Heat Source or Condenser Tumble Dryer?

[lexusdriver]

Hi All

EDIT: Title error, should be "Heat Pump or Condenser Tumble Dryer"

Looking at a new tumble dryer. I am all for reducing environmental impact and saving money on running costs, and so I am drawn to a heat pump one despite the higher initial outlay. I am currently running a condenser one.

However, I have heard that a heat pump dryer is less effective if not at room temperature (we run it in conservatory), and takes longer. The longer bit, we can work with.

Perhaps, the most worrying bit I have read, and this was from a tumble dryer repair person, is that they are more complex, have more scope for going wrong, and are therefore more costly to repair.

Our current condenser one has had a new drum belt fitted, replaced by us. It is a decade old. I worry that a heat pump one might be less self-serviceable, or just be destinted for the scrap pile once out of warranty.

Anyone running one? Any bad experiences or regrets with one or the other? Any other thoughts?

[Rough101]

Ours takes maybe 10 minutes longer than the traditional one, runs in an unheated utility room and seems to run at around 600 watts, compared to 2500 watts, so although it’ll probably end up being uneconomic to repair, I’ll have prably dated the difference in energy long before that.

Also, as it’s not as hot, you can bung more fragile things in it.

[.:ian:.]

Had a Samsung HP dryer for a few years. It doesn't seem much slower, but uses way less power. According to the built in energy meter, about 900wh for a 2.5h run.
Loads of things to go wrong inside it even has wifi and talks to the washer to find out what you just washed.

Though the previous condenser went through several jockey wheels, then a belt, then died with a temperature sensor error, though all the thermistors read ok. Possibly an ecu fault.

[OutInTheShed]

Heat pump is just the gubbins of a fridge or dehumidifier.
I.e., not ricket science, not likely to go wrong too quickly, but not likely fixable either.


We try not to use our tumble dryer much, some stuff we dry on a rack with dehumdifier which we also use for the house generally.

[J6542]

We ditched the tumble dryer 2 winters ago, and now put our clothes in the spare room with a dehumidifier running

[smifffymoto]

I’m very happy with my HP Samsung. Dries at cooler temps do shrinkage is minimised

[pacenotes]

My heat pump tumble dryer is cheaper than a dehumidifier with about 600 to 900 watts a load.

The dehumidifier was about 200 watts an hour but I left it on all night = 2.4kw, If I remembered to turn the dam thing off!


They have gotten clever now by having a dehumidifier within the tumble dryer so while slightly heating the clothes up it's more sucking the water out of the clothes.

You save more within a year than the extra cost. Also the water you extract is perfect for the washer bottle in the car....

[dobly]

A decent heat pump tumble dryer is the way to go - it will be substantially cheaper to run, even more so if you use it overnight on cheap rate electricity or using surplus solar (if you have it) - it is a superior technology to resistive heating, but requires a bigger outlay than “old” tech.
Unless your conservatory is ridiculously cold it won’t struggle - they are designed to be most efficient at room temperatures, say 10-25 C but can cope with anything above freezing.
We have a Bosch Serie 8 that has been faultless for the 4? years that we have had it - I just follow the manufacturers instructions on use and care - it just works!

[Vanden Saab]

Just bought a A+++ 9kg Samsung one for £659 from John Lewis. Comes with a 5 year Samsung guarantee so my man maths says £659 divided by 5 equals maximum £131.80 per year assuming it dies the week after the guarantee runs out.
Add in the alleged electric savings at £60 per year over 5 years and it should be roughly the same as a non heat pump version at £71.80 per year. Delivery is £25 but taking the old one away is free so zero cost really.
The cheapest condenser one I could find was £260 so adding £300 electric made £560 only came with a 1 year guarantee though so pay every year for a warranty and the cost is around the same.
Seems a bit of a no brainer even to a climate hating old fossil like me as our cheap old dryer is dying after 3 years and you can save the planet for zero cost at worst.

[dmsims]

Our dehumidifier has a Laundry mode - key to getting things dry quickly is airflow

4 hours at 210 W to dry 2 loads and a lot less ironing

pacenotes said:

My heat pump tumble dryer is cheaper than a dehumidifier with about 600 to 900 watts a load.

The dehumidifier was about 200 watts an hour but I left it on all night = 2.4kw, If I remembered to turn the dam thing off!

[gmaz]

A heat pump is also safer - no heating elements to get covered in fluff and start a fire.

[MattyD803]

Our trusty vented tumble dryer (8 year old Indesit) appears to have died over the weekend and so the timing of this post is very useful in helping with my decision making process. I have a vent through the wall located directly behind the machine, but the 'fire risk' associated with a resistive unit and fluff build up etc has always worried me, so I guess a HP is the only way to go really. (sorry credit card...)

Just about to start 'the search' this morning with a view to getting something ordered in the next hour or so....am I right in thinking they all have an ability to 'plumb in' directly to avoid having to empty a container? Or is this on a model by model basis?

[covmutley]

its not just case of the type. We had a hotpoint heat pump drier that was in an outside porch connected too our kitchen and at times it struggled in colder weather.

Recently got an lg507 for a very good price, and so fair it seems light years ahead of the hotpoint, in many ways

[Gren]

We bought a heat pump one a couple of years ago. First thing I noticed was it took considerably longer. Like maybe an hour longer. After a week or two though I stopped noticing. What I do notice all the time though is that the load is dried just right - no wasted energy. It doesn't come out like its been baked but comes out almost feeling slightly damp - a feeling which changes 2 minutes after you've removed the washing and it becomes miraculously dry.

I'm not sure whether this is a heat pump thing or just a very good moisture sensor.

We bought an AEG by the way. First non Bosch white good we've bought for ages (washing machine, fridge, freezer, dishwasher etc). It is very good

[Portofino]

We bought a cheapo Logik HP dryer that had an A++ rating & it’s great.

Takes slightly longer but I worked out costs 3 times less than old Bosch we had.

The smart meter sits nicely in the green rather than the upper reaches of the orange!

[silentbrown]

Cheaper to run, BUT...

We've had a Samsung one for about 5 years now. It regularly throws an error which requires a specific undocumented dance with the buttons to reset. First time (just outside warranty) we had no choice but to get a Samsung engineer out - our local appliance guy took one look and said "Sorry, I can't work on heat pump ones". (Won't disassemble them due to the refrigerant, apparently).

Engineer takes a quick look, does the magic button dance (which you'll now find all over youtube) and it's working again. Basically, the heat exchanger gets clogged with lint, and on those models it's impossible to properly clean.

OTOH, It's probably saving about £1/week compared to a regular condenser one.

[Calza]

Less heat has to be better for clothes too..

[g40steve]

Haier here had two years & mrs can use as much as she likes the S meter hardly moves.

Decent warranty 10 year.

Big drum, dries well.

Replaced DW for B rated Bosch again excellent bit of kit probably not as solid as previous model.

Talking mrs into new 10 kg WM but work in progress.