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Glass fronted tumble drier, insulate it!?
Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2023 8:22 pm
by Mr Gus
If you have an ashp tumbler chances are its a glass viewing window fitted on there which is thick borosilicate glass that gets warm on the outside.
In the interests of "pinching a watt off" ..Should I even bother to insulate that window!? (offcuts)
The wall behind it is roughly insulated, the adjacent brick wall, insulation board jammed in, (offcuts, to allow removal for any wastepipe & drain work)
Curious as to whether a foam tile sheet beneath will help much.. or burn everything down... old style tumble dryers tend to have (zanussi) a small element up near the top of a largely empty machine , bar the drum, with the ashp i'm warier, or on the basis of heat rises, a thin wedge 25mm ? under the counter top hovering above it.
Just now in the cold as brass monkey balls utility room it was drawing *up to* 510 watt hrs on a wool setting, average load.
..if I do, wife won't be happy (normal life hereabouts)
Re: Glass fronted tumble drier, insulate it!?
Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2023 7:23 am
by Stinsy
Best thing you can do is buy a heat pump tumble drier. They’re not expensive these days and save a vast amount of energy.
Re: Glass fronted tumble drier, insulate it!?
Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2023 7:35 am
by Mr Gus
it is ashp.
Re: Glass fronted tumble drier, insulate it!?
Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2023 9:42 am
by Stig
Personally I wouldn't:
1. additional fire risk, and
2. this time of year you'll need the heat in the house anyway
Re: Glass fronted tumble drier, insulate it!?
Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2023 9:45 am
by Moxi
Why have I never heard of ashp tumble dryers before now ?
Off to read up on these now - thanks
Moxi
Re: Glass fronted tumble drier, insulate it!?
Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2023 9:53 am
by Moxi
Just to be clear these are different to condensing tumble dryers ?
With so many under fives our condensing tumble dryer is on most days so this could be a very helpful investment.
Moxi
Re: Glass fronted tumble drier, insulate it!?
Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2023 9:54 am
by smegal
Moxi wrote: ↑Thu Jan 19, 2023 9:45 am
Why have I never heard of ashp tumble dryers before now ?
Off to read up on these now - thanks
Moxi
They are really good. Take a long time to dry clothes, but use closer to 100W instead of closer to 2kW!
They do behave differently. I installed one in my rental property, and the tenants complained that it wasn't working until they got used to it.
Re: Glass fronted tumble drier, insulate it!?
Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2023 10:17 am
by Moxi
Thanks,
When ours runs the electric meter led almost strobes! so I would be very happy to halve (or better) the power per drying cycle, based on an average use of 1.5 times per day and the current cost per unit of around 35p the dryer would be paid up in two years and I see quite a few units with 5 year guarantees - time to chat to the finance office (SWMBO) to see if shes interested in a new white good?
Moxi
Re: Glass fronted tumble drier, insulate it!?
Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2023 10:19 am
by Stinsy
Moxi wrote: ↑Thu Jan 19, 2023 9:53 am
Just to be clear these are different to condensing tumble dryers ?
With some many under fives our condensing tumble dryer is on most days so this could be a very helpful investment.
Moxi
Many years ago they cost £1000 so took a long time to make back the initial outlay over and above a £200 one particularly as electricity was cheap back then. I think I paid £600 for my Beko one 10 years ago and it does a great job using very little electric. As others have said a big load of towels takes 4hrs and a normal mixed load 3hrs. An additional consideration was that HP tumble driers are MUCH less likely to catch fire...
Re: Glass fronted tumble drier, insulate it!?
Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2023 10:38 am
by smegal
Moxi wrote: ↑Thu Jan 19, 2023 9:53 am
Just to be clear these are different to condensing tumble dryers ?
With some many under fives our condensing tumble dryer is on most days so this could be a very helpful investment.
Moxi
These are condensing tumble dryers, but use a heat pump for the heating/condensing so are considerably more energy efficient than conventional condensing tumble dryers.