• The Best Portable Washing Machines in 2017

  • Are you thinking about getting a portable washing machine?

    I spent over 20 hours researching and testing the best reviewed models, and this review is the fruit of that research. It's quite long, but it was necessary to include all the relevant information. If you're in a hurry, just use the Navigation Bar at the top to skip to the "Best Overall" pick, the Haier portable washer.

  • Updated 3/2/2017

    Reasons to Buy a Portable Washer

     

    If you live in a condo or apartment that doesn't have a washer/dryer in the unit, you know the hassle of lugging your laundry to the laundry room and back. We all value our time, and no one wants to waste it on shuttling laundry back and forth.

     

    You Want To Save Time

    How much time does it take you to walk to your building's laundry room or local laundromat? Let's say it takes you 3 minutes to make it there and another 2 minutes to come back (faster because you are not walking with basket full of clothes. Assuming you make a total of just 3 trips (once to take the laundry there, once to transfer from the washer to the dryer, and once to take the dried clothes back home), that's 15 minutes of just travel time each time you do laundry! To calculate this for your self, make a note of how much time it takes you to walk there and back.

     

    You Don't Have to Plan Your Schedule Around Your Laundry Time

    If you live in an apartment building, you may have have run into this problem. The laundry room always seems to be PACKED when you finally have time to do it. Most people have similar work schedules, so our free time is pretty synchronized. You know that sinking feeling you get when you walk into the laundry room to find all the washers washing already? Or worse, two out of the six washers have been done and just sitting there for the last 30 minutes, with no owner in sight. Do you take out their clothes without their permission? What if they don't come back for another hour? Ugh!!

     

    You Don't Want to Worry about People Messing with Your Laundry

    So you finally managed to find an empty washer, dropped your clothes in, and headed home to take care of other stuff. Everything is good....except there's that nagging feeling in the back of your head reminding you: don't forget to go back for your laundry? Now the countdown begins. Do you set a timer? I do, it's too hard to add 45 minutes to 2:40pm, and I don't want to have to keep checking the clock to see if my laundry is ready. So you set a timer, and now everything seems limited. Want to go grocery shopping? You won't make it back in time. Want to take a nap? You could, but you don't trust yourself to wake up in time. Everything you want to do from then on is limited by that damn timer! You HAVE TO make it back right when the washer stops, otherwise someone might just be impatient enough to dump your clothes somewhere else.

     

    The worst thing is even after having all this anxiety, you still manage to forget about your laundry until you are in bed in the middle of the night. &@*#!

     

    You Don't Want to Deal with Dirty Washers

    People wash all kinds of $%&@ in public washing machines. Who knows what was last washed in the washer you are about to wash your underwear in? With a good portable washer, you won't have to keep wondering if somebody just washed their baby's soiled cloth diapers in your machine anymore.

     

    You Want to Save Money

    The average cost of washing and drying one load of laundry at a laundromat/laundry room is approximately $3. Compare that to washing and drying your clothes at home, which costs 36 cents for the washer, 40 cents for the dryer, and 11 cents for water. For every load of laundry you do at home, you stand to save $2.17. Multiply that by the number of loads you do per year, and you have an approximate idea of how much money you will save with your own washer.

     

    No Laundry Hookup? No Problem.

    If you have a kitchen or bathroom sink in your apartment, then all the washers in this review can be hooked up. They all come with adapters and washers to take in and expel water.

  • Reasons You May Not Want to Buy a Portable Washer

     

    They are not as luxurious as a full sized washer

    Portable means making sacrifices in the features and size department. This means you will have to do more loads to compensate for the smaller washer size.

     

    You will likely have to line-dry your clothes (unless you also buy a portable dryer)

    You can buy a portable dryer also, but may not want to initially. A portable washer is already a big investment, and it's best to start out with just a washer to see if you can manage without a dryer. Line drying saves energy, and is good for the environment. Check out the bottom of the page for recommended line drying accessories.

  • Best Overall:

    Haier HLP21N Portable Washer

  • Our Rating: 5/5 stars

     

    This is the washer I rate the most highly out of all those reviewed. Haier is the gold standard in portable washers in Asia, where laundry hookups are not as robust as they are in the US/Canada. With a big Asian market and manufacturing experience, Asian brands tend to make the best portable washers, and Haier is no exception.

     

    Specs-at-a-glance

      • Capacity: 1 cubic foot

      • Dimensions: 36 x 24 x 24 inches
      • 3 Water levels
      • 3 Wash Cycles
      • Electronic controls with LED indicators
      • Easy installation kit with quick-connect sink adapter included

      Pros

      • Easy initial setup: the setup process takes approximately 10 minutes: Screw on the base plate, attach the caster wheels, then connect the inlet hose to your faucet.
      • Fast breakdown and setup before and after each wash:
      • Cleans  well: the Haier is a high efficiency washer without a center agitator. HE washers allow for higher loading capacity and improved clean. It handled the dirty, oily clothes I threw at it with no trouble. All the clothes came out clean and looking great.
      • Large capacity despite small footprint: even though the washer itself looks tiny in comparison to a full sized washer, it can still pack quite a load.
      • Quiet - as loud as running a large microwave
      • includes caster wheels for easy storage
      • Reliable - owners report high reliability, even after five years
      • Single tub design - no need to transfer clothes between washing and spin-drying cycle unlike the cheaper models

      Cons​

      • No lint filter: when I mixed my dark and white clothes, I noticed that the black shirts picked up small traces of white lint. An inconvenience that can be worked around by separating clothes by color.

      • Setup may require a wrench: when I initially connected the hose to our kitchen sink using the quick adapter, I did not use any tools. This resulted in water spraying all over the kitchen floor. I had to tighten the adapter with a wrench slightly (not too tight!) to ensure there was no leak.

    • Runner Up:

      Midea Portable Apartment Washing Machine

    • Our Rating: 4.5/5 stars

      Specs-at-a-glance

        • Capacity: 6.6 lbs (0.9 cubic feet)
        • Dimensions: 36 x 24 x 24 inches
        • 3 Water levels
        • 5 Wash Cycles
        • 3 Water temperature settings 
        • Electronic controls with LED indicators

        Pros

        • Quiet - This a very quiet washer, the noise it makes is about the same as the Haier also listed in this review. Like most washers, this model gets loudest during the spin cycle.

        • Hot water option - the Midea is so much like a regular sized washer that it has hot water input. This model is the only portable washer among those reviewed with a hot water option. However, in an apartment or condo without proper laundry hookups, having a hot water inlet is not too useful. Having said that, it's always good to have the option for when you move into a place with proper laundry hookups.

        • Single tub design - no need to transfer clothes between washing and spin-drying cycle unlike the cheaper models

        • Reliable - owners report high reliability, even after five years

        • Large capacity: just like the Haier, the Midea washer has a small footprint and large load capacity.

        • Cleans well: the Midea portable washer handled all dirt and grime I threw at it it with no trouble. Clothes came out clean. This is also a high efficiency washer like the Haier.

        Cons​

        • Requires purchasing an additional Y-connector: If you don't have a regular laundry hookup in your apartment (which you probably do not if you are in the market for a portable washer), you should buy a Y-connector to split your kitchen or bath faucet water into the hot and cold water inputs of the washer. Without a connection to both inlets, the washer will sometimes attempt to pump water in from both sides and potentially throwing an error message.

        • No lint filter

      • Best for RVs:

        Wonderwash Portable Non-electric Washing Machine​

      • Our Rating: 3.5 / 5 stars

        Specs-at-a-glance

          • Capacity:
          • Dimensions: 16 x 12 x 12 inches

          Pros

          • Lightweight - weighs only 5.5 pounds when empty
          • Inexpensive - the lowest priced "washing machine" among those reviewed
          • Fast - depending on how dirty the clothes are, you can wash, rinse, and drain a load in as little as 5 minutes. 
          • Great for the zombie apocalypse - if you've ever worried about how you'll wash your clothes without electricity, the Wonderwash is the solution. Since it is 100% manually powered, you will continue to have access to clean clothes while society fights off the zombies and rebuilds itself.

          Cons​

          • No "spin-dry" - since there is no tub with drain holes in this machine, you have to manually wring dry your clothes. Personally I hate doing that and thus this is the #1 drawback for this machine.
          • Powered by your hands - some people see this as a benefit, some as a drawback. This washer uses no electricity and is completely manual.
          • Hard to wash heavily soiled clothes: since there is no motor, you are limited by the power of your hands. A human arm simply cannot compete with the continuous agitation an electric motor can provide. This means that the clothes won't come out as clean as they do in a powered model.
        • Giantex Portable Twin Tub Washing Machine

        • Our Rating: 2 / 5 stars

           

          I really wanted to like this washer. The price is good, the specs look good, but actually using it is so labor intensive that I might as well just go down to the laundromat. Setting up the Giantex was not as easy as it could have been. The water inlet hose adapter did not fit my kitchen faucet, and I had to hunt down an adapter at my Home Depot to make it fit. Adapters are meant to work with most faucets, so why even include it if it's not going to work?

           

          When it comes to the actual washing, the Giantex washer actually does a good job. It is very powerful for its small size, and my clothes came out very clean. However, the two tub design meant that I had to manually take my load of laundry out of the washing tub and place it in the spin-drying tub. Not only that, the spin-drying tub is about half the size of the washing tub, so for a "normal" load, you have to run the spin-dry cycle twice because the spin-dry tub only fits about half of the load. The whole process is very labor intensive, and I wouldn't recommend this model for anyone looking to save time. Spend the extra money for a washer with a single tub design.

           

          If you are looking for a budget option, I recommend either getting the completely manual WonderWash or go all out and pick up the Haier Portable Washer above.

           

          Bottom Line:

          Of the twin tub washers on the market, the Giantex is the best. However, single tub washer are just so much more convenient. Go with this one if you have your heart set on a twin-tub washer, otherwise, go with something else. It is better than washing your clothes at the laundromat, but there are better designs on the market.

          Specs-at-a-glance

            • Capacity: 11 lb

            • Dimensions: 28 x 25 x 14 inches

            Pros

            • Lint filter: the lint filter in the washing tub catches most lint.

            • Cleans well: despite its tiny footprint, the Giantex packs a powerful clean. Clothes came out looking clean.

            Cons​

            • Two-tub design: washing and spin-drying takes place in separate tubs, and the spin drying tub has a much smaller capacity, meaning you usually have to run two spin-dry cycles for each tub you wash, which is small to begin with.

            • Drained by gravity: the washing tub lacks a pump to drain the water. Instead, it relies completely on gravity, which means draining is slow and incomplete. The twin tub design relies on the spin-dry tub to wring the water out of your laundry.

            • Faucet connector will probably not fit your kitchen/bath plumbing.

          • Tips to Get the Best Clean out of your Portable Washer

             

            • Do not overload your washer - with a portable washer, it's very tempting to cram as much as you can so you can do fewer loads. There are two reasons why you should try not to do this. One is that there won't be any room for the clothes to agitate against the machine and water, resulting in less cleaning power. Two is that an overloaded tub makes the motors work harder, possibly reducing its lifespan.
            • Use less detergent - the capacity of portable washers is much less than normal sized washing machines, and most people already use too much detergent in a regular machine. Use 1/2 to 1/4 of the normal scoop when measuring your detergent. If you can see lots of bubbles on the surface of the water during the wash, you are using too much detergent.
            • Separate your colors - this is probably common sense, but is even more important in these portable washers with no lint filter. You are probably line drying your clothes, which is not able to trap the accumulated lint like a dryer does during the drying cycle. Sorting your laundry loads by color reduces the amount of white lint on dark clothes and vice versa.
            • Leave the washer lid open for a couple hours or more after washing - the tub is a dark, damp place. Not allowing it to dry out could encourage mold and bacteria to grow on the upper walls of the washing tub. Always air it out after each use. I leave mine always open when not in use, the residual laundry powder smell makes the apartment smell nice anyways.