Tumble Dryers!

I'm having to replace my Samsung HP dryer.
Ive had it 3 years and the HC unit has just gone.
I'd never have a HP dryer again - I don't think they are as good as they are touted to be.
I'm replacing it with a sharp basic condenser model, which is cheaper than a call out and HC unit would be

I replaced my condenser with another cheap condenser. It works fine, and will dry virtually everything except stuff that's ultra delicate. Most stuff is done in less than an hour.

I like making the green choice but I'd read that heat pump dryers take forever, and if I wanted something that took that long I could save space and get a washer/dryer combo.

??? 4 hours to dry a load? Wow.
My tumble dryer has a vent through the wall. Nothing takes longer than 1.5 hours to dry.

I’ve got a hot point heat pump and it’s very good. Some of the cycles are a bit long though so I tended to use the cycle for jeans and that seems to work for pretty much everything

I think that it is sometimes dependent on the brand rather than the type of machine.

I originally got a Hotpoint vented dryer. It was awful. It got far too hot and over dried everything. It was ok for towels but I wouldn’t risk it for anything else. I got rid of it after a couple of years. I replaced it with a Miele condenser which was far better and lasted me years. I’ve now got a Miele heat pump which is brilliant and even better than my old condenser. It takes roughly the same amount of time to dry (possibly faster) and seems more gentle on clothes. It doesn’t shrink anything and dries everything as it should, depending on the setting. I was nervous of getting a heat pump because I’d read so many bad stories about them, but I’ve got no complaints with mine.

There are dozens of vented models still made and still available for delivery tomorrow!

I have a Samsung heat pump tumble dryer and it definitely doesn’t take more than 3 hours to dry a big load.
Yours doesn’t work.
we had a fault with ours that I reported 6 days before the warranty ended and Samsung fixed it- eventually. They basically replaced every electric in the machine though.

I think your dryer may be faulty. I got an AEG heat pump dryer 2 years ago and it's fantastic. Certainly never takes more than 3 hours to dry a load and usually around 2 hours. It was expensive but totally worth it. It changed my life as I used to air dry clothes and in winter they would take days to dry as we don't put the heating much.

I have a Samsung heat pump dryer, it's 6 years old and yes it takes longer but not as long as yours. There must be something wrong with it

I didn’t like the condenser dryer in the holiday rental but at the time I was comparing to a vented dryer. Now that I’ve had a heat pump dryer I’d choose a condenser if I was replacing.

I miss my vented dryer so much. They don’t make them anymore so I couldn’t replace it. The heat pump takes 3-4 hours, and the clothes aren’t always fully dry. Not so much that you’d notice at first, but they start to smell musty after a few days.

It’s supposed to be gentler on clothes but the only setting that gets them fully dry, is the one for bedding, run twice. Easily takes 5-6 hours for heavy things like the waistbands of joggers, or the seams of men’s jeans. So the dryer still shrinks everything.

And for added kicks, the house insurance won’t cover for fire risk if you use it at night or when you’re out of the house.

The vent hole doesn't let any heat out, its at the bottom of the wall with a non return flap on the outside, so no heat getting out (other than that which needs to get out)

Electrical heating is 100% efficient, so the full 3Kw of the elements heat goes into the drum to dry. No moisture is released into the house, and as it can dry in 1/2 hour completely then it only uses 1.5 units per load, less than anything available now.

Similar machine now will be 2.5Kw as generally 3Kw appliances are not made these days due to harmonising the maximum load with the EU so the same machine can be sold all over.

Under the sale of goods act, goods have to be fit for the purpose they are intended. If this is new and isn’t, then you have rights.

Id get the guy out again and have him look at it. It’s clearly not right.
Or
see if you have rights to get your money back or if it’s too late, should be something in citizens advice pages or trading standards pages about accepting or rejecting goods and timeframes.

I miss my vented dryer so much 😩 have a condenser one that cost a fortune and it takes forever!!

If its a direct comparison then based in my experience I'd say yours isnt happy.

I usually use the AI setting which is about 1.5hrs- eco takes longer. For things like duvets I use the time-dry setting as the automated settings don't work so well for something voluminous and fluffy (think the humidity gets caught in the middle and so the sensors think its drier than it is).

I've been delighted with ours though after a model which took 2-3 times the time previously.

We did have some issues with the matching washing machine which took several engineer visits to rectify- might be worth trying once more with getting someone out to look at it.

I don’t know how much mine uses in practice, but the manual
says it uses 1.6KWH for a full (9kg) load. 0.9KWH for a partial load.

Yes, my old AEG is 3Kw, runs for half an hour to dry, so uses about 1.5 units to dry a load. Yours will be using just over 2 units to dry.

To be fair that was probably true in the 1980s- drying speed isnt the only consideration, though!

Condenser models mean you don't need to make holes in the side of your house which let heat escape. When I researched, condenser models were also better than vented for not leaking humidity into a room- our house is humid at the best of times so we really wanted as much water as possible to be removed completely by the dryer.

Heatpump ones are super-low energy and really cheap to run, so theres a great benefit there but clearly can be an issue with drying time.

Drying more gently and at lower temperatures is also better for the clothes and makes them last longer.

I wasn't in the market for a dryer in the 80's, but I wouldn't go back to 80's technology now when looking at buying a new dryer.

I’m confused about the efficiency of heat pump dryers
looking on line they say they use between 2 and 3 units of electric per load

my 36 year old vented dryer has a 2.3KW heater
it will dryer a full load of towels and cottons in under an hour
the last 10 minutes is cooldown fan only so the 2.3kw heater is off so it uses about 2.4kw to dry a load when u add a bit for the fan motor
so it’s cheaper to run than some heat pump dryers
have I got this right

I used to have that Samsung, it wasn't very durable. Was OK for about 18 months but then started taking ages to dry a load. Lots of engineers won't touch Sansungs anyway, but found someone eventually. He said nothing visibly wrong, but obviously there was something. I ditched it for a Bosch, which dries a load in about 90 mins. Way better.

We had an AEG heatpump one which took about 4 hours per load. When it died we got a Samsung one, its a 9kg AI model, and despite also being a heatpump dryer it dries in about 1.5hrs for most loads- I genuinely dont feel like its hugely different from a condenser one.

Its so much better, means the tumble dryer is no longer the critical path in getting through the washing- the old one used to forever be holding things up.

They vary so much, quite a bit of research is probably needed.

The best driers vent the hot moist air outside and therefore dry very quickly, my 1980s AEG drier can dry a whole load in 25 minutes.

I have a hotpoint heatpump dryer and if any of the filters are blocked you may as well throw electricity down the toilet but without them clogged it takes about 4 hours to dry a 9kg load