Talk to me about tumble driers!!!

[justneedsomesleep]

I NEED a tumble drier - i am drowning in washing and drying (have small children) and think that i will put it in the conservatory - help to hear it up a bit too! (cause it's freezing in there) and will reduce ironing to zilcho!
Fed upi with clothes drying everywhere - never ending cycle and I am going nuts today!

What is the main types - whagt does condenser mean? What are the good ones?
Any info apppreciated.

There are two types - vented and condenser. Ideally, you get a vented one - as it sends the damp air to the outside. You have to locate it on an outside wall.

If you don't have an outside wall, you have to get a condenser one, but its performance won't be as good.

As for features - you can get them with a child lock, if that is important to you. The cheapo ones will just have two temps and a timer. The more expensive ones will ahve a moisture sensor, so you can set it to get to a certain level of dryness (eg iron dry, bone dry). You can get an alarm, so you know when it is done (you have to get the clothes out quick to avoid ironing).

IMHO I don't tumble anything that is 'nice' as I think it ruins, shrinks and distorts clothes. I only tumble towels, underwear and dh's work shirts everything else gets put on the horse.

i have a bosch and it works out when to stop and bleeps to tell you [annoyingly, but for my own good] to take the clothes out straight away so it doesn't crease.

if you can afford it, get one with a sensor, so it stops when the clothes are dry rather than carrying of till the timer is up

saves energy, which a drier EATS

Don't bother with a condensor drier, they steam up the room to the point of making the room damp/mouldy.
I have a Hotpoint vented drier which is every thing a drier should be.

We just bought a new vented dryer. We keep it in the garage and have not had any problem with humidity or too much lint flying round. It might also work in the conservatory, especially if you want to heat it up a bit. They are also cheaper, more efficient, and dry the clothes faster.

We had a mid range hotpoint condenser dryer which went bust a few weeks ago. It was only 3 years old and I wasn't particularly impressed at having to replace it. So we got a whirlpool and got the warranty to go with it. It was pretty cheap (around £200) at Sainsbury plus I think about £20 for delivery.

Mine's has a timer on it, which I set up to finish in time for me coming home from work so I can take it out to avoid ironing.

I have a very basic Hotpoint vented drier. Have had it for 5 years and it's bloody marvellous.

I've got a basic vented one with two temp settings and a time dial and it works a treat. But if I was buying one again I would get one with a sensor so that it stopped when the clothes were dry, I'm either over cooking things or getting home to find it's still damp!

those of you coveting sensor dryers- i have just got rid of my useless kitchen ornament hotpoint set and forget sensor dryer- had it 18 months and the damn thing never dried a load of clothes in all the time we had it!! i used to set it and the dryer would conveniently forget to do it!

now have a lovely condenser dryer which is our heat source at present (once the ch goes on the tumble stops being used its one or the other )