Buying Tumble Dryer - Advice and Experiences Please

headcovers · 12 January 2006 at 2:20PM

I have got fed up of wet laundry lying around the house. I work full time and dare not put items outside to dry as I have come home to rain soaked smalls once too often :rolleyes:

But I have no idea about whether to go for vented or condensed or whatever and I'm not sure which model is reputed to perform better.

My budget is up to £200 if necessary and it will be located in a cold outhouse (kind of utility room attached to the kitchen) with the facility to put a hose outside.

As the room is not very well insulated, it doesn't matter too much if it causes condensation as the room is pretty damp and cold anyway.

As to capacity requirements, I only do the washing about once a week and it's only for the two of us.

Not sure what else you need from me to give me your best advice, so please feel free to quiz me more.

All advice gratefully received.

mattt44 · 12 January 2006 at 3:42PM

I can tell you what I know from buying one last year, but a while ago now.

A vented one is the best one to go for, but it will mean hacking a hole in your wall and fitting it.
In the end we went for a white knight, A rated one, but after having got it, realised you could not put it on a timer for Economy 7, which is what we wanted to do. Something to watch out for.
Ours is in a room, such as yours and performs fine.
Thats about it, we ignored all the frills and extras and went for a reasonable reliable name and a cheapish price (about £140 ish I think).
We looked on the which report to get an idea of which manufacturers were the best and so on. You can join for free for a month if you then cancel.

Hope that helps

Pink. · 12 January 2006 at 6:28PM

Hi headcovers,

Some of the replies on this older thread might help, Tumble dryer

Pink

headcovers · 12 January 2006 at 6:37PM

Pink-winged wrote:

Hi headcovers,

Some of the replies on this older thread might help, Tumble dryer

Pink

Thanks..and I also received the implied "you should have searched". I did search, but for some reason this one slipped by me.

I have read it...but would still like some personal recommendations if there are any?

Pink. · 12 January 2006 at 6:42PM

headcovers wrote:

Thanks..and I also received the implied "you should have searched". I did search, but for some reason this one slipped by me.

I have read it...but would still like some personal recommendations if there are any?

No implication intended, honestly

The search facility on here can be a bit hit and miss...it's just that I read all the threads on this board and remembered this one.

Pink

ben_edwards2612 · 12 January 2006 at 7:00PM

We purchased a White Knight Reverse action Compact Tumble Dryer: seems fine size wise for us (2 people) - cost £99 from Power House (£10 cheaper than Comet too!). Got a vent kit from B and Q for about £12 and a Challenge SDS power drill / chisel from Argos reduced to £25 which came complete with drill bits including a foot long bit and 2 chisels

Punched through the foot thick wall in no time! In retrospect I also needed a dust sheet and mask!

tootles_2 · 12 January 2006 at 10:29PM

I have a white knight condensor dryer and it is very efficient, I use it on a time switch so it operates on Econ 7, so a washer load done on Monday night dries on Tuesday night, I wash on Econ 7 too.

It is a reverse action drier and I use the water from the condensor in my iron. I did a search on the internet and bought it for £189.95 2 years ago and have been very pleased with it.

andrewmoorcroft · 12 January 2006 at 10:35PM

mattt44 wrote:

A vented one is the best one to go for.

Can you explain why? Ok they dry a little quicker but see extract for post below.

"It must be if a condenser you want an efficient one. There is an important point that may not have been mentioned so far.
The energy rating is all about how much energy is used to dry the clothes. If you have a vented one then most of the heat is lost to outside. With a condenser one none of the heat goes outside and it warms the house instead. So in the winter (when you have your heating on) it reduces the required heating in your house. All electric heaters are virtually the same efficiency so if you use electric heating then it costs you nothing extra to dry your clothes because you turn your heating off to compensate. Even if you use gas central heating then your thermostatic rad should turn off to compensate for the heat from the drier although the heating from the gas would have cost a little less than the heat from the drier.
Of course if you use the drier in the summer then the room will get hotter than required and you may open the window so the heat will be lost to outside. However, some people dry there clothes outside in the summer and on use the drier in the winter. Hope this explaind things!"

It costs nothing to say thankyou!

mattt44 · 13 January 2006 at 3:08AM

Umm, no to honest, I just know that it is the best type I came up with after research last year, could be because of the condensation, I really can't remember.
I do remember that I really didn't want anything but a vented model after reading stuff on the web.

I'll have a look and get back.

mattt44 · 13 January 2006 at 1:13PM

This here is a report from someone with a condenser type
http://www.dooyoo.co.uk/washing-machine/creda-advance-condenser-tumble-dryer/440055/

and this sort of sums up why I went for a vented model, cheaper, nicked from a website.

"Which Tumble Dryer ? There are two types of tumble dryer, condensing and vented. Condensing tumble dryers collect all the water usually in to a tank which you empty, although some have adaptors so that you can connect a drain hose. A condensing tumble dryer is only needed if you do not have an outside wall to vent out to. They are usually 6kg load. Vented dryers are by far the most preferable type of dryer, as they are more efficient and cheaper to run. So if you do have access to an outside wall, it is worth going to the trouble of having a hole made in the wall and the kit fitted. Alternately many people open a small fanlight window and hang the hose through that. The load sizes vary but the avaerage is 5-6kg. The vent hoses are usually supplied although one or two budget models may not, the vent for the outside wall needs purchasing separately."

andrewmoorcroft · 13 January 2006 at 6:58PM

mattt44 wrote:

This here is a report from someone with a condenser type
http://www.dooyoo.co.uk/washing-machine/creda-advance-condenser-tumble-dryer/440055/

and this sort of sums up why I went for a vented model, cheaper, nicked from a website.

"Which Tumble Dryer ? There are two types of tumble dryer, condensing and vented. Condensing tumble dryers collect all the water usually in to a tank which you empty, although some have adaptors so that you can connect a drain hose. A condensing tumble dryer is only needed if you do not have an outside wall to vent out to. They are usually 6kg load. Vented dryers are by far the most preferable type of dryer, as they are more efficient and cheaper to run. So if you do have access to an outside wall, it is worth going to the trouble of having a hole made in the wall and the kit fitted. Alternately many people open a small fanlight window and hang the hose through that. The load sizes vary but the avaerage is 5-6kg. The vent hoses are usually supplied although one or two budget models may not, the vent for the outside wall needs purchasing separately."

As i have a MSc in thermodynamics from Warwick i can tell you that he is right in saying that vented ones are more efficient. However he has missed the bigger picture and only considering the drier and not the house as an energy system. If you read his full thread he says that he wanted a condenser one because last time he had a vented one he didn't vent it outside and the room got very hot and steamy. When you correctly vent it all the most of the heat would go outside. Where do you think that heat goes on a condenser one? ALL the heat goes inside the house. Ever heared of latent heat of condensation? This is the heat you gain from converting the vapour back into water. This is what a condenser type does. The bigger picture is that with a condenser drier lost heat from drier = gained heat by house. With a vented one lost heat = warm garden! So the condenser one makes an overall more efficient house.
Unfortunately anyone can post on these threads even if they are technically incompetent. In turn this fools other technically incompetent people. It would would be really good if people who didn't know the answer just kept out of it and stopped confusing people. I know that most people are just trying their best with no malicious intention and are just victims of misinformation themselves. I'm sorry if i've offended anyone but i have to cringe at some of the bull.... on some sites.

Buying Tumble Dryer - Advice and Experiences Please

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