Whirlpool HybridCare discontinued?
Pascalli2
| Posted in Green Products and Materials on
I was just looking on the Whirlpool website for some information on the HybridCare ventless heat pump dryer, and it is listed as discontinued!
I contacted them to confirm and find out if a new model will be coming out or if they are abandoning their heat pump technology, but have not heard back.
Anybody else hear anything on this?
Thanks.
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It's listed on the Home Depot web site with a special $400 discount ($1300 net) "through 1/27/16". If anyone reading this is feeling impulsive this might be your chance to get one at a good price before they become collectors' items trading at $5k to $10k! Or is it your last chance to get the buggy prototype before they come out with a more reliable and efficient one?
Stephen, thanks for the heads up, and I'd appreciate hearing any more news you get.
Stephen,
You're right -- Whirlpool appears to have discontinued the HybridCare clothes dryer. Here is a link to the page where the announcement was made: "This product has been discontinued."
So GBA announced the HybridCare's release with fanfare; and GBA published a product review by Joe Rice; and BuildingGreen announced that the HybridCare was one of the Top Ten Products of the Year.
Now the product has been discontinued. Perhaps technical problems with the appliance have been discovered? I'm not sure what's going on.
.
Yeah, it seems odd - I'm hoping that they are just switching out to a new model that will be released soon. I would hate to see them abandon this technology. I suppose there could be a technical defect, but the majority of the customer reviews I have seen online seem to be overwhelmingly positive - if there was a major design flaw I would expect it to be reflected.
Interestingly enough, it is discontinued on the Canadian Whirlpool site: http://www.whirlpool.ca/en_CA/laundry-1/laundry-2/dryers-3/-%5BYWED99HEDC%5D-1305267/YWED99HEDC/
Steve
There are now at least three other heat pump dryers on the market in the US. In addition to the vented LG, there are models from Blomberg and Asko, and I think they are both unvented.
We have one and it works just fine. Maybe Whirlpool just wasn't selling enough? Too bad, it is a nice product.
Sorry to hear this. We've had ours for a year now and no complaints. It puts out a little more hot air than I expected, and it's not the quietest thing in the wold, but we didn't want to vent our passive house, and this was the only option in the market other than a small condenser. I'm not surprised though. I had to pull teeth to get my dealer to even admit Whirlpool had a heat pump dryer, and Whirlpool did little to differentiate or market these things. My dealer still knows nothing about them, or why someone would even want to pay extra for a heat pump. Seems like Whirlpool set these up for failure.
Having just clicked through the link, it doesn't appear to be saying anything about a discontinuance anymore. So hopefully this was just an error?
I certainly hope so, as we were planning to install one in our new build!
It kind of looks to me like they only offer one color now. There used to be a greyish metallic color available. I'd guess they discontinued that color, and accidentally altered the web page to indicate that both were discontinued.
That makes sense - and I'm happy to take it in white.
Alright...now it's down to $940. I'm starting construction in the summer and probably won't have a laundry room to install mine in until after the warranty runs out - but I'm pretty tempted to pull the trigger at this price.
I am starting to see a few negative reviews pop up though. People are saying it whines and the filter elements have a very short life span. I also read that there is a filter on the back of the machine that needs to be cleaned once a month...someone was saying they need to pull the machine out from the wall to access this. Can anyone who has one comment on these issues? My biggest concern would be the filter elements breaking down and not being able to replace them.
Jim: It has two filters. One is in inside the door at the front of the drum and gets cleaned every load. It takes 10 seconds. The other is on the front and is set into the machine below the drum. It gets cleaned every 5 loads or so and takes maybe 30 seconds. I can't see how either would ever wear out, but I suppose you could damage a filter if careless.
For two people (plus dog and cat), we do an awful lot of laundry, several loads per week since we moved in in June. The dryer works very well, with no issues at all. It's on now and isn't making any more noise than a regular dryer.
They presented their new models of Hybridcare at CES.
Thanks Jonathan. Knowing they are keeping the line going is pretty comforting. From what I can find on line, it looks like virtually the same machine. I wonder why they went through all this discontinuance / sale business instead of just introducing the next model in the line.