Cost of electric for a dryer...

1carminestocky

We have converted our hot water tank 'cupboard' into a drying area! There were previously loads of towels and bedding on shelves above the tank, we have put these into an ottoman-type contraption thereby freeing up the space (it stretches to the ceiling, approx 5 feet!). There are now hooks placed at strategic points on the existing wooden shelving which have items of clothing placed on them. It's our 'free' tumble dryer! The heat that was previously generated in this space was effectively wasted as the towels/bedding were already dry.

jackieb

Magentasue wrote: »

Forget the launderette. Line dry when you can and, when you can't, you have the choice of airers or an energy efficient tumble drier. If you look at this page:

http://www.sust-it.net/energy_saving.php?id=41&electricity=14&company=

... you'll see that they rate them at between about 50p - £1.25 a 'cycle'. If you can't afford to run a dryer, fast spin, airer and radiators will work if you are organised. A heated airer is probably cheaper to run than a tumble drier but they need room and you need to move the clothes around as they dry.

.

Thanks for the link. My dryer costs 98p a load - and it's a condenser which they say is cheaper to run! Here's me costing out the amount per wash that washing powder uses, and using the dryer blows that out of the water! :eek:

Magentasue

Yes, the drier is the major cost. As an example:

A 30 degree wash costs about 4p in electricity
My washing powder/soda crystals mix costs about 5p
Haven't costed the water (metered) or fabric conditioner.

One hour tumble drier costs me about 20p. But an hour isn't enough for things like jeans unless I've air dried them first. If it's dry but dull, I put the hard-to-drys out but don't faff about with socks etc. If it's raining, I used to hang over an airer but no room in smaller house now. I use the radiators too for finishing off bedding etc. When I had an airing cupboard, I used to hang hoodies, football shirts etc and they dried beautifully - can't even do that here because we have a combi boiler.

Ken68

I use a de-humidifier. Surround it with clothes horse and a sheet over the top, allow heat from the central heating radiator. Rated at 175w.

shammyjack

I use a creel over the bath with the window open and a large 16 inch diameter stand fan blowing on full speed . It consumes 60 watts per hour and costs 0.402p per hour to run on my tier 2 tariff .

shammy

Cardew

Magentasue wrote: »

Forget the launderette. Line dry when you can and, when you can't, you have the choice of airers or an energy efficient tumble drier. If you look at this page:

http://www.sust-it.net/energy_saving.php?id=41&electricity=14&company=

... you'll see that they rate them at between about 50p - £1.25 a 'cycle'. If you can't afford to run a dryer, fast spin, airer and radiators will work if you are organised. A heated airer is probably cheaper to run than a tumble drier but they need room and you need to move the clothes around as they dry.

Whilst sust-it is very useful, its cost figures are useless.

It uses the Tier 1 price of electricity for most calculations instead of Tier 2. It is only sensible to use Tier 2 prices for calculations as everyone will use their allocation of Tier 1 electricity on lights/TV etc.

For instance the power consumed in that table for a full load ranges between 1.8kWh to 4.5kWh for the top 50 machines. My machine has a sensor and most part loads use little more than 1kWh.

Tier 1 electricity ranges from about 7p to 12p for a kWh. So a tumble dryer will use between 13p and 54p for a full load and for most loads 20p to 30p is a reasonable estimate.

Magentasue

Agreed, cardew, but the site does point out the difference in energy usage and which models are more energy efficient, I think. For unit cost, I use 12.5p and my dryer uses 1.75 units an hour so about 20p an hour. Of course, different people will pay different unit prices and maybe also a standing charge but tumble drying is a large chunk of the laundry bill unless you are using hot washes and branded products all the time.

I think for small families struggling to pay bills, ditching the tumble dryer can be a worthwhile saving but for me, I'd rather make savings in other ways in the winter.

Cardew

Magentasue wrote: »

Agreed, cardew, but the site does point out the difference in energy usage and which models are more energy efficient, I think. For unit cost, I use 12.5p and my dryer uses 1.75 units an hour so about 20p an hour. Of course, different people will pay different unit prices and maybe also a standing charge but tumble drying is a large chunk of the laundry bill unless you are using hot washes and branded products all the time.

I think for small families struggling to pay bills, ditching the tumble dryer can be a worthwhile saving but for me, I'd rather make savings in other ways in the winter.

Agree absolutely.

The problem is that people see Sust-in figures and their exagerated cost of running appliances - witness Jackieb reading 98p a load.

Sust-it is an excellent website, except I can't think why they use such high unrealistic figures for costs.

Of course many people have little option but to use a dryer as drying outside is not feasible.

1carminestocky

Nothing wrong with 'over-egging' potential usage costs if you want to save money IMO.....far better than under-estimating them.

Ken68

shammyjack wrote: »

I use a creel over the bath with the window open and a large 16 inch diameter stand fan blowing on full speed . It consumes 60 watts per hour and costs 0.402p per hour to run on my tier 2 tariff .

shammy

Good one Shammy, that's got to be the cheapest way, with bathroom rad on.