Hoover VHC 391 T 80

As you all know we are having a horrible winter this year and its not the time of year that you can do a load of washing and go and pop it on the line to dry, its currently more likely to freeze your washing.

I also have issues with drying clothes as I have a small house and 2 cats so if I put anything on a radiator then its covered in fur within five minutes so I wanted to invest in a tumble dryer.

I didn't want to buy a cheap one that wouldn't last so was looking around on the internet when I saw this dryer reduced from £347 to £260 on the Curry's website.

I liked the look of it, especially that it has a door like a washing machine so you can see into it, its also a condenser dryer which is good, I didn't want to have to have a vent pipe sticking out a window letting all the cold air in, it is also B Energy rated which I thought was good as tumble dryers are not the most economical household appliance, this is estimated to use 4.49kwh of electric per hour which seems reasonable to me.

So after deciding to purchase the dryer I kept looking around and managed to pick it up from eBay via a company called Domestics Direct for £195 plus £30 delivery charge making this cheaper than Currys and Dixons too.

It is a graded washing machine meaning its marked, dented or scratched so can't be sold in a shop even though its never been used hence the savings but I have found one tiny scratch on it and feel I got a real bargain on the machine.

The model has the water container at the top of the machine so is easier to empty, I haven't seen the T Version at another shop.

It arrived a week after ordering, not bad as I ordered on New Years Day and the company probably reopened on the 5th.

I had been saving all my washing up until it came (any excuse!) and after reading the instructions I loaded the machine and set it to cupboard dry, the machine has a built in sensor so should stop when it feels the clothes are dry dependent on the setting you picked.

You can chose to just put clothes in for 30, 45, 60, 75 or 120 minutes though.

It also has an acrylic/synthetic setting for more delicate items.

The load took about an hour to dry but when it came out it was still slightly damp so I had to put in on for another 30 minutes and then the clothes were dry.

It recommends if you are drying towels to use Bone Dry which I did, that took about 2 hours but the towels were really lovely and soft when they came out.

The machine is quite noisy, I have it in my kitchen near the back door to try and avoid the noise as much as possible, it seems to have quietened down a bit after the first couple of uses but I still have to have my kitchen door shut and the TV on when its in use.

I don't think its an unreasonable noise level though and wouldn't count it as a negative.

The water container is easy to empty, you just pour it down the sink and you can clean the filter by just rubbing the fluff off with your fingers.

I am very happy with the machine and glad I brought it, working full time means keeping up with household chores can be a pain and this is helping me already.