Tumble dryer Vented or Condensor one? (for a family of 4 - 3 adults and one child)

[healtywealthy]

I've heard both, some people say vented is better no need to empty the water. Others have said condensor is a step up from vented.

Any thoughts :-) Thanks

You might struggle to find a vented one. I had a limited choice as they seem to be being phased out. I eventually found a Bosch and I'm happy with it.

The condenser one has a big tank that’s emptied and is less fuss than a hole in the wall. There’s another option now - the heat pump one - it can be more expensive to buy but cheap to run and kind on clothes.

Depends on whether you have somewhere for the vent. Condenser you can put anywhere. Emptying the water tank is not difficult, ours needs emptying every 2-3 cycles. Looking at one with easy to clean filters is important, we inherited ours with the house and the filter has this annoying corner that’s a pita to keep clear.

You can plumb a condensing or heat pump dryer into the waste so you don't need to drain it. It's not an arduous task, anyhow. Ours have all had a container where the detergent tray would be in a washer and it holds at least one load worth of water before it needs emptying.

Thanks all. I have space in the kitchen where I can take the pipe out so that's not an issue. So it seems to get a condensed one is the best option nowadays?

Get a heat pump dryer and plumb it in to the waste so you don't have to empty it. Will save you a fortune on electricity as they are so cheap to run.

Heat pump is a big step up from both - so much cheaper to run. It was a no brainer when I was choosing last year, since they have come down a lot in price recently.

If that's not an option, personally I would go vented if there's a steam outlet in place already as they are cheaper to buy, run quicker and don't need plumbing in or emptying. It's od tech and there is not a lot to go wrong.

sure i can go with a heat pump? sorry I haven't done my research on this yet on google :-D but is heat pump both condensor or vented?

Is heat pump cheaper to run but takes longer?

Heat pump dryers are condenser dryers but they recycle the heat. They do take longer to dry but with mine, a full load of towels takes just over 2 hours rather than the 1 hour 40 my old condenser dryer took before I killed it. The running costs are around 1/3 of what they were for my condenser dryer. That's important to us with an adult bed wetter in the family!

I have a vented dryer after having a condenser and it’s so much quicker. It will dry a normal load in an hour.

I’ve got a heat pump and I’ve plumbed it in to the washing machine waste pipe. It takes longer but if I run it over night when the electricity is cheaper it costs about 8p a load.

Vented is much quicker. Do not buy Miele. I've paid more and had one and all it does is break down 😡as you can only use their repairers it costs twice as much.

Vented is better. I can only have a condenser as it's not on an outside wall. It's in a small utility room. It produces a lot of dust/lint in the air. I've had several of them over the years and they all do it. I never had this problem in my old house which had a vented dryer. Also, vented is quicker.

I have the condenser connected to a drain so there's no need to empty the water.

From talking to friends, the heat pump type take forever and the clothes are never fully dry.

I bitterly miss my vented dryer. Mine broke down shortly after we completed an extension and went to considerable trouble to position it against a wall for venting.

Our options were condenser and heat pump which also has a tank that needs emptying. The HP is supposed to be more environmentally friendly but in practical terms that means 3hr drying times. It has sensors to detect how dry the clothes are but in practice I‘ve found that it leaves the clothes very slightly damp clothes and they can smell after a day or two.

My vented tumble dryer dries towels in 30 - 40 minutes which is much faster than drying times I've seen for condenser dryers.

I can t provide references but my husband reckons a washing load is cheaper to dry with a heat pump dryer than on a heated airer.

Miele only have a couple of years' warranty these days like everything else. There's no real data yet on whether a modern Miele is any more reliable than competitors. They look overpriced to me these days.

My experience with heat pump was awful, got a Beko one just over a decade ago, the only way I could get it to dry was by air-drying stuff first then putting everything on Cotton setting, even then still sometimes had to put it through twice. Could not wait to get rid of the bloody useless thing.
Read all the reviews to get a good picture of what they will be like, I had not noticed the reviews praising the low energy use but saying still had to air dry things after they had been through the dryer. That turned out to be a big clue!

We changed from vented to condenser and are very happy with it , I use it a lot and my bills aren’t that high and it dries quite quickly . We looked at heat pump but were put off by drying times .

Firstly, what speed is your spin on your washing machine because that makes a difference over how long things take to dry and what is more important speed of drying or cost? We are a family of 4 adults.

For me speed of drying is more important than cost. I have a 9kg Beko condenser sensor dryer. It is right next to the 9kg Beko 1600 spin washing machine so the drain kit it came with just drains the water down the same waste pipe as the washing machine.

I know a load will take just over 1 hour to dry but again that has to do with the spin speed. There is a separate jeans tumble setting which I do use for jeans. The condenser means it stops when the clothes are dry and there are different levels of dryness settings.

It took a little while to get the hang of the heat pump. I have to set it to cupboard dry extra dry otherwise stuff was slightly damp. It takes about 3 hours to do cotton sheets but only 2 hours to do a set of towels.

My AEG heat pump came with a 5 year guarantee, it takes about 2 hours 10 mins to do a full load with a 1400 spin washing machine. Nothing has come out damp so far and had it for 8 months ish. You need to clean the lint out after every use (which you should do with every tumble dryer anyway) and empty the water if it isn't plumbed in (the AEG came with the plumbing kit as well which most other dryers don't!).

I've had vented for years, they dry so quickly
Can still get vented one from Argos

I like vented. Hardly anything to go wrong, cheaper to buy, quicker in use.

I have a hole in the wall for the exhaust which needs a big core drill if you do not already have a hole.

They are not as economical on electricity as a heat pump.

I have owned two condenser dryers, different brands. I hated them both. The sensors never actually dried anything and the filters were a nightmare to keep clean.
I now have a hotpoint vented dryer. It just has two heat settings and a timer and it's brilliant. No sensors, no WiFi connectivity, just a basic good workhorse. It's about 8 years old now, it has never failed and still going strong. I can dry anything in less than an hour. I only use it for jeans, towels and underwear. I try to line dry most things so the extra running cost doesn't bother me.
My friend bought a heatpump dryer and she hates it. She said its quicker to air dry the clothes!