Heat pump tumble dryers-does anyone have any thoughts?

[JudgeRindersMinder]

I know tumble dryers are a bit of a dirty word just now, but I’m looking to replace my current vented dryer. I’d automatically thought about a condenser, but have come across heat pumps which I didn’t know about till now.

They’re supposed to be a lot more energy efficient, and although a bit more expensive it looks like that could be recouped in a decent ti e through being more efficient.

Does anyone here have on? What are your thoughts

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MNHQ

I have one. I like it. It feels gentler and “softer” than our old one. It’s much easier on my clothes than a regular drier. It does take a long time to dry (compared to our old one - but still much quicker then air drying) which took me a bit of getting used to although I barely think about it now. We noticed our bills were a lot less after we got it (obvioisly that will change now but still less in comparison).

I’ve got Miele TEF765WP and very happy with it. Use it for one load a day.

Love mine, four years now.
so cheap to run and clothes don’t have that static.

We’ve had ours a few years now and yes they are extremely energy efficient. Although it was an expensive outlay but it’s soon paid for itself we noticed the electric bill wasn’t no where near as high as it previously been during the winter months.

Thanks @Pilotlite . What brand do you have? I’m looking at Bosch purely because I generally buy Bosch but I’m open to opinions

You all answered in the time it took me to type my reply 😂

Looking at prices they’re maybe a couple of hundred dearer than a condenser but it sounds like this should be recouped fairly quickly

I've had one for about a year now - once you get used to the fact it takes ages on the eco setting, (and plan accordingly!), they are very good.

Yep love mine. Gets no everything dry, has sensors to detect moisture so will stop if the clothes are dry before the programmes scheduled finish time. I have the BEKO - Pro RapiDry B5T4823RW 8 kg Heat Pump Tumble Dryer

I have a Beko one and it’s great. Cheap to run and never takes as long as the programme says it will. I put it in overnight but in a pinch it will easily dry a small load in an hour or so.

Happy with mine, it’s a Candy and didn’t cost a fortune.

Our Beko one was about £400. It is fab. Loads of different programmes and stops automatically when things are dry. Mostly they come out magically uncreased too.
I think I read somewhere they take a couple of years to pay for themselves, but that was before the energy crisis.

I had an old fashioned vented dryer that was fantastic except everything would shrink.

After 20+ years, it gave up, and I got the Which? best buy, a condenser. Hate it. It takes sooo long. This winter, I am determined to limit its use. It's about five years old.

If a heat pump dryer was REALLy cheap to run, I'd buy, and sell mine. As it is, I think it would cost half as much per load which is fine, I get that it's an advantage, but it's not a big enough saving for me right now. 1) I am on a standard variable rate and it still is too expensive - the airer it is, and 2) the savings don't make it worth replacing my dryer, as it would take years to recoup the cost. Years and years.

I ended up buying a Sharp one due to supply issues in lock down. But I love it once you get used to it. It’s even eco which Is a miracle for a tumble dryer

I have one, I have been monitoring the energy use with it and it's costing about 50-60p a load to dry washing.

Sounds pricey.

I’d just get a dehumidifier. Also has the benefit of heating the house too. I can dry 8 kg of clothing in around 5 hours at ~7p/hr.

We recently got a Samsung heat pump dryer. Our vented Miele still works (though it's quite old now) but is massively inefficiency, literally sending heat outside.

The heat pump dryer is much more efficient and also we can have it in the utility room so it heats the house a bit, whereas we had to have the vented one in the garage.

I hate ours, but to be honest we probably bought the wrong product for what we need. I air dry everything all year round in our utility room, and only wanted the dryer for the occasional time when I need to dry just an item or two quickly. It is USELESS for that, and the sensors don't seem to work properly with small loads and it just turns itself off almost immediately. So frustrating. And it was bloody expensive (it's a Samsung which I would never buy again)

I was looking into this recently. They seem great except for taking ages to dry, not sure I could cope with 3 hours and also having no option for emergency quick drying of school uniform etc.

I also read they need to be in the house, that the garage is too cold.anyone know if that's true? Would be a non starter if it was.

I did notice there were a lot of nearly new heat pump dryers on ebay, suggests some people don't like them.

I also read they need to be in the house, that the garage is too cold.anyone know if that's true? Would be a non starter if it was.

Very probably. Heat pumps become less and less efficient the greater the temperature difference between ambient temp and what you're trying to achieve.

We have a Bosch heat pump and it’s great. It does take longer, about 90 minutes for a load of towels, but very energy efficient. We bought it because it needs to sit in a cupboard not a full laundry.

Mine is in the garage, it's been there for 2 years and never had a problem.

It may work in the garage, but it'll probably cost more to run than if it was in the house.

lots of food for thought here. We’re having a new utility built, so fortunately no issues with being outside. I’ve just ordered a pulley for said utility (was always my plan even before what’s happening with energy prices) so I I tend cutting dryer use right back anyway, Currently looking at the Which Best Buy which is a £1200 AEG…the jury’s still out!

The Beko ones seem to do well in Which and are quite a reasonable price.

I did wonder this as I do use a tumble dryer similar to this and my one at the moment is a very simple vented one with no sensors so ideal for a few items for not very long.