Frequently Asked Questions About the GE Profile UltraFast Combo Washer and Dryer: Part Two

Our YouTube channel has received more than 80 inquiries regarding the GE UltraFast Combo Washer & Dryer. To date, we have shipped 36 units without any complications. 

So, I compiled the most asked questions and presented them to the engineer responsible for the GE Profile UltraFast Combo Washer & Dryer, Ken Rudolf.

In this article, Ken provides detailed answers to your most frequently asked questions about the GE Profile UltraFast.

Let’s get started. 

Note: This is a follow-up to a previous set of questions for Ken, which can be found by clicking here. 

Frequently Asked Questions About the GE Profile UltraFast Combo Washer & Dryer: Part Two

1. How Quiet Is the GE UltraFast Combo Washer and Dryer?

"We've measured what the decibel (dB) rating is in both wash and dry [cycles]. And as we mentioned, this is based off our UltraFresh front load. So depending on where it is in the cycle, it's probably in that 52 [decibel level]. If someone had maybe a severe out of balance, it probably gets to about 70 dB, comparable from washer.

But the question we always get is, well, what about drying? How does it compare? It is actually significantly quieter than a standard vented dryer.

I would say that it's in the upper forties to low fifties. And that's because we have an insulated tub. We're not venting externally, and the compressor is very quiet. So people are very surprised at how quiet isn't drying. [People have] actually walk up to it and said, 'Is it drying?'

So overall, we've kept the sound profile pretty much where it should be."

2. What Type of Refrigerant Does the GE Profile UltraFast Combo Use?

"We're presently using R 134 A, and I know we get that question because there are other products out there where R 134 A is going to be replaced by R 600 - [there are] some gripes about that.

Right now, combination all-in-one heat pumps are not regulated to switch from R 134 A to an alternate refrigerant. So we're staying on that. ... Over time, we want to get to the next refrigerant.

So, we're looking at some other ones that are out there right now. But as it stands right now, r 134 A, and there's no legislation in our area to change that."

3. Why Does the GE UltraFast Not Use a Water Heater, and How Does This Sanitize?

"We did have an option of utilizing a heater. We chose not to because we actually have a sanitize with oxy cycle. And what we found is there's actually been a driver of more people wanting to sanitize clothes at lower temperatures rather than heating up the water and doing that.

Actually, sanitization with oxy is an even more effective way of sanitizing your clothes than a heated sanitizer.

And then actually, we also get asked because we have a dewrinkle or a steam dewrinkle in the dryer. They say, 'Well, you don't have a heater.'

Well, guess what? Because it's a dryer, there's some natural ways to heat up that moisture. So, that's how we achieve it.

But to sanitize or to generate that type of heat, we didn't need a dedicated sump heater like you would have in some front load washers."

4. Can a Person in a Wheelchair Access the Dispenser?

"Yeah. So, the product behind me we actually have on our seven inch riser, and that would not make it ADA compliant, but when mounted on the ground, we're at 46.7 inches tall.

What ADA has in the spec is the bottom of the drum has to be above 15 inches, which it is, and the controls and the access areas have to be below 48".

We're at 46.7". And I was thinking about that, right? Because to get to the smart dispense, you will have to lift the bottle up here. But really, the great part about it is if you do use that bulk dispense, that's enough for six weeks of detergent.

The sear and tear on somebody coming up to that really push a couple of buttons. You're not measuring out detergent and doing it.

So, number one, it is ADA compliant in all aspects to start with. And two, I think it's actually easier for those who are physically challenged to use a product of this nature."

5. Is the GE Profile UltraFast Combo Compatible With Amazon's Alexa and Other Virtual Assistants? 

"It is through the smart HQ app. ... It doesn't have direct [connectivity], like, our Profile 950 series in our top load, but you can utilize it through the app."

6. Can You Reverse the Door Without Voiding the Warranty?

"This product is not set up to reverse the door. If somebody [did try to reverse the door, it] would take a lot of work, right? So, they'd definitely be voiding the warranty if they did that.

And the reason why we didn't do that initially, quite honestly, we didn't think this would be the runaway hit. ... We also know that one of the reasons why people want to have a reversible door is to make it easier to transfer clothes from the washer to the dryer. ... You're not transferring clothes.

The other thing, and this may just be a little bit out of camera range here, but the way the air comes in here, we wanted to make sure the glass was oriented properly. 

Knowing we made on our UltraFresh front load so easy to swap the door, we didn't want someone to align the glass improperly.

It's something we're looking at, but for this product, that has not been a limitation at all."

7. Does the Detergent Dispenser Work Effectively With Hard or Soft Water?

"Yes. So, we actually made our adaptive smart dispenser, our smart dispense product be able to handle all conditions.

Not only will it auto dispense based on the size of the load as well as the type of detergent, but we know if you have hard water, you'll probably want to dose a little bit more so you can adjust it from auto to more.

Or if you have soft water, you can get by with a little less detergent to get the same cleaning power. You can adjust it to less. So it will adjust.

We actually are looking at it's a great question for one of your consumers, automating that in the future, so that based on your municipality and your water type, we can make that adjustment, but right now, the consumer has that capability."

8. Can You Use Lysol Sanitizer in the Dipenser?

"Yes. ... The combo can take the liquid sanitizers that are out there meant for cold sanitization. And if you follow the instructions either from Clorox or RB, which makes Lysol, they'll tell you to put between three to 4oz of that in the fabric softener compartment.

You [shouldn't] put it in the fabric softener or bulk dispenser, but in the top dispenser, where we have a fabric softener compartment. You would dose it there, and then [the machine] knows to dose that properly and per their claims that will deliver that sanitizing benefit in each one.

As far as cleaning the dispenser, actually the dispenser stays really clean. One of the nice things about having the bulk dispense is you're not messy around that.

But if you do want to do the manual dosing, we made very, I would say very friendly sized compartments to be able to use either liquid detergent or powdered detergent, as well as bleach and fabric softener."

9. Can You Connect the GE Profile UltraFast Combo to a Kitchen Sink?

"Yeah, absolutely. This was something that was very interesting, and we actually saw this in a recent trip to New York was people loved to be able to wash and dry in their apartments, but they don't have the water hookup.

So we have an accessory called the unit coupler,  and what that allows you to do is actually hook it directly to your faucet. You put it into the cold water inlet of the combo. The combo is smart enough to know ... if you only do cold water, it'll say, 'hey, you need hot water for this.' 

So it's smart enough to know it's hooked up to a unicoupler, and you just hook it up to the cold water faucet. Then you take the drain tube and you hook it to the other part of the unit coupler so you can drain directly in the sink.

So for apartment dwellers, for folks that don't have the traditional water outlets as well as standpipe, you can hook this up right next to a sink. And the beauty is it hooks into 120 volts."

10. How Much Energy Does This Use in a Normal Cycle?

"We had to test it as a washer and as a dryer separately. And what I would tell you is this is an Energy Star washer. So this will utilize, I think it's zero point 46 cycles on average from that standpoint. And then what they use in a dryer, it's actually called CEF rating. The larger, the better.

Estar is 3.93. We're at 6.0. So we're 50% more energy efficient. And actually, that's where most of the energy is used. So I believe it's about 1.5 cycles for the dryer.

So what you have here is not only is it delivering the one-and-done promise and the energy, or the space savings and the time savings, but this is the best energy-performing pair that you can have in an all-in-one."

11. Are You Going to Start Manufacturing a Separate Heat Pump Dryer?

"Yeah. I would tell you that historically, and it's something that we started on, I think I talked about in the last video. About seven years ago, we worked on a heat pump dryer program. Consumer acceptance of heat pump dryers was not strong. ... Clearly we have the capability to do a heat pump dryer, and that's in some of our planning as we stand. But right now we're focusing our efforts here on the combo."

12. Have You Considered Producing a Smaller Compact Combo Unit That Could Fit Under a Kitchen Counter?

"There's definitely a market in the compact space. We presently have two products that fit the bill of a 24 inch all in one combination. They're not based on heat pump technology or following what we have right now in the combo.

We have it in both the GE portfolio as well as higher. So we do have a solution that fits under counter 24 inches wide, basically 24 inches deep and as much as 33 inches tall.

But we do see a natural progression is to take this breakthrough technology into other platforms like that."

13. How Many Gallons of Water Does This Use in Normal and Heavy Cycles?

"So some easy math, right? So this has a water factor, an IWF of 3.0. It's 4.8 cubic foot. You just do the simple math. So it'll use 14.4 gallons in a standard wash cycle. So front loaders, which the combo is based off, are extremely water efficient."

14. Would You Recommend the GE Profile UltraFast Combo in a Household with Large Animals in Terms of Hair and Lint Buildup? 

"Well, I'll tell you, not only would I recommend it, I would actually suggest that this is probably one of the best products for handling that. The reason is this, the upfront easy-to-access lint filter.

If you think about it, when you handle heavy pet hair today, right, some of it gets clogged in your washer. It's either left behind in the gasket or it goes down the drain pump. And then you move it over and you find the rest of that pet hair in the dryer.

Since we're [using] an all-in-one, you're not going to have to deal with wet gunky pet hair out of the washer. It's going to be dry. We actually have someone on our team who has a St. Bernard and they were talking about how the pet hair actually stands up and is so easy to clean off of here.

So we're doing some evaluation right now. We believe the combo can demonstrate that extremely well. So sort of stay tuned for that for our pet owners.

But what I can tell you right now, [I have] a lot of confidence in the product to be able to handle that."

15. How Did the Gasket Manage to Stay Bone Dry Despite the Absence of an Odor Block Fan, as Observed During Our Tests?

"That was one of the things that what we have coming up with this product is we do know some folks like to do a wash only still. So we're going to have an ultra fresh cycle that will be downloadable onto this product.

But you nailed it perfectly, right? It's all about drain dry and defend. We drain really well. This is a dryer, so we know it dries really well. And then just like in our ultra fresh front load and our top load now, you see the blue, right?

This is microband throughout the gasket, through the dispenser, the pump housing and the drain tube out the back. And we've had ultra fresh with microband in the market since 2019 and it is performing to expectations.

So we're excited. We believe the combo, just like you said, it dries really well. It's going to do oven better."

Why Don't You Need Dryer Sheets or Wool Dryer Balls with the GE Profile UltraFast?

"There is an easy way to add either dryer balls or dryer sheets. So we added a function, even when you're doing a wash and dry, to hit a button called Wash Complete. And what that'll send you? It'll alert you to your smart HQ device, your smartphone, or right in the machine that says, 'hey, you can pause the cycle and throw that dryer ball and dryer sheet in' if that's what you like.

We often ask people, why are you using those? Right? And they'll say, well, cut down on static. What I tell you is, with the airflow and the lower heat, we do not generate static. So if that's why you're using a dryer ball, you don't need that.

The other thing they do is because it helps the clothes in tumbling. This is a reverse tumbling machine. So we unfold those clothes extremely well. We don't get knotted clothes at the end of the cycle. So really, as you pointed out, you shouldn't need those products.

The one thing that people have talked about is, well, I like that fresh scent from that. The other thing is this is a sealed system.

That was one of the delighters that we had with our team as well; we said, you know what, actually, the fragrance from the detergent or the softener that I really love carried through better because you weren't blowing that scent out the back of the door [while] drying. So it worked really well.

They were reintroducing scent in the dryer because they knew they were going to lose it. You don't lose it here. So I think you've given people good reasons why they don't need those extra pieces, but we made it so that if they still want to use them, they can."

Can You Use Vibration Pads With the GE Profile UltraFast Combo Washer & Dryer?

"You can. Our evaluation is with the leveling legs that we have today, as well as the riser, which is an optional accessory to be able to handle that.

But if folks find that they're getting better performance with vibration pads, we do sell that as an accessory. So those are available.

What I would tell you is, in vibration, even though the unit is a little bit taller and a little bit heavier, it has very much the same vibration signature that you would have out of our ultra fresh front load washer. So they're okay on that.

You're not voiding the warranty if you choose to use it."

Conclusion

If you have any further inquiries about this machine, please feel free to leave them in the comments section below.

Additionally, if you would like to access the full test results, you can click here or watch this video:

Additional Resources

Download our Yale Washer Buying Guide with all the features, terms, and brands of laundry. Over 1 million people have already found answers in a Yale guide.

Related Articles:

• GE Profile UltraFast Combo Washer & Dryer: Test and Performance Review
• The GE Profile UltraFast Combo Washer and Dryer: Tough Questions for the Creator
• Frequently Asked Questions about the GE UltraFast Combo Washer & Dryer: Part One
• GE vs. LG Front-Load Washers
• The Best Front Load Washers
• Are Combo Washer & Dryers Worth It?