I have finally decided it is time to buy a dryer for my home. In my family home we have always had normal dryers with a waste pipe, so having to be plumbed in. I am looking at a heat pump dryer, so it doesn’t have to be plumbed in and for the economical savings in energy of course. Anybody have any experience of a heat pump and if they would recommend or not and is there much difference in the drying times, as no one is estimating the times?
8 comments
I just bought one and have been using it for a few months.
I did the maths and it would save me more than the price difference with a condensed dryer in under two years, and obviously way, way more than a normal vented one, which pumps heat outside. And these calculations were before electricity became expensive. I bet it takes under a year for it to save money now.
Plus sides :- none of the heat leaves your house, cheap to run. No need for a giant hole in the wall to pump heat out of.
Cons:- doesn’t really get your clothes as dry as a vented dryer. There’s always a bit of damp left. A couple of hours left on a rack or in an airing cupboard and they’re dry, so not really a big deal. Drying times are longer, but not that much. A load that took an hour and a half now takes two.
The cons only look longer because they needed more explanation. It’s definitely worth it.
I have one and I love it. Dries a full 7kg in about an hour and a half at most.
I have one and love it. It has different dryness settings and doesn’t cost a fortune to run.
We have two children and we bought one last year. Don’t know why we never had one before. We paid around £1000 for an LG model, and it is life changing in a small house in a UK winter. Others have said the clothes come out a bit damp – not entirely true – they come out more like warm/humid. Small light things come out fine, larger towels or thick jumpers I will give a good shake to just ‘air’ it out and expel the humid feeling of it, but no issues after that going straight into the drawers. Tumble dryers have never been rapid, but we’ve never had a load take longer than 2.5 hrs. We always have ours set to prioritise energy over time so it could be a lot faster. It adjusts the time as the program advances, and it’ll ping my phone when it’s done (if I set that feature up). I would buy one again.
No.
I got suckered into it (well, we have heat pump heating in our house so figure it would be the best / most efficient option) and our current brand new (May 22) heat pump dryer takes way longer to dry clothes than the Bosch regular kind it replaced. Big mistake on my part.
Btw, not being ‘plumbed in’ is just a regular ‘condenser dryer’ and you don’t have to get a heat pump one for it to not be plumbed in. Our last one was a condenser one too as we lived in a flat and couldn’t put a hole through the wall and opening the window in winter to vent it was god awful.
Only sort of dryer I would ever buy now. Had one previously, which I used up and wore out, then went back to a regular condenser dryer because the budget was tight at the time. Big mistake. I’d forgotten how expensive they were to run, and how easily they shrink things. That was a real case of being penny wise and pound foolish.
Replaced it with another heat pump, this time a Zanussi, and so far have been really pleased with it. I’m not fussed about smart features, and just wanted a good, solid dryer that works well.
With ours, I find I need to do a quick “spin/drain” cycle on the washing machine after the main cycle has finished, before transferring the clothes to the dryer – I’m not sure if that’s a reflection on the washer or the dryer though! After that it’s perfect.
Have a Bosch heat pump dryer – very happy with it. Yes it’s a bit slower than a condenser, but it’s easier on my electric bill, quiet and gentler to clothes. Don’t find that clothes are damp afterwards.
Because I can, here’s the energy use of my washing machine (Beko, 4 years old, came with the house) and tumble dryer (Bosch, 1 year old, bought myself). The counter is just since 1st Nov.
https://i.imgur.com/dwGEOBC.jpg