Talk to me about Heat Pump tumble driers

[Deleted member 26715]

When we bought a new washer a while back I was talking to the salesman who came over as honest, he knew he wasn't getting a sale that day. I asked about the 3 types, standard vented, condensing & heart pumps, he immediately asked where it would be sited, when I told him in a unheated utility room he advised against it, if it were sited in a 'normal' temperature room then they are good to run, but no good in a cold room. Next he would recommend a vented & lastly a condensing

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

Before I had a dryer I occasionally had an emergency and had to dry stuff in a hurry

I generall found that putting a fan in front of the airer made a huge difference

Once had to dry my daughter's school socks before her Mum came to pick her up (long story)

dried them in very short time by pegging them to the grill in front of the fan

 

[fossyant]

Is 60p a load really that expensive? By "load" do you mean washing machine load or dryer load? Our machines take different load sizes. I realise household size has a big impact on this. In our house, sports clothing aside, we have a maximum of three washes a week.

£0.60 *3 = £1.80 *52 = £93.60pa

I'd guess 75% of our washing is dried outside reducing the cost significantly. I'm not sure I could live with washing draped in the kitchen window three days a week.

Sports clothing, and a lot of other clothing, comes out of the machine virtually dry if given a second spin. If winter forces main washes to be dried indoors then I usually second spin the heavy stuff, e.g. jeans, which makes a big difference.

Let me tell you, it soon adds up if everyone is shoving stuff in. Four adult house with extra sports kits going in. When I was in hospital, the electric bill virtually doubled with washing going in the dryer and not hung up.

 

[gbb]

As we researched ours, it seems a condensing dryer is about 50% cheaper to run than a standard one, a heat pump is around 50% cheaper to run than a condenser type.
It was a huge relief to have one during the energy price peaks and we genuinely like ours. Takes about 3 hours for a full load and yes, the clothes don't come out bone dry but certainly not damp, they just occasionally require either a quick spin again or laying out for a short time.
Intelligent, they ( ours) monitors the dryness and amends drying time as it goes.
Ours was from the Hotpoint direct shop in Pboro so cheaper then retail.
Filter cleaning regularly is a must IMO, ours has two filters, one in the drum then another before the condenser, both require frequent cleaning or efficiency would be quickly lost I think.
We'd discussed the heated clothes racks/ rails but a fella at work said don't waste your time and money, they had one, didn't find it very good at all. Others may have better experiences but...

 

[Drago]

Before I had a dryer I occasionally had an emergency and had to dry stuff in a hurry

Explosive diarrhea?

 

[PaulSB]

Let me tell you, it soon adds up if everyone is shoving stuff in. Four adult house with extra sports kits going in. When I was in hospital, the electric bill virtually doubled with washing going in the dryer and not hung up.

Yes, I can imagine, especially if two are young adults. Our household is two retirees, generally one white and one colour wash per week plus any sports wear - cycling, tennis which dries very easily with an extra washing spin.

 

[midlife]

As we researched ours, it seems a condensing dryer is about 50% cheaper to run than a standard one, a heat pump is around 50% cheaper to run than a condenser type.
It was a huge relief to have one during the energy price peaks and we genuinely like ours. Takes about 3 hours for a full load and yes, the clothes don't come out bone dry but certainly not damp, they just occasionally require either a quick spin again or laying out for a short time.
Intelligent, they ( ours) monitors the dryness and amends drying time as it goes.
Ours was from the Hotpoint direct shop in Pboro so cheaper then retail.
Filter cleaning regularly is a must IMO, ours has two filters, one in the drum then another before the condenser, both require frequent cleaning or efficiency would be quickly lost I think.
We'd discussed the heated clothes racks/ rails but a fella at work said don't waste your time and money, they had one, didn't find it very good at all. Others may have better experiences but...

A spin in a washing machine after being in the tumble drier?

 

[Deleted member 26715]

We are using our tumble dryer today as Octopus are paying us to to take electricity, up to 8p a unit, reading on FB where people are needlessly using electricity to make money, switching every device they have on, just seems wrong to me, I know we're playing the game but to use electricity you don't really need just seems 'more' wrong

 

[presta]

We've got a vented one. What ever type, you are looking at at least one or two KW per hour to dry clothes, so a load will cost 30p per hour, per KWH used.

Eg to dry a load in ours costs about 60p - one hour at 2KWH. Multiply this by lots of washing = silly money, so everything goes on an airer now. Heat pump machines are expensive to buy, dry slower, but use less electricity (but if it's drying for longer, surely it will use the same).

Mine takes two hours to dry one bed sheet, but only if I stop it half way and rearrange the sheet in the drum. If I don't break it half way, or try to dry two sheets together, it won't dry in a month of Sundays because it doesn't agitate well enough to get the middle of the bundle dry. My old machine would dry a pair of sheets together in 90 minutes, and without grinding shreds off them.

That's energy saving machines for you.

Meaning my conventional dryer runs off the solar/battery, and manged with half a braincell - which is not always easy for me - costs effectively zero to run.

Even if you never buy electricity off the grid it still pays to use less, because the less you use the more you'll have available to sell.

 

[Drago]

My pair of Solax batteries don't care.

 

[presta]

My pair of Solax batteries don't care.

A battery is just a reservoir that smoothes demand fluctuations in the short term, it doesn't change the amount you're generating or using on the long term average (except insofar as it's <100% efficient). Either you use more than you generate, and buy power to fill the deficit, or you generate more than you use, and sell the surplus. With or without batteries.

 

[gbb]

A spin in a washing machine after being in the tumble drier?

No, just restart a new cycle in the tumble drier, it starts, monitors the dryness and shortens the cycle. So that second cycle may only run for a shortish time.
It's not perfect, but it's not often you actually have to do that. Our leccy bills during the peak price periods were quite good, despite relatively frequent tumble drier use.
In essence, my wife was happy, she could tumble dry the clothes during the winter...and not worry about the cost.

 

[rogerzilla]

SO has one and likes it. Compared to a vented dryer:

- a lot more expensive (calculate the payback period if you can fnd out kWh/cycle)
- a lot more to go wrong
- no vent needed
- can take an age to dry

Don't be misled by energy rating labels alone. The scale is different for condenser dryers and vented dryers.

One independent comparison of 9kg dryers suggests 2.16kWh per load for a heat pump dryer and 5.34kWh for a vented dryer (at 30p/kWh) That would save about £120/year, which seems great but cycle times can be long and it's not really comparing like with like. I only run my vented dryer on low heat ("delicates") and it uses less than 2kWh for a full load in 50 minutes. It runs at 3kW for a short time, settles quickly to 1.5kW, and there is no heat for the final 10 minutes.

 

[T4tomo]

Very rarely use a tumble dryer, either outside washing line or use an indoor airer if weather is dodgy. We have a very small dehumidifier (22W), which cost peanuts to run, but if you stick it near the indoor airers the washing drys v quickly, less than half the time vs without it.

much smarter investment than a tumble dryer.