barb - do you read the followups ??? 2 people have told you that it doesn't take much longer (if at all) for the condenser versions of that dryer to work than the vented one. You have stumbled upon a goldmine of info as the chances of someone haveing both models and you finding them are pretty slim and you've got 2. Now you're ignoring them or questioning their sincerity? One said your probably gonna have less dry time than your used to now. Anyway your just going to have to live with however long it takes to dry anyway if you want a condenser dryer to eliminate the humidity producing "box". Of course it's going to take longer toi dry somehing in humid Hawaii thne it will in dry Montana or airid Phoenix, but you just have to live with that. It'll apply to any dryer choice you make. Will you be able to notice teh xtra time, doubtful unless you sit and time the cycle, and then you'd obviously have plenty of time on your hands anyway, so as to make the cycle time moot anyhow! The euro's have timed dry and sensor dry. choose more dryness in sensor mode or increase the time = dry clothes. This is not new technology since a huge % of Europeans are highrise dwellers these types of units make sense for many. This design dind't just fall off the truck to dupe Americans in luxury condos. Cleaning the condensing matrix is a 15 min job tops if you use brushes. I spray mine down in the sink and it's about a 4 min. task. Unit is accesible from the front of machine, clicks in and out. Are you paying attention? The entire manual is readable at Bosch's website, why don't you give it a look. Heimert - the tube for the water on a condenser dryer drains from the dryer into the wastepipe for the washer. The OP's current setup is a bucket o/water attached to the dryer vent pipe. The water has to be there to trap lint. That whole shotin match just vents back into the condo.

I have a free-standing (i.e. non-combo) Asko condensation dryer. I've had it about 15 years and it is my only dryer. However, I do not dry my laundry in a dryer, I hang it out, so my dryer gets very little use compared to what most people would need. I mostly use the dryer for an initial 5-15 min tumble prior to hanging out and and on rare occasions when weather foils my need to get a particular load dry. This is more frequently in the summer, oddly enough, even though I live in a very cold northern area. Condensation dryers do work as claimed, but I would never choose one if direct venting was possible because I think they are less efficient than conventional models. Since you can't direct vent, that's a moot point. When I use the machine in the winter time (in a generally cooler than normal, woodheated - and therefore very dry farmhouse in northern NY) I don't see much degradation of efficiency because the ambient air is dry and cool, which improves the effectiveness of the condensation function. My machine also raises (by a modest, but measurable amount) the indoor relative humidity, and to some degree the indoor air temp during operation. But that's just fine in the winter, and I really appreciate not blowing my heated air out of the house as I would with a conventional dryer. However, that's not germane to your situation, of course. In the summer when I use the dryer (and that's usually on hot, rainy days when something I need to wear won't dry outdoors), the dryer is more problematical. Condenser dryers work by having double air paths. They have a "normal one" that enters the machine, is heated and then passes through the drum with the clothes, collecting moisture and carrying it off, just like a standard dryer. When that air is drawn out of the chamber, however, it passes across the plates of the condenser where the moist, heated air is cooled and relieved of most (but obviously not all to a perfect scientific degree) of the moisture it's carrying as it condenses on the metal plates in the condenser. The air then is discharged into the room and the resulting condensed water is pumped to a reservoir. The condenser itself has room air drawn through it in a sealed, separate, path which keeps the condenser surfaces cooler so that when the warm, moist air passes over it the water vapor it is carrying is released. (Think of how your glass of ice-cold soda -the condensation plane- gathers so much moisture on a hot day.) That's the theory, anyway. Where I can get into problems is when the ambient room temperature rises high enough, say 80+F, (whether due just a hot day, or continual drying if I accidentally leave the door to the laundry room closed) so that the temperature differential between the heated air path through the drum and the natural air temp through the condenser gets too close. Then little condensation occurs, even though the machine is running correctly. Also in a closed space such as closet, you might run into problems if the machine caused a small but steady rise in humidity. You would in effect be constantly re-condensing the same moisture out. I think the ideal situation for a condenser dryer would be in cool, and very dry climate. Then they would work like demons. If you air condition your home (and remove humidity that way) you will have less functional problems with a condenser dryer than I do on a hot, humid, but un-air conditioned day in Aug. in NY. However, you will put a small, but probably measurable increased load on your A/C to remove the fugitive humidity from the machine and any increase in room temp. The only other thing to report is that you must periodically remove and clean off the condenser unit to remove any fugitive lint or pet fur that has evaded the lint filters. My machine's manual says once every six months, but I've found that it's more like once every 10 loads, alas. This is by far the nastiest, slimy, gross job in my household and I simply hate it! However, other users of condenser machines on this forum report much less cleaning is needed and when necessary it's nowhere near as onerous. So, this may be a peculiarity of my particular machine, or model, or even my usage patterns. I hope I haven't discouraged you, too much. In a situation like yours you may have no choice if you can't dry clothes any other way. And a condenser dryer is definitely much better than collecting the moisture in a free-standing bucket. It will have drawer in the front which will make removing the condensate very easy. (Some con. dryers will also allow direct draining through the washing machine stand pipe. Don't know about that for Axxis.) Axxis machines are very nice, but IIRC they need 220V power. That's not a bad thing in my mind, as that gives them really good cleaning power from powerful internal heaters. My own washing machines are all 220V models and I would never have anything less. I would ask the dealer if he can give you the names of other users in your area that you could call and ask about how the machines work in your climate. I would be glad to come on an all-expenses paid trip to assess the location for you. How does January sound; it's really grim here in January and Mauai would be much better! Heck, I'd even ship my own machine out with me for a few tests runs. (LOL - I always get a little panic-y the first morning I wake up and see frost outside like this morning; I grew up in South America and Asia.) I hope this helps you make your decision. I suppose there's no way you can line dry? I found one of the best things about living in the tropics was great drying weather year-round except, of course, in the rainy season! No place is perfect, I guess. Molly~ PS: In evaluating condenser dryers keep in mind that "combo units" i.e. ones with a single drum where both washing, and then, drying takes place are very different things from free-standing (or stackable) units. Having a single drum makes things very complicated, and usually you can wash twice much as you can dry in a combo unit making for some awkwardness in load planning. A free-standing/stackable set like the Axxis will wash and dry the same sized loads, and work simultaneously, so your second load is in the wash while the first is drying. PS 2: You also might want to look at Asko brand machines if they are available to you, though the Bosch machines are nice, too.

The air that is sucked in through the front is blown through the condener and then dispersed inside the cabinet until it finds some way out - mostly through the slits in the back panel of the dryer. The air that actually dries the clothes (process air) never leaves the dryer. Increasing efficiency is only possible by keeping the filter and the condenser clean. You don't want the condenser to get clogged but it doesn't have to be sparkling, either... cleaning every couple of months is fine. The cooler the intake air, the faster the dryer will work.

Thought I'd add a quick update - the error has not returned yet. I got the error light the first cycle I ran after the repair folks came, and possibly on the load after that (can't remember for sure), but in the last 4-5 loads the cycle has been finishing up properly. The Miele repair guy actually gave me a call on Monday and wanted to know more about what was happening since he saw that I have another visit scheduled for this Friday. He thought it might have been a stored error since it happened right after they left and then appears to have worked itself out. I'm going to be running a couple more loads today and tomorrow and will cancel the service call if the error doesn't return till I see the Filter/Vent light again. Overall relieved that this is the case, but half expect the error to return after a few more loads.