Our condenser dryer broke recently, and needing to get a new one. I was just going to get another condenser dryer as the last one worked well for our needs, but seeing the energy savings on heat pump dryers has me tempted.
The problem I have is I've read the clothes can come out a bit damp and that there can be long drying times on heavier loads and especially in the winter. I've looked at many reviews, and I can't really get a good sense of them.
The machine is primarily used for bedding and towels, a lot of the clothes we still line dry or radiators.
Any help would be appreciated.
The problem I have is I've read the clothes can come out a bit damp and that there can be long drying times on heavier loads and especially in the winter. I've looked at many reviews, and I can't really get a good sense of them.
The machine is primarily used for bedding and towels, a lot of the clothes we still line dry or radiators.
Any help would be appreciated.
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sorted byYes, it takes longer to dry clothes but the running costs are a lot less.
Also as they dry clothing at a lower heat, the clothes / sheets should retain their shape a little more. I find that my current dryer, which doesn't have a low heat setting, tends to shrink cotton sheets.
Can you wait 2-3 hours to dry towels? I usually put clothes through a second spin in the washing machine to extract as much water as possible before sticking them in a dryer.
We mostly use the dryer but the line in the warmer months when possible. Some things can come out a little damp if they've bundled all together but I believe that is true of traditional dryers.
My wife tends to wash and replace sheet on the same day if possible and i've never noticed a problem.
Having the choice again, i would be going heat pump every day.
If for some reason you often need to dry stuff a bit more rapidly, a hybrid heat pump might be a better option over a standard condenser dryer. When used in hybrid mode, they use an element to reach and maintain drying temperature around 60c. Hybrids are more expensive to buy though, for a feature most people won't use much, because of the higher cost of running it in hybrid mode.
Heat pump dryers need a minimum room temperature of 5 - 10 C and preferably around 20C, so won't work well in unheated outbuildings in winter:- aeg.co.uk/sup…ng/
I've quite an old vented dryer with sensor dry, and clothes often come out a bit damp on that, but never considered it much of a problem, because it is easy enough to check them and set it off again and it still saves money over manual mode by minimising the drying time. I intend to replace it with a heat pump at some point, even though it still looks virtually good as new and could probably keep it working for another 20 years since I can cheaply fix any fault myself. (edited)
Always costs under 20p to dry a load. And on mine towels are dry in. 1.5 to 2.5hr depending on how many you have in.
They never come out damp unless you have it in the wrong setting or have put too many items in.
4 towels is about the limit for mine.
The analogy I'd make is It's like driving 100 miles up the M1.
You can do it in an hour in a sports car (not legally but you see my point) but you'll use a lot of petrol.
You can do it in 2 hours on a 125 scooter and use hardly any fuel.
You have to prepare for the longer times but it uses around 30% of the electricity per load.
Ours uses sensors so that it stops when the load is dry.
We love it.
Cost more to buy but I suspect we've already made the difference back in lower running costs.
Also we are more likely to use it as we're less concerned about the money.