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!

You should be able to reset your tumble dryer to dry dryer if that makes sense

The factory settings for my Miele heat pump dryer weren’t hot enough for my liking on Cotton setting so I reset to a hotter setting - it can go even hotter if I wanted but I didn’t want or need to.

That does sound really wrong. I've had a Miele heat pump dryer for nearly 3 years, it's usually just over one hour for a fully wet load to dry completely.

Bought a Samsung heat pump dryer when we moved into current house. Never got it to work and we were eventually refunded. Not all brands are as bad.

Thank you everyone for your comments. I just wanted to update that the Beko condenser dryer arrived yesterday and has been life changing 😆 stuff also smells good when it comes out - I think my old condenser maybe just had a high/low setting and I fried everything on high hence the lack of fresh smell.
As someone had commented, the heat from the condenser also means that the stuff hanging on the clothes horse in the utility is drying really quickly too so double benefit.
No regrets 🙌🏻 better than the Samsung heat pump was brand new; that will live in the garage graveyard for a while before I decide what to do with it.

That’s great, do you have a link?

https://ao.com/product/b3t4911dg-beko-condenser-tumble-dryer-silver-88794-18.aspx

there were cheaper ones but I wanted this colour x

Thank you!

This is definitely off. My heat pump drier is amazing! It’s a bit longer than an old style condenser one, but worth it as no shrinkage and clothes smell great.
it dries a full 9k load in 2 hours.