Tumble dryer advice - which one?

If you have vent hole in wall then use that and get a vented tumble drier. They tend to be cheaper to buy and a good option.

We don't have a hole in wall so we bought a condenser machine in 2005 and just emptied the built in water tank when full down the sink. That died last year so we bought another condensing tumble drier and run the supplied water pipe in the washing machine waste pipe this time, although I altered that with a 40m waste Y fitting. Should of done that in 2005 but never got around to it. So either tank or pipe water away as you can do either with condensing tumble dryers

 

We have gone back to vented tumble dryer as the vent to outside was already there and whenever we used condensers they seemed to make everywhere damp. (Accepting it was not plumbed in)We went for the Zanussi with the vent hole on all three sides so you have lots of options for the pipework.

 

Ours is the 10kg beko condensing tumble dryer but we have a 5 year old 9kg indesit washing machine which I just put new pump in, just lay it on side and 10min job at £24.
The bigger the capacity the higher the price it seems for washers and driers.
I don't think we need them big but that decision is above my pay grade. Apparently..... Whatever.
I'd prefer vented given the choice but don't want to drill hole in wall

 

We've only used condenser types never hand clothing outside never had "damp" problems, As others said if you have the vent hole go for the vented as they are cheaper dont have to empty the water holder and less to go wrong - go for the largest load holder. Go for the highest enrgy rating one you can afford as they use a lot of juice.

 

This thread has been nothing but a lot of hot air!

 

A condenser dryer that can be plumbed for waste water is perfect. If not you just empty out the water. I have one in a room without windows and never had any condensation or damp issues.

bigger question, is it time to get a heat pump version, now that price differential has come down significantly with only around £50 for the lower end Bosch. Opinions vary but I think the saving made in energy use is not completely off set by the unreliability introduced by the extra complexity. I base this on the fact that these heat pump versions use around 2kw and older (condenser or open vent) use around 3kw

 

Following on from Quasar9, don't get a vented model they use most electricity. A condensing dryer in the kitchen uses the same amount of electricity but rather than throwing the valuable hot air outside, it removes the moisture and returns the heat to the room as usable heat. The best but most expensive to buy are the heat pump dryers, expect to use about 25% of the electricity that a condenser or ordinary dryer uses, but pay 3 times more for the dryer. We dumped our Hotpoint condenser dryer before it set fire to the house, we bit the bullet, brought a Miele heat pump dryer, brilliant machine.

 

Bob makes a good point but from what I hear there is a huge difference in performance heat pump models between models, where as with older technology the differences are marginal and build quality and reliability reflect the price.
Miele’s are the Rolls Royce of the laundry world and priced similarly!

 

Miele = remortgage! Lol

 

It is true ... however, my Miele tumble dryer is around 30years old and still working well. Given that a lot of low end ones only last 2,3,4 years - overall Miele does prove cost effective.

 

To Bob and Q7 - interesting points. However, does the energy rating not count for anyhting, EG vented Vs condensor, both have A rating for energy, which is usally best? Reading bobs comments am I guess that the condesing is more economical?

Happy new year

 

Ah! I see I have been demoted to Q7 and I thought only SF Peter had that power .

but ratings mean nothing. Over the years appliances all became A then A+, A++, A+++ and so on till suddenly for fridges at least the A became a G overnight. I am sure other appliances will be regraded soon. Almost appliance everyone bar fridges is now A+++ abs every boiler is well above 99% efficiency !

 

Anecdotal, but anyway: I purchased a Bosch 'self-cleaning condenser' heat pump drier about 7 years ago. It sees heavy use (family of five including young children when it was new) and uses about 1.4kWhr to dry a full load which is apparently 7kg, however that's measured. It has worked flawlessly since new and has easily paid for itself (probably twice over) in electricity savings. Obviously it's a gamble as it really depends how long the particular machine lasts in the end.

 

We have a heatpump dryer. It takes forever to dry stuff and often shuts down when it “thinks” the load is dry so it has to be put on again on a timer period rather that using the inbuilt and useless damp sensor.
Ok its a lower wattage than a normal dryer but I’m not impressed with the performance and am convinced that the lower wattage v much greater runtime saves me little power if any.
Won’t be getting another heat-pump dryer… the very old Creda vented dryer in an outbuilding kept for drying dust sheets etc is an order of magnitude better

 

Sorry about your name Qusar9, i must have been dreaming about the Audi Q7

Thanks for the response.

Looking up the net, best way to compare is the kwh per hour I guess.

 

Just joking ! Nice cars the Q7 but tricky to drive in cities in UK, especially with councils hell bent on reducing the road width and transport authorities widening the bus lanes.

however, specs never tell the full story, if cars real world MPG are anything to go by ! But they are a start. Ie a dryer may be rated at 1.45Kw, but this is a maximum figure and it may be using a lot less at some periods. Also the type of material to be dried and it’s makeup in terms of type of clothing will have a big impact. There are no standardised tests, although Which (magazine) does it best to run the tests in a scientific manner.

 

Sally, if its economy and efficiency you want then get a condensing dryer and install it in the kitchen where the waste heat generated can be used to heat the house. It will cost as much as an ordinary tumble dryer to run, but you can use the heat you have paid for to heat the house. The only way to improve on this is to have a heat pump dryer, but that's a big initial cost.