26p to run my tumble drier, isn't that low?

devon_guy

I always thought tumble driers were really expensive. I plugged mine into my electric monitor I have and ran it for an hour as I do normally (I had bed linen to dry). After it had stopped it showed a total cost of 26p. I really thought it would be much higher than that. I'm wondering if my meter is faulty now......

PasturesNew

As a one off, it seems low. But imagine if you were the sort of person who did two lots per day, every day. Then you get the bill 3 months later.

That then becomes: 0.26*2*90 = £46.80 per quarter, or £200/year pretty much. As a single item using electricity that could be a significant amount on top of all the other electrical gubbins run.

If you're using it once a week though, then it is only £3.38/quarter extra, so nothing.

One thing I am often struck by is how much washing people seem to think is necessary these days - and some literally seem to have their washing machines on all day every day (reading posts in these forums).

Magentasue

Mine uses 1.75kwh for an hour - about 22p for me. In the winter, I do three or four loads a week so about 6 hours a week or £20 a quarter.

I do about ten loads of washing a week, for six of us and line dry from about March to October. For the winter, I hang sheets, jeans, towels, hoodies etc on hangers or over an airer and finish off in the tumble drier. I pull out things for ironing when damp, iron them and then air them next to or on a radiator (no airing cupboard). If I just relied on the tumble drier, it'd probably be on at least 15hours a week.

moonrakerz

Sounds just about spot on. If it runs for an hour the heating element won't be on for all of that time.
Most tumblers are around the 3kW mark, at around 11p per kWh I would say that was fine - and your meter.

Cardew

Consumption depends on the weight of the load and type of material.

Most manufactures quote around 4kWh for a full load, but 2 kWh is quite typical.

1carminestocky

The thing about electrical appliance consumption is it often seems like nothing to worry about as a one-off cost. As has been mentioned before in this thread, the real problem occurs when this one-off cost is multiplied by several hundred times per year. Shwoers are another case in point. Ours is a 10..8kwh jobby, bought when we had less inclination to save on consumption. OK, a 10 minute shower costs in the region of just 20p. Not bad as a one-off cost, I suppose. But we have people in the house each having a shower per day and that's £365 on the year. Just for the shower!

space_rider

I used to always use my tumble dryer but since prices have shot up I only use it for bedding and towels. I use clothes horse to dry in the bathroom which has a vent in the wall so shouldn`t suffer from dampness.

moonrakerz

I have had to use my tumble drier for the last twelve months because of building work in the back garden. Some stuff we did dry indoors but most was tumbled.
I can say in all honesty it didn't seem to make that much difference to my electricity bills.
We now have a rotary drier back in the garden again, everything gets "freeze dried" now !

mousegirl

is it worth my having a tumble dryer? have never had one before, but with two kids aged 6 and 2 and another due in June, I'm wondering whether to buy one - if I did I would save to be able to afford the most energy efficient one - but am wondering if the cost would be too high

I only wash when have a full load, hang washing out at the slightest bit of sunshine, dry on radiators and airers, but wanted the convenience.

I've managed so far, so if I did buy would be towards the end of this year - well that's hoping we get a good summer!

Any advice would be welcome.

Thanks

Vestra

Last winter we had ours on about 6 hours a day.... we then got a £700 electric bill, lesson learned.

richardc1983

mousegirl wrote: »

is it worth my having a tumble dryer? have never had one before, but with two kids aged 6 and 2 and another due in June, I'm wondering whether to buy one - if I did I would save to be able to afford the most energy efficient one - but am wondering if the cost would be too high

I only wash when have a full load, hang washing out at the slightest bit of sunshine, dry on radiators and airers, but wanted the convenience.

I've managed so far, so if I did buy would be towards the end of this year - well that's hoping we get a good summer!

Any advice would be welcome.

Thanks

Most efficient ones are the ones containing a heat pump rather than electrical elements.