Glass fronted tumble drier, insulate it!?

[cojmh]

I would agree with all of the above - we bought our Bosch one about 5 or 6 years ago now and it was quite expensive at the time but it dried double the amount of clothes for less than half of the electricity we used for the previous tumble drier.

There has been a lot of interest in using dehumidifiers instead of tumble driers so I did a few calculations and decided the cost to run was so similar that it would not be worth the out lay on the dehumidifier.

Definitely worth the investment if you can convince the other half

[nowty]

I'd never heard of heat pump versions either.

We don't have a tumble drier as I thought they were the work of the devil but in winter our spare room is turned into a Chinese laundry.

I'd heard about condenser ones but still discounted them as they did not seem much better.

But a heatpump one. , might even get me some brownie points with SWMBO too.

[Caesium]

We don't have a tumble drier as I thought they were the work of the devil but in winter our spare room is turned into a Chinese laundry.

I'm in that boat. The spare room with a good dessicant dehumidifier and the door closed is all we need during winter.

Full load of washing is dry in a few hours. It warms the room up pretty nicely too.

Once the washing is dry open the door and benefit from the heat leaking out, win win.

[richbee]

Looks like they are now available from around £300, which sounds like a bargain, if they use 1/2 the energy or less (although would it end up geting used more as it's more energy efficient.....)

[nowty]

I'm thinking in winter when it would be used more, it would not be wasted heat as it would help heat the house as they are not vented to outside. And their running power would still be within our battery inverter capacity.

[Stinsy]

Electric consumption is way less than half a normal tumble drier. They do kick out a fair bit of heat (makes my unheated utility room toasty warm). And no heat is vented to outside. If it were in a kitchen or wherever it’d make a decent contribution to heating the house.

[Moxi]

Mr Gus,

My sincere apologies as I feel I have hijacked your thread, I agree though with the initial comment that insulation of the glass door may cause more issues than the benefit in power saved.

I must then say a REALLY big thankyou to you for drawing these tumble dryers to my (and others) attention.

A very quick chat with the gaffer and shes all over it like a rash and the new unit is a go - we will spend a day looking then buy, our condensing hotpoint has served us well and will not be wasted as its going next door to the grandparents where it will run much less frequently and benefit from solar only power so thats avoided any waste and also made that dryer very carbon friendly.

Its nice to hear that the ASHP dryers kick out some useful background heat too as the one saving grace of the old condenser was it made the ground floor of the house comfy in winter and I wouldn't want to lose that benefit if possible.

ASHP Tumble Dryers .........who knew?

What a brilliant day this has turned in to !
Moxi

[ducabi]

My issue with tumble drier is that it should be used straight after washing machine finishes. Now I'm trying to reduce usage of big appliances during the day to save my precious batteries, so 1 washing machine run is during the night, which means TD would be used like 5-6hrs after washing.

[Mr Gus]

Personally I wouldn't:
1. additional fire risk, and
2. this time of year you'll need the heat in the house anyway

It is in a utility room conservatory extension, "muchos glassos"
The insulation on the brick wall behind it, is the house, trying to keep shower room reflecting heat from there & cold out.

[Mr Gus]

Moxi, ..no worries.
Ours is a condenser (water into a cassette) ASHP whirlpool jobbie. very quiet in operation too.

Yes, it does take longer, & the programming is often a defeater to all but the most determined, however, even at full tilt ( heating element on) is unlikely to trip anyone completely off grid / looking to go that way.I

My bugbear? ..standby is around 1.6w ..if left in (just moved ours so its easier to unplug completely.

The filters attract far more lint (imho) & "empty every time" is essential, the other bugger is the access for the heat pump filter is on the floor, so cleaning the thin mesh is a pita.
I "ali expressed" a ashp filter comb (adjustable) which makes a big difference to laying on te floor & cleaning it out (ish) the comb metal & a slider for tighter / looser teeth helps keep the weedy metal in good shape as it moves between easily, things like toothbrushes really sucked as alternative tools.

We pour the cassette water onto hot outdoor tiles to bring some evap back in the summer, otherwise no known use to the water (chem residue) nice not to churn heat outside like a standard vented tum/ drier.