Heat pump tumble dryer

[Gareth J]

Our MVHR unit in the utility does a neat job of drying washing. Don't know how efficiency compares with a heat pump tumble dryer, drying rack takes up more space and you have to hang it up but pretty basic. Tbh, it's easier than hanging it outside, even if it's sunny.

 

[DAPPH]

You could use the 3kw to run a generator, to run the tumble dryer, and you would never need to buy in power ever again.

(sorry Kayos, its only in jest : )

We run our heat pump dryer mainly on daytime excess PV solar generation , when that not's in the offing it's set up on the internal timers to take up cheaper off peak electricity . very occasionally we run it on day time low rate but theses day the rate being variable some times makes us pay a little more.

What we have found works well for us is having a dehumidifier plumbed to the shower drain in wet room 8 x 16 foot with two six foot long 40 mm dia marine grade stainless steel rails where the bath used to be . It's rated at 138 watts per hour .
As the dried air is being pushed around the wet room. bouncing back off walls , once the humidity in the wet room drops to about 4 6% the machine cuts out & stays off till for whatever reason it rises again or we take the nicely dried wrinkle free clothing out and hang it in the wardrobes . Again it's used on solar PV days or off peak . Now Munchkin has grown up and started her own married life in her own home our electricity costs have plummeted.

We've collected roughly 18 strong plastic metal free coat hangers to hang the shirts blouses & jumpers on so we won't ever get rust marks on the neck bands where any plated metal has lost it plating .

 

[Colin Barron]

my parents bought a heat pump tumble dryer... but my dad refuses to let it be used because he says it takes too long and uses too much electric :-s (he's a bit old fashioned)

before they moved the tumble dryer was gas so I think they were spoilt with that :-)

We had a gas tumble drier, cheap to buy, cheap to run. Downside the clothes came out tangled and creased. The filter was always full and that fluff is your expensive clothes. Yes the Miele heat pump model costs x3 the price of cheap gas tumble driers, it is cheap to run, it does not require regular maintenance, it is quiet, the clothes come out warm not hot and the clothes if removed when the buzzer signals the end of the cycle come out with fewer creases. The filter does not extract as much fluff.
The older model Miele tumble driers were probably better because they used a spot welded subframe. The heat pump tumble driers are not as quick as the condensing models.

 

[badabec]

Not much cop when its coming down in stair rods & bouncing six feet up at 45 degrees from the ground .

Take your washing round to one of my tenant's houses. They'll dry it for you on one the radiators, it will be nice and warm, they never open a window.

 

[Devilgate]

Just bought one. AEG. Seems to work fine. They can take quite a bit longer in cold rooms apparently. Moved to electricity for both drier and cooker recently. Time to get off Putin's gas.

 

[Lewis_RX8]

If you want to save 100% of the energy that a conventional tumble dryer uses, at a capital cost of around 1% of the cost of the tumble dryer, there’s a fantastic device available called a washing line. No maintenance costs, lasts for around 20 years, only requires some clothes pegs, doesn’t need fluff and condensate emptying and no risk of fire.

Dont think I've ever used the tumble dryer function of the machine , and further north that majority of you lot so no excuses

 

[DAPPH]

Take your washing round to one of my tenant's houses. They'll dry it for you on one the radiators, it will be nice and warm, they never open a window.

I've been in houses like that , I take it they run the gas meter backwards as well ?

 

[DAPPH]

Dont think I've ever used the tumble dryer function of the machine , and further north that majority of you lot so no excuses

We from below the glorious border also wash our clothes during the Spring , Autumn & Winter as well as the summer

 

[grim_d]

If you want to save 100% of the energy that a conventional tumble dryer uses, at a capital cost of around 1% of the cost of the tumble dryer, there’s a fantastic device available called a washing line. No maintenance costs, lasts for around 20 years, only requires some clothes pegs, doesn’t need fluff and condensate emptying and no risk of fire.

Brilliant. Because I only want to dry my washing for 3 weeks out of the year.

 

[winchman]

We bought an expensive Bosch one, it lasted about a week and broke, sent it back and bought one none heat pump for half the price. Look at the payback as now from talking to a repair man he told me many dont last long when out of warranty as they eventually clog up and its almost impossible to un clog them

 

[piman]

Hello Domdom,

"Heat pumps are just 3 or 4 times more efficient. 1kw of electricity to pump the heat around just like a reverse air conditioner elicits about the same heat output as a 3kw traditional heater."

A common misconception, what you are looking at is coefficient of performance, not efficicency, they are linked but not the same.
Efficiency is what amount of fuel produces that heat. Electricity is not a fuel, and the efficiency starts at the power station. People are being misled when comparing heat pumps to gas boilers for domestic heating.

Alec

 

[Danez]

Hi all

I’ve been looking at simple ways to save energy.

I recently saw an episode of the gadget show which showed a heat pump tumble dryer uses 80% less energy than a conventional one, and they aren’t that expensive to buy!

wow had no idea the gadget show was still going, good to see john still knocking about!

 

[gerrymoore]

We've got a pulley in the garage...works very well even if it's raining outside!!!

Anyone remember pulleys??? We had one in the living room when I was a lad ...mind you when I was a lad everything was in black and white and people walked funny

 

[Kram]

Heat pumps generally use a refrigerant working fluid. Compress it, you get a hot side. Expand it, get a cold side. Moving heat, not making it.

The problem with heating is that it the cold side heat exchanger would ice up.

Moved to electricity for both drier and cooker recently. Time to get off Putin's gas.

Gas is very effiecient for heating purposes. Conversion to elec is still poor. If your power comes from a gas fired plant you will now be using 2-3x more of Putins export.

 

[lazybones51]

We bought one about a year ago, Initially a cheaper model which we wasn't impressed with so we exchanged it for a pricier Samsung, which has been faultless. It doesn't take much longer than a conventional dryer and its power consumption is a lot lower than the dryer it replaced. Okay they're not cheap, but with todays energy prices and a busy family house hold that seems to have endless piles of washing, it can only do good.

 

[not done it yet]

Yes, heat pumps take (for example) 1kw of electricity and output 2-3kw of heat

This, and several other posts, seem to misunderstand how the machines operate.

No, they do not just take power for a minute and a half and then recirculate it. The element needs to run to raise the temperature of the washed items and then supply heat of vapourisation for some the water extracted during drying. The dried items are, of course, warm when the drying cycle is complete.

However most of that heat of evaporation is recovered by the heat pump, and used again. It works just like your fridge or freezer (but the heat extracted by the heat pump is returned internally, instead of lost from a radiator on the outside of the fridge/freezer).

I bought a ‘Bodge Self Cleaning Condenser’ machine (don’t know its model number). It has given no problems in the time we have had it and has simply had both the dry fluff filters cleaned each cycle, and the water filter washed through about every five cycles. Collected water could be used for plants - but is usually poured down the drain. Water is now a costly commodity to just pour down the drain - check it out!

I think it was about four hundred notes. Advantages are more than simply using less energy. I’m not sure it saves 80% over other types of driers, but certainly only uses about half a kilowatt (and not all the time, of course). It does take longer, so likely a little more fluff produced from the washing.

It does have a lower temperature setting, which obviously extends the drying time - but it still uses 500W of power when the heater is on. It cannot be as efficient as the faster drying because other electrical drives sre in operation for the whole drying time.

I would guess the energy savings exceed 50%. Depends on the system it replaced, I suppose - my old tumble drier was a condensing type, but energy was lost from the machine as warm air (but dry) and at least helped, during colder periods, to heat the house. Non-condensing machines would either preferably be vented to the outside or create an awful lot of damp air if vented inside!

The other main advantage, for me, is that my solar panels could certainly not support a machine requiring over 2kW of power (so more energy would be needed from the grid). With only a 0.5kW draw, the whole of that energy-use can be generated by my solar panels. Just need to choose when to run it. This is exactly the same reason why I use a 1kW kettle.

Can’t remember when it was actually bought, but it has certainly saved a lot of grid energy/cost during that time, with often half a dozen loads per week during periods of inclement weather. The washing line is still the cheapest, of course. A small closet with a dehumidifier would be a good option to employ, for drying clothes, etc (but we don’t have a suitable small room in our house) and would avoid the ‘fluff’ problem - but the heat pump drier was a good buy, IMO.

 

[Onthespotwelding]

0.681 kWh was the lowest energy consumption of one of those dryers.

Not sure what a standard tumble dryer uses but I’m guessing significantly more.

 

[not done it yet]

0.681 kWh was the lowest energy consumption of one of those dryers.

Not sure what a standard tumble dryer uses but I’m guessing significantly more.

Which of those dryers would that be?

 

[CompoSimmonite]

We had a White Knight heat pump tumble dryer. Took a lot longer to dry but overall worked out cheaper to run. However when it packed up White Knight refunded a high percentage of the initial cost as no spares to repair available. We replaced it with a conventional Beko condensing tumble dryer and wouldn't bother with a heat pump again. BTW before the heat pump dryer we had a White Knight condensing which we gave to our daughter - it's still in GWO many year later !

 

[Colin Barron]

0.681 kWh was the lowest energy consumption of one of those dryers.

Not sure what a standard tumble dryer uses but I’m guessing significantly more.

Bear in mind the heat pump drying cycle will be about twice as long as a condensing drier. Still much cheaper to run and safer.