Great write-up, and thanks for taking the time do a good job!

I had one of these (actually the larger model) on order, but since it hadn't shipped yet, I cancelled! Whew, that was a close one. It's really too bad that the engineering dept. didn't complete the job, because the concept is so cool.

We have a similar situation, ie a "laundry closet", but do have both a vent and 220v, so I think we'll opt for either a Bosch, Asko, or Miele stacked pair. We were so looking forward to having a place to have a clothes basket.

Again,
Thanks.

Glad you found it helpful, Willinak. I would definitely opt for a stacked pair, if possible. We had normal stacked units, but they were in the kitchen and we wanted to swap it out for the refrigerator to open up the kitchen. We got that wish, but had to settle for an all-in-one washer/dryer on the flip-side. It's not a bad trade-off until that lint trap fills up! But really, find some other place for your hamper. You'll be much happier in the long run! :)

Thanks so much for posting this! We have had a similar problem with our unit and are glad to see its not just us. Also being from DC, could you reccommend a repairman? I am wary of just calling any old person because of the uniqueness of Asko products!

Sure thing. We have used Anytime Appliance for two cleanings at this point. They are in Kensington, MD.

Hm, one should think the Tub Clean cycle should take care of that. At least European washer/dryers have special cycles to flush lint from the unit.

I'd say have them come out again before the warranty is out and make them clean it again. Take a close look at how it's done and do it yourself the next time - if possible.

FWIW, I pulled a similar amount of hair from a Bosch non-vented dryer recently. The owners have a Cocker Spaniel that sheds tons of hair and I don't think they ever though of taking the dryer apart - which takes minutes only.

Alex

Here is a link that might be useful: Bosch dryer cleaning

Alex,

Thanks for the tip. We haven't run the tub clean feature b/c the manual only mentioned it in conjuction with mildew & residue in the tub, which this is not. We haven't much of an issue with any smells.

Per the manual, "Run the TUB CLEAN cycle regularly to remove
detergent buildup and other residue.
This washer has a special cycle, TUB CLEAN, to
remove inside buildup of detergent residue which
can occur in the wash tub or drum and lead to
mildew or musty smell."

However, I am going to do this on a monthly basis from now on. It sure couldn't hurt! Thanks again.

Yeah, you are probably quite right about tub clean not being *the* solution as the air duct is not a part of the tub as such. You can probably go to searspartsdirect.com and have a look at a parts diagram for your unit. As I said, check out how the tech does it and then do it yourself next time. It's a dryer after all and they need cleaning. Usually it's the duct that vents outside - here it's an internal one...

Best of luck.

FWIW. I had a similar problem with my clothes taking much too long to dry. our laundry room is in the center of the house, vents to the basement and then to an outside wall. I was told the duct is much too long and the lint collects in there and does not dry atequately causing the dryer to think the clothes are still wet thus continuing to run on the automatic dry cycle until it senses dryness. Sometimes overdrying the clothes in the process. We had to have an external blower attached to our duct line to help blow the lint to the outside keeping the duct lint buildup to a minimum. No problems now. Currently i am looking for a new W/D but one stipulation is that the installer can hook up that blower directly to the dryer so that when I push the start button the blower comes on.

Hi Katheo. Thanks for the tip. But these machines don't have a vent. They are ventless and condense dry the clothing.

And, actually, a ventless dryer might be a good choice for you. I would just recommend one that has a removable lint trap from the front :)

Two people, three cats and a dog here with a LG w/d combo for the past couple years. I run the tub wash cycle about once a month and have not had any real issues with lint buildup.

I did pull the hose itself to see if anything was trapped and found some, but it wasn't a huge amount. Took about 15 minutes to disassemble and pull, VERY easy job.

Scotkight: Disassembling our machine is not easy due where it is located. I have no doubt I could do it if i had to, but something like that should not be required of the consumer. Also, do you have one of the 24" models or one of the larger ones? Just curious.

I'm going to assume that it would be hard for you to do yourself because you would have to pull it from the closet? You should be pulling the unit out to clean the inlet filters and check your hoses at least once a year. This. Really isn't any different from a normal vented dryer that has to be taken art to get to the internal duct work for cleaning.

I have the larger one. The internal hoses seem to be pretty similar though, in terms of size and shape.

If you watch it do a tub clean, the water level goes quite high. This causes most of the lint that collects on the rubber to be released and flushed down the drain. If left in it probably gets sucked through the air return and eventually gets stuck elsewhere.

Unfortunately you are incorrect in terms of what should and shouldn't be done. Imagine having a vented unit stuck in a closet. You (or a maintenance person) still have to pull the thing out, disconnect the vent and clean the ventline as well as pull off panels and clean the inside and lines of the vented units. Of course in those many people ignore it and a small number of people have their units catch on fire...

In the condenser units they just stop drying. I would rather have that than either having it waste enormous amounts of power or burst into flame (however unlikely that is).

Even stuck in there, one yearly cleaning would probably take about an hour to pull it out take the panels off, pull the hose, put the panels back and slide it back in. First time will be slower of course, but past that no worries.

Well, I've purchased plenty of the Clorox tub cleaner to use for the next year. I hope it helps!

I would argue that most people don't take apart their washer inlet filters on a yearly basis or clean out internal lint from inside their dryers yearly. The recommended maintenance for my machine only mentions the inlet filters if an error code comes up. I have always had professionals come to blow out the dryer duct (on past machines) while they were doing the HVAC ducts, but they never took the whole dryer apart.

And, FWIW, our repair guy noted that he has never had to clean the internal duct on the larger machines, just the 24" models. And he has worked on quite a few combo units in the DC area. Granted, that's his experience and totally anecdotal.

Oh well, we are coming up on 18 months with our machine and it has had 2 cleanings at this point. I'll probably be getting the service manual soon so I can take care of them by myself in the future. Again, like I mentioned in my first post, I'm not complaining, but sticking an accessible filter access panel on the front of machine was a tad disingenuous, especially since it is useless. Of course lint is going to build up in the thing, it has no dryer duct, but give the consumer some relatively easy way to remove the build-up without having to disassemble the machine.

On a regular machine you should be cleaning the vent line at a minimum. This requires either pulling the machine to disconnect the vent and put in a special cleaning brush (10-20ft long) or to disassemble the bottom of the dryer to get to the vent a different way. They should also ensure that lint is not escaping and collecting in the base.

True, many people don't do this but it is something that should be done. The amount of lint that builds up in there is amazing.

I definitely think the tubcleaning will help you out though. Condensing driers are common around the world and there is nothing special in these vs many others and the system works just fine.

Thanks, staggie! That is immensely helpful. I've completed the same procedure twice on my own and it's not too bad.

I would add that it helps me to remove the machine's back panel (4 screws) and to shine a flashlight at that air chamber/duct while fishing for lint. It helps to show where the blockage is and how far down I have the wire hanger.

If not for one difficult screw, that whole duct could come out and be washed in the sink (no lint fishing needed). But I would need to be Gumby to get at that screw. If anyone has a trick for hard-to-access screws, let me know!

staggie, YOU ARE A LIFESAVER. I read about this process elsewhere, but that link was WONDERFUL. Thank you!!!!

I've battled this machine for 8 years now (but it's still working which is amazing since it's an LG!), and I regularly have to clean out the air condenser assembly (about 2x a year) On my last forage into the depths of this machine, there was no lint monster to extract, but the machine was still not drying. Air must not be circulating, I thought. I didn't take photos of the details (shame on me), but there was a substantial amount of additional lint build up in what I am assuming is the air return to the drum, highlighted in the red dashed area in the photo attached. You can access it simply by unscrewing the black thingy. The machine dried better than ever! Also check the sensor just inside the air condenser assembly, and clean it with rubbing alcohol if dirty or accumulated with lint. Oh, and I've found the "Lint Lizard" (as seen on TV!) attached to a wet/dry vacuum to be a great way to clean the air condenser assembly without having to fuss with a bent hanger. Good luck all fellow ventless sufferers.

That difficult screw in the back that is hard to get is pretty easy with a socket wrench.

Just incase others have a similar problem - I thought I was getting
something similar to this problem. Clothes not drying properly however
there seemed to be a lot of steam coming out of the drawer / tray. Turns
out the cold water solenoid valve had died (the top left hand of the machine with the 3 blue tabs, just right to the red square part in the picture on the comment above) so water wasn't flowing into
the condenser and then the steam wasn't being condensed - you could
tell this was the problem since intermittently you should hear a sudden
"whoosh" for a second or two every few minutes of the valve opening up
and water flowing out.
It did appear that less water was coming out the grey pipe on the back of the machine too, but
this was because no extra water was coming into the system via the
condenser. Anyway bought new cold water solenoid valve for £25, two
screws off, 3 pipes on and off and it was fixed.
Couldn't find much about this on the web - Just an idea.

Ok, is there a bottom line solution to the build up of hair from pets... Thank you all. Just too much variety and not what I was needing to read sorry! I am looking for a good wholesome, possibly only green, but ready for anything, tub cleaner the extends to the parts of the tub covered by our rubber seal!!! Thank you all lol....

Reading this makes me not wantto buy a combo. I have a Bosch Stackable that I want to exchange for LG combo to save space because it’s blocking my window. But cleaning up lint once a year by disassembling the LG unit makes me think twice about it.

In case anyone is interested, the "LG Combo Lint removal" site above (mentioned by jstagaman) has now been moved to https://sites.google.com/site/lgventless/. Combine the information found there with OneTallYogi's post above and you will have everything needed to get rid of the lint!

Mitja - Thank you so much, the website info is a lifesaver!

Does anyone have the link from Staggie? Looks like the comment has been removed, and sounds like it was really helpful. Thanks!

Repost for the parlourroom

Mitja Hrastnik

3 years ago

last modified: 3 years ago

In case anyone is interested, the "LG Combo Lint removal" site above (mentioned by jstagaman) has now been moved to https://sites.google.com/site/lgventless/. Combine the information found there with OneTallYogi's post above and you will have everything needed to get rid of the lint!

this is SO helpful, thank you!!! mine was getting so bad (despite weekly cleaning of the drain pump filter and tub clean cycle) that there was a burning smell coming out of the drum every cycle 😳 One question- i shined a flashlight inside the drum the other day and could see a bunch of lint buildup behind the drum (through the air holes). Any idea how i can reach that to clear it out??

Anyone experiment with vacuuming out the lint instead of using the fishing tools? Maybe even vacuuming it without removing the washer lid, etc. Kind of like AC duct cleaning.