Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To not have known this about tumble dryers? (Fuel bill related)

330 replies

HinchcliffeandMurgatroyd · 22/08/2022 10:05

Not terribly exciting subject , sorry. I’m quite excited about possibly saving £££s though.

I’ve just worked out that my (fairly new) condenser tumble dryer costs about £1.25 a cycle to run, despite the fact I’m on a less-bad fixed rate.

A good heat pump dryer would apparently cost ~50p per cycle.

So £500 now for a better machine would pay for itself in 10-24 months. Tempted.

I knew there was a difference but thought it was a small difference. It took me 15 minutes tracking down the performance data and doing the maths to come up with those numbers.

I use mine a lot due to dogs, dodgy spine etc. So that’s potentially a massive saving.

Did everyone else know the difference between condenser and heat pump dryers was so dramatic?

YANBU = I had no idea.
YABU = Doh, it’s common knowledge.

OP posts:
Thread gallery
5
Dasher789 · 22/08/2022 13:17

We have a heat pump dryer. We bought it this year. Never had a dryer before so cant compare the costs but id highly recommend it. We dont dry everything in it but its great for bedding, towels etc. Never any issues with drying time. Its certainly not 8 hours. I think it stops once the items are dry rather than continuing for the whole cycle too.

makeitsonumber1 · 22/08/2022 13:19

We have two miele heat pump dryers and neither of them take hours to dry - more like 80 minutes maximum and that's with lots of towels too.

Discovereads · 22/08/2022 13:20

HinchcliffeandMurgatroyd · 22/08/2022 13:09

Don’t you find folding washing whilst sitting quite challenging too? Drives me mad.

Show quote history

Yes! I will first dump laundry on the kitchen table as it’s the right height for me before folding.

wonkylegs · 22/08/2022 13:20

MrsPelligrinoPetrichor · 22/08/2022 10:09

Iirc heat pumps take hours to dry according to posts I've read on here,I made a mental not never to get one!

Ours takes 1hr16 for an average full load to cupboard dry (it adjusts according to weight/ how wet the load is) which is not much difference from our old straightforward condenser.

Discovereads · 22/08/2022 13:21

hedgehoglurker · 22/08/2022 12:51

Another factor in drying times for some could be the efficiency of their washing machine spin. Mine is 1600, so the clothes are already a lot less wet going into the dryer than if it was 1200.

That’s a great point. I think a pp said too they actually have a separate clothes spinner as well for the same reason.

Nat6999 · 22/08/2022 13:23

My cheapo White Knight heats my flat when I use it, it's vented but I just don't put the pipe out the window, saves me having the heating on for 2 hours.

Dalint · 22/08/2022 13:24

BakeOffRewatch · 22/08/2022 12:44

@Dalint yes putting a sheet over makes a massive difference. Before washer and dryer purchase, I used the Lakeland heated rack and a bed sheet, they sell specific covers for it too. www.lakeland.co.uk/21736/dry-soon-3-tier-heated-airer www.lakeland.co.uk/24671/dry-soon-3-tier-heated-airer-cover Has the problem of putting moisture in the air though. I had it pre kids and put it in box room with door open and made sure no gaps in the door to affect heating rest of house.

@Gilead mine is like a jug in the door with a handle you can pick up. I had one with a drawer in a rented HMO and I personally found it very difficult to empty as it’s heavy and slides out, so you’re holding the weight in an unbalanced way. This one is similar to the Hoover one I have ao.com/product/hleh9a2tce-hoover-hdry-300-heat-pump-tumble-dryer-white-86093-126.aspx . The annoying thing is the buttons, they’re not actual buttons, they’re this awful non responsive touch screen. We’ve got the knack for it now, but in the newborn days from tiredness my DH ended up cracking the screen trying to get it to turn on!

@BertieBotts has reminded me of a downside OP might want to consider, my heat pump dryer doesn’t work when it’s heat wave. It just sort of warms the clothes. The one I’ve linked above says require temperature is 10-32degrees C. I never had a problem during snow, even though it was in an outhouse, what was the toilet attached to house, but during heat waves no luck. Not so great if you have it because you have no room to dry outside for large items. We dried duvet cover over chairs and turned regularly. Small items on clothes horse outside, but hanging out in intense heat and sun was not great.

Are you telling me some asshat has patented my discovery??? Damn! 😂
Thanks for validating my lone random voice in the dark though.
I live in a block of flats where, because of the height of buildings around us and how low in the sky the sun is during winter, the washing line only gets actual sunlight for maybe an hour a day, so line drying isn't an option. They come in as wet as they went out!
The sheet over the airer and radiator though! Man, I thought I had invented the goddamned wheel!

Another nice benefit is that it fragrances the air as it's drying!

VeganCow · 22/08/2022 13:24

Discovereads · 22/08/2022 10:15

I knew already, but voted YANBU because most people don’t. In fact all the articles on “how to cut your energy bills” are written by people are still relying on energy studies that involve old tech, in some cases very old tech. They usually talk about energy usage if tumble driers for the early 2000s venting models that are pre+condenser even! For another example, the whole “turn off everything at the switch” tip is based on a 1990s study pointing to how much energy a VHS player sucks just plugged in. Todays tech pulls hardly any energy at all when plugged in and off. Literally it’s like 60p per year.

Its the same for the tumble dryer discussion. There was a recent cost of living crisis article proclaiming “miracle hack to dry clothes indoors in bad weather” and the miracle hack was to buy a dehumidifier. Of all the idiocy. A medium sized dehumidifier that you’d need to dry clothes on an airing rack indoors actually uses more KWh than a heat pump tumble dryer….and so costs more £ to run. In addition my heat pump dryer also pumps out dry warm air and so is a passive heat source bonus…can’t say that about a dehumidifier.

My dehumidifier has a laundry setting and you put it next to an airer, only takes a couple of hours to dry and DOES pump out warm air too

Tulipomania · 22/08/2022 13:27

I line dry. It doesn't cost me anything. And I have cut down on laundry hugely. Towels are changed every second use and leave bedding on an extra week.

I have also cut down on laundry for environmental reasons. Our towels get washed every 2 weeks (2 uses still seems excessive?) and I wear shirts & t-shirts for 2 days instead of 1. Duvet gets flipped when the bedding is changed so that the cover lasts twice as long as the bottom sheet/pillow cases.

Daftasabroom · 22/08/2022 13:29

@HinchcliffeandMurgatroyd assuming you line dry your washing when possible and that a condenser or heat pump dryer doesn't usually vent outside, drying mostly during the heating season reduces the requirement for central heating.

Thelnebriati · 22/08/2022 13:30

My dehumidifier doesn't cost much less to run per laundry cycle than my condenser tumble dryer, on the dryer setting. Its cheaper and more effective at drying on the dehumidifier setting.

Discovereads · 22/08/2022 13:34

VeganCow · 22/08/2022 13:24

My dehumidifier has a laundry setting and you put it next to an airer, only takes a couple of hours to dry and DOES pump out warm air too

Show quote history

It’s not 37C warm though. That’s my point the function of a dehumidifier is to cool air down so the moisture in the air condenses and is captured in its tank. It then vents the air back out into the room but it’s only slightly warmer due to the residual heat from the electronics/fan inside. A heat pump dryer works by heating the air up to evaporate the moisture from the clothes. It then recycles the heated air about internally but some is still pushed out as well.

Pointblank2 · 22/08/2022 13:38

Interesting reading this thread about not putting a heat pump in a garage. I bought one quite a few years ago when they first came out and it was awful, it took hours, but it was in a garage. I managed to return it after a week as I argued it wasn’t fit for purpose.
I bought a vented one and it’s a big capacity, recently I’ve experimented with reducing the time I put things in for and I’ve started using the woolly dryer balls. I used to put things in for 60 minutes (including the cool down cycle) but now I take most things out at 40 minutes and fold immediately and the residual heat in the folded pile takes out any creases. I’m saving 33% of the dryer electricity and I have far less ironing as nothing is getting over ‘cooked’ in the dryer, so saving more electric on ironing and the time spent 😀

BarbaraofSeville · 22/08/2022 13:38

GorgeousLadyofWrestling · 22/08/2022 13:04

Not everyone has that luxury. I live in a block of flats with huge communal gardens but we are not allowed to hang washing outside - or even have washing drying by the windows and therefore the sunshine! I would LOVE to line dry.

Show quote history

I keep reading stuff like this. People need to challenge it. It is utterly ridiculous and indefensible to prevent people from line drying their washing or from putting it near windows or on balconies and force them to use a tumble dryer or airer away from the windows where it may cause damp.

BlossomsOnATree · 22/08/2022 13:51

I have the same thing, I LOVE hanging out washing, I really really miss it, but we're not allowed to, despite having space. It's much better for the environment, it saves people money, and it reduces damp inside the flats - yet the answer is no. It's mindblowingly stupid in the context of both climate change and the energy cost crisis. I have tried to challenge it, but it's very hard. People just say "but I don't want to see washing hanging out". So what, how can that matter more than global warming and people's bills Confused

I even wrote to my MSP about the possibility of making it illegal to ban washing lines. His reply made clear he thought I wanted a law to ban washing lines, rather than a law to stop people banning them. I couldn't get this simple concept through to him so gave up! (for now)

RIPWalter · 22/08/2022 13:55

We have a Samsung heat pump dryer and it is brilliant, I would highly recommend it. They are also gentler on the clothes so you can get away with tumble drying almost anything.

LakieLady · 22/08/2022 14:05

TiredButAlive · 22/08/2022 11:20

I've never had a tumble dryer. My kids are in their twenties now so I've been through the big wash loads stage of life. I've always dried clothes outside or on an indoor clothes horse. Looks like I've saved a fortune!!!

I had one for a couple of years in the 80s, but never since.

I dry laundry outdoors when it's not actually raining, my house is in a breezy spot so it tends to get dry even in chilly weather (and it blows creases out, so minimises ironing!). Then I hang it on radiators and from the curtain rails to dry the last bit, which doesn't usually take long.

I've noticed that there's a big difference in how effective the spin cycles of different washing machines are though. My machine gets stuff much drier than MIL's or SIL's do, so their stuff needs more drying afterwards.

Wherearemymarbles · 22/08/2022 14:27

We have a dehumidifier - its 200w
hang cloths out, fan to blow air over them and dehumidifier to dry air. Shirts prob take 2 hours and jeans 4 hours to dry.
we didnt buy it for this purpose though and we have a basement so 4 hours drying is not a problem.
but when our tumble dies i guess we’d get a heat pump version.

Dalint · 22/08/2022 14:37

It's unsightly to dry your smalls on your balcony! whatevah would the neighbours think!!

Dalint · 22/08/2022 14:38

I think I'll invest in clothes-peg manufacturers as very soon, the elite are going to discover the concept of a washing line ;)

Dalint · 22/08/2022 14:40

I wonder is there anyone who manufactures and sells 'elite' clothes pegs? A different level of clothes peg? Paper clothes pegs perhaps?

jenkel · 22/08/2022 14:42

A friend of mine had a heat pump tumble dryer, she said it wasn’t fit for purpose as it took hours to dry anything, was so bad that she ditched it and bought a normal tumble dryer. We have a normal tumble dryer but hardly ever use it, just for emergencies.

Original poster
HinchcliffeandMurgatroyd · 22/08/2022 14:43

Apparently there were clothes peg fortunes/heirs made when sprung clothes pegs were invented. At least in America. I ended up reading about it a few months ago for some weird and obscure reason.

OP posts:
GelatoQueen · 22/08/2022 14:46

My miele heat pump tumble dryer on average takes about 45-60 minutes to dry depending on what's in a load. It uses hardly any electricity. I know, I've checked the smart meter readings. It was very expensive but worth every penny, compared to crap dryers I've had in the past.

Joolsin · 22/08/2022 14:58

Headshothelp · 22/08/2022 10:53

If you do get a heat pump drier, it needs to be in a heated part of your house. So shed / garage won't work in winter: it needs to be at least 10deg ambient temp. But preferably higher. If it's too low, the cycle time increases massively, as the recirculated air cools down too quickly to be effective.

That might account for some of the complaints, as it doesn't seem to be widely publicised

I was going to post this too. We bought a new dryer earlier this year. I wanted to get a heat pump one for all the good reasons, but the sales rep in the shop did her work properly and asked us where would it go, inside or outside? As soon as I said it would be in the shed, she redirected us from the heat pumps, said they weren't suitable. I got a condenser.