Whilst the tech was relatively new, there was plenty of average to negative reviews RE heat pump dryers and I avoided changing our condenser and so it limped on and still does. With the energy cap increase and a further increase to come, looking at our historic smart meter data via Loop's handy app, the tumble drier is absolutely annihilating our electricity bill. I'll add that we have little choice but to use it for now as we have a new baby at home and they go through a ridiculous amount of laundry as most of you may know. I'm looking at purchasing a Samsung 9kg A+++ model, as we already have the matching Samsung EcoBubble washer and looking at the product fiche, on my current tariff, it should cost me ~45p to dry a full load - compared to my current space heater which is around £1.50... so in theory, it should pay for itself before the year is out. A little bonus is the SmartThings integration with Home Assistant and all the geeky joy that gives me. Anyone with experience, thoughts, recommendations before I jump?
New high end/ expensive HP dryers are pretty impressive now, but be wary of buying one that's price competitive with regular condenser models, as they tend to have much longer effective drying times than the top tier models; and can wear out garments quicker.
Thanks David. I haven't gone for the top of the range Samsung 9 Series, but the next one down - 6 Series. It was comfortably approaching 3x what I paid for the condenser. Through doing a lot of reading, I'm aware that heat pumps will take longer to dry, compared to a vented or condensing regular dryer; however, use less energy doing so and as they dry at a lower temperature, they are supposed to be kinder to fabrics. I sincerely hope that's the case!
We have room for washing lines, not used a tumble dryer in years and no longer possess one. It helps a lot that there are only the two of us and that we both don't work so, don't need to get work clothes dry.
I've done zero research into this topic, and I'm too lazy to DuckDuckGo myself an answer: where does the water go in a heat-pump dryer? Like, in a traditional vented drier it goes outside as vapour; in a condensing dryer it gets condensed and drained as liquid; but what about a heat-pump dryer? Is it just another type of condensing dryer - i.e. the clothes are heated, the water vapour is condensed into liquid, and it's send down the plug 'ole?
Goes into a reservoir or drain, just like condenser. I've not noticed longer drying times going from condenser to heat pump FWIW.
Good to hear. In any case, an increase to drying time is a welcome trade off for cutting the energy usage to roughly a third, given how much we rely on it for the baby's clothes, bibs, muslin cloths, bedding, towels... the endless laundry.... We keep our laundry condensed water for filling the steam iron. It's got a fresh laundry smell, guaranteed free from any calcium or particles to clog the iron up and saves you money buying the ironing water. Been doing it for years!
I would suppose it the drying action is the same but it uses a heat pump in place of a conventional heating element. Hence the longer drying times: it doesn't get as hot but it does it much more efficiently.
Hey, that's a neat idea, that. We've a combi washer/condensing dryer, so it just flushes the stuff out through the waste pipe same as the washing water.
Im on my second one. Made the mistake of cheaping out on a Candy brand one that died twice after i repaired it. Spend more money on a better made one by Beko and been very pleased with it. It sips electricity and the clothes come out great, just keep in mind they do take about 2 hours for a full drying cycle with a full load.
Thanks, Otis. The one I'm now set on purchasing is this Samsung model. It says it'll do a half load at 0.89kWh and a full load (9kg) at 1.54kWh, which is absolutely frugal compared to the 4.75kWh my current condenser uses to do a 7kg load. Bare in mind that some days, we're doing three loads and probably do 10 loads p/week between baby stuff and our usual work clothes and general household laundry... so I fully anticipate this will pay for itself sooner rather than later: My current unit charge is 27.63p/kWh (until we all get rogered in Oct...) Condenser - per 7kg load - £1.31 // per week £13.12 Heat Pump - per 9kg load - £0.43 // per week £4.30 So not taking into account the laundry capacity gain and the next price cap increase, it'll pay for itself in under 2 years from that rough maths... aaaaand it comes with a 5 year warranty if registered within 90 days... No brainer.
Never used a tumble drier in my life, even when our current 20 year old daughter was a nipper, not even when she moved her boyfriend in last year and there were the 4 of us working adults in the house.
One of the most surprising things you see when you start using a dryer is just how much water comes out after a few loads, its literal buckets. Having them dry in the house and the moisture been released into the house that could if you have a house with a damp problem would only add to it. Its nice not having our kitchen diner full of drying racks, obviously less of a problem in the summer on the line but still. I have my first kid thats about to drop out and we will have a high turnover of clothes been washed and will be needed again relatively quickly.
Find out what warranty that is, if it's with samsung themselves then great, but if its domestic a general, its worthless. You mainly only ever nomraly get 1-2 years manufacturer/retailer cover which is where repairs and replacements will be free, but anything after that is with domestic and general who dont charge for parts when under the extended warranty but do charge you for their engineers that you have to use.... who are very expensive. this is the issue we had with the Candy, the repair would of been over half of what it cost for the machine itself.
Never been a problem for me, and if anyone has a house with a damp problem it needs sorting. Anywho this is going way off topic, I don't like 'em, I won't have one, I don't understand the need for them, so will butt out I was only here agreeing with Mr_M. As a leaving note, if you leave your clothes hanging to dry and hang them up rather than use a chest of drawers you also massively reduce the amount of ironing that needs to be done, so it's a double saving in terms of time and energy use.
I have an AEG from when heat pump dryers were pretty new and supposedly problematic that's still going strong 9 years later. Which of course is going to fail in the next week now I've gone and said that. But I've replaced a prematurely (IMO) failed Samsung washer and Bosch dryer both with AEG and they've been just super.
Our first one (Hoover DXH9A2TCE Heat Pump) stopped drying clothes between 4-6 months which was a manufacturer problem. They swapped it out for a brand new one (same model) and that has done us well for the last two years. Be warned that the drying time isn't definitive... it starts at 2hrs 24mins (from drum to wardrobe) yet when timing it, it can go up to 3.5 hours depending on where the Tumble dryer is - ours are in the garage so temps in there are lower than the rest of the house.
I’ve got a Hisense one as most of our other kitchen “white goods” are. Can’t fault it for £460. We moved our boiler into the attic and plumbed the washing machine and tumble dryer where the boiler was in the bathroom, so much better for cleaning and putting clothes away. I will add, putting your washing on an extra “quick spin” cycle helps loads. Ours is 12 minutes. But easily cuts half hour off the drying time. 1400 spin washing machine.
I've been looking at getting one of these myself, after our last dryer tried to set fire to itself. The only place we have for it is in the garage which gets pretty chilly and is not recommended by any manufacturers. Anybody got any real experience of that or what sort of a difference it makes?
