Cost of drying clothes with a dehumidifier

Wooddrake

Hello,

For the past year we've been drying clothes inside with a dehumidifier.
I've been pleased with the result. We run it over night and our clothes are always 95% dry in the morning.
(Of course we have a clothes line in the garden but occasionally in Wales, it does rain.)


Damp and condensation are non existent in our house as a result.

But what does it cost?
Well, I bought one of those electric monitors which you can plug your appliance into and I got some answers. I thought they might be interesting to other people on this forum see here they are....


I'm paying roughly 13p a unit.

(That was with Swalec before they put up their prices. I'm currently moving to Eon and don't know the exact cost per unit yet.)

To run 24/7 for a year on full power - £771
To run 24/7 for a year on low power - £408

Full power per hour - 9p
Low power per hour - 5p

To run 10 hours a week for one year on full power about £47
To run 10 hours a week for one year on low power about £26

I don't have a tumble drier to compare with but I imagine it would cost a lot more.

I hope that's helpful to someone who is thinking of drying their clothes this way. It's also better for your health as living in a damp environment is not good.



PS, a by product of drying clothes this way is 2 litres of de-ionised water which I'm told is good for house plants.

Ken68

Thank you Wood, some nice details..same procedure here.....but stand the clothes horse near the central heating radiator, and normally dry in a few hours.
My machine is on for about 5 hours a week and TOTAL house usage for last week was 31 units, say £4.

A.Penny.Saved

Thank you for taking the time to share this.

Please supply some details about your dehumidifier so that people can compare. Make and model, what type it is. It's power rating would also help so we can see how closely your energy monitor matches the manufacturer's figures ie can people calculate with any accuracy from their Dehum* power figures.

MillicentBystander

Plus the cost of the humidifier would surely have to come into the equation if you already possess a tumble drier?

lstar337

Hmm...

Ours is 320W in eco mode (which we use) and we pay 6.83p/kWh during E7.

So,

0.0683/1000 = 0.0000683 x 320 = 0.022 x 7 = 0.154 x 365 = 56.21

£56.21/year if we used it every night, which we don't. We use it about 3 nights a week.

So it's more like £24/year for us.

MillicentBystander

If you have Economy 7 of course. I would speculate most people don't...

lstar337

MillicentBystander wrote: »

If you have Economy 7 of course. I would speculate most people don't...

Yeah, shoulod have made that clearer. I was just pointing out what it was for us.

So many factors will change the real operating cost for each person.

Wooddrake

lstar337 wrote: »

So many factors will change the real operating cost for each person.

Exactly! That is why I bought the meter to see exactly what electricity was being consumed. Simply using the wattage quotes on your appliance isn't accurate. Appliances will pull differing amount of current which are affected by many factors. I don't have economy 7.

I should also say that we don't use the central heating. (We rely on log burner for heating but that's at the other end of the house to the dehumidifier, the utility room is generally quite cold.)

Our model is a Ecoair DD122FW MK5 Desiccant Classic Dehumidifier.
We paid £168. There are cheaper models but this one dries clothes over night without the need for your heating to be on.

Not all Dehumidifiers work so well in a cold environment. If you plan to have your heating on then your could probably get away with a cheaper model. By the way, if you do dry clothes on radiators then I would definitely suggest to use a dehumidifier purely to avoid a damp home. Yes, you can open the windows but then you loose all your hot air!

Of course you'd have to factor in the start up costs but if you want to dry clothes without central heating and you don't have a tumble dryer this could be a good alternative.

lstar337

Wooddrake wrote: »

Simply using the wattage quotes on your appliance isn't accurate. Appliances will pull differing amount of current which are affected by many factors.

Some appliances yes. A desiccant dehumidifier is a very simple machine. A motor to turn the desiccant wheel, a motor for the fan, and a heating element. These have fixed power ratings, and are continuous. Therefore the quoted power can be assumed to be accurate. I have measure ours, it is pretty close to the stated power rating, give or take a few Watts.

Wooddrake wrote: »

I don't have economy 7.

You seem to be under the impression that I am disputing your figures. I was only putting forward my own measurements for comparison.

Wooddrake wrote: »

Our model is a Ecoair DD122FW MK5 Desiccant Classic Dehumidifier.

We have the mk4 simple as I wanted to use it with an external timer.

Wooddrake wrote: »

There are cheaper models but this one dries clothes over night without the need for your heating to be on.

Ours too. I am very pleased with its efficiency. It will dry an airer filled with clothes in one E7 period.

Wooddrake wrote: »

Not all Dehumidifiers work so well in a cold environment.

No, compressor types have a peak performance curve. This means their efficiency varies over the temperature range, and even stops at certain points.
Desiccant models keep their efficiency throughout the temperature range, making them the better choice.

Wooddrake wrote: »

Of course you'd have to factor in the start up costs but if you want to dry clothes without central heating and you don't have a tumble dryer this could be a good alternative.

It's the best alternative. I wouldn't recommend anybody dry clothes indoors without one.

Wooddrake

lstar337 wrote: »

You seem to be under the impression that I am disputing your figures. I was only putting forward my own measurements for comparison.

No dispute, sorry, I didn't mean to give that impression.

lstar337 wrote: »

It's the best alternative. I wouldn't recommend anybody dry clothes indoors without one.

Agreed!

[Deleted User]

Hey thanks for this. Im also on E7 and I use my dehumidifier around 2 or 3 times a week during the winter period to dry my washing. Ive always wondered how much it costs. Any idea, im not good with maths.. night rate 6.1p per unit, day rate 11.75p per unit. Dehumidier usually on from 6pm to 8am if im drying washing. This is around 2/3 days per week if my storage heaters are not on. If there are on its normally on from 10pm to 8am.