The long haired general has decreed that we are getting a tumble drier and has seconded me to research them. There appears to be three types; vented, condenser and heat pump, and I’m not sure which to buy.
Vented are the cheapest and we have a spot to put it that already has ducting to the outside, but it will mean I have to tidy the garage, no mean feat…
Condenser. Having had a washer/drier that was a condenser drier and it never, ever, fully dried the clothes (I even read the manual to ensure we were using it correctly) so I’m not overly keen on that type. Was I just unlucky? Are they cheaper to run than a vented drier, or just more convenient because they can be put anywhere?
Heat pump. What’s that all about then? On the face of it they seem to be more efficient with an A++ energy rating compared to B/C for the other types but apparently they take longer to dry so does it all balance out, costing less per minute but running for longer?

Whatever we buy will be at the cheaper end of the market, so please bear that in mind when making recommendations.

Vented as you have space and ducting. Just buy cheap as not a lot to go wrong anyway ime.

Heat pump: definitely cheapest to run but most expensive outlay, only type I’d buy.

Vented

Whatever you buy, make sure it’s made by Whirlpool.

Having used loads at work I now only buy cheap vented ones ideally with a rotary dial and nothing else. Simple, little to go wrong and cheap. Latest one is a White Knight, 3 years and no issues after a fault with the first one that arrived.

Landlord experience here, I buy lots of appliances. I only buy bosch now. Over the last 10 year they are the only ones that are consistently reliable (I haven’t tried Miele).
You must have had a bad motivator in your washer dryer condenser , mind you washer dryers are utter shite.
We only buy condensers and they are great. I have a 10 year old bosch at home still going strong, Gets everything very dry.
Haven’t tried heat pump, didn’t know about them. Will investigate. @Fooman – why so? Convince me?

Another vote for vented.
Another vote for white knight.

£119 6 years ago. Used at least 4 times a week. Never gone wrong.

If you can vent then that’s going to be the cheapest set up to buy. Your heat gets dumped outside along with the moisture so pretty inefficient.

condensers are great if you can’t vent and spending cash on electricity isn’t a problem. They dry very well. I’ve only had Miele ones and provided you clean the fluff filter and condenser fins they’re pretty good.

but, if you don’t clean your condenser then it’ll overheat and its thermal overload will need replacing.

that’s how I now have a heat pump dryer. The Miele repair guy suggested one when he found that the seals, bearings, and some other bits also needed replacing on my >10 year old dryer and it might be time to consider something a bit more efficient.

I was going to get another Miele but instead got a John Lewis heat pump dryer. It dries at a lower temperature than the condenser did. If you mix fabric weights (sheets and towels for example) then the heavier things will still be slightly damp when the machine’s moisture sensor stops the cycle. At least it will on the default dryness setting. It also leaves the room feeling a bit humid. Even with that, I’d go for another heat pump one. A bit quieter than my old condenser. Cooler-running. Uses about 1/2 to 2/3 of the electricity of the condenser.

why so? Convince me?

Cheapest to run (they pay for themselves) but might be difficult to justify if you’re a landlord and not paying the electricity bill.

We bought a John Lewis heat pump one. Reasonably expensive but supposedly best energy efficiency.

What is good is that it doesn’t ‘cook’ clothes so most stuff can now be tumbled dried with no fear of damaging.

None of the above. White Knight gas one. Uses less electric. Less to go wrong.

Cheapest to run (they pay for themselves) but might be difficult to justify if you’re a landlord and not paying the electricity bill.

Surprisingly enough we have learned from experience that if we want to attract good tenants, we need to offer good features. Outside the M25 we are in commuter territory and hard working families where it is all about quality.

If energy efficiency/ environmental considerations appear on your better half’s list of priorities in the slightest AND you have the space to hang clothes up indoors get a dehumidifier instead of a tumble dryer of any flavour to speed up the process when nature is against you. Best done in a relatively sealable utility room etc so you are not trying to dry the world. Also only saves co2/energy if you make sure you only have it on when needed. But if done well it saves a lot of money or is less damaging to the environment depending on your priority.

We’ve had a lot of (bad) experience with tumble driers, as they used to get hammered by having kids and pets and we all like exercise and playing in the dirt through winter.

Couldn’t have vented so the first Zanussi was a condenser model that lasted around 10 cycles before needed the condenser unit taking out (easy) and cleaning (not so easy). After 2 years the heating element went. Fixed it and 6 months later the bearings collapsed. Skipped it.

Had a few others before that were all a bit pants, including washer driers – never get one of them unless you really have to.

Now we have an AEG heat pump drier. £450 ish to buy and has been going more or less every day for the last year. Doesn’t require cleaning more than a simple fluff extraction from the filter and emptying water from the tray every 10 dries or so.

Quiet in use, doesn’t steam the room up as the ‘waste’ hot air is recycled into the cleaning cycle and takes 1 hour 10 minutes to dry clothes enough to hang. If it was full of towels or jeans, maybe 2 hours to get them nicely dry.

All in all, I wouldn’t buy another condensing only dryer.

That said, if I had a hole in the wall to put a normal vented one in, I’d be looking at that in direct comparison to the running costs etc.

Been a user of tumbles for 18 years, had condensing in the past, woyldnt do it again.
Last basic vented white knight was brilliant. Lasted 5 years then the back of the drum randomly cracked.
New fangle dangle (only purchased as I had 150 quids worth of b and q vouchers) vented one with digital buttons for this and that is waaaaaaay to over complicated for what is a very basic process,
Stick to basic and vented is my advice.

We have a John Lewis vented drier that came with the house when we bought it over 6 years ago (and I’ve no idea how old it was before we moved in). Gets hammered in the colder months but less so if it’s possible to hang stuff out. Has a dampness sensor and various levels of drying so adjusts cycle accordingly.

Miele condenser here. 17 YO I think and never missed a beat in all that time. It works as advertised is all I can say & is in regular use by 5 adults over the winter, a lot less during the warmer months. Can’t comment on parts availability on a dryer of this age so if it ever stops working it might be scrap metal.

in true stw reply

get a battery one

Basic Vented one – had ours over 20 years. Lives in the porch, just open the outer porch door when drying. If you’ve got space for the ventilation, just get one – least problematic type of dryer.

We have a Bosch heat pump. Our electricity bill is about £200/year lower than with the vented one, so it’s paid for itself in less than 3 years. Takes about twice as long to dry stuff but it doesn’t get as hot so you can dry more delicate items. Also quiet.

We just had gumtree special vented Creda die on us.

We bought a £380 Hoover heat pump (I did the maths on expensive heat pump and it just doesn’t repay the initial outlay in energy savings unless you got over 12 years out the thing). First Hoover heat pump went back as it pee’d water all over floor and into controls. Second one leaked into controls and let damp air into room. Neither actually dried clothes. When we returned it (again) the sales people claimed most heat pumps needed a second run to actually dry, so negating any energy saving. They suggested only the super expensive ones worked.

So we bought cheapest but ‘B’ rated vented I could get. One button, one dial, £130 and 7kg Creda.

We try to dry on the line or on rack with our Dehumidifier as much as possible, so tumble drier only really gets used in winter.

What does the panel think about drying cabinets?

True STW here 🙂

OP ‘Should I get vented, condenser or heat pump’?

Answer:

Vented

Condenser

Heat pump

We have a Bosch and have a problem with it. This may not actually be a problem with this make only but may be more general. It has a problem drying sheets and duvets – they end up wound into a tight ball sometimes with other items inside. The outside is dry but the inside still damp. Very difficult to untangle, has to be taken out and spread across the room to separate everything while trying to keep clean items off the floor.

mikejd – Have you tried drier balls?

And to stop things getting inside the obvious solution is to button them up…

One thing to be aware of if comparing energy ratings is that condenser and vented driers work on their own scales. So an A vented drier is better than a B vended drier; and an A condenser drier is better than a B condenser drier. But to compare vented and condenser driers you need to look at the actual figures (ask me how I know). I imagine heat pump ones are another scale again although have no direct experience there.

We currently have a fairly cheap condenser drier: it’s ok, and does dry stuff out. But I reckon on having it dismantled for various maintenance tasks at least once a year :-(. It’s knocking on seven years old I guess, so maybe that’s not terribly unreasonable.

My next one will probably be vented unless heat pump ones have a really convincing energy efficiency and reliability story.

But to compare vented and condenser driers you need to look at the actual figures

You need to do this for all appliances. I was very surprised when looking at fridges. Almost every single one was A+ with a few A++. They had hugely different power ratings and running costs though

I’ve just changed from a cheap and cheerful vented to a condenser. The previous vented was starting to run very hot, and was about 12 years old, so it had done well. Moved to a condenser for a number of reasons, none of them very big. So far it has worked well, and the sensor means that it is running for less time. Agree that it has too many buttons (in fact a large dial) but so far so good. Would have looked at heat pumps, but ours lives in our integral garage and during the winter it can get cold in there!

Condenser – why do you want to vent heat out of a house in winter?

We have a 15yo Miele, with the exception of thermostat that fails if I forget to remove the fluff (rather than burn down the house), it’s been flawless. Also a 5 min job to replace with easy to obtain spares.

Condenser – why do you want to vent heat out of a house in winter?

Err, because it’ll be in the garage?

Would have looked at heat pumps, but ours lives in our integral garage and during the winter it can get cold in there!

Does that effect heat pump driers then?

What does the panel think about drying cabinets?

Brilliant things.

All the schools and nurseries had them in Sweden, Estonia and Denmark for kids stuff.

When/if I own a house that I can build in garage or build a laundry room, I plan on creating my own.
super insulated, draft sealed, gentle heat, drain connected dehumidifier, possibly a Trombe Wall 😉

Modern condensers totally get clothes nice and dry.

I didn’t have anywhere to vent so got a condenser about 3 years ago.

Totally get one with sensor dry – I bloody love it. Towels and sheets ‘extra dry’. Some clothes ‘normal dry’. Most other clothes ‘delicates’ which doesn’t ruin them. Love it. Love it. Love it.

Did I mention I love it?

@matt_outandabout – do they need connecting to the drain? A cursory google suggests something about the size of an upright fridge freezer.

What Convert said. A dehumidifier will dry 3 loads of washing overnight. No idea what it costs to run but it’s so simple to hang every up In the spare room and just shut the door.

@ratherbeintobago
Some fit into an upright fridge freezer standard slot, some a lot wider, one was double width and under counter sized.

Smaller ones had a tank like a dehumidifier, one was attached to school ventilation system for out going air.

Big ones I’m not sure.

Vented – cheap, simple, work.

Isnt a dehumidifier just a condensing tumble drier that’s trying to dry your whole house? Technology is the same but it’s going to be slower and more expensive to run.

A heat pump drier is a more efficient form of condenser Dryer. https://www.beko.co.uk/lifestyle/benefits-of-a-tumble-dryer-heat-pump

Drying clothes with hot air and venting it to outside is a bit of an environmental disaster. Heat pump drier has an impressively small impact on room temp and there is a case that they use less energy than drying the clothes in your house using ambient heat.

We have a Bosch heat pump. Our electricity bill is about £200/year lower than with the vented one

A vented drier uses ~4 kWh per load; a heat pump drier ~2 kWh (figures from 1st Bosch drier of each type on John Lewis website). With electricity at 15p / kWh that’s 60p for the vented versus 30p for the heatpump. To be saving £200 per year you’d need to dry 2 loads a day. You’ll save a bit on heating the house too, but that’s not going to come off your electricity bill.

Heat pump is still the best idea for most on environmental grounds but you need to be realistic on the costs.

A vented drier is slightly more efficient than a condenser. But you heat the house with the waste heat from the condenser so will save on heating costs. A vented drier is simpler so less to go wrong.

If you’re just concerned about financial (not environmental) cost and won’t be doing industrial levels of drying then a cheap vented is probably best.

Isnt a dehumidifier just a condensing tumble drier that’s trying to dry your whole house? Technology is the same but it’s going to be slower and more expensive to run.

We have a large capacity washing machine – 9kg capacity. 2 full loads of washing (one colours, one whites) can be hung up and in the utility room with the dehumidifier and the door closed. The central heating boiler is in there so I suspect that helps keep it quite warm. The clothes will have dried overnight with the dehumidifier on laundry mode for 4hrs (it has buttons to set this). It uses 2kwh of electricity to achieve this. One load of washing and they are dry with the dehumidifier set to 2hrs so half the energy consumption. You are not going to get 18kg of laundry dry using a tumble dryer for anything close to that I don’t think.