LG Electronics to unveil new washer-dryer combo

LG Electronics Inc. will soon roll out a new and improved washer-dryer combo.

The company on Monday said it will unveil the LG Signature Washer-Dryer with Heat Pump at this year's IFA 2023, a global trade show for home appliances that opens on September 1 in Berlin, Germany. Combining a large-capacity drum washer with a heat pump-type dryer, the unit offers one-stop washing and drying and occupies less space than even the LG WashTower, which has a washer stacked on top of a dryer.

After washing, the machine automatically starts drying to remove the need to place clothes in a dryer, a chronic complaint of the WashTower. Using the smart home platform LG ThinQ, a user can put laundry in the combo unit before going out and program it to complete washing and drying by the time he or she returns home.

Previous dual-function machines never caught on because of the poor performance of the heat-utilizing dryer, which used hot air at high temperatures that easily damaged fabric and took a long time to dry.

The new model, however, uses an inverter heat pump to use a low-temperature dehumidification method that absorbs only the moisture in clothes by circulating refrigerant, thus protecting fabric during the drying process.

Write to Ye-Rin Choi at rambutan@hankyung.com