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My dryer uses a heat pump similar to refrigeration technology which allows it to dry clothes at a lower energy usage level because it's more efficient than heat
by cheschire 7y ago
My dryer uses a heat pump similar to refrigeration technology which allows it to dry clothes at a lower energy usage level because it's more efficient than heated air. It's also a condensing dryer so it doesn't spray hot wet lint air out of the side of my house, and has a drain tube I can run straight into my drain pipe next to my washer so I don't have to dump out the water collector every few loads.
While I'm generally a fan of simple appliances in concept, there are several significant changes that have occurred in the last 20 years you might want to just peruse.
As an aside, my dryer has wifi, but I only ever use that feature just to alert me on my phone that the loads are complete. I've never gotten that shitty software to actually start a load successfully. Not even upset about it, I didn't buy it for the wifi.
The internet of things is useless but don't let that hold you back from finding some really efficient modern technology.
- rootusrootus 7y agoCondenser dryers are pretty slow, however, so I'm not sure it's a good solution for average people. They're nice when you don't have good infrastructure in place for a vented model, though.
- cheschire 7y agoTrading convenience for environment isn't a good solution for average people? Then we're fucked.
- xboxnolifes 7y agoThinking that trading convenience for environment is going to work is why we aren't seeing change.
- Symbiote 7y agoIn the European Union the most inefficient devices are simply banned. (In some cases, I don't keep up-to-date with consumer appliances.) For tumble driers, scroll to the annex of https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32012R0932 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A... "From 1 November 2015: — for condenser household tumble driers the energy efficiency index (EEI) shall be less than 76, — for condenser household tumble driers, the weighted condensation efficiency shall be not lower than 70 %." (And then a definition of what that means.)
- rob74 7y agoWell, then we're fucked... because lots of things that are more convenient in the short term (energy-sucking appliances, plastic packaging, industrial agriculture, fossil fuels, you name it) will contribute to destroying the environment in the (not-so-)long term.
- megablast 7y agoOh of course, I need this to dry my clothes I will not wear for days right now!! How silly to have to wait 2 hours instead of 1 hour
- rootusrootus 7y agoIt's more like 2.5 hours versus 40 minutes, and not everyone is a bachelor who only has to wash & dry their own clothes.
- EdwardDiego 7y agoI bought a combined washer/condenser dryer. It usually took 3 - 5 hours to wash and dry a load, but it was ideal as a working solo Dad, I could put a load on before work, and it would be dry when I came home. Then I could put a load on before bed and it'd be dry in the morning. Not sure who the average person is, but if they have a job, I found that very convenient.
- m4rtink 7y agoAlso most top loading combined models are like this.
- Aaargh20318 7y agoAnother advantage of a heat pump dryer is that it doesn’t get as hot as a regular one, which means it’s a lot safer for your clothes. I just bought one and you can even dry wool clothes in it without shrinkage. It’s also dead simple to use.
- Bayart 7y agoFor wool nothing beats laying it flat under good old sun or wind. The tumbling of a washing machine or tumbler will just make felt out of it.
- sitharus 7y agoWhen I was shopping for a dryer I compared the running costs of heat pump dryers, condenser dryers and a regular waste-the-hot-air dryer. The payback time for energy efficiency was around 2,500 loads for condenser and 4,000 loads for heatpump. That's with New Zealand's fairly high power prices.