Tumble dryer options

[neversay]

Our condensing tumble dryer has bit the dust and I need to source a replacement asap. It is currently situated in an unheated detached garage but will eventually be in an indoor utility room when our new extension is built next Spring.

There's a clear choice between energy-efficient heat pumps and speedier condensers, but I'm concerned about heat pumps on the basis of the unheated garage (for now) and the additional drying times (speed is important as we tend to do several loads of washing on a single day). Can anyone give any recommendations on which way to go?

I'm looking at a budget up to around £500. For comparison I saw this AEG condenser https://ao.com/product/t6dbg821n-aeg-pr ... 48-18.aspx or this Bosch heat pump model https://ao.com/product/wtr85v21gb-bosch ... 0-126.aspx. As usual though, the more reviews I read the more baffled I get and spending £200 or £1000 still have the same result of dry clothes. Having one that's eco-friendly, quiet and has a large load (8kg or more) would be good. One that provides phone alerts would be a bonus as it would save us time in a busy household.

I've trawled opinions over the web but just getting more confused . Any pearls of wisdom would be much appreciated!

[Dod101]

My dryer packed in several months ago and I have simply not replaced it. I appreciate that my circumstances are very different from yours by the sound of it (I live alone but wash bedding once a week and clothes/towels and so on once a week as well so I have often got clothes to dry). In summer they go outside of course, and in winter they dry in about 24 hours on clothes racks in my utility room. Saves a lot of electricity and I am sure helps save the planet.

May not be an option for you but I think worth considering.

Dod

[dspp]

Our condensing tumble dryer has bit the dust and I need to source a replacement asap. It is currently situated in an unheated detached garage but will eventually be in an indoor utility room when our new extension is built next Spring.

There's a clear choice between energy-efficient heat pumps and speedier condensers, ...........

I've trawled opinions over the web but just getting more confused . Any pearls of wisdom would be much appreciated!

There's a clear choice between energy-efficient driers and the other things , ........... Works a treat for me ......

http://pulleymaid.com/

regards, dspp

[UncleEbenezer]

What works really well for me is to hang the newly-washed clothes in a room with a dehumidifier running. Much less power consumption than a tumble dryer, and you can hang as much washing from your multiple loads as space allows.

An unheated space is no problem at all (if you use a dessicant dehumidifier that works well at low temperature). If it gets sunlight that's a definite bonus, but not a requirement.

[neversay]

Thanks @Dod101, @dspp, @UncleEbenezer - your replies caught me by surprise as I hadn't considered being without one. Sadly space is currently limited so having a dedicated drying area is not possible, plus being too airtight I'm already battling humidity. The current wash is in the kitchen with a dehumidifier running though but I'm expecting some condensation with cooking, baking and four of us around all day.

Having a pulley maid in the new utility room is an excellet suggestion and I've added that the design. I think we'll still need a dryer though to deal with the volume of washing generated by the family and dog.

[richlist]

What works well for me is to turn on the tumble dryer when it's a sunny day. That way it's totally free as it's powered by my solar panels. Dry washing and saving the planet.

[neversay]

What works well for me is to turn on the tumble dryer when it's a sunny day. That way it's totally free as it's powered by my solar panels. Dry washing and saving the planet.

No kidding, my wife runs the tumble dryer on the most perfect of outdoor drying days. I also have solar panels on the list for the extension. There will be a washing line but only me using it, despite 15 years of gentle persuasion...

[Dod101]

I heartily endorse a pulley maid. I had a large Victorian house before my current one and we had a couple of pulleys in what we used as a laundry/utility room. \you need reasonably high ceilings but given that and the fact that heat rises they are very effective.

Hanging wet washing outside if you have the space is also a great saver of electricity as well as leaving washing smelling great when it is dry.

Dod

[richlist]

It's easy to associate a sunny day with meaning a good day to dry clothes........ that's not always the case.
In winter when temperatures are very low/ near to freezing, the fact that there is some sunshine will not necessarily help to dry clothes. But, it will produce enough electricity for my PV Solar Panels to power a tumble dryer that will do it for you.

There are a couple of alternatives....

1. Employ a housekeeper to deal with all that sort of mundane household chores stuff. You can get a lot of value out of paying minimum wage rates these days. Or.

2. A live in au pair......can be good value for money.

[Dod101]

It's easy to associate a sunny day with meaning a good day to dry clothes........ that's not always the case.
In winter when temperatures are very low/ near to freezing, the fact that there is some sunshine will not necessarily help to dry clothes. But, it will produce enough electricity for my PV Solar Panels to power a tumble dryer that will do it for you.

There are a couple of alternatives....

1. Employ a housekeeper to deal with all that sort of mundane household chores stuff. You can get a lot of value out of paying minimum wage rates these days. Or.

2. A live in au pair......can be good value for money.

The sunny day in winter is not usually much good for drying clothes because there is no 'drooth' as we (sometimes) say in Scotland. What we mean is that there is no ability to dry clothes, either through lack of heat from the sun, a lack of a drying wind, or that is just too humid.

I can recommend the first of the alternatives. I have no experience of an au pair and with me it would be an au un (me) I do not think any young lady would find that very attractive. Used to employ a live in maid in Hong Kong. That is ideal but sadly there is no cheap pool of labour near at hand in the UK who would not mind living in the equivalent of my garden shed or garage (at a push)

Dod

[richlist]

There is another option.
At our property in Spain we have someone who just deals with laundry......washes, presses and puts the clean items away. Very cheap, works really well and recommended.

[DrFfybes]

What works well for me is to turn on the tumble dryer when it's a sunny day. That way it's totally free as it's powered by my solar panels. Dry washing and saving the planet.

We're having this discussion at the moment.

If you were to put the washing on the line instead, would you not get money back from the surplus electricity, or do your panels only supply what you demand?

Paul

[Itsallaguess]

What works well for me is to turn on the tumble dryer when it's a sunny day.

That way it's totally free as it's powered by my solar panels.

Dry washing and saving the planet.

Surely in that situation it would be better to hang the washing out on the outside line on those sunny days, and then power a mains extension across the lawn from your panel-fed 240V supply into some 1KW fan-heaters blowing additional warm air onto the line-hung washing...

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

[richlist]

What works well for me is to turn on the tumble dryer when it's a sunny day. That way it's totally free as it's powered by my solar panels. Dry washing and saving the planet.

We're having this discussion at the moment.

If you were to put the washing on the line instead, would you not get money back from the surplus electricity, or do your panels only supply what you demand?

Paul

That's 2 questions

1. We get paid for what electricity the solar panels produce, not what we export to the grid. It doesn't matter if we use non of it or all of it or anything in between.....we get paid for what we produce. Apparently they don't have a system that's clever enough to measure what we export and pay us just for that.

2. The system has a brain that works like this......it looks at how much energy the solar panels are producing and it uses what is needed to run the house e.g. fridge, freezer, tv etc.....we need on average about 0.4 kw/h. Any surplus is then sent to heat the domestic hot water system via an emersion heater. If we had battery back up storage any surplus would then be sent to that or electric car charger.

[richlist]

What works well for me is to turn on the tumble dryer when it's a sunny day.

That way it's totally free as it's powered by my solar panels.

Dry washing and saving the planet.

Surely in that situation it would be better to hang the washing out on the outside line on those sunny days, and then power a mains extension across the lawn from your panel-fed 240V supply into some 1KW fan-heaters blowing additional warm air onto the line-hung washing...

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

I don't know if your post is a joke or serious.

But, let's assume you are serious then...... throwing the wet washing into the tumble dryer, hitting the go button and getting it dried for free seems a lot less effort than following your suggestion which is far more labour intensive for the same cost.

[ReformedCharacter]

Surely in that situation it would be better to hang the washing out on the outside line on those sunny days, and then power a mains extension across the lawn from your panel-fed 240V supply into some 1KW fan-heaters blowing additional warm air onto the line-hung washing...

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

Ah, but that would cause global warming, so you'd need to take an air-conditioner or two outside to make up for it.

RC

[Itsallaguess]

What works well for me is to turn on the tumble dryer when it's a sunny day.

That way it's totally free as it's powered by my solar panels.

Dry washing and saving the planet.

Surely in that situation it would be better to hang the washing out on the outside line on those sunny days, and then power a mains extension across the lawn from your panel-fed 240V supply into some 1KW fan-heaters blowing additional warm air onto the line-hung washing...

I don't know if your post is a joke or serious.

But, let's assume you are serious then...... throwing the wet washing into the tumble dryer, hitting the go button and getting it dried for free seems a lot less effort than following your suggestion which is far more labour intensive for the same cost.

But if time were of the essence, then for no extra cost at all and for only a little extra effort, think of the improved drying times with all that additional free hot air blowing directly onto your line-hung washing...

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

[richlist]

That wouldn't make any sense to me. My priorities are balancing the books. I get the tumble dryer for free so no additional electricity bill.....it doesn't matter a jot how long it takes as the housekeeper can go do something else productive whilst it's running.

Why not try your idea out, then come back and let the rest of us know how you get on....I guess we should have stopped laughing by then.

[bungeejumper]

Ah, but that would cause global warming, so you'd need to take an air-conditioner or two outside to make up for it.

And just think of all the lovely ozone that all those electric motors would produce. Just what the earth needs. Why, you'd probably qualify for a Greta award.

I was going to end this post there, but then I discovered that there's such a thing as ozone laundry. https://www.laundryconsulting.com/solut ... y-systems/ . And then I remembered them telling us at school that ozone was bad for your lungs. And then I gave up trying to figure it all out, and started looking up the cost of a live-in au pair. Which is how I came to spend last night sleeping in the shed.

BJ

[neversay]

Well this thread veered off course

In the end I plumped for a Bosch Series 6 dryer of the old-school condenser variety. It will cost us, and the planet, more over its lifetime but when we need a dryer the usual demand is for quick results. The rest of the time we can dry in our garden the old fashioned way (with solar-powered air conditing ).

I haven't tried the live-in au pair discussion with my wife yet. Most likely I too would be in the garage with a new tumble dryer for company.

Thanks again.