Any thoughts or experience re: gas tumble dryers?

CrazyRed

Evening everyone.

To keep a long, and painful, story short, we are now about to request our FIFTH tumble dryer replacement from Hotpoint in three months.

My original one got replaced by D&G when it became too uneconomic for them to repair, and the replacement (from D&G) was one of those affected by this recall. This machine was replaced (due to it's newness) by Hotpoint directly, but the replacement machine had a fault with one of the sensors and meant everything had to be dried twice. Hotpoint attempted to repair it, twice, with no success, so this machine was uplifted and taken back to Head Office, and we selected (and paid for) a supposedly better heat-pump machine.

The first one arrived last Thursday and, when unwrapped we found that it had either been dropped or had had something dropped on it, denting the top left-hand corner of the casing and meaning the water container could not be removed. Cue another round of calling Hotpoint and they agreed to exchange it for another machine, which was delivered this morning.

No dents, water container could be removed, and it made all the right noises when plugged in and tested (empty, of course at this stage). Initially, the wife was very pleased indeed that her 'new' machine had arrived and was working.

Until I got back from shopping and noticed that the "time remaining" had stayed on one minute for around an hour! Further investigation on our part showed that the drum wasn't turning!

So, we've phoned Hotpoint yet again. Of course, they're not in the office until Monday so, hopefully, we'll get another exchange - like I said, this is now going to be machine number 5.

Understandably, I am getting annoyed with all this. My missus is disabled and there are certain criteria that a TD has to meet to be of any use to her - that means the market's a touch limited because of these requirements that she has. I've asked Hotpoint to resolve this, once and for all, and to my complete satisfaction, otherwise I'd like a full refund of not only the upgrade cost, but also of the original value of machine number 1 that was uplifted and taken back, and I'll go to another manufacturer and device.

Now, one of the criteria I have got for a replacement TD is as energy-efficient as possible - hence the heat-pump idea. Looking around, I note that there are gas tumble dryers available (White Knight seem to be the only manufacturer) and one of these has quite taken my fancy, despite it's obvious additional installation costs. The machine, when installed, sits pretty close to the main incoming gas pipe, and is on an outside wall, so I don't envisage huge problems with the actual installation, nor the cost of the same. In any case, the cost of installation is likely to be recouped pretty quickly in the savings on my electricity bill!

Anybody got a gas TD and would care to share their experiences with it, please? Running costs, reliability, ease of use, etc.?

Thanks in advance.

CashStrapped

You need to clarify whether you really want something that is energy efficient, or the cheapest to run.

The two are different things.

The heatpump dryers are the most energy efficient and green solution as heat is recycled and reused. This comes at with a price, namely that of the dryer itself.

Compared to a standard vented electric dryer it will take a good few years to make money back on the initial outlay. So you are spending a lot of money to save a bit of money. If you primary goal is a small carbon footprint, then this is the choice for you.

In terms of cheapest to buy and cheapest to run...well that is a different matter.

As you say the gas dryer will most certainly be the cheapest to run, and the initial purchase price is also quite low. However, they are not energy efficient at point of use, they are just very cheap to run due to gas being much cheaper than electricity. They are vented dryers, so all that heat is lost to the outside world as per any other vented dryer.

You could argue that the electric infrastructure up to the point it reaches your house is for more inefficient than gas, but that makes for a much wider and deeper discussion.

At point of use, if energy efficiency, being green and low carbon footprint is your main purchase reason, it is an electric heat pump dryer. If not, it is the gas one.

I have known people who have had them for many years without problem. I would go for the model without any dry sensing etc but that is up to you. The simpler something is the less chance it has of breaking down. I would also look for a gas safe engineer who would be happy to service such a machine in your area. I have spoken to people who have found people to install them but then struggled to find someone willing to repair one when it did break down. Cannot fully verify the story though.

When my old electric vented dryer kicks the bucket, I may consider one myself. It is 30 years old and still going strong. They do not make them like they used to!

CKdesigner

Hi

You have a quite a story there of complete failure by Hotpoint. It would be amazing to think how as a company they would make any money if they did this sort of thing too often.

Anyway, I agree with the first response, a gas tumble dryer might be fairly cheap to run but would be far from energy efficient. I would also take note of what manufacturers make them, after all you have had a pretty awful experience from a low end manufacturer (Hotpoint) already and if Whiteknight are the only manufacturer of gas tumble dryers then I would also be wary. And the fact that only one low end manufacturer makes gas tumble dryers this says a lot too!

I know I am about to suggest the opposite extreme, but have you considered a Miele heat pump dryer? Without exception these would be the most energy efficient tumble dryers you could possibly purchase and would also last far longer and out perform in every way you could think of any other make of dryer. But of course all this quality and performance would have one drawer back and that would be the initial cost! You just have to way up what is the most important criteria for you and see what fits the bill best.

CK

CrazyRed

Thank you, both, for your kind input. Cashstrapped - that is a very valid point indeed about the manufacturer, and I have to say, one that went through my mind yesterday when I was researching the alternatives.

I think, at the moment, I've got to be fair to Hotpoint and allow them one further opportunity to resolve this situation and restore my confidence in their products - I've got (to me) a considerable amount of money tied up in this "upgrade" and I'm highly reluctant to start throwing good money after bad and just buying A N Other machine until I've exhausted my patience and every other option with Hotpoint.

My driver for the heat-pump idea is the cost of use - in this house, up to now (condenser dryers to date), tumble-drying represents a cost of around 1,400KWh per annum. Changing to a heat-pump machine, I calculated would roughly halve that usage amount, representing a £70 annual saving. Multiply that by a (hopefully) 10 year life and the extra cost of purchase gets repaid at least three times over.

CK - Yes, if Hotpoint and I reach stalemate, then it's going to be me asking for not only my upgrade fee back, but also the cost of the original dryer back (they've got that, so I'd be left with a net zero tumble dryers and technically out of pocket) and then I'd go mad on my Very account and go for Miele - I was looking very seriously at one of their heatpump models yesterday.

EssexExile

CrazyRed wrote: »

CK - Yes, if Hotpoint and I reach stalemate, then it's going to be me asking for not only my upgrade fee back, but also the cost of the original dryer back (they've got that, so I'd be left with a net zero tumble dryers and technically out of pocket) and then I'd go mad on my Very account and go for Miele - I was looking very seriously at one of their heatpump models yesterday.

I think that's a very sensible plan. My 1991 Hotpoint dryer is still going strong, although it was of course made by Hotpoint which doesn't happen any more.

CrazyRed

For anyone still following this thread, I eventually cut my losses with Hotpoint, when the last machine turned up and seized solid in front of their delivery driver, who'd agreed to wait whilst I tested it.

I did go mad on my VERY account, but not as mad as Miele - the difference in price was quite a lump and would have meant little leeway left on the account - but I did go semi-mad and purchase a BOSCH Heat Pump dryer (WTW87560GB) which was delivered, literally, the next working day.

I've now had the machine a couple of months and the missus is delighted with it. Comparing electricity usage like-for-like with the same time last year, our usage is around 80 units per month less - and the only difference in the house is this tumble dryer, whereas last year we had a conventional condenser dryer. At what I pay for electricity, that's £8 a month difference, or potentially £96 a year.

Very pleased so far.

getmore4less

was tempted by a Bosch to go with the washer and have the self cleaning condenser.

in the end we went for the Grundig heatpump < £400

it had the best energy/condensing/price/warranty combination(IMO)