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Review: If, like me, you live in a tiny flat with no space or plumbing facilities for a conventional washing machine, and you find launderettes about as appealling as casualty departments, then this Hinari WM005 Lifestyle table top washing machine is for you. There is an unfortunate gap in the market for a compact automatic washer/dryer, and this is about the best substitute I could find. But it is very basic - it is really just a big plastic tank with a rotating drum inside. There is no spin dryer or heating element or any automatic functions apart from a timer. You attach a hose to the kitchen tap and fill the machine (takes about 3-5 minutes) add soap powder, put your washing in (takes a pretty substantial 3kg dry load), close the lid and switch on. There is a timer which will cut off the machine automatically which can be set from 2 to 10 minutes. Then you drain the machine using a hose which you put over the sink plughole and then restart the cold water to rinse (they recommend 10 minutes but I found 5 to work ok). That's basically all it does. It is really just a mechanised version of handwashing in a bucket, but at the price that's hardly surprising. In summary, here are the advantages and disadvantages as I see them: Advantages: Small, lightweight and compact (less than half the size of a normal washing machine Low price - really not bad for £75 when you consider the cost of launderettes Simple construction - not much to go wrong. The only mechanical parts are in the lid, and this can be completely removed and taken to an engineer to repair, although whether this would be worth it financially is debatable. Can be disassembled - the lid and drum can easily be removed, so if you were really pushed for storage space, you could use the tank to store things in and keep the other parts elsewhere. Seems work quickly and efficiently. Does not require any plumbing in - just needs to be near a hot/cold tap and drain.
Runs reasonably quietly. Takes a good sized load for its size Disadvantages No spin or tumble dry function - I recommend you buy a separate spin dryer, you can get these for about £90. These are about the same size as the washing machine. Manual function - you have to turn the taps on and off and drain it using the hose. No times are given for clothing types - the manual says you need to experiment to see which works best. I found for normal soiling the ten minute cycle worked ok, but heavy soiling might need 20 minutes. Is best suited for single people - my weeks washing took three loads to do, but it would be a lot more work for a family. Cannot be left completely unattended - you can't put a load on in the morning and go out to work - although it's perfectly alright to go and watch tellie/read a book etc while the machine is running, you need to check every 10 minutes or so to change from wash to rinse etc, so you do need to commit about an hour to doing your week's washing. Drains syphonically - ie the hose needs to be lower than the machine to drain - so make sure you have enough room on your draining board as you can't use it on floor level. The machine is about 18 in x 18 in by 18 in but I haven't measured it exactly. I am quite pleased with the machine so far! As an aside, I had previously used a machine called a Wonder Wash - a small hand cranked washing machine which works on a pressure system. This was reasonably good and very cheap to buy and run, but could only take small loads - I eventually broke this by overloading it. The Hinari seems to be a better bet. | 
Domestic Appliances
