Electrolux WaveTouch is my current dryer. The set just turned two years old. It has reverse tumble but only in the Cool Down portion of the cycle (called Perfect Tumble) and when you use the Wrinkle Release (which tumbles without heat in a clockwise direction for 5 minutes then counter clockwise for five minutes for a total for 45 minutes). This is after the Cool Down is done. You can also add Extended Tumble in conjunction with Wrinkle Release. Extended Tumble extends the tumbling by 10 or 30 minutes or 1, 2 or 3 hours with no heat. It also has Shrink Guard which I use. It reduces the initial drying temperature and gradually lowers the trying temperature during the cycle. I also use the Eco Friendly option which reduces the drying temperature a few degrees. I never use High Heat. I use Med-High or lower for all drying. Other options: Add Steam: this just sprays a mist of water just before the Cool Down. Sanitize: this uses high heat and extended drying time to kill 99.9% of bacteria. (NSF certified P154) Damp Alert: A chime will sound when the load has reached the Damp Dry dryness level for you to remove items you don't want fully dry. Allergen: This option reduces allergens (not recommended for items prone to heat damage). Line Dry: Select this option to simulate hanging your laundry in a summer breeze combined with the wrinkle-releasing benefits of tumble action. Since drying times are calculated with the dryer’s automatic moisture sensors and heat is radically reduced or eliminated, cycle time will be lengthened. As a result, depending on moisture content of load, overall energy consumption decreases. Anti Static: This injects steam into the clothing just before cycle completion to reduce static.

I think that most steam dryers that do not have a "dispenser" but use a water hose connection instead behave just like a washer did, or at the very least it's been the case with mine. The water hose is a standard size and takes less space behind the dryer than the vent, in case your dryer has the common 4" rigid vent that curves up, goes up the wall a while before it somehow goes to the exterior of the home. Some homes have a special installation, where the dryer and washer are as close as possible to the wall because the utilities and vent were built into the wall somehow. Check the distance between the dryer back and the wall. Even if this is the case for you, you will probably do to the dryer water hose exactly what you did for the washer water hoses. As for "do I need a steam dryer?" question. It depends. I've had one for about 3 months now, and besides checking that the "feature" worked and actually sent a mist of water into the drum, I have not used it yet. I know people who use theirs all the time and would not be without. Who knows, maybe I'll start using it a lot someday and it's just lack of habit now. But I will say this: buying laundry equipment is becoming very much like buying a car or a truck. Some things are just a package deal, and if you want some features, you will need to buy closer to or the top of the line, and then all the other features come with it. You might need to have to get the sun roof (steam washer) and leather seats (steam dryer) if you want the super useful winter package with the heated seats and heated mirrors (let's say, for the sake of the argument here, better electronic moisture sensors in the dryer and better sensors for spin balancing in the washer). Also, it's why in most places you just can't get HBO without Cinemax and vice-versa. BTW, so far, my washer has washed so well that I have not been tempted to add another 20-30 minutes for the "steam wash" either. But both the washer and the dryer clean and dry *really* well so far, so I'm super happy to have gotten the top-of-the-line for a change. Good luck! -- Paulo.

A stackable pair ... meaning a frontload washer with a dryer set on top that can also be separated and run in side-by-side orientation? Or a stacked pair, meaning a unitary machine that can comprise either a frontload or a topload washer, with dryer at the top, and can't be run separated? Model number(s) of the machine would clarify your situation.

Megan Morrill-Denton, several people here offering a lot of good points. Since you've cleaned your ducting, I can't think of any other ways to improve drying, and you've mentioned you really don't have any length to the outside except 10" - though if you've got the 'corrugated' type ducting, straight galvanized might help a little. You've also mentioned that the ducting to the dryer isn't kinked... so I've no further help on that other than to suggest you use electric foil tape when you connect it to the dryer - we only had the clamp initially and it did a poor job of holding the duct leak-free to the dryer. You mentioned a cold floor... we had that issue - the whole room actually. When we pulled out our old dryer, I noted cold air flooding from the corrugated duct coming out from the wall (actually placed a baggie over it, taped it close to keep cold air from flooding into the room - the baggie stayed puffed with air until we replaced the outdoor vent cap). I can't really speak for the Heartland style outdoor vent other than to say once we installed that, I noticed the baggie no longer inflated with air from the outside. That was a plus for us. We previously had the slat-style outdoor vent. As dadoes mentioned, it needs painted if you don't want it to stick out like a sore thumb (it's rather big), and I used a can of plastic approved Krylon Fusion paint from Lowe's for ours. Keeping any part of your ducting and vent cap clear of lint is important, and reduces fire hazards - sounds like you are doing this. Good luck on your situation.