What size tumble drier?

gilesm89

We are looking to buy a heat pump tumble drier. We currently use an airer with a dehumidifier but it's no good for bedding and we would prefer the option of not leaving our clothes out to dry.

Our washing machine has a 9kg capacity. I noticed that there seems to be quite a big price difference between the Bosch 8kg (£489) and 9kg (£629) driers. Should we just bite the bullet and get a capacity to match the washer or is it likely that we will not miss the extra 1kg? 

vic_sf49

I use my dryer rarely these days, and couldn't tell you how big it was, but I find things dry quicker, when they have more space....but no, don't immediately think of the 9kg...

I wouldn't do a 9kg wash, then cram it all in the dryer, or it'd take an age. I found splitting loads up works better, so I'm not sure how good a 9kg one would be, vs an 8kg. Especially with that price difference.

Is there any difference in the wattage? Unless there's magic technology, that'd determine power, and how well things dry.

Don't know if any of that is dryer dependant, or the fact I don't want to pay for it running for an entire day.

I use airer + dehumidifier in my conservatory.

DullGreyGuy

gilesm89 said:

We are looking to buy a heat pump tumble drier. We currently use an airer with a dehumidifier but it's no good for bedding and we would prefer the option of not leaving our clothes out to dry.

Our washing machine has a 9kg capacity. I noticed that there seems to be quite a big price difference between the Bosch 8kg (£489) and 9kg (£629) driers. Should we just bite the bullet and get a capacity to match the washer or is it likely that we will not miss the extra 1kg? 

We used to have a washer dryer that was 8kg washes but 4kg drying which meant anything more than a half load you had to run the drier at least twice or be lazy, dont split it and then you are probably running it 3 times to get it anywhere near dry. 

We replaced it when it died with separate washer and dryer and one of our conditions was that the drier matched the capacity of the washer to avoid this problem (both weights are measured as dry clothes). Now it's a 1-1 run and most times the dryer is done before the next laundry load is finished. Also helps its a 1,600 spin speed so clothes come out the washer much drier than the used to. 

Do you run a full load in the washer often? If yes then match it. If you're almost never running a full load then it's probably not worth it. 

daveyjp

Be mindful of drying times, especially if you do a few washing machine loads back to back and end up with a pile which needs drying,

 2-3 hours was typical in our heat pump dryer, a full load of 9kg could take much much longer. 

mark_cycling00

Probably not answering your question here but I've always been advised to avoid maxxing out the washing machine, avoid frequently using the highest spin setting and avoiding maxxing out the tumble dryer if you want them to last. 

The kg figure should be considered a maximum rather than a recommendation. If you and family can stick to 6kgs per load then maybe the 8kg dryer is fine. If one person tends to fill each device to the max then one might burn out 

My Bosch does extremely dry clothes in under 2hrs which is same time as a washing machine cycle. The old Hotpoint dryer would take 3-4 hours.

bob2302

mark_cycling00 said:

Probably not answering your question here but I've always been advised to avoid maxxing out the washing machine, avoid frequently using the highest spin setting and avoiding maxxing out the tumble dryer if you want them to last. 

I tried reducing the spin speed on my last machine, but wasn't convinced because the low frequency vibrations seemed more intense.   

DullGreyGuy

mark_cycling00 said:

Probably not answering your question here but I've always been advised to avoid maxxing out the washing machine, avoid frequently using the highest spin setting and avoiding maxxing out the tumble dryer if you want them to last. 

There is a logic to the argument but at the same time if you have 18kg of washing to do by only putting 6kg in you are adding 33% more runs and that potentially could out weigh the extra wear of the additional kg. 

We had a chap out to fix our steam oven the other day and he had a gadget that he attached to the front that gave his laptop a host of info on its usage. Intrigued about it I asked if their other appliances are the same and he said it was and for the washing machine as an example it will say the total number of hours use and how many of them were over weight, they use it both for warranty and goodwill decisions. Mentioned he'd just come from a service and the woman was concerned that her washer had done 15,000 hours but he reassured her that was nothing and he'd seen machines with over 25,000 (older machines didnt weigh the load). 

You'd imagine if weight in general was big issue, rather than just exceeding the maximum weight they'd be measuring in a different way. Based on the above yours at 3 x 6kg washes would be seen as more worn than the 2 x 9kg.