Condenser vs heat pump

We have a heat pump tumble dryer, my experience is: Pro- no external pipe so nowhere for spiders to come into the house (this was a big seller for me!!) Con- not sure if this is just our model, but considering as they're marketed as being more gentle on clothes I'd actually say this one shrinks clothes more than the previous geriatric traditional one we inherited.

It does take a while to dry a load (3hr 35m standard or a "quick dry" is 1hr 49m), but I don't really mind this as I've just adapted my timings of when I put the load on.

Beko

This one @Primarkcouture

I second the BEKO, it's efficient and quick and I can dry 2 loads at once.
@Primarkcouture if you wish to keep moisture to a minimum, don't have a condenser dryer as that will be chucking out wet air

Had a condenser 15 years it was rubbish and would shrink things. Bought a heat pump in September one of the Samsung high end ones and it's amazing! Nothing has shrunk and I now chuck it all in and it comes out dry. Cheap to run too!

We had a condenser one which died after about 8 years. Replaced with a heat pump as read it's more efficient. It takes FOREVER and we are a family of 6 so we have mountains of laundry. It hasnt shrunk anything though but so annoying waiting for it to finish

I think they must just be really variable in performance so it makes sense to try and find reviews or comparisons for specific models . I found this hard to do because they seem to have millions of models all with very similar names. But I did just end up making notes on what people said about different brands and narrowed it down that way.

Cheaper per drying cycle, not cheaper per minute running though. Unless you have it in an unheated outbuilding.

I suppose that since I've never had a dryer, even being able to dry things in a couple of hours feels fast to me compared with drying on an airer, plus no time spent hanging stuff up. (It has never taken as long as 2 hours).

I did look at the which reviews when I got mine because I wanted one that would have good performance at making the clothes dry enough to put away, I didn't care about the performance of it on iron dry mode.

If you do get a Beko there is one annoying thing with mine where it has this anti crease feature that makes it tumble intermittently after use for ages and you can't turn this off. Not sure if newer models by them have this.

I previously had a heat pump, and I was so glad when it broke and I could get a condenser. The heat pump took forever to ‘dry’ things, and everything still came out damp. They may be cheaper to run, but took sooo much longer than my condenser so I’m sure it all balances out.

Plumbed in condenser (so water goes into the drain not into the tank) doesn't let damp into the room.

Heat pump is more expensive to buy but cheaper to run, so if you run a lot of loads your pay-back time will be less than if you run only 1-2 loads a week..

In terms of experience, a good condenser is probably better than a bad heat pump, and vice versa. Also I think the tech on heat pumps might be improving rapidly. One bought now could be much better, and cheaper, than one that's a few years old.

We are very happy with our heat pump. The initial time for a load comes up as 3.5 hours but it never takes anything near that. For us the cost savings are very tangible (especially given they aren't much more expensive to buy now) and any drying time differences are intangible.

I have read that heat pumps can get less efficient over time, but this can be mitigated a bit by cleaning both filters. Ours is a year old Beko. We are really pleased with it so far. Sin e we bought it we dry a lot more clothes and spend a lot less (and therefore use less electricity) doing so.

I use the waste water for the iron, as it’s ironised saves buying ironing water (I know ironing is a contentious subject on MN but I actually find it quite relaxing)

I have a heat pump. I find that sometimes you open the door and it feels like it's still damp but actually if you take it out and give it 5 minutes it is actually dry.

I don't have any problems.

I love my heatpump dryer - it holds the water in a drawer so I can empty it down the sink rather than a pipe outside. It's mega cheap to run and drys well - usually if finishes and I restart the cycle for 30 mins for maximum straight into drawers dryness. I will never go back to condenser.

Heat pump is just a mindset change. I can’t dry something in twenty mins but then stuff doesn’t come out frazzled and roasting. Ours takes about 2.3-3 for a load (12kg capacity) and leaving it in for thirty mins after makes it work best or it can be a bit moist. I love it though and do less last minute washing. Big running cost savings

For a large load usually takes between 90/120 minutes & that’s cupboard dry, also have a small load programme that takes forty minutes.

I have this one it’s brilliant has lots of drying programmes even one for down,towels, mixed fabrics & lots of drying levels & not that expensive to run.

We used to have a Hotpoint heat pump dryer which I hated. The sensor didn't work so it stopped with the clothes still damp even though it had been running for an eternity. Replaced it with an Indesit (also heat pump) with some trepidation but it's so much better. A large load dries fully in 2-2.5 hours which is plenty fast enough for us. Much cheaper to run than a condenser but I guess it depends how often you use it whether it's worth the extra purchase price.

I have a new heat pump in the garage and I hate it. The old one was vented but the heat pump needs emptying as it can't be plumbed in where it is. A stupid mistake and expensive to boot.

I hate our heat pump, takes forever to dry anything, is a hassle to clean and seems to leak a lot from the condenser bit.

i really want an cheap old style vented one but I don’t even think you can buy them anymore. I know they aren’t energy efficient and cost a lot to run but they dry a load in less than an hour.

The only time I have things coming out damp is when I've mixed a lot of thinner fabrics with something thick like a pair of jeans or a hoodie. But i just take everything out and then put the damp things back in to go through the next cycle and then they're fine. If I'm not running another cycle straight away, stick them on on the same cycle and the sensor kicks in and will stop it after 15 mins or so. Or hang them over a banister/stairgate to finish them off.

I like the sensor because it's not keeping drying things longer than necessary. I've also done stuff like paused the cycle with 5 min to go, taken 90% of it out, put in the stuff from the next wash load and pressed play and it adjusts the time and fully dries it all.

We recently replaced a condenser dryer that we had worn out (in multiple ways and it had already been repaired - we have an incontinent and messy adult DS so lots of laundry) with a heat pump and while it is much cheaper to run, cycles are taking forever with the colder weather and it seems to be on all day, just to keep up with the laundry.

I found that when I was researching them, the better the energy rating, the longer the estimated cycle length.

Our heat pump one is amazing. We replaced a condenser and the heat pump is so much more energy efficient, plus it's far gentler on clothes. They don't come out steaming and it doesn't shrink them like standard ones too. I can chuck everything in the heat pump one now, even jumpers that the old one would have shrunk a lot.

Takes about 2-2.5 hours to dry an 11kg load, sometimes less depending what kind of stuff is in it.

I don't find it takes long. About 90 mins to dry a 7kg ish load. It always estimates 2h40 but it always takes much less time than that.