Any experiences of Heat Pump Tumble Dryers please?

[mummabubs]

Fascinating subject, but...

We inherited a tumble dryer from the previous owner of our house. We'd never had one before but I have to say with two small kids it's proved a godsend for drying clothes quickly in the winter months. However it is an old machine and starting to approach the end of its lifespan. My DH has starting talking about how we should get a heat pump tumble dryer. I'd really appreciate some lived experiences of them please.

I gather from ye old Google that the supposed pros are: 1) More economical to run that traditional tumble dryers and 2) Kinder to clothes in terms of reducing shrinkage/ damage etc. The main con seems to be that it takes "longer" for clothes to dry

• Any other pros or cons from experience?
• How long would people say it takes to dry an 'average' wash load in one?
• Have people noticed a reduction in clothes shrinking? (As this is the one thing that annoys me about ours despite using low heat setting and not running it for longer than needed).

I'm definitely open to considering one, but I guess my main thought holding me back is about how long it takes to dry and whether that would render it unhelpful (our current machine takes 2-2.5 hours on low to dry a load). I'm also a tad sceptical that if you're having to run a machine for so much longer does that then cancel any cost-saving benefits due to increased electricity use...

Thanks everyone :)

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MNHQ

I have one and I’m very happy with it. It takes 2/2.5 hours. It does seem more gentle on my clothes. It has a large very easily emptied container for the water on the door which means I don’t have to vent it. Mine’s a Candy.

I have one. The guide time for a full load is 3hrs 15 minutes, though it does 'sense' the wetness and do it for less time if needed, and it usually is less time.
Mine is A+++ rated, so presume it's quite economical.

I’ve got one, it’s a Miele, I don’t think it takes any longer to dry than my previous condenser model. I don’t put everything in though, usually just towels, bedding and some cotton stuff, no shrinkage noticed.

I love mine - had two bosch (left first one when we moved) and they're yet to shrink anything. For me they're cheaper run than my heated airer too

Miele here too and takes probably just under 90 minutes to dry a full load of towels. Everything else takes just over an hour. No complaints at all.

I've got a condenser heat pump 7kg one.
Love it. It does take a while to dry a load, usually about 3 hours but it doesn't get very hot so it's really gentle on clothes. I dried a wool cardigan in it by mistake the other day and it came out all soft and lovely and not at all shrunken.

I can't see any real difference to my electric bill since we got it so it must be economical (it's rated A plus plus and according to the manufacturer costs about £100 pounds a year on average use).

I would replace it in a second if it broke. Marvelous machine.

As above, the guidance time to dry a full cotton load is 3.5 hours, but it never actually takes as long as that. Closer to 2-2.5 hours on average. I find it very economical to run and have not observed any shrinkage, which definitely happened with our previous vented dryer.

It's been all benefit at the cost of a little less convenience for us (my vented dryer would dry a load in an hour).

I have a Beko and I have run the condensing water pipe into the drain outlet so I don't have to worry about empyting the tank.
A full load of towels (spun on 1500) take about 2 hours to dry. It has a sensor so will stop sooner than the programme if the clothes are dry.
Very happy with it and did notice a drop in electricity usage when we first got it.
Seems to be relatively gentle on clothes.

I have a siemens one. I love it. Dries a load in about 2.5hrs so no real difference to our old venting one.

Thanks so much all, I'm sold! :D

I hated ours, it took up to 6 hours to dry a load!! Have since found out that they don't work very well in cold rooms (there is no heating in my kitchen so it's freezing unless I'm actually cooking).

I have one. It dries a load in about an hour and it's very gentle on the washing. Doesn't cost much to run either.

We also run the pipe into the drain so it doesn't need emptying. It's a Bosch

Same here re plumbing in, our one can be set up either way but we have it going straight down the drain.

Just chiming in to say make sure you get one that does reverse tumble, my Bosch doesn't and sheets can end up tightly bound up and still damp in the middle. Apart from that I like it.

Thanks for all the additional posts 😊 Sorry you didn't get on with yours @YouCantBeSadHoldingACupcake I'd go mad too if it took that long! Touch wood our utility room has a south facing window and isn't too cold.

I love mine. Good tip is to empty the water in a spray bottle and use it for cleaning the windows/mirrors, it works a treat 😀

Love mine. Takes 2 to 2.5 hours, depending on load

I also use mine in a relatively cold room - normally around 9 or 10 degrees at the moment. It still works fine though it is quicker in summer. It does mean you can't use them in an unheated outhouse or garage though.

The reason it's cheaper is the 'heat exchange' in that in some way I don't understand it pulls the heat it needs from the air around it, so doesn't have a conventional heating element. Anything that uses any kind of heating element uses more KwH electricity. It also recirculates the heat so doesn't make the room too warm and certainly not damp

I've just got a Bosche heat pump one, cost over £800 by the time it was delivered by AO. I've tried to return it but they want to charge me over £200 to do so because I plugged it in and that counts as having used it! Having got it, I read the handbook and it nowhere tells you the maximum heat it gets to. Couldn't see anything online about how hot it gets either. Because I want to be sure it knocks off various bugs and dust mites anything under 60deg is useless. I rang Bosche and eventually discovered it only heats to a max of 40deg over ambient temperature. It's not in a warm place so really won't be much use at all. I ran it for half an hour and it's not really even warm. Personally very disappointed and still trying to decide what to do. I'm carer for someone who can create a whole load of bedding needing washing at one go and the hygiene aspect of it being hot enough is really crucial. It's misleading as it has a 'Hygiene' program but still won't get hot enough to be hygienic imo. Partner has an old condenser one at his place which gets hot and dries everything really quickly, despite being in a cold garage. I'm getting an engineer out to make sure it's not broken. Very disappointed at both the sales information from Bosche which should have flagged up the machine ran so cool and AO for charging so much for it to be sent back. I feel a bit conned to be honest, we did the research and it got good reviews here on Mumsnet.

We've got one, never had a tumble dryer to compare it to but we bung a whole load in, dries perfectly in 3 hours and no shrinkage. Cheaper than our heated airer.

Sheets do sometimes come out tangled and damp.

Love that I just went to comment on this without realising it was my own thread resurrected from January! 😂🤦🏻‍♀️

If anyone is interested, we did get a heat pump tumble dryer in the end (from Costco). Happy with it overall, it's cheaper to run and we've plumbed it straight into our water pipe, so no more external hole in the wall for the country's largest arachnids to crawl through (this was a major selling point for me! 😂) I also like that it automatically works out when to stop and I prefer the lower temp.
Only downside I'd say is that I've still seen some shrinkage in clothes, which I had hoped would be less as this is supposedly another advantage of HPTDs using lower heat.

I have a Blomberg. Supposed to be 3hrs 15 minutes but I tend to put it on for 3hrs 25 minutes. If I’ve part dried outside the machine senses this and reduces the drying time. I always have a full load and my washer takes 9kg.
I wouldn’t swap back to a condenser or vented dryer because this is so much cheaper to run. I’m not sure of the physics but I think that instead of pushing out heat and moisture, these dryers push out the moisture and reuse the heat in the dryer. I never feel guilty about using it although I like to dry outside when I can.

Can I ask which Miele you have?

Ooo oun goo! Which one did you get? I'm still choosing

Probaly a bit late now @Colette88 but it's a Miele TSB143WP_WH. Sorry!