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Our 18 year old vented dryer gave up the ghost yesterday (felt seal has come off and jammed the drum - I can't see a way to replace it) and I'm looking at replacements. Seems there's a push to phase out Vented in favour of Heat Pump. I get the energy saving bit, offset by a higher initial cost. I'm not enthused by having to empty a water tank (though some can be plumbed in) nor the longer drying times. However, my main concern is complexity and the consequent greater risk of failure. Yes, I'm aware of the irony of this given the current machine has been made almost impossible to repair.
Any stories to tell, recommendations, preferences?
Last year I bought a condensing tumble dryer, it sort of replaced a vented one. Wasn't prepared to pay mega bucks for the heat pump type. With condensing, it certainly takes much longer to dry (between a third and half as much) compared to a vented one therefore more expensive to run. In hindsight, another simple vented one would have been fine!
Vented FTW. Had a washer dryer that was a condenser type dryer and it never once fully dried the clothes.
Partly depends where the dryer is located. We had a heat pump in a cold, damp boot room - it was absolutely useless. Now have one in the main house and it is brilliant, doesn't take that much longer, gentler on clothes due to lower heat, cheaper to run, stuff barely needs ironing.
When our old vented broke last year I just bought another vented one as it was cheaper. I had a choice of about 1, a candy. Some years ago I Swore I would never buy another Candy as it was a piece of shit, but so far this has been fine. I just didn’t want a condenser one and didn’t want to fork out for a heat pump one.
We have a Bosch condenser one which has been very hassle free for the past 5 years we’ve had it.
With condensing, it certainly takes much longer to dry (between a third and half as much) compared to a vented one therefore more expensive to run.
I thought the wasn't that much between condensing and vented as with a vented you are continually heating fresh air (that then gets thrown outside) whist a condenser is heating air that has already been warmed - but you also have to power the condenser.
Anyway I replaced our old vented with the condenser I bought for one of my daughters at uni and think it's great.
That said I only paid £35 for it and it's mint!
Plus I'm on Octopus Agile tariff and generally only put it on when the cost of electricity is <5p..... Or free!
Although we don't use it much since moving to a larger house with more drying space out Bosch heat pump drier is over 14 years old and survived drying for 4 people including 2 kids from when they were babies.
The heat pump bit is just a fridge mechanism so should be fairly robust.
We replaced our Bosch vented as it never completely dried clothes as the “autosense” wasn’t very accurate.
We now have an LG heat pump model and it appears very efficient and drys completely at lower temperatures, it’s on a shelf above the washer so plumbed in.
Just be aware that they are larger than a conventional dryer and VERY heavy, around 50kg!
There is a cost calculator on the Curry’s website to help your decision.
I'm not enthused by having to empty a water tank
With a vented dryer, you're paying for the electricity to evaporate all the water. It's no hassle to empty it, takes about a tenth of time it takes to take the clothes out of it.
Some people say heat pump dryers don't dry things fully - our Bosch has an adjustment (in the small print of the manual) for how dry you want things.
For anyone with solar panels but no battery, a heat pump dryer is very economical, because the power it takes is quite often within what the panels are producing.
For anyone with solar panels but no battery, a heat pump dryer is very economical, because the power it takes is quite often within what the panels are producing.
I was going to say that if the panels are producing enough for that then it's nice enough to dry the clothes outside.... But then realised that not everyone has that a abi8 🤦🏻♂️
Ability
We returned 3(!) Hotpoint heat pump driers for being shit out the box with leaks...
Ended up with an LG heat pump drier. It's good quality. But, sooo slow, and basically doesn't dry as well. We end up using the 'maximum time and heat' setting all the time. Which according to my fancy live energy use meter, costs the same as our vented old machine on energy use. When you read the manual, the 'A+' rating is for some daft setting that doesn't actually dry the clothes!
For the little we use it, I would rather my old vented machine back and put the money difference into solar and a battery...
Our John Lewis heat pump drier replaced a (dead) condensing Miele drier several years ago.
I connected their drains to the same drain as the washing machine’s. Works well.
the Miele came with us from a previous house where we could not plumb it in. I think its tank was about 7L and that lasted a few runs. It was easy to pull out and empty into the sink.
Having used the, faultless, JL heat pump drier for several years I’d not go back to using a standard condenser, assuming they can still be bought. The power consumption is much lower and it works.
We rarely use our dryer (we have a drying rack and a dehumidifier). If it's occasional use, just keep it simple with a vented one.
we use a condenser bosch in winter occasionally
works fine - its in an inside temperature utility room rather than a garage. it'll dry as quick as our old vented one (that lived in a garage)
uses less energy , The autosense works well once you spend 5 mins reading the manual and saves "drying" dry clothes.
it was cheap enough given the alternatives and vented options were slim
Heat pump FTW we bought a Beko DPU8360 as it was cheapest in 2012 at £330 paid for itself in leccy savings year one with a young family, it spat out a few parts in 2020 but I managed to change them myself and still running today, just needs the odd filter clean and change.
Miele heat pump drier here. 10 years old but most of our washing we dry naturally though it probably still gets used weekly for towels/bedding. Auto dry sensor seems to work well. Much gentler on clothes at it doesn't get very hot and seems efficient (it doesn't warm the room it's in much when used). Drainage just connected to same drain as washing machine.
We went with a Samsung heat pump:
5 year warranty
I did the maths and the payback time was also 5 years so by that metric if it lasts 5 years +1 load then it's cheaper than a vented dryer. And that was comparing against the cheapest vented dryer. The maths only gets better if you get something with more features.
There were a few brands making them a little cheaper, but not on a cost per year warranty basis. I'm aware that warranty length isn't necessarily correlated to reliability but it make the man math's easier. In use it's far more gentle than a convectional dryer, I put lads of stuff through it that I'd not have dreamt of subjecting to the old 'electric' dryer.
It's slower than the old dryer, but how much slower varies. You can't just panic and put on shirt in there on Monday morning set it to high and expect it to be dry in minutes. On the other hand a normal sized load seems to dry not much slower than you'd expect it to on the low (who has enough money to burn to run a conventional dryer on high? do you not have a smart meter?) setting normally.
You can tell it how dry you want things on a scale of 1-2-3. Along with about 20 other settings. What any of them do I have absolutely no idea. Mixed load, dampest setting is all it ever needs unless you're organized enough to fold stuff and put it straight in a drawer. If it's getting ironed, sitting in a pile in the conservatory, ore via the airing cupboard the mid / dry settings are superfluous.
It drains (via a pump so height isn't a problem) into the same drain as the washing machine so that's no issue.
When you read the manual, the 'A+' rating is for some daft setting that doesn't actually dry the clothes!
Bear in mind the G rating of a vented dryer will be based on the same premise .....
Although it's probably fairer to say that an A+ heat pump and a B heat pump may be closer in reality as the difference might be some eco mode that you never use. A bit like TV ratings are given in SD-SDR.
One last thought from me: cleaning the condenser a few times a year works wonders. I lie down with a toothpick and vacuum and basically pick each slot out individually. There are hundreds of them. But it really improves performance.
One last thought from me: cleaning the condenser a few times a year works wonders. I lie down with a toothpick and vacuum and basically pick each slot out individually. There are hundreds of them. But it really improves performance.
That's interesting. Ours has a foam filter (which needs cleaning occasionally and fell apart last time so was replaced) but the condenser bits are right underneath - I can't see how I'd ever get to them to clean any more than sticking a vac in front of them.
how do you measure the improved performance?
we use a condenser bosch in winter occasionally
Same here & kept in the detached garage to keep temptation to use at bay 😉, otherwise it's drying rack & dehumidifier if weather isn't playing clothes drying ball (4 adult household). Has plenty of settings for different drying modes & yes both filter & condenser need regular cleaning.
I'm guessing heatpump type would be better if you are a frequent tumble dryer user.
otherwise it's drying rack & dehumidifier
There's various contradictory claims on the internet, but in theory a decent heat pump condenser dryer should be as cheap to run as using a dehumidifier. They're both working as condensers, the dryer is adding a bit of heat (and also tumbling the clothes with a motor) but the clothes drying in the indoor air are taking heat from the room.
but in theory a decent heat pump condenser dryer should be as cheap to run as using a dehumidifier.
The motor will use a reasonable chunk of power so, although they work in a similar way, a heat pump TD isn't going to be anywhere near the power use of a dehumidifier.
but the condenser bits are right underneath
Same with our [I presume] cheapy Beko - but it slides out as a unit which allowing it to be poked, prodded, vacuumed and washed!
I can imagine it does help with the efficiency
I have a John Lewis heatpump one. I can't remember the running costs maths now but it's a good 5+ years old now so hopefully now better value than a non-heat pump one. What it's not though is fast, so you just have to allow for that.
The condenser is fixed though so I clean it with a long bristled brush and a hoover.
We just got a heat pump one which got all the awards from Which (I visit my local library to check through recent back issues whenever I need to buy anything boring and expensive).
It’s a Beko BM3T3944W.
We try to dry stuff on the line or an overhead airer in a utility room with a heat exchange ventilator but with five of us there’s a lot of washing to get through. V impressed so far - doesn’t nuke my clothes like our old condenser dryer, takes longer for sure but so so much more energy efficient.
Vented FTW. Had a washer dryer that was a condenser type dryer and it never once fully dried the clothes.
That's becuase combined washer/driers are notoriously crap.
A dedicated heat pump drier is absolutely fine. We use our Bosch Series 7 regularly during the colder half of the year, it's perfectly acceptably quick, it doesn't use much power (and the small amount of waste heat is pumped into the house, not outside through a pipe), and it's plumbed into the drain next to the washing machine so doesn't need emptying.
The motor will use a reasonable chunk of power so, although they work in a similar way, a heat pump TD isn't going to be anywhere near the power use of a dehumidifier.
That motor power will soon end up as heat though, which helps dry the clothes and therefore is not reducing efficiency.
That motor power will soon end up as heat though
but not in the drum.
Anyhoo.... a quick internetz search shows a heat pump drier typically runs at about 600w while my Meaco dehumidifier runs at 140w - so it's not really even close!
That motor power will soon end up as heat though
but not in the drum.
Anyhoo.... a quick internetz search shows a heat pump drier typically runs at about 600w (which is around half of what a condenser drier will use) while my Meaco dehumidifier runs at 140w - so it's not really even close!
while my Meaco dehumidifier runs at 140w - so it's not really even close!
your missing a time component to your calculation there.
We went through this a couple of years ago. Our dryer lives in the garage, so a heat pump one would probably have struggled. We ended up with a standard Beko condenser dryer, which works well (especially if you ignore the Eco modes). Yes, the water tank does need emptying, but that takes seconds. The main issue is with a the need to clean the condenser unit, which is easy to access but just takes time.
We bought a Candy heat pump dryer a few years ago, it's been fine, I don't think it's any slower than the vented one it replaced but uses a lot less energy. The water tank is the window in the door so it's massive, easy to see how much is in it and extremely easy to empty. I very much like this over the couple we've had over the years with a small, awkward and difficult to empty container.
Our dryer lives in the garage, so a heat pump one would probably have struggled.
It's not like a central heating, heat pump where it's efficiency drops in low temps because it can't absorb the heat from anywhere. It's a closed loop, the air blows over the hot exchanger, through the drum, through the filter then over the cold exchanger to condense out the water before going back through the hot exchanger. There's not a significant amount of air going in and and out of the machine.
while my Meaco dehumidifier runs at 140w - so it's not really even close!
your missing a time component to your calculation there.
and drying the clothes will take heat/energy from the air in your house that you're replacing with your heating system, and whether the power draw of a tumble dryer (and the humidifier for that matter) is continuous/constant.
Picked up a beko heat pump tumble dryer today. 8kg load and not very deep at 545mm so it is a good fit for the small kitchen it'll live in. Replacing a 'broken ' (heating element not heating) condensing 6kg beko that was 10+ years old. First impressions are good. Nice that it gives a estimated time to complete the cycle and there is a delay timer so it'll mostly be used at night on the ev tariff. That feature alone will probably save a pile of cash later in the year when its in use more often. A quick test of it earlier and it also seemed to warm the room up a little, which is good so that'll benefit the kitchen on the cooler nights in autumn and winter.
so it'll mostly be used at night on the ev tariff.
That's not the best idea - especially with a beko