Have you heard of the Spindel?

The Spindel is known as ‘the laundry dryer that saves energy and money’ – and with good reason!

I was very kindly sent a 6.5kg Spindel to review this year, and I’ve been putting it to the test, and have now put together a completely honest review.

A little background information on our situation

Our house is fully solar-powered. Yes, this means that load shedding doesn’t affect us (whoopie!), however it does mean that we have to be conscious of the appliances we use. We can’t use something that will suck way too much power, especially if the weather hasn’t been too sunny. We also can’t use appliances that have very long cycles or use excessive heat.

All of our appliances are a minimum of A+ in terms of power usage, and we were determined on moving into our home that we would do fine without a tumble drier, as they’re notorious suckers of power. It wasn’t a problem during the summer months, as the weather is so hot that even if I hang clothes upstairs on a clothing rail in our mezzanine level over the kitchen, they’d dry SO fast and I wouldn’t even need to iron them.

Then winter began. We only moved into our home in December last year, so we’d only experienced a summer, and had NO idea just how cold our house would be. Clothing would take sometimes up to 3 days to dry fully, regardless of whether I hung it up outside on the line (which in winter really doesn’t get that much sun), or indoors. I was having to steam or iron EVERYTHING, and my Mom was gracious enough to allow me to use her tumble drier when necessary. Still, we needed a long term solution.

You can watch my unboxing and first impressions of the Spindel in this Instagram Reel here:-

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A post shared by Siobhan Yeatman – Sugar&Spice (@sugarspiceblog2)

ENTER THE SPINDEL…

I’m going to go through each of the Spindel’s claims, and discuss my thoughts on them. The Spindel claims to: –

♥ Have either 4.5kg or 6.5kg load capacity depending on model

♥ Dry clothes by spinning them, not with heat

♥ Dry laundry faster

♥ Preserve fabrics

♥ Save time and money

♥ Save energy

LOAD CAPACITY

The Spindel comes in 2 sizes – the 4.5kg or the 6.5kg. The 6.5kg model may look small (in fact, when I unboxed it I was concerned I’d have to do 5 load in the Spindel for each load of laundry) but trust me, it packs a punch, as it can take up to 4 king size sheets in one load. In fact, I’ve used it for a single load, containing my extra length king size duvet cover, my extra length, extra depth fitted sheet, 4 pillow cases and a few small items of clothing!

The trick is in the way you pack the Spindel. You need to ensure items made from heavier fabric are at the bottom, and the laundry should be firmly packed so there are no gaps in the sides. You can’t just simply dump your laundry in and hope for the best. It doesn’t take long to pack the machine the right way, and when you do it takes WAY more clothes or linen than you could have imagined!

SPIN POWER, NOT HEAT

Unlike conventional tumble driers, it doesn’t use heat to dry your clothes – instead, the Spindel uses spin power. It spins at 2800rpm (which is double the spin power of most washing machines), and with this it can take up to 80% of the moisture out of your laundry in just 3 minutes.

If you watch the link above to my Instagram Reel of my unboxing and first impressions, you’ll know just how much water this little appliance spins out of your clothes. I could not BELIEVE how much drier my clothing came out – and if you think that’s good, you must see what happens when I put towels in! I have to empty the measuring bowl I keep placed under the output for every 2 towels that go in!

DRIES LAUNDRY FASTER AND PRESERVES FABRICS

By removing so much of the moisture out of your wet laundry before hanging it up, you’re able to get the load of laundry to dry faster. Also, by using no heat to dry the clothes and linen, it’s surely a given that your fabric won’t be damaged?

YES! My clothes dry in less than a day now, even if hung up indoors. My linen feels basically dry before I even hang it, so it can be folded away sooner. I cannot believe the different the Spindel has made on my laundry experience, as I know items can be packed away so much quicker.

The lack of heat is also really great for preventing clothes from shrinking, and (while I haven’t been using the Spindel for long enough to truly judge), I imagine that it will also gradually prevent less deterioration, as fabric fibres are not weakened by the heat.

SAVES TIME, MONEY AND ENERGY

As mentioned, not only does the Spindel use less power than your average tumble drier, it uses 100x less electricity than a tumble drier! How’s that for a figure?!

You’ll cut down on your electricity usage through the lower energy that the Spindel pulls, as well as the fact that each cycle is a mere 3 minutes long, so you’re using less power and for less time.

The quick cycle means that you’re also saving time on drying IN the machine, AND less time drying once you’ve hung it up.

I’m sure we can all agree that this is a massive saving on time, money and energy.