Is the Auertech Portable Washing Machine Worth It?
Worth it, if you don't have hookups and don't mind doing the manual part
Why doing laundry without hookups gets old fast
You've stood in a laundromat at nine at night, feeding quarters into a machine that smells like someone else's fabric softener, thinking there has to be a smaller way to do this at home. A portable twin tub washer is that smaller way, and the Auertech is one of the ones apartment and dorm residents land on when the unit has no hookups and the landlord won't budge. The question worth answering before you buy is whether a machine with two tubs and no plumbing connection can actually replace the trip.
How the Auertech twin tub washer actually works
The trick to understand before anything else is that this is a twin tub, not a single drum that washes and spins the same load automatically. One tub agitates clothes in soapy water on a timer you set by hand, the other tub, driven by a genuinely strong 1300 rpm motor, spins water out of a separate load. That split is why the 28 pound capacity on the spec sheet is really two numbers stacked together, 18 pounds of wash capacity and 10 pounds of spin capacity, not 28 pounds you load in at once. In practice that means you wash a load, then physically lift the wet clothes from the wash tub into the spin tub while the wash tub starts on the next batch, which is slower than an automatic machine but does let two things happen at once instead of one. The drain pump is the other piece worth knowing about, because a gravity drain hose only works if you can get the water somewhere lower than the tub, and a lot of apartment setups don't have that option; the pump pushes water up to 45 inches, enough to clear a standard sink rim. The motor's overheat protection, cutting out at 275 degrees and needing 20 to 30 minutes to reset, is why the manual recommends keeping any single wash and rinse cycle under an hour: push it longer and the machine protects itself rather than protecting your schedule.
So you're not buying a washer that thinks for itself, you're buying two motors and a drain pump that let you run a laundromat-style process in a space that was never wired for one. That's a fair trade if you're willing to stand there and move clothes by hand twice a load; it stops being a good trade the moment you expect it to work like the machine you had growing up.
Who the Auertech portable washer is for, and who should skip it
Worth it if
- you have no in-unit hookups and want to stop paying for a laundromat
- you don't mind manually transferring clothes between the wash and spin tubs
- you have a sink or drain point within 45 inches of the machine
- you can keep wash and rinse cycles under about an hour
Skip it if
- you want a fully automatic, load-and-walk-away washer
- you don't have space for a twin tub footprint in a bathroom or closet
- you need to run back-to-back long cycles without a cooldown break
Not for anyone who wants to load laundry once and walk away for an hour.
The Auertech portable washing machine verdict
If you're in a place with no hookups and you don't mind the fifteen minutes of hands-on transfer time each load takes, this is a quiet yes, it'll save you the laundromat trips. If you want to load it, walk away, and come back to clean dry clothes, that's not what a semi-automatic twin tub does, and no amount of reading the manual will change that.
The laundromat trip disappears, and that's the real win here: no more hauling a hamper down the stairs at night, no more waiting on a machine someone else is using. Day one looks like filling the wash tub through the hose, running a short cycle while you make dinner, then lifting the load over to the spin tub and hanging it up twenty minutes later. It's more hands-on than a real washer, but it's hands-on in your own bathroom instead of a laundromat.
Amazon shoppers rate it 4 out of 5 across 4,029 ratings. That is their number, not ours.
Before you go
Is Auertech 28 lb portable washing machine any good?
Yes, if you understand it's a semi-automatic twin tub, not a hands-free automatic washer; it does the job well for anyone without hookups willing to do the manual transfer.
Do those portable washers really work?
Yes, twin tub portable washers genuinely wash and spin clothes using a real motor and drain pump, but they require you to move laundry between tubs by hand.
How to use the Auertech portable washing machine?
Fill the wash tub through the inlet hose, run the timed wash cycle, then lift the clothes by hand into the spin tub to drain and spin separately.
By the numbers
appliances products reviewedThis one is a yes with a condition attached.
other reviews field the same questionIs Auertech 28 lb portable washing machine any good?
comes up across our appliances coverage, not just here — one of the things worth settling before you choose.
Verdict datasetQuestion indexCC BY 4.0
Full spec sheet
| Product Dimensions | 15"D x 27"W x 32"H |
|---|---|
| Brand | Auertech |
| Capacity | 28 Pounds (18 lb wash / 10 lb spin) |
| Special Feature | High Efficiency |
| Access Location | Top Load |
| Finish Type | Painted |
| Color | White, Blue |
| Cycle Options | Timed wash and spin |
| Item Weight | 31 Pounds |
| Material | Polypropylene |
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