for you, if you prefer not to do it yourself.

There are many such reputable services around, who can help you get things from/to any countries you like. I use one called Shipitto to get hardware from McMaster-Carr in the US (who won't ship to Australia) It gets sent to an address in California, who then send it on to me.

(Also, I'm betting that most of that "exorbitant amount" you mentioned was the shipping costs. Sending stuff halfway around the world isn't cheap, as we here in Australia learn, every single time we have to buy something from the US. Shipping often costs more than the item itself. Be glad that for most things, the US is nowhere near as isolated as Australia is.)

[Tom G]

I used AliExpress to buy that same washing machine. Delivery to Langkawi, however. No issues. You could employ a freight forwarder/consolidator if it proves impossible to find a ship-direct-to-the-states seller.

[merrydolphin]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

Don’t buy the combi machines… so many disadvantages.

We settled on a Splendide washing machine, popular in motorhomes.

Yes we have a. Spendide washer/dryer. The washer mode is fine but the dryer? Forget it. The sun on the lifeline is much better. But again, the washer works well. The dryer, a waste.

[Franziska]

I had a combined unit at my shoreside apartment few years ago.

Absolutely loved it.

Set it to finish washing & drying shortly after coming home from work via the built-in timer.
Clothes where dry and clean. Added advantage takes up less room & a lot less expensive then two units. Less parts which can fail too.



Don't get why people hate them. For a single person or even two person household they are great, but I agree that others might have different needs and therefore don't favour them.



On our boat I would not hesitate to get one of these Daewoo combo units if it wasn't for the weight. A 35ft cat can't have everything onboard.

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by merrydolphin

Yes we have a. Spendide washer/dryer. The washer mode is fine but the dryer? Forget it. The sun on the lifeline is much better. But again, the washer works well. The dryer, a waste.

Exactly what we did. Then when that unit rusted out we replaced it with a Splendide washer instead of combi unit.

The dry function of a vented (must be vented for a boat, not condensing) combi unit only works when you fill it to half capacity or less. As they are so small already, it’s limited to two medium size towels, super inefficient.

There are very good dryers suitable for boats if you have the space for separate units. They are based on heat pumps.

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by Franziska

On our boat I would not hesitate to get one of these Daewoo combo units if it wasn't for the weight. A 35ft cat can't have everything onboard.

Au contraire Even a 31ft yacht can have a washing machine. Like you weight was a major consideration, but being fed up queuing in marinas and being charged exorbitant fees at the same time was enough.

For a gamble we bought one of those little plastic washing and spin drying machines from Amazon, because they offer a 30 day return no quibble option. I reconded the break even point was 20 washes. We have done that.

So what is it like? Well surprisingly good actually. Same weight as our little 2.3hp outboard and all plastic so isn't going to rust. Very quiet, no problem sitting next to it and having a conversation. All manual, so we add a kettle of hot water if we want a warm wash. Spin part very good after just 2 minutes, so we halve the wash load and do two lots of spins. Lives in the cockpit locker when not needed but will just fit in the heads if we need to run during inclement weather. Think it takes 240w at 230v AC, so we run it off the inverter without a worry.

[Franziska]

Thanks, that might work, but cats are unfortunately more weight affected than monohulls.

How heavy is it?



We have been perhaps 4 nights in a marina last year, at anchor all the other nights.
We wash in self service laundrettes in towns and villages. Usually fair priced and you can run several machines in parallel.

Unfortunately marinas tend to overcharge their customers.

[rslifkin]

A condensing dryer isn't automatically bad, but it needs to be one of the (hard to find in small enough sizes) heat pump condensing dryers, not a traditional condensing unit. The traditional condensing units use cold water as the condensing medium and are therefore wasteful. The heat pump units don't do that. Of course, a good vented unit will often be the best option when it's possible to use one.