Tumble Dryers Yay/ Nay

[pp05]

With winter here am considering if it's worth buying a tumble dryer.

For those who already have one, was it worth it? Or you do wish you didn't bother and used the laundrette instead.

pros..

cons..

Any advice really...

[smargh]

Just point a fan at a clothes rack. Slow speed is fine. A little airflow and most things dry overnight.

[Spreadie]

We have one purely for the times when putting clothes out on the line is a no go, and because the wife doesn't like scratchy towels.

[AGTDenton]

Being in a flat it's a must for bedding, I've nowhere convenient to hang it, nor the space to have loads of bedding so it really needs to be dry the same day.

I use it if I need clothes by the next morning otherwise hang the rest.

You don't need to have the latest and greatest or anything high end

[Saracen999]

It's circumstance-dependent, IMHO.

Against - good ones are expensive, all are pretty expensive to run, I have a colle tion of ruined/shrunk clothes thanks to dryers.

For - possibly .... convenience.

I prefer to hang in utility room, with a dehumidifier especially in winter. But then, I have a utility room to hang 'em in, and not everybody does.

[DanceswithUnix]

A convenience to start with, once I had kids it became a thing that allowed us to easily keep up with the family washing demands all year round.

So yeah, circumstance dependent. It may also not be easy to fit, I use a vented one which is more expensive to run but convenient and quick but some houses it is awkward to find somewhere to locate it. When my parents got a dryer they had to wheel it across the kitchen before use and poke the hose out the cat flap

[TeePee]

Gotta say, I'm a fan of a huge Dryer... I have a huge top-loading washing machine too. It helps my lifestyle, since I'm not organised enough to be able to hang washing to dry. That's not common in the US.

[Ttaskmaster]

I used to just go up the laundrette, but the machines are absolute junk in all of them and the driers have only one setting, which is the duration of operation and is set by how many quids you put in.

The wife then insisted on buying a washer-dryer combi condenser thingy, as we were in a flat, and being a bloke I was BANNED from even looking at the setting controls... We still use it, but tend to hang washing on the line or on collapsible concertina frames for the most part, rather than use the drier feature. She also bought a dehumidifier for winter, as we hang stuff in the barbican which isn't heated.

[kalniel]

I have a combi washer/drier that comes with the rent. I use the drier for two things only: Towels and non-iron shirts. The former are not needed every wash, the latter a 20 minute burst is enough to produce crease-free results.
So for my uses a dedicated drier would absolutely be overkill. If the washer wasn't also a drier I would cope fine, but it has made me consider the benefits of a combi system in the future.

[scaryjim]

I can't remember living in my own space and not having a tumble dryer. Condenser dryers are convenient, relatively efficient, and chuck a ton of hot air into whichever room they're in*, so whilst they do use a moderate amount of power you're actually getting a lot of that back in space heating over the winter.

Of course, I live on the wrong side of the Pennines where even in mid-summer there's a reasonable chance of getting a week of solid rain, so for me it's essential in the winter and occasionally necessary in the summer.

One specific piece of advice - don't buy the type where the water tank sits inside the door (I think it's mostly Hoover ones with that arrangement, but some others might have it). The tank can't cope with the internal temperatures and slowly cracks, so at around a year old it starts leaking the water back into the dryer. You can get official spares from third party sellers (thanks EU ), but you'll still be forking out ~ £30 a year to replace what *should* be an integral part of the machine. Worst electrical purchase of my life.


* note, whether that's useful or not will depend on the layout of your house - we're relatively open-plan so ours gets at least some heat into most of the house. YMMV

[pp05]

I have a combi washer/drier that comes with the rent. I use the drier for two things only: Towels and non-iron shirts. The former are not needed every wash, the latter a 20 minute burst is enough to produce crease-free results.
So for my uses a dedicated drier would absolutely be overkill. If the washer wasn't also a drier I would cope fine, but it has made me consider the benefits of a combi system in the future.

They don't get good press for reliability though. Usually if you do a full load of washing, then it's half load for drying.

[pp05]

A convenience to start with, once I had kids it became a thing that allowed us to easily keep up with the family washing demands all year round.

So yeah, circumstance dependent. It may also not be easy to fit, I use a vented one which is more expensive to run but convenient and quick but some houses it is awkward to find somewhere to locate it. When my parents got a dryer they had to wheel it across the kitchen before use and poke the hose out the cat flap

Yeah we got kids in the house, so daily washing. I got a shed so.. in theory if I get one I can stick it by the door and sling the pipe outside or just get a condenser. I saw a Hoover model which had a 10kg drum which would mean I can chuck full wash into it. Apparently they can take hours to completely dry.

[pp05]

I used to just go up the laundrette, but the machines are absolute junk in all of them and the driers have only one setting, which is the duration of operation and is set by how many quids you put in.

The wife then insisted on buying a washer-dryer combi condenser thingy, as we were in a flat, and being a bloke I was BANNED from even looking at the setting controls... We still use it, but tend to hang washing on the line or on collapsible concertina frames for the most part, rather than use the drier feature. She also bought a dehumidifier for winter, as we hang stuff in the barbican which isn't heated.

Laundrette is what I do right now. Towels £3.. everything else £1 1.20. There is a time saving, but convenience to having one for when you can't nip down.

[pp05]

I can't remember living in my own space and not having a tumble dryer. Condenser dryers are convenient, relatively efficient, and chuck a ton of hot air into whichever room they're in*, so whilst they do use a moderate amount of power you're actually getting a lot of that back in space heating over the winter.

Of course, I live on the wrong side of the Pennines where even in mid-summer there's a reasonable chance of getting a week of solid rain, so for me it's essential in the winter and occasionally necessary in the summer.

One specific piece of advice - don't buy the type where the water tank sits inside the door (I think it's mostly Hoover ones with that arrangement, but some others might have it). The tank can't cope with the internal temperatures and slowly cracks, so at around a year old it starts leaking the water back into the dryer. You can get official spares from third party sellers (thanks EU ), but you'll still be forking out ~ £30 a year to replace what *should* be an integral part of the machine. Worst electrical purchase of my life.


* note, whether that's useful or not will depend on the layout of your house - we're relatively open-plan so ours gets at least some heat into most of the house. YMMV

For my own house, I'm going to stick it in the shed.

With a condenser model you can put it in any room right? Since there is no pipe to stick out..

[spacein_vader]

The below is based purely on my own experience:

1. Washer dryers aren't in the same league as a dedicated dryer, instead of coming out cool and wet clothes come out warm and damp.

2. Condensers take longer to dry than standard dryers with an outlet hose.

3. Outlet hose dryers are also more reliable, probably because of how simple they are. A drum motor, heating element and a fan are about all there is to them.

My view is if you can have a dedicated dryer then do so. And if you can put it somewhere with an outlet hose get one that works that way.

[Spreadie]

Washer dryers should only be considered if you absolutely have no space for a separate dryer. As above, typically they only dry at half the load capacity of max wash load.

Vented dryers are best, if you can accommodate the vent. The top efficiency rated models are far cheaper than condensers, there's also nothing to them (less to go wrong) - if you ever took one apart you'd be amazed by how little is inside the casing.

Note for those who hang the hose out of a window: get a proper window bracket/brace. Pinching the hose in the window to hold it in place is a bad idea, as it promotes excessive fluff build up.

Condensers are obviously more convenient, and you can plumb the hose that fill the water bottle directly into a waste water pipe or drain, so you never have to bother with the bottle (you still have to de-fluff and clean the condenser box though). An A-rated condenser will likely cost two to three times the price of the equivalent vented model. Still a very simple design - the warm air is just blown through the condenser box and cold air is blown across the element.

Heat pump dryers are by far the most efficient type of dryer, by orders of magnitude, but they cost a fortune in comparison and take forever to dry your clothes (several hours in most cases), which does increase the wear on your clothes.

Please, please, please de-fluff every time you use your dryer - every time it's left to build up restricts airflow and causes fluff buildup inside the machine - often in places you can't clean out. Honestly, I've easily stripped down over a thousand dryers and you can tell if the owner is cleaning it properly, because there's no fluff at all inside the casing - nothing, except the occasional spider - they love the damp and warm conditions, so arachnophobes should avoid putting their dryer in the shed or garage. Machines that aren't cleaned out properly and regularly, usually have a thick carpet of fluff inside after a couple or three years.

I've seen the aftermath of dryer fires and scared the crap out of a good few folk with news of their near misses - singed clumps of fluff and scorching inside the machine from fires that (thankfully) didn't catch beyond burning a small amount of fluff.