Tumble dryer costs

Mstty

For us I found this 8kg heat pump tumble dryer for £299 LOGIK LHP8W18. 

Likely this will cost 29.24p per hour to run looking at power consumption. Compared to our existing vented tumble dryer when on for an hour uses 53p

So we use ours 5 times a week so a potential untested saving of £1.19 a week roughly so 4.8 years to pay for itself.

I will get a heat pump tumble dryer when ours gives up or when heat pump tumble dryers come down to £200 and the return on investment time comes down to 2 ish years.

JustAnotherSaver

Here's a question on tumble drying...

We'll stick a dark wash on at the end of the week. If the weather is good then everything is simple but if it's raining then it's tumble dryer job.

So what can't be tumble dried goes upstairs on the clothes horse with the dehumidifier. What's left goes in the tumble dryer.

Now this is where the question starts -

I say to wait on the whites that then go in for wash, sort them like we sorted the darks and THEN put the tumble dryer on.

Wife says that it takes forever for the clothes to dry when the tumble dryer is full and it's better to just tumble dry the darks and then the lights - everything gets dried quicker.

Depends what your better is. Better for me is what costs less.

So, who's correct? I just can't imagine running 2 cycles is cheaper, even if it's for a bit of a shorter time on each.

pochase

Beko lists the difference between heatsink tumble dryer and condense tumble dryer as 0.59KWh per KG vs 0.24KWh per KG. Time is listed as 17.2 minutes per KG (condensing) vs 22.4 minutes per kg (heat sink).

https://www.beko.co.uk/lifestyle/benefits-of-a-tumble-dryer-heat-pump

If they have used the above correct it would be a bit misleading as there is no direct comparison possible. When comparing the minutes and energy use I get to a factor 0.09 vs 0.17, so slight less than half the energy use for heat sink dryer.

[Deleted User]

I've had a BEKO heat pump tumble dryer since September 2021 replacing a BEKO condensor tumble dryer which was showing signs of coming to the end of its llfe.  The energy consumption figures quoted on the product fiches of the 2 machines are broadly in line with the sort of energy usage that I was seeing although I invariably use less kWh on a full cycle whenever I use the heat pump tumble dryer.  The figures quoted on Beko's site may not be really accurate but assuming Beko used the same wash load and conditions that they quote:

4.71 kWh (Condensor) v 1.95 kWh (Heat Pump) @  standard cotton full load / cycle.
2.54 kWh (Condensor) v 1.06 kWh (Heat Pump) @ standard cotton half load / cycle.

The difference in price between 2 equivalent models (same 8kg capacity) varies depending on the exact models but the lowest difference I saw on Curry's was £180. (£240 new condensor B rated  v £420 new heat pump A++ rated).

Someone esle can do the maths for the breakeven point of buying a new heat pump to replace an old condensor but it obviously puts it towards the heat pump replacement paying for itself very quickly if you can afford the extra up front cost.

The other thing I now notice that is really hard to quantify is the cycle times.  The old condensor almost always needed an extra 30 mins after the cycle to get things really dry.  The new heat pump invariably uses less than the cycle time that the programme tells you so I suspect that the actual usage I now experience, when the tumble dryer is used, is less than 1.95 kWh even for a full load spun at 1400 with no air drying should I use the standard cotton cycle at full load.  I can quite believe Magnitio's comment that the heat pump tumble dryer may use 1/3 of the juice that a condensor uses - even Beko's numbers are pretty close to this.

EDIT:  Just seen pochase's link to Beko.  Not sure how this stacks up with the above product enegy fiche's I quoted on the 2 models I have used in the last year (old Condensor was DCU8230 model v New Heat Pump DHX83420 model).  On the annual usage figures they quote 561 kWh DCU 8230 v 234.8 kWh for DHX 83420.  One does not know the assumptions that they use to quote these figures but I would assume that whatever they are they will be using the same assumptions.   

  

QrizB

pochase said:

If they have used the above correct it would be a bit misleading as there is no direct comparison possible. When comparing the minutes and energy use I get to a factor 0.09 vs 0.17, so slight less than half the energy use for heat sink dryer.

I think you've confused yourself. The time doesn't come into it.

pochase said:

Beko lists the difference between heatsink tumble dryer and condense tumble dryer as 0.59KWh per KG vs 0.24KWh per KG.

If the condenser dryer uses 0.59kWh to dry a kg of laundry, and the heat pump dryer uses 0.24kWh to dry the same amount, the heat pump dryer is using (24/59=) 40.7% of the electricity that the condensing one does.

pochase

QrizB said:

pochase said:

If they have used the above correct it would be a bit misleading as there is no direct comparison possible. When comparing the minutes and energy use I get to a factor 0.09 vs 0.17, so slight less than half the energy use for heat sink dryer.

I think you've confused yourself. The time doesn't come into it.

pochase said:

Beko lists the difference between heatsink tumble dryer and condense tumble dryer as 0.59KWh per KG vs 0.24KWh per KG.

If the condenser dryer uses 0.59kWh to dry a kg of laundry, and the heat pump dryer uses 0.24kWh to dry the same amount, the heat pump dryer is using (24/59=) 40.7% of the electricity that the condensing one does.

Yes, you are right, I got confused with trying to calculate it based on time, which does not change the consumption.

[Deleted User]

QrizB said:

If the condenser dryer uses 0.59kWh to dry a kg of laundry, and the heat pump dryer uses 0.24kWh to dry the same amount, the heat pump dryer is using (24/59=) 40.7% of the electricity that the condensing one does.

The figure of 40.7% ties in closely with the product fiches of the 2 models I have used in the last year.  

wolvoman

Depends what part of the UK you live in, but here in the SE there's so little actual rain time, that I hardly ever need to tumble dry instead of hanging outside. And if rain's forecast, I'll delay my washing. 

Surely the biggest saver is to spin the living daylights out of the clothes first?

pochase

DerwentMailman said:

QrizB said:

If the condenser dryer uses 0.59kWh to dry a kg of laundry, and the heat pump dryer uses 0.24kWh to dry the same amount, the heat pump dryer is using (24/59=) 40.7% of the electricity that the condensing one does.

The figure of 40.7% ties in closely with the product fiches of the 2 models I have used in the last year.  

I was also looking at the two models at Currys,

Condenser 8KG for 240 full load 4.75KWh
Heat sink 8KG for 420 full load 1.95KWh

That is 41.05% and falls in line with @QrizB calculation.

Using a electricity price of 28p a full load on the condenser model costs £1.33 while using the heat sink model only costs £0.55.

So after drying 230 times at full 8KG  capacity you have recovered the additional £180 cost for the heat sink model and start saving.

Unfortunately that is another proof for my theory that if you have enough money it is much easier to save money.

[Deleted User]

wolvoman said:

Depends what part of the UK you live in, but here in the SE there's so little actual rain time, that I hardly ever need to tumble dry instead of hanging outside. And if rain's forecast, I'll delay my washing. 

Surely the biggest saver is to spin the living daylights out of the clothes first?

Am in the NE so almost like a different country at times with the weather.  I don't think we have hit any days at 20C yet this year although it has been drier than normal.

Yes, most of the time the clothes are spun to its maximum of 1400 rpm particularly if having to use the tumble dryer.  They certainly come out drier than for my previous washing machine.  It will probably go down to 1200/1000 once we hit 20C in the NE on a more regular basis.  Washing is now done to coincide with decent days for drying outside on clothes line. But come November-February there are seldom any washes that we don't need to use the tumble dryer.