Tumble Dryers!

[Tallulahbella]

Sorry, long post and very first world problem!

AIBU to replace an expensive Samsung heat pump tumble dryer with a cheaper condenser dryer?

I previously had a cheap condenser dryer and was I used to the quick drying of towels/bedding, accepting the compromise that they didn’t come out smelling laundered (smelled of nothing) and I had to be careful what I put in to avoid shrinking/damage.

Since last year I’ve had the Samsung heat pump and the benefit is it’s so gentle on clothes, I can put literally anything in it and it comes out smelling as nice as if it’d been line dried, however it takes FOREVER.

Its definitely got worse. As an example I put towels in at lunch time yesterday, they were on until we went out for dinner/cinema last night at 6pm. Back on at 11pm and I had a notification it had completed at 5am, got up this morning and still wet so have been on since 8am, it’s now 9am - that is 13 hours!!!!!

I have tried a small load - 6 hours to dry a duvet cover and 2 pillow cases. 12 hours for 4 bath towels.

I am still in warranty so had someone out yesterday who said the heat exchanger at the bottom needed to be “immaculate” before he’d be allowed to do anything and there were no faults on the machine. He suggested cleaning by scraping with tweezers?! I have cleaned as instructed, at the frequency instructed with the brush provided. After his visit, I DID lie on the floor for an hour scraping each of the metal grids and to be fair, some gunk did come off but I since then has been this 13 hour towel marathon.

I don’t believe for a minute that people are lying on the floor scraping vents with tweezers as part of BAU maintenance in 2025 🫣

I don’t know whether to get them out again with my shiney vent, knowing I may be charged this time for “non-fault” call out or just cut my losses and replace.

Everytime it does it’s little song to tell me it’s finished and I open the door to wet stuff, I feel like taking a sledge hammer to it 😭

Also, if I didn’t WFH I literally wouldn’t be able to use it as I wouldn’t run it when no1 home and wouldn’t have 12 hours a day at home!

I’ve got a basic condenser dryer, and accept that some stuff can’t go in it. My washing smells ok though.

There’s no way I’d have a dryer that took that amount of time or was that much faff. 🤷‍♀️

That's crazy! I've had tumble dryers for over 30 years and never had that. It's obviously faulty.
I can't believe that engineer's response. Nothing needs to be that immaculate in order to function.
You could call them out again, explain about the ludicrous times which make it completely impractical as a piece of equipment.

Heat pump dryer take a little bit longer than a condenser but not that long. I can get a very full 9kg load dry in just over 2 hours with my aeg heat pump dryer.

Is it in a cold place like a shed or a garage? Heat pump dryers dont work well in those kind of places. They work the best in a warm place.

We also replaced a condenser dryer with a heat pump one (it's a Bosch I think) and it's the same a total waste of time! Takes all day to dry a load. I actually hang the washing first, and then put it in the dryer when it's almost dry already which seems a bit of a waste of time but otherwise it's going all day which is crazy.

Ours is a condenser; for comparison it takes about an hour to dry sheets, 2 hours for towels. Nothing we have takes longer than that. We're not particularly assiduous about cleaning it all out regularly, either!

I should have mentioned that, it’s in a utility room off the kitchen so in the house

I Have an AEG one bought new last year and it took so long to dry anything it was driving me insane. We had engineers out at least 3/4 times as it just couldn’t be right.

long story short the filter at the front was not letting the air through so was effectively holding damp air in the drier. Finally an engineer went in the bottom of the drier and showed me where the air should flow, could put my hand in and showed me with the filter in and without. There was no flow!
he ordered a new filter and problem solved. Much much better, still takes too long for my liking but more like 3/4 hours for a full heavy load
I would try that with an engineer and see if that’s the problem

That definitely doesn’t sound right. My Miele heat pump doesn’t take anywhere near that long. It’s comparable to how long my old condenser used to take. It’s not in a garage/cold room is it? I know they don’t like that.

Edit : just seen it’s in a utility. It definitely sounds like there’s a fault with the machine.

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

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.

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.

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.

This Samsung 9KG AI one sounds like the one I’ve got

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

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.

It’s so frustrating. I asked why it says the load is done when it’s not (still wet) and he said that can happen if there’s not enough in it to hit the sensors but if I put a full load in it, it’s running for 15 hours. Rock and a hard place!

I am currently on hold to Samsung just now because I have renewed anger at how ridiculous it is.

I don’t really understand it either and any energy efficiencies are out the window when the thing is never off

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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