Tumble dryer: heat pump or condenser?

[Begonne]

My vented dryer has died, after 14 years and three repairs. And apparently vented dryers are being phased out.

As much as they’re a bad word on MN, I’d rather use a dryer in winter than deal with a damp house. In summer I line dry, and just air in the dryer but in winter I often do loads start to finish.

I also have adhd- so remembering to empty water trays is adding a layer of difficulty to my life, but both condensers and heat pumps require this.

HP is more energy efficient but a lot slower - I’ve been told over 2 hours to dry a load !?! House insurance stipulates that you can’t run a dryer when you’re out of the house or asleep so presumably this necessitates one person at home full time?

And you can’t air line dried clothes for ten minutes because of sensors (or can you?) so the eco credentials are a bit dubious

Condenser feels like a step down from the simplicity of a vented dryer but I’m wondering is it actually the better option? Or are these also being phased out (as the salesman implied darkly when I was resisting his salespitch?)

Please share and help me make a decision. If you have either are you happy with the choice (and why?)

On the verge of forcing my family to become nudists.

---

This thread is a little old now so some of the suggestions may be out of date, but if you’ve landed here looking for tumble dryer recommendations, we’ve recently updated our best tumble dryer page with lots of great options, as tried and tested by Mumsnet users. We hope you find it useful.
MNHQ

It’s great to know they can be plumbed.

I have a heat pump and it doesn't take that long. It always says it's going to take about 2h40 but then it has a sensor in it, so it stops when the clothes are dry and usually takes about an hour and a half. I think it must have been the very early heat pump dryers which took forever. I do find it annoying I can't tinker with the sensor's settings - I just have to select "cupboard dry" and then the + symbol to get it as dry as I want, every other setting stops when it's still damp IMO.

I do run it while I'm out, or we're asleep. I know about the fire risk but I would literally never get it done otherwise. We have smoke alarms and I went for a brand with a good safety rating (so nothing in the hotpoint/whirlpool group) and I empty the lint trap regularly. It has a little logo on the display to say when this needs cleaning, which it thinks is every single time - so I just empty it every time, it only takes a minute, and periodically I check the condenser filter and clean that out too. This is a bit more sporadic. Mine is not plumbed in but again the tank only holds about 2 loads' worth of water, so I just empty it every time and then it doesn't complain at me. As others have said if this gets full it just beeps and stops running, it won't keep going.

The only situation I found in my research when it's not worth getting a heat pump is if you'll have the dryer in an unheated outbuilding such as a garage or shed. In this case apparently the air cools too quickly to be of any use so it's basically being used just as a condenser. Otherwise they win on every single point.

And you can’t air line dried clothes for ten minutes because of sensors

Why not? I don't understand this. What do you mean?

I don't half air half tumble because I also have ADHD and the whole entire point of the TD is so that I don't have to line dry because it is an extremely draining task to me, but you definitely could if you wanted to (I don't get what the ten minutes thing is about sorry!)

You can def line fry and then finish off in tumble dryer. I often wash towels, hang outside, wash bedding and tumble dry. Then bring towels in and finish off in dryer so they go soft and dry not musty and damp in winter

our washing machine only takes 60 mins on fast 60 degree wash, and dryer more like 2hrs so I can wash two lots that way and not have to wait for dryer to finish.

Getting a heat pump plumbed in is the way to go. We've got a Samsung one and it's far better than the condenser we had before. I'd definitely recommend it.