Patent ID: 8511324

Claim:
A washing/drying machine comprising: a washing tub; a tank for storing used water; a drying air duct disposed outside the washing tub and having opposite ends connected to the washing tub for use in a drying process; air blowing/heating means provided in the drying air duct for sucking air out of the washing tub through one of the opposite ends of the drying air duct, heating the sucked air and feeding the heated air back into the washing tub through the other end of the drying air duct in the drying process; a tank water circulation passage including a supply passage having opposite ends, one of which is connected to the tank and the other of which is connected to a first position of the drying air duct, and a recovery passage having opposite ends, one of which is connected to a second position of the drying air duct or the washing tub and the other of which is connected to the tank; a pump provided in the tank water circulation passage for pumping up the water from the tank through the supply passage to supply the water into the drying air duct from the first position and causing the water to fall through the drying air duct to feed the water back into the tank through the recovery passage from the second position or the washing tub to circulate the water; and control means which controls driving of the pump so as to circulate a smaller amount of water through the tank water circulation passage in a first half of the drying process and circulate a greater amount of water through the tank water circulation passage in a second half of the drying process; wherein the control means controls the driving of the pump so that the amount of the water to be circulated through the tank water circulation passage in the first half of the drying process is great enough to be comparable with the amount of the water to be circulated through the tank water circulation passage in the second half of the drying process, if a temperature of the water contained in the tank is lower by at least a predetermined degree than a room temperature at start of the drying process.