Power used by tumble driers, question due to post on electrics UK part of forum.

[ericmark]

My very old vented tumble drier has the option of full or half power, we always ran it on half power, as some times on full it would trip over heat on back, it would take around 90 minutes to dry clothes, but when we moved, faced with either drilling a hole for vent, or leaving window open, so we decided best option was a condenser drier.

Quick look and there seemed to be three types, water cooled, air cooled, refrigeration cooled. The water cooled only seems to be used with washer/driers, so down to two types, the air cooled clearly heats the air up in the room it is in, and the room we were using was small, so it seemed only option was refrigeration cooled, these needed a room over a set heat, and room not heated, but seemed unlikely it would ever drop below the limit, so heat pump it was.

But drying time was much longer, half the power used 600 watt v 1000 watt, but also double time 3 hours v 90 minutes. So seems no saving, but to be fair we did often have to switch the vented on a second time, and the heat pump one does take more clothes so not really a direct comparison.

When we bought the old vented there were versions designed to run over night with a 500 watt heater, so no real change, low wattage tumble driers have always been around.

But I have never owned a air cooled condenser drier. So out of interest how do they compare? Can you set them for a low power long drying cycle? And do they really heat up the room they are in? I set mine for a delayed start to con inside when likely to get more solar power, can the air cooled do the same, and if set to 600 watt how long would the air cooler type take? And is the heater on all the time, or does it cycle off/on like the heat pump type? Showing energy meter results due to the heat pump turning on/off it is hard to say how much energy is used, from the start one sees the power use slowly rise, the meter does show average today, but wife taken over laundry so no idea if large or small load, it shows monthly totals but since I don't know how many loads, not a clue as to cost per load, but at £3.66 hardly going to break the bank, so main point is it takes so long hard to dry two loads in daylight when the solar panels are producing.

Anyway can some one report how their air cooled condenser drier preforms so I have some idea in the future should our heat pump one fail a second time.

 

[jj4091]

Don't know any thing about these new type pf driers, but you could keep your old dryer & use one of these. https://www.google.com/search?q=tum...gcQABiABBgKwgIKEAAYFhgeGA8YCg&sclient=gws-wiz Had a couple over the last 20 years as the only problem is they go a bit mouldy after a few years use.

 

[robinbanks]

it takes so long hard to dry two loads in daylight when the solar panels are producing

Sounds like conditions when the clothes could be pegged outside and dried for nothing?

Why not buy a condenser and run an experiment with it to answer your questions then you can be more scientific about it- wash X towels on program Y on the Asher, dry in your HP, then wash again on Y and dry in the air condenser.. Then return the condenser under your statutory rights/their no quibble returns policy - plenty of people on MSE etc moaning about retailers who make returns awkward so it should be easy to research retailers who aren't difficult. I bought a condenser from Asda some years ago, didn't like it, took it back - even told them I'd used it but it was too slow and overheated the clothes too much, still got a full refund for it

 

[ericmark]

Sounds like conditions when the clothes could be pegged outside and dried for nothing?

They are tumble dried for nothing, and no chance of needing to re-wash due to bird lime. And also means don't need to walk down 14 steps at side of house to garden.

I'd used it but it was too slow and overheated the clothes too much

I feel the washer drier is too hot, we have one down stairs in the flat for visitors use, but when our main washing machine went faulty and we used it while waiting for a repair, realised there is no option to control the heat, there is with the condenser heat pump one, max is 65ºC and some programs are 50ºC it also has L-3, L-2, L1, and Cool settings for temperature so one can select lower temp if required. Depending on how dry you select the book gives 1.62 - 2.34 kWh to dry a load, so about the same as old vented drier set to 1 kW as would take 90 - 180 minutes at 1 kW setting.

However the big gain is automation, the old drier did not work out when to stop, we set timer, if anything the 15 options on the selector wheel just makes it confusing, my wife sorts washing into which colour category they fit, unless stripping the beds or some thing, most washes are mixed.

What prompted the post was on electrics UK some one was trying to use a washing machine and condenser tumble drier on a double socket supplied by a fused connection unit, the latter had failed. Details given by @fozzy9876 were:-
"Condenser Dryer.
Energy consumption of the standard cotton programme at full load (kWh) 5.12
Amperage (A) 11.5
Total Power (W) 2700
Heater Wattage Max (W) 2300"

There was no comment as to if the power could be set to lower level, it is four times higher to my heat pump condenser drier, and twice as much to settings I used with vented. No comment as to if one could set a lower power if wanted. The 5.12 kWh is nearly twice what I used with the vented drier, I thought condenser driers were suppose to be better than vented? However our vented was in an unheated room with window open, and clearly door was closed to rest of house, so was using cool air from outside.

Unless my drier fails again it is unlikely I will change it. First one was changed under guarantee, no quibble, only cost to me was taking it back and picking up new one, seems it had leaked gas. I actually went to the bother of running the second socket so washer and drier could be run together from an independent supply to avoid overloading, when I looked at drier load clearly it was not really required, however if wife uses press, iron or trouser press then clearly load goes up, but seems they are just decoration, very rare to see them used, well maybe the trouser press is used, but she also has one in bedroom so mainly she uses that one.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

They are tumble dried for nothing, and no chance of needing to re-wash due to bird lime. And also means don't need to walk down 14 steps at side of house to garden.

Somilar problem here, except it's a boggy garden. I designed a 'rolling', cantilevered washing line - it winds down to load it, then rolls along, a continuous loop as you load or unload it, to avoid walking on the boggy garden.

 

[ericmark]

Somilar problem here, except it's a boggy garden. I designed a 'rolling', cantilevered washing line - it winds down to load it, then rolls along, a continuous loop as you load or unload it, to avoid walking on the boggy garden.

Had one in first house which I built, but garden relatively flat, wife called it the flag pole, and since we had a car port in that house, was not required anyway. I have to admit the car port worked well, no bird lime, and did not get wet when it rained, but a tumble drier is a tad cheaper to a car port.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

I have to admit the car port worked well, no bird lime, and did not get wet when it rained, but a tumble drier is a tad cheaper to a car port.

Rare is the occasion we have a problem here with bird lime, perhaps their aim is less well tuned around here?

 

[ericmark]

One of the good things living around here is the wild life, the crows tell us when these are around, seems crows don't like them. But I do feed the smaller birds, so get quite a few.