Tumble Dryers!

My heat pump dryer lasted 10 years of constant use. It was a Bosch and fabulous. In fact I recently left it at the old house when I moved and it was till going strong.

I have purchased a new heat pump Bosch and again it’s brilliant, dries quickly. Maybe one hour thirty for the average load of washing.

I ‘upgraded’ our original Bosch vented dryer for a Bosch heat pump dryer. It died within 18 months. As did the second one we bought.

I just don’t think heat pump dryers are very durable. Plus they take absolutely forever and on ours it was not possible to manually clean the filters. It was supposedly self cleaning. Pah!

We have a Bosch condenser dryer now which is brilliant, quick, quiet, easy to clean the filters and solidly built.

I also have a Samsung heat pump dryer - it does dry reasonably quick. But the clothes come out smelling bad and I can't figure out why. Clothes go in smelling lovely and come out smelling musty even though they are dry. I've googled, asked Samsung and no-one seems to know. I don't know if there's something wrong with it but don't want to get an engineer out if it's nothing. I clean it out after every cycle, empty water, clean filters. Can't wait for the thing to break so I can go back to a condenser.

My condenser dryer broke and I looked at heat pumps. Although dryer is in the house it’s against a cold kitchen wall where outside boiler pipe freezes in the winter so I went for another condenser

12 hours for 4 towels is not fit for purpose. My condenser Bosch starts by telling me 2.5 hours for an 8kg towel load but always gets it done in 60 mins

unless you doing loads and loads of drys in a day (which I can’t see you doing if they take so long ) then how much energy are people actually saving with a heat pump

That is definitely faulty. We have recently upgraded to a Samsung heat pump model from a cheaper condenser, and the difference is remarkable. So much quicker and less costly to run than than the condenser. I think you need to get the repair service out again now that you've cleaned it out to get to the bottom of this.

My heat pump dryer takes forever too, I reserve it for fluffing up towels and emergencies, everything else is dried on racks

You can still buy a vented dryer at lots of retailers.

"Electrical heating is 100% efficient"

Only in the sense that all the electrical energy will convert to heat.

This does not make it 100% efficient though. Sone of the heat will warm the machine and tte surrounding things rather than the clothes.

I go at the heat exchanger on mine with the hover brush attachment every so often and it’s much quicker to dry immediately afterward. I also wash the filter that sits in front if it.

How often do you actually use the tumble drier? I only ever used it for bedding and towels, not clothes, and I used to have a tumble drier at home, which was never very effective and cost loads to run. Then it broke down suddenly in winter just as I had loads of heavy stuff to dry and so I was forced to take it all to the laundrette - which was a game changer. Now I just go to the laundrette once a week with all the washed bedding and towels and dry it all in about 20 minutes in their huge, efficient driers. It’s not even that much of a bother, I just go and have a coffee in the cafe next door as I’m waiting. Possibly not an option if you live in the middle of nowhere, but I’d never go back to using a home tumble drier again.

You can still buy vented ones. 40 mins max for a full load in mine

Our condenser dryer is in the coal house that’s connected to our house and is really cold this time of year, but still manages to dry anything we put in , even full, in 2 hours or under. I just be careful and don’t put certain things in. It doesn’t smell bad or of nothing though it smells like laundry?

I have a Samsung also - DV90BB9445GHS1 Heat Pump Tumble Dryer 9kg - 2 years old. In a utility room same as you but directly plumbed in under the sink so it drains all the water out and no emptying for me. It dries fine - superking bedding set in just over an hour, so yours definitely must be faulty somehow. I sympathise on the brush thing and being on the floor cleaning it. After reading on a random thread somewhere, I am buying a foam filter and cutting it to size to put in front of the bit you have to clean with that brush, so going to try this after I clean it again 😂You're doing everything right and cleaning it when the machine tells you - I hope they sort it out for you soon!

I use a condenser dryer with 2 boss it balls. Everything dries really quickly. I did once consider a heat pump dryer but heard similar stories to yours. Boss it balls are great.

Yes, I couldn't be bothered waiting on a heat pump drier, most brands have a 5 year lifespan.
I hated my heat pump dryer.
My cheapish dryer is great.

I have a Miele heat pump dryer and even on a delicate gentle dry the puffer jacket I dried earlier today was done in no time definitely under 2 hours anyway
Towels dry under 2 hours as does anything else

Yep, during the first winter of extortionate bills we worked out that my heat pump machine was cheaper per load than my friend's condenser one - 45 minutes for mine vs 4 hours for hers!!!!

Ours is a condenser dryer, I can get a full load totally dry in 80 minutes! And that includes heavy stuff such as jeans. Plus they always come out smelling fresh.
It's dropping to bits now and rusty round the edges, so I'm going to have to replace it soon and I'm gutted, as I love it!
If it's still under warranty, can't you return it?

Heat pumps for drying and heat pumps for central heating ARE USELESS.
I’ve actually been thinking of purchasing a gas combi boiler to keep in readiness for mine going wrong.
i feel so bad for you, we are told we are doing the “right thing” but actually we are not!! .

Edited: didn’t mean to quote anyone.

We have a Bosch heat pump condenser (series 6 I think) that will dry a full load of towels in just over an hour and also self cleans itself and is pretty economic to run too. Your dryer sounds ridiculous.

Tumble dryer is obviously faulty, but YABU writing a novella about it.

We had a Blomberg heat pump that was good initially but 8 years later it was taking 9 hours to dry a load. Was very tempted to get a condenser but they seem to be getting phased out. As we live in a new build very warm house we have stuck with heat pump. We got a new Hisense last week and so far it’s been brilliant. Less than 2 hours for an 8kg load. Towels which were taking the full day now take 1.5 hours and come out so fluffy. It’s got wifi connection too and really neat and compact

Yanbu but you know you can turn up the drying level right which make it's quicker. And use the cotton setting, not eco.

That's crazy. My heat pump drier does a 10kg load in 2 hrs. Ours is Hisense.

I have a heat pump dryer and it's an absolute dickhead. I cannot wait for it to break, it takes so long to get anything dry I can't believe it is actually any cheaper.

It's a Bosch not a Samsung though.