AEG "A" rated tumble dryer opinion

terence8888

HI,

I'm in the market for a new tumble dryer. Has anyone looked at whether you can save enough electricity cost to buy a "A" rated machine? The only one I know of is a AEG one which uses heat pump. There's another one (hoover?) which takes a long time to dry which I think really defeat the purpose of a tumble dryer.

I reckon we run the tumble dryer for 1.5 hours/day.

economiser

A typical "A" rated machine will cost about 15p/load, D rated about 22p/load and G rated about 30p/load.

terence8888

Thanks for the reply.

Where did you get these figures? I saw somewhere (cannot remember where) that it cost about a pound per hour to run a typical tumble dryer. I guess I was mistaken.

economiser

I can't remember where they came from. Looked it up for someone else some time ago. Just did a quick search and found http://www.good-energy.co.uk/PDF/GE_COP_Efficien.pdf
which says A rated about £23 a year and G rated about £45 and http://www.good-energy.co.uk/PDF/GE_COP_Efficien.pdf
which says typical load is about 2.5 units which would be about 20p per load.
I know I have seen better data than this but have not got time to look at the moment.

economiser

These two sites were posted by mgw99 recently which might help. One gives unit cost at 9p a unit and the other 5.5p but I think 7p is more like the going rate but you can change it.

http://www.ukpower.co.uk/running-costs-elec.asp

http://www.energyfirst.org/Runningcosts.htm

terence8888

This is very helpful. Thanks very much!

I figure if I buy the A rated machine, it'll cost maybe 150-200 pounds more over equivalent machine. My annual saving is about £30 as we are heavy users. So over 5 year (the gurantee period is 5 yr which is quite nice) I just about break even. Considering it's better for the environment, it's not such a bad deal.

Am trying to live with drying clothes on a rack..... greenest and cheapest!!!!

But the wife needs a lot of convincing....

grumbler

See also this thread: A tumble dryer with a decent energy rating?

bildanto

I have been after the A rated AEG tumble dryer model T59800 for a few months. I took delivery of this model today. The cheapest price on the internet I could find was £489 delivered with some prices going over £600. I got the Yellow Pages and rang some local electrical dealers and managed to get a "graded" model for £329! This has the full 12 months manufacturers guarantee and has the minutest mark on the side, I had to look for it it wasn't obvious so I think I have had a bargain. This is my first tumble dryer, I have finally succumbed because I have children who have enuresis and only solid fuel central heating so this winter my house was like a launderette. Some of the programmes say they use less than 2 kw per hour in my manual. It has a large 6 lb drum and is quiet when working. :rolleyes:

economiser

terence8888 wrote:

This is very helpful.

I figure if I buy the A rated machine, it'll cost maybe 150-200 pounds more over equivalent machine. My annual saving is about £30 as we are heavy users.

Don't forget to add the lost interest on the capital outlay onto your payback calculation. For £200 that might be roughly £18 a year or another £90 over five years which might add a year or two to the payback time.

I'd still go for it myself thought, energy costs seem to be on the up and up.

gromituk

economiser wrote:

Don't forget to add the lost interest on the capital outlay onto your payback calculation.

But you can subtract the amount you are saving the environment

gromituk

terence8888 wrote:

I saw somewhere (cannot remember where) that it cost about a pound per hour to run a typical tumble dryer. I guess I was mistaken.

Do a simple calculation and you will see that this is impossible. The maximum power you can draw through a 13 amp plug is about 3kW (230 volts x 13 amps). 3kW for an hour is 3kWh (3 units) which is about 30 pence.

For applicance which draw a lot of current, you can always read your electricity meter before and after use to get a rough idea of what's going on. This will, of course, be affected by other things being on at the same time.