[Closed] Let's talk tumble dryers

Having had two condenser dryers, I would side with your wife and have a vented one. IME condenser chucked a *lot* of water vapour in the house.
Get a proper ventilation hole in wall.
Ours is a gumtree special, £30 for a year old Hotpoint thing that's now done 5 years for us.

Been looking into this too.

There is also a heat pump type which although are more expensive use 1/2 the amount of energy.

Miele condenser here. No detectable rise in humidity in a fairly compact utility room. The cats do however like to hot air outlet 😀

Got a Beko Condensor dryer and no humidity in the room at all. However, it is a A+ model that is meant to use less electricity but it takes hours to dry a load. I think it uses less electricity per hour as it doesn't get as hot, but takes loads longer to dry. So, all in all, it uses the same amount of electricity. Basically, it is cheating to get around the Energy labelling.

Had a vented one for 20 years, when it died we replaced it with a Bosch heat pump condenser one. Our electricity use has dropped significantly, and we've saved something like £600 or £700 in less than 4 years. It doesn't put out any moisture into the room, it all goes into the drawer, which is pulled out and emptied into the sink at the end of each load - I look at the amount of water and think "We used to evaporate all that! No wonder it's cheaper to run".

It also means it can go anywhere, not be near the window/wall vent. An added bonus is that because it's drying the air that contacts the clothes, not just heating it, they don't get so hot.

I hadn't even considered condenser driers in the past (always assumed they were a higher purchase cost but more convenient alternative to a vented one.

Given our household's reliance on a drier (two young kids)can anyone point me in the direction of some running cost calculations so I can see if it would be worth making the swap.

have a heat pump Samsung really pleased with it, even plays a nice little ditty when you switch it on and it finishes. if you go into John Lewis they have cost to run info on each appliciance so you can compare easily. Other stores may do the same

There is also a heat pump type which although are more expensive use 1/2 the amount of energy.

We have a Beko heat pump one. I did the sums when we bought it and given that we had young kids (hence a lot of washing) and we tumble dry a lot of stuff, the initial cost easily paid for itself within a year or two.

It still produces a little moisture as condensers always do, though not nearly as bad as some I've seen. And I plumbed it in so we don't have to keep emptying the water out.

Greybeard - Member
Had a vented one for 20 years, when it died we replaced it with a Bosch heat pump condenser one. Our electricity use has dropped significantly, and we've saved something like £600 or £700 in less than 4 years. It doesn't put out any moisture into the room, it all goes into the drawer, which is pulled out and emptied into the sink at the end of each load - I look at the amount of water and think "We used to evaporate all that! No wonder it's cheaper to run".

It also means it can go anywhere, not be near the window/wall vent. An added bonus is that because it's drying the air that contacts the clothes, not just heating it, they don't get so hot.

Does it get the clothes completely dry (as opposed to slightly damp)? We were put off by a lot of reviews saying Bosch heatpump ones wouldn't completely dry the items. You never know if the people who post the reviews are dimwits who have used the wrong setting though.

Got a Miele heatpump one here - easy access to the fluff filters and water container, I'm happy with it.

We got a Bosch condenser,

This one:
http://www.appliancecity.co.uk/bosch/washing-machines-and-dryers/wtb86590gb/product-20638/

Paid £500 not long ago....was £600 so £400 is a bargain.

Anyway unexpectedly its more efficient than the old cheap vented dryer it replaced.

It works because it recovers the heat rather than just pumping heat to an outside vent.

I got it because we rearranged the small kitchen and the dryer had to go under the stairs so no chance of a vent pipe.

No extra moisture noticed so far. It does give off some heat. I think condenser dryers used to be crap, but not any more for a decent one.

If you have a drain handy (downstairs loo? sink?) you can plumb the condensate into that, so no emptying drawers of water, although its no bother really.

We have a Siemens and its crap.

I think this is the updated version of the heatpump Beko we have:

[img] [/img]
http://ao.com/product/dph8756w-beko-condenser-tumble-dryer-white-41760-18.aspx

£469, 8kg capacity, A+++ energy rating (giving, according to AO, annual consumption of 176 Kwh = £27.10), includes plumbing option kit, easy access to filters (which is important as they really need to be kept clear on [i]all[/i] tumble driers)

So for example - that condenser Beko ay A+++, how would that compare (running costs wise) against my current vented Hotpoint which is B rated.

http://ao.com/product/tvfm70bgp-hotpoint-aquarius-vented-tumble-dryer-white-29929-19.aspx

????

Miele heat pump, plumbed in.

Very little heat or moisture into the room that I can detect.

that condenser Beko ay A+++, how would that compare (running costs wise) against my current vented Hotpoint which is B rated.

AO give energy consumption figures for comparison. Click on the "How Well Does it Perform?" link. That Hotpoint says

Annual Energy Consumption: 510 Kwh
Annual Energy Cost Based On 15.40p/Unit: £78.54

Obviously what it [i]actually[/i] costs you depends how much you use it, but it is useful as a relative comparison.

You can also hit the "Add to Compare" button to get a side-by-side comaprison of multiple machines that includes those energy figures.

Oh and other things to note johndoh, the Beko has a 8kg capacity vs 7kg on the Hotpoint, so potentially less loads which would also lower the total running costs.

And the Beko does "Sensor Drying" (i.e. adjusting the time left on the cycle based on how much moisture it detects) which might also lower the running costs as you avoid over-drying clothes.

It's a tangled web. 😀

Consider a gas tumble dryer v efficient option

I have a bosch heat pump dryer. Its fantastic. Plumbed in the drain for the condensation and as there is no vent to the outside world from the drum get no vapour in our utility (there's a vent on the front that just leads to the heat exchanger).

Its shed loads more efficient than a traditional dryer & still manage to make money from our PV when its running.

You need to fiddle with the fine program settings during initial running as the humidistat is a little over-optimistic.

Had the same request from the Mrs last year after our condenser died. I didn't fancy having to pay for someone to come and put a vent in the utility room wall (it's 3' thick!!) so I did some research and got a Bosch heatpump one. It's been a revelation to be honest. There's a slight draft that comes out of the front vent when it's running and the air that comes out is cooler and drier than the air that goes in. It can dry an 8kg load of towels in less than 2 hours, a full load of clothes in close to an hour and based on efficiency figures, should cast around £60 a year to run.
I would say though that it's worth plumbing in the drain though, as emptying the drawer after every other load is a pain unless you have a sink right next to it.. in which case plumbing it in and never having to worry about it should be easy enough.
I also found that the one we had didn't have the free space that you usually get at the back for plumbing it was a solid 60x60 box.. had to rejig some of the plumbing behind it to get it to fit. Worth it though.

#EDIT: Meant to say also, I have a hygrometer outside the utility room and within a couple of weeks of fitting the new drier, the humidity had dropped from high 60% to mid-high 50%..

You can also hit the "Add to Compare" button to get a side-by-side comaprison of multiple machines that includes those energy figures.

Is there a way of working out how much power (on average) we use running one each month (we don't yet have a smart meter fitted).

[img] [/img]

http://www.p3international.com/products/p4400.html

Or one of the many (UK plug) clones out there should do the job I think.

Of course just doing it monthly can be a bit misleading, even if you never line dry outside, as you presumably wear more clothes in winter.

I assume when I get the smart meter fitten (next month) that will tell me anyway (as it should show actual current usage when the drier is switched on)?

Does it get the clothes completely dry (as opposed to slightly damp)? We were put off by a lot of reviews saying Bosch heatpump ones wouldn't completely dry the items.

I assume when I get the smart meter fitten (next month) that will tell me anyway (as it should show actual current usage when the drier is switched on)?

I don't think most smart meters give you per-appliance readings, so unless it is a fancy one your per cycle power usage could be knocked off by things like the freezer kicking in or the oven being on.

Agree with Greybeard - the clothes sometimes come out ever so slightly damp on our Beko (I'm guessing it is a relative humidity thing). But easy enough to stick them in for another ten minutes on timer.

I don't think most smart meters give you per-appliance readings, so unless it is a fancy one your per cycle power usage could be knocked off by things like the freezer kicking in or the oven being on.

I think a Kill-a-Watt would be a [i]lot[/i] easier, but yeah. Bear in mind it'll use different amounts of power at different points in the cycle (i.e. more when the heater and motor are both running).

But at £35 a Kill A Watt is a bit expensive in itself for a one off test too!

Useful thing to have though. Also look at the clones:

[url= http://amzn.eu/bEAZG5X ]Energenie Power Meter £16.99[/url]

[url= http://amzn.eu/5vIhqwr ]Eakar Power Meter £13.99[/url]

[url= http://amzn.eu/28S48bf ]Crappy Unnamed Energy Consumption Cost Meter £6.97[/url]

We've just replaced a Bosch which was a total pile of s**** with a White Knight, cheap as chips, works brilliantly and is British made.
According to the net they're also the most reliable and won't burn your house to the ground.

According to the net they're also the most reliable and won't burn your house to the ground.

[b]ALL[/b] tumble driers are fire risks!
Tumble dryers are the second biggest cause of house fires.

http://www.ukwhitegoods.co.uk/appliance-industry-news/84-whiteknight/3587-white-knight-recall-tumble-dryers-due-to-fire-risk

http://www.which.co.uk/news/2012/12/1800-white-knight-tumble-dryers-could-catch-fire-304455/

[img] ?strip=all&w=865[/img]
Burnt out White Knight C372WV - https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/3504579/dryer-fire-burns-down-flat/

We bought a vented Bosch second hand and it does a good job of drying clothes and has not burnt the house down. I keep ours in the garage and have a long vent hose which gets dropped out the window when needed. IMO no need to drill massive hole through the wall for something that gets used once a week on average. Obviously if you have quintuplets or run a BnB it might be worth getting the venting fitted properly.

no need to drill massive hole through the wall for something that gets used once a week on average

Once a week?? Our drier probably gets used at least 5 times a week. Often more.

Yep pretty much, we really just use it for towels / sheets etc. Good clothes and all the bike stuff doesn't go in it. We live in a dry-ish part of the country so good old washing line gets used for half the year.

We could just be dirty as some folk seem to wash everything all the time. There have been some good threads on here over the years about washing bike kit and jeans. It varied between "full boil wash after 20 min wearage followed by nappysan and UV treatment" to "I just buy merino and wash it when it become crusty".

+1 on the gas option.
Very keen to get ours fitted again.
i bought a cheap second hand electric and it is nowhere as good or efficient as the gas one we had in the old house.

Are Miele really worth the extra money? I'm trying to decide between the following:

[url= http://ao.com/product/dhr73431w-beko-condenser-tumble-dryer-white-36590-18.aspx ]Beko[/url]
[url= http://ao.com/product/wtw85451gb-bosch-serie-6-condenser-tumble-dryer-white-48128-18.aspx ]Bosch[/url]
[url= http://ao.com/product/tdb130wp-miele-t1-condenser-tumble-dryer-white-45684-18.aspx ]Miele[/url]

We have a washer/dryer (I'm aware that jack of all trades is master of none)

We don't have the right space to have two units (not without losing valuable storage anyway) but why do folks use a dryer rather than just a normal airer?

Maybe I'm just being tight

but why do folks use a dryer rather than just a normal airer?

Before we had kids we barely ever used our washer/dryer as a dryer but now we have separates and they are both used daily, sometimes several times a day.

We've got a john lewis branded heat pump one. Very good with a big capacity. Not slow either. But it is very sensitive to fluff build-up and there are 3 filters to clean after each use.

As above, pre-kids we barely used a tumble drier. Now with kids it's on everyday outside of the summer months. I reckon kids produce c.4x the amount of washing that adults do. So on that basis, a drier with the lowest operating costs seemed sensible. We don't have mains gas, so that leaves only heat-pumps as the lowest power use options.

ALL tumble driers are fire risks!

So is holding a naked flame.

They become a fire risk because people don't keep the things clean ie remove fluff etc from filters.

We have a Beko condensing. I wouldn't get condensing again as we already a flu plumbed in to the outside. Condensing do increase humidity there is now way round it.

If I had the cash I would get a heat pump one.

We have 2 young kids too but haven't found it to be a problem

2 additional points here
- I'm not judging, I'm geuninely interested. Horses for courses I guess, and I suppose not having a stand alone dryer means we wouldn't get the real benefit anyway
- 'we' really means 'my wife'!

We've got the MASSIVE Samsung DV431 AEP. Brilliant bit of kit.

You have to wire it directly to the mains and use metal venting. It's rated to do 10kg so swallows any load.

Dries stuff incredibly quickly and crease free.

They're £1300 or so but bought an ex demo off eBay for £499. Well worth it.

Kids stuff, towels and bedding goes in ours, other stuff on outside line in summer, on inside line in utility with dehumidifier in winter.

Was all up for getting a Bosch heat pump dryer (just always bought Bosch) after reading this thread but user reviews on sellers websites are disappointing...experience seems to be that clothes are still damp at end of drying cycle & it takes a much longer time to dry clothes fully than other dryer types. Is this just a Bosch issue or is this heat pump dryers in general?

Mine did this until I realised there were 3 filters that needed cleaning per wash, not just the obvious one.

Obviously I hadn't read the manual.... 🙂

Sorry to drag this up from the dim and distant past, but my MIL is offering to buy us a tumble dryer to celebrate the arrival of our daughter. Looking at a heat pump condenser unit, £350 - 400, probably a Beko 7341 somethingorother....
BUT... reading that the heat pump models don’t like low ambient temperatures, ie they don’t work well in an out building.
Does anyone have any experience there? We’re not going to be putting in out in the rain, but average temp of the shed is prob ~12 or so.
Thanks!

but why do folks use a dryer rather than just a normal airer?

We use one because we have a young family - if we naturally aired everything there wouldn't be a spare space in the house and it would be continually damp.

we have a drier but prefer to use our (decent quality) dehumidifier and an airer in the utility room. dont know whether thats justified or not.
anyone know whether theres much difference in cost between a drier on for a couple of hours, vs dehumidifier on for 8-10hrs say?

Look at the power consumption of dehumidifier (or better still stick it on one of those power meter plugs and see what it actually uses as it might not run at a constant power drain) and compare to the dryers. The power consumption of heat pump condenser dryers is impressively low =

I'm using our Heat Pump Dryer at the moment as it's pissing with rain...

Very low power consumption, just blips at 300-400W is every few seconds to keep the temp up in the drum.

[url= https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4584/38128145672_756225a77e_c.jp g" target="_blank">https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4584/38128145672_756225a77e_c.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/216fHkW ]Heat Pump Dryer[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/brf/ ]Ben Freeman[/url], on Flickr

Graph from [url= https://www.neur.io ]Neurio smart meter[/url].

We're about to buy a bosch heat pump dryer.

Due to good feedback from the inlaws.

https://www.johnlewis.com/bosch-wtw87560gb-heat-pump-condenser-tumble-dryer-9kg-load-a-energy-rating-white/p1775540

Miele condenser here. Plumbed in. Room gets warm but not moist. Ours must be about 10 years old and aside from having worn sensor brushes and drive belt replaced a few years back it has been great. Works brilliantly, as long as I remember to clean the condenser every now and again. If it failed beyond repair I’d buy another immediately.

Miele vented here. After owning various makes that gave up the ghost prematurely we decided to invest in a Miele. It was the lowest priced one John Lewis had, about £600 iirc. Seemed an awful lot of money at the time but it's worked flawlessly for the 5 years we've had it.

We use a Lakeland heated clothes airer.

Highly recommended and dries multiple loads of laundry overnight. Wouldn't go back to a tumble drier.

http://www.lakeland.co.uk/around-the-home/household-electricals/electric-dryers-and-airers/

Stirling, surely that pumps loads of moisture into your house?

Only slightly related but....
Our dehumidifier broke so we bought a new one. Wow what a dfference.
We put our washing in the spare bedroom.The new machine worked so well that we could even put towels in the drawer after bring on overnight.. The old machine would have left them a bit damp.
It's an eco air. Very impressed.

I'd love a new tumble dryer, but you try getting a condenser one built in (integrated). No chance.

I'd love a new tumble dryer, but you try getting a condenser one built in (integrated). No chance.

Ours lives in the workshop, no room in the kitchen for it.

Stirling, surely that pumps loads of moisture into your house?

Yep, that will just evaporate the water into the house...

Stirling, surely that pumps loads of moisture into your house?

Suprisingly not. If we do get a build up of moisture or condensation I turn on an extractor fan for a short period.

Had a Beko condenser here for a number of years, prior to that had vented.

Vented appear to be less efficient rating wise but I wouldn’t get condenser again as definitely bents to the room