Dehumidifier v Tumble Dryer

QrizB

Yes, you're quite right. My main experience with condenser dryers is as part of a washer-dryer, where the condenser is water-cooled and the condensate gets pumped to waste.

In The Wash (who may or may not be a reliable source) do say:

Whilst you can put a condenser tumble dryer almost anywhere, it is not recommended that it is placed in a cupboard. Like most things in life, a condenser tumble dryer needs air to work properly.

A steady flow of fresh air is necessary to manage the temperature of the condenser. If a tumble dryer is working with recycled, hot air, the dryer and its components will heat up more than they should, leading to decreased efficiency and higher rates of wear and tear.

Your utility room isn't a cupboard, but it is quite small. Maybe your dryer is seeing similar conditions?

You did say your utility room has an extractor fan. Does this run while you are drying?

Exiled_Tyke

The circumstances suggest to me that a ASHP dryer would be a good investment. I'm with @2nd_time_buyer having changed earlier in the year. Mine's a Bosch which scored well with Which? and isn't as expensive as the lovely Miele ones.  It's cheap to run and I can put anything in there. The only downside is that it takes a long time but I do prefer the gentle drying.   It's in a small laundry room which is heavily insulated.  This room does get quite warm (but doesn't get humid at all) even from the efficient dryer, so I could probably dry other clothes in there on a rack if I wished.   

In the off-season months it works brilliantly with the PV system as I don't have to time drying carefully. It just gentle draws a low power consistently rather than demand 3Kw which my previous one did and then I'd find it drawing from the grid when the sun went behind cloud. 

Eldi_Dos

nonumb said:

k_man said:

The drain pipe from most dehumidifiers is quite low, and gravity fed (not pumped), so you would need a low drain to ensure the pipe is only going down.

Unless the dehumidifier can be located higher up of course, but that may make accessing controls harder (depending if what can actually be controlled via wifi).

Thanks - we'd have it on top of a surface above the washer and drier so gravity fed is no issue for us. Good point though. 

If you are running your dehumidifier with the constant drain beware during very cold weather that the outside downpipe does not freeze up with the low amount of water going through downpipe.
One tactic you could use is putting a teaspoon of salt down drain at night

k_man

Deleted_User said:

Accredited_FI said:

Winters coming.

Anyone used a dehumidifier in a practical way to dry clothes?

Was it effective? How did you do it?

Thanks

My mum was a real penny pincher - I grew up during the 70's and money was tight. They never lost their penny pinching ways. By the 80's they had E7 and storage heaters (that were rarely on). They swore by drying the washing using a dehumidifier. Mum always said it cost the same as a lightbulb.

So of course, I took her at her word and got one a few years back. We got rid of the tumbledrier and used a dehumidifier in our utility room. The washing was hung up in there and dried quickly in the confines of a small room.

Brilliant solution.

However, my mum was wrong about the running costs - we transferred to EDF last November. They estimated nearly 9000kw of electricity used a year. The only thing that we'd stopped doing in the previous few months was using the dehumidifier. Our actual consumption was under £2000 a year.

I can't give you accurate figures, but the lion's share of the remaining 7000 must have come from the dehumidifier.

We now have a log burner and that works great.

Assuming you mean 9000kWh per year, and you used 2000kWh (not £2000) per year once you stopped using it, then theoretically the difference of 7000kWh could have been the humidifier.

But the humidifier would have needed to be on full/high (800W) , 24/7, and if so that utility room would have been very hot!
Unless you opened a window to keep it cool 😅

A yearly usage of 2000kWh would also make you a very low user.

nonumb

Eldi_Dos said:

nonumb said:

k_man said:

The drain pipe from most dehumidifiers is quite low, and gravity fed (not pumped), so you would need a low drain to ensure the pipe is only going down.

Unless the dehumidifier can be located higher up of course, but that may make accessing controls harder (depending if what can actually be controlled via wifi).

Thanks - we'd have it on top of a surface above the washer and drier so gravity fed is no issue for us. Good point though. 

If you are running your dehumidifier with the constant drain beware during very cold weather that the outside downpipe does not freeze up with the low amount of water going through downpipe.
One tactic you could use is putting a teaspoon of salt down drain at night

Thanks - strangely the drain goes into the floor on the inside of the house as it's an extension so no issues there.

I'm still torn between the dehumidifier and the heat pump dryer!

2nd_time_buyer

nonumb said:

Eldi_Dos said:

nonumb said:

k_man said:

The drain pipe from most dehumidifiers is quite low, and gravity fed (not pumped), so you would need a low drain to ensure the pipe is only going down.

Unless the dehumidifier can be located higher up of course, but that may make accessing controls harder (depending if what can actually be controlled via wifi).

Thanks - we'd have it on top of a surface above the washer and drier so gravity fed is no issue for us. Good point though. 

If you are running your dehumidifier with the constant drain beware during very cold weather that the outside downpipe does not freeze up with the low amount of water going through downpipe.
One tactic you could use is putting a teaspoon of salt down drain at night

Thanks - strangely the drain goes into the floor on the inside of the house as it's an extension so no issues there.

I'm still torn between the dehumidifier and the heat pump dryer!

If it is to dry clothes. Go with the heat pump dryer. You will really appreciate the time and labour savings.