The search for the most energy efficient tumble dryers

YorkshireJames

I found out our dryer is 3.74 kwh per full load and that the most energy efficient tumble dryers are running at 0.5 kwh these days. So I'm paying 7x more to dry clothes than a new dryer. 

At 28p per kwh, I'm paying £1.05 per load vs £0.14 with a new dryer. If there is a 60% rise in energy in Oct, that goes up to £1.68 vs £0.22.

From October, at 150 cycles a year that's a saving of £219 a year. So a new dryer seems like a good idea. 

What are the most energy efficient tumble dryers in the UK?

I've found this, which is really helpful, but only has US models:
https://ecocostsavings.com/dryer-wattage/#:~:text=Consuming just 0.44 kWh per,fan for nearly 3 days.

Does anyone know of a similar resource for the UK?

I don't seem to be able to find good efficiency lists, only ones based on reviews or A+++ vs A++ vs A+ which isn't very helpful. There must be a better way than going to individual sites trying to find links to manuals with technical stats 23 pages in.

Any help or dryer stars would be greatly appreciated. I'm sure I'm not the only one looking to cut drying costs.

Evan3020

Have you considered not using a tumble dryer, no running costs and no outlay.

What_time_is_it

I think you just have to accept that using a tumble dryer will cost you between £1 and £2 per load. 
The only solution is to find ways of using it less.

lohr500

I don't think it can be 3.7kW/h. Well not if it has a standard 13 amp plug. The highest power you can draw from a 13amp plug is 3kw. So you couldn't draw 3.7kw for an hour without blowing a fuse.

MWT

YorkshireJames said:

I found out our dryer is 3.74 kwh per full load and that the most energy efficient tumble dryers are running at 0.5 kwh these days. So I'm paying 7x more to dry clothes than a new dryer.

I would be very careful when taking information from US vs UK/EU sites as the basis for comparison can be flawed.

You will not find even A+++ rated dryers using only 0.5kWh/lfull load. The 'load' that is referred to can vary depending on where the information is being provided.

Also consider that you are looking at a $1,400 dryer there, so even if it was anywhere close to that performance, there is still a lot of money to recover...

For the UK, check the energy label for the dryers you are comparing, any decent retail website will have the labels linked there, here is a typical one for an A+++ dryer:

Note the full load consumption is 1.32kWh whereas the annual energy consumption is based on a cotton load only and comes out around 1kWh with a mix of full and partial loads, with the low power option which greatly increased drying time...

Alnat1

Looking on AO website at heat pump tumble dryers they all quote as you say A+, A++ or A+++.

If you click on a dryer and scroll down the info to "How well does it perform" it will give you an amount in kWh. 

The amount is an industry wide formula and all machines are tested in the same way so you can compare. This is based on 160 cycles of a combination of full and partial loads on a standard cotton drying programme. That breaks down to 3 dryings per week.

You already know that an A+++ will be most efficient so pick those in the price range you want to pay and find the lower kWh machine that has the features you want (I wanted one that could drain into the outlet with the washer as I didn't want to keep emptying a tank)

Alnat1

@Evan3020 Have you factored in that there's no need to iron if you tumble dry? An hour or 2 ironing a week uses a fair bit of electricity. 

Evan3020

I am 57 and have never ironed anything in my life. So thats another saving.

Spies

Realistically the difference in energy between A++ and A+++ will take years to recoup for the extra outlay so I feel the A++ models are the best compromise.

Alnat1

Some of the A++ are more expensive than the A+++ 

savers_united

Not sure how good the energy monitors are but I have been surprised with our tumble which is 5+ years old how little energy it uses.

At the time we bought it,. It was highly rated with energy saving features, when it's working its magic it only hits 2kwh for about 2mins every 6-7 mins, most of the time it's running at around 0.5-0.8kwh. A normal load for us seems to come in at around 1.5kwh, but it's very rarely left to run a full hour, normally find half hour is enough for the airing cupboard, so 0.75kwh for half hour, just over 20p.