Need new tumble dryer should I get a heat pump one?

nelliedeen

My tumble dryer is on it's last legs, it squeals, I think the bearing is going.

It is about 10 years old.

It is in my garage and I don't think the damp is doing it any good, plus on damp days it takes ages to dry the clothes even though it vents to outside.

I had a power meter connected to it and it has used 420 kWh in the past year.

There is a place inside for a new heat pump tumble dryer but no place for ventilation to the outside, that's why the old one is in the garage.

How much more efficient will a heat pump tumble dryer be, if my old one uses 420 kWh a year, how much would a A+++ use in comparison for the same running time in a year?

Mstty

A heat pump tumble.dryer could save you up to two thirds over you current model if 10 years old in energy usage. At current rates Up to £95 a year.

Get one with a five year warranty for under £500 and it's a no brainer.

However upon further reading heat pump tumble dryers may need between 5-10oC ambient temperature so a cold, unheated, uninsulated garage may not be suitable.

Rodders53

Make and model of existing dryer?  
Check out its' specs on standardised drying cycles in kWh per annum... 
Compare to what you know you've used to create a 'my use compensation factor' number...
Apply that use factor to the spec of any new dryer annual standardised figure to estimate what you'll then use.

Currys website (used for convenience of finding specs) have

• a Hoover 9kg vented that use uses 636kWh per annum (C rated) for £249.
• a condenser Hoover 9kg uses 617kWh pa (B rated) for £299 and a 
• heat pump by Hoover also 9kg that uses 259 kWh  pa (A++ rated) for £429

Your use of any of those three will be different but the heat pumps win hands down on electric consumption.  They do take a bit longer and do have a water reservoir tank to empty (or they usually pump to a nearby drain if wanted).   The water is 'distilled' and can be used in irons and such if in a hard water area should you wish.

An A+++ rated dryer (also 9kg for fairness) will cost upwatds of £750 to reduce consumption to just under 200 kWh per annum.  Whether it's worth the expense is another conundrum.

macman

At least half the cost to run. Heat pump versions used to cost much more than a conventional model, but the premium now is minimal. Heat pump dryers are condensers, so they don't need venting to the outside.

powerful_Rogue

We had a vented tumble dryer in the garage. Last September we replaced it with a heat pump tumble dryer. It uses far less energy and was a great purchase. Even in an unheated garage, during the cold spell it still performed very well.

daveyjp

If you ever need clothes drying quickly (less than 2 hours) don't go for a heat pump.  The reason they use less power is because they take much longer to dry.

markin

Electric is the more expensive way to heat a house than Gas but with the condenser dryer at 617kWh pa with most of the year it being useful heat in the home vs venting 636kwh of heat outdoors and the heated home air it takes with it, is a huge win.

SnakePlissken

nelliedeen said:

My tumble dryer is on it's last legs, it squeals, I think the bearing is going.

It is about 10 years old.

It is in my garage and I don't think the damp is doing it any good, plus on damp days it takes ages to dry the clothes even though it vents to outside.

I had a power meter connected to it and it has used 420 kWh in the past year.

There is a place inside for a new heat pump tumble dryer but no place for ventilation to the outside, that's why the old one is in the garage.

How much more efficient will a heat pump tumble dryer be, if my old one uses 420 kWh a year, how much would a A+++ use in comparison for the same running time in a year?

I bought a bosch serie 8 to replace an old vented dryer and instead of 1.5kw an hour.
It is now using 200 to 350 watts per hour as i just swiched on and checked. ( it does sometimes go as high as 400ish watts, depending on load) I load shirts seperately from towels or jeans etc


It takes longer to run as its a more gentle heat, than an air dryed vented one, but wont shrink clothes. It takes from 45 mins to 3 hours depending on spin speed used, program chosen and type of item being dryed, eg shirts, cotton, towels. Shirts are around 45 mins after a 1400 spin speed.
Towels are over 2 hours.

The bosh serie 8 is expensive, but is amongst the most energy efficient dryers available. 
But it really needs to be in a house, not in a garage.

Bosch spec says..

Energy consumption 193.0 kWh per year, based on 160 drying cycles of the standard cotton programme at full and partial load

70sbudgie

How do the above consumption figures translate to a washer dryer? Would it be fair to say that if it has a heat pump, the combined wash / dry annual consumption would be ~300kWhrs, or less?

I am trying to do the same exercise for a washer dryer, but am struggling to identify the machines with heat pumps from the specs sheets.

macman

daveyjp said:

If you ever need clothes drying quickly (less than 2 hours) don't go for a heat pump.  The reason they use less power is because they take much longer to dry.

No. It takes the same amount of heat energy to remove a fixed amount of moisture from the load, whether it takes 1 hour or 10 hours. Heat pump driers are more economic because they recover much of the otherwise lost heat and recycle it back into the drum. The reason the drying times are extended is because they run at lower temps than conventional dryers

littleteapot

A heat pump tumble dryer is basically a recirculating dehumidifier. I remember 10+ years ago when I lived in a flat and didn't have space for a tumble dryer, I used a dehumidifier in the 2nd bedroom (literally a box room) to dry clothes. It was slow but very energy efficient. I thought 'why don't they make tumble dryers like this?'. Sure enough they did begin to appear on the market.

When I first bought the house we now live in 2012, money was short so I bought a secondhand condenser dryer. A couple of years ago when it started to show signs of end of life, I started looking on ebay etc for secondhand heat pump dryers. I ended up with a Bosch one for £160. It's absolutely great. According to my plug-in energy meter it uses about 35% of the electricity per load that the old condenser did. It does take slightly longer per load but the benefit is it doesn't cook the clothes and shrink/crinkle them like the old condensor did!