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How to Cross Washer and Dryer Connectors

ByLauren
26 Comments

How to cross washer and dryer connections to prevent door collision + why we love our Samsung set to make us more efficient in tackling our laundry pile.

Add this to the long list of projects we meant to do for months and wondered WHY in the world it took us so long once we actually made it happen.

You know all of those “As Seen on TV” commercials that show someone in black and white struggling with a #firstworldproblem?

Picture me for two solid years of dancing around these washer and dryer doors every time I had to move a load of clothes from the washer to the dryer because all this time I thought, “Well, this is an old house. The washer and dryer connections are backwards, and this is just the way it has to be.”

When we first moved in, I wanted a front load washer and dryer because I like having the ability to use the top as a folding table of sorts. So we got this Samsung Energy Star dryer and this Samsung AddWash High Efficiency washer, which we’ve loved ever since.

The biggest reason I wanted the washer was because of the little hatch in the front that allows me to add any renegade socks and dish towels at the last minute after starting the wash. (I blame mom brain… or Nargles.)

But because that fancy little hatch has a sophisticated locking system, I couldn’t just switch the doors to swing in the opposite directions to prevent door collision.

And then it dawned on Robert and me one evening in the midst of fighting with them that we could just swap the washer and dryer and cross their connectors.

Oddly enough, I couldn’t find any info out there for how to do this other than a bunch of contractor forums saying they do it “all the time”. So if you have the same struggle, I hope this helps. And while you’re at it, it’s a good idea to clean out your dryer vent for safety.

How to Cross Washer and Dryer Connectors:

The Steps:

1. Make sure your washer and dryer aren’t running (goes without saying, I know).

2. Pull your dryer away from the wall. (The dryer is lighter, so it’s easier to move than the washer.)

2. Detach the dryer vent duct from the wall and the dryer itself. (If your duct is shorter than 4-5 feet, you might need a longer one to cross your connectors.)

3. Vacuum any lint and dust out of the duct, the back of the dryer, and the wall vent.

4. Then shimmy that washer over to where the dryer used to sit. There’s no need to disconnect the washer hoses from the wall. (See above: My goofy handyman at work, y’all.)

5. Reposition your hoses so that there are no kinks to allow water to flow easily.

6. Move the dryer into the washer’s old spot and reposition the duct so that there are no kinks there either.

Ta da! In about 30 minutes, it was all fixed.

You have no idea how happy I am that I don’t have to dance around those doors banging together anymore.

And I get to keep my fancy little #mombrain hatch. Ha!

If you want to see how we gave this laundry room a budget refresh a couple of years ago, you can see all of the makeover details here.

I still can’t get over it.

If life requires that you do laundry, it helps to do it in a space that makes you happy, right? 😉

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How to cross washer and dryer connections to prevent door collision + why we love our Samsung set to make us more efficient in tackling our laundry pile.

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26 Comments

  1. Regarding your dryer vent, you will want to add another annual task to your familial to do list: Vacuum out that dyer vent and the the vent to the outside at least once a year.

    My husband is a mechanical engineer, and we do this, because our dryer vent pipe runs behind our dryer, inside the wall, up to the second story before turning 90 degrees to vent outside. Every bend slows the air flow and, like an eddy in a stream, and causes it to collect lint.

    Why don’t we put in a new, more direct vent through the wall? Needless to say, we didn’t build this house, because this configuration would never have been designed by us. We can’t run a new vent pipe out the back, because the water heater and furnace are in a room behind the laundry room.

    Be sure to keep an eye on your dryer times. If it is getting slower, your vent pipe is probably filling up with lint and restricting the air flow. Not only will it slow down the drying time, it will eventually cut the lifetime of the dryer as well.

    Reply

    1. Yes! That is SO important! We fully cleaned out our vent when we did this, and it gives us so much peace of mind. It’s one of those things we check off for “spring cleaning”. That’s quite a predicament though! Ours is very short and vents straight outside.

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  2. Anything to make life simpler ??? Love your laundry room. Our laundry room is right off the entry from the garage door. (What person designed that ? ?) We use that door more than the front door. Needless to say, I get bumped by the door when folding my clothes. Might be time to make a switch. Thanks for the info.

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  4. Hey Lauren! You know you can just flip the doors right? The hardware and hinges and holes in the appliance allow for that!

    Reply

    1. Some you can but this washer, because it has a sophisticated locking system with the hatch door, can’t be switched. So that’s why we had to figure out a way to switch the actual machines. I figured I’d share it in case anyone else ever ran into that same problem. I was only able to find out how to do it via contractor forums.

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