Condensing Tumble Driers

[IMM]

Does this tumble and use Comfort only work on condensing dryers?

[Suz]

No IMM I'm sure it would be exactly the same on a bog standard one. The only reason we got one is its location - shoved in the corner of the room as a temporary measure (but I reckon it'll be permenant). We could be bothered putting in a drain or vent.

But again the extra features like moisture sensor to stop, and keep turning after cycle complete would be necessary for best results if you wish to avoid ironing. The extra cost would be recouped easily if you compared it to a years electricity consumption of an iron or the cost of an ironing service. My mother's is the cheapest, timer only job. It absolutely toasts the clothes and although they come out really dry they look a bit crumply. I thought ours wasn't very efficient at first, but now I realise that tiny bit of moisture left allows the last wrinkles to drop when clothes are removed from dryer.

The lulling sound of the dryer is an great unexpected bonus. I'm sitting on the bed with the laptop now, and hubby is snoozing off one of his migraines and baby is SNORING in his cot. The soft sound is very relaxing. Reminds me of a kid in the farmhouse when all was quiet and the kettle was singing on the Rayburn Royal. My point being: I think the bedroom is a brilliant location for a dryer.

hth Suzanne

[Niel A. Farrow]

Could get a large gas dryer. We bought one second hand for £70 (loot.com). Get a handyman with a hole cutter to make hole or rent one. Get plumber to connect gas, or you do it and get a plumber to check it out. Should come to around the £200 mark and it's way cheaper than electricity. Neil>

[Richard Faulkner]

In article , Suz writes

I'm getting into this now, and am wondering if you researched washer dryers with these functions? If it truly works, I can add in around £400 per year in ironing service costs, on top of the cost of a normal washer dryer of about £325.

I've been to the usual suspects, Comet, Currys, Powerhouse (New), and cant find one, or cant find anything which suggests it has the sensor and keep turning facility.

I wonder if they dont make them yet?

Regds

[N. Thornton]

Well, lemme think. Nope, I dont remember suggesting that. One only need leave stuff out overnight and put it away in the morning. With ironing even less drying time is needed.

Regards, NT

[Martin Angove]

Something to do with the fact that WASHING LINES (yes, they do exist) tend to be outdoors so if you do happen to want to save the money (and all that electricity) you have to lug the clothes downstairs at some point in order to take them outside to dry, and (I'd contend) it is much easier to do this while they are dry - before washing - than wet.

Also, it is possible to minimise ironing by hanging clothes on the line correctly and while they are still damp enough to have enough weight to pull out the creases left by the washing process. Doesn't eliminate it, of course, and isn't perfect for those who desire perfection. This is why my wife does the ironing :-) I much perfer the "feel" of wind-dried clothes, and there aren't really *that* many (consecutive) days when drying outside is completely impossible, even in the uk, though it does help if there's someone at home during the day in order to take advantage of dry spells.

On a slightly different tangent, if you can afford the extra outlay and have the facilities I'm told a gas tumble dryer is a *lot* less expensive to run.

Hwyl!

M.

[IMM]

I think Suz means that a keep turning facility is that the drum turns for about 10 mins after the heater element goes off. Auto detect if dry is common.

[Martin Angove]

The question is, how do they extract the water? I heard tell that some use copious amounts of cold water so although your heat-energy argument could hold in that instance, surely the water-conservation argument is lost? Presumably (since it's in a bedroom) Suz's drier doesn't do this, so how does it work?

Just curious...

Hwyl!

M.

[S Viemeister]

Many years ago, we had a washline running on a pulley from just outside the window of the back bedroom, to a tree across the parking area. I didn't need to go up and down the stairs, and it worked fine, except when the weather was bitterly cold - when I wouldn't want to dry things outdoors anyway.

[IMM]

They do. Mine does.

[Andrew Heggie <andrew.heggie]

There are two circulating fans, a small one on the internal circuit which blows through a resistance heater and then to the clothes, the airflow circuit on the one I looked at used the door as a plenum. After it leaves the clothes the moist air passes into an aluminium cross flow heat exchanger. A larger fan blows ambient air in over the secondary side of this and vents to the room. As the moist air cools below its dew point in the heat exchanger it drips into a container, there is also the option to take a drain to waste. The internal circulation fan is much smaller than the heat exchanger fan.

AJH

[Suz]

Not really. The drum turns once every five minutes so clothes don't settle into creases. It will go for days. Once the door is opened the cycle is truly ended and when shut again doesn't turn any more. My mother's cheapie turns off the heat and blows cold air for 10 mins at the end to "set" the clothes. But then that's it stopped for ever. So if you're out, forgotten about it, etc, wrinkles start to set in.

We didn't look at washer dryers at all because we already had a good washing machine, and doing 3 washes a day means we need a quick turnaround time.

I'll do a quick surf and see if I can spot anything with similar functions to ours.

[Suz]

Which's 2002 report on dryers - nothing on washer dryers

-------------------- Tumble Driers, Buying Guide There are few differences in how quickly tumble driers dry loads, regardless of price or brand. However, there are big differences in how well designed they are for everyday use. So our Best Buy is a cheap, easy to use, sensor drier. Is it a condenser or air-vented drier? The biggest headache with tumble driers is venting them. Condenser driers condense the hot, damp air produced while drying into the water that collects in a built-in tray. This means that they can be placed anywhere around the house, whereas air-vented driers must be near a window or door for ventilation - if they're not, you'll have to fit a vent through a wall. Should I consider a gas drier? Running costs for gas models (made by White Knight) are around three times cheaper per load than electric ones. You will need to pay an upfront fee of around £50 for installation, and also have regular check-ups by a Corgi-registered gas fitter. Will it fit the space available? If space is tight, you could consider a compact model. These typically hold around 3kg of laundry, instead of the 5 or 6kg you can fit in a full-sized one. They're usually around 18cm shorter and 10cm smaller in width and depth, but they tend to take longer and cost relatively more per load than full-sized ones. How easy is it to use? Tumble driers are fairly simple appliances, but some dry automatically (sensor models), and some use a manual timer. Both are straight-forward to use, but it's worth being able to override the sensor to give laundry an extra ten-minute burst. Check the door, filter and water tray aren't awkward to use. Water trays can be awkward to remove and replace - and you may need to empty the tray after every load. Can it be used with a timer? If you live in an area where you can take advantage of cheap-rate electricity, and don't mind using your drier at night, then a built-in timer makes doing this a doddle. If a model doesn't have one, check that it can be used with a plug-in timer switch, as models with a 'start' button may prevent you from doing this. Reliable brands Crusader, Creda Jackson

[Suz]

So irons don't consume electric then? Well probably not in your house. Your wife probably has a flat iron heated in the fire.

Oh bog off back to the to the 19th Century. >:(

[Suz]

Snore.. but true. Sucks cold air in through metal heat exchanger. Blows hot wet air through other side of exchanger. Condensation occurs. Drained off (into removeable tank or plumbed to drain). Hot dry air back into room. Makes soft noise. Baby sleeps.

[Suz]

quote -

In "combo washer/dryers" (i.e. machines that can BOTH wash and dry the clothes), the ventless condenser system is also widely used, but in these cases the condensers are water-cooled. During a dry cycle, several gallons of cold water is used to condense the moisture evaporated from the clothes, which again is pumped away through the drain line. Most of the "combos" currently available in North America use this method - i.e. units from Equator, Splendide, Malber, Haier, Quietline, Thor, LG, and Eurotech. Note that unlike the air-cooled design, these models do NOT significantly heat the indoor air in one's laundry room - but on the other hand, the fact that they use extra water during the dry cycle must be taken into consideration, especially for anyone on a very limited (or expensive) water supply.

Answers both those points

[Andrew Heggie <andrew.heggie]

Snore= Boring?

Unlikely to suck the air after it has been warmed, by recovering latent heat from the heat exchanger, as this increases the necessary fan power, more usual to blow ambient air. The salient feature is that there are two separate circulations.

AJH

[Martin Angove]

Nah, I'd miss uk.d-i-y too much :-)

I know it's not really my job to comment about the ironing because (luckily for me) my wife does that job, and I know how much I'd hate it if it were my job instead. Having said that, she probably does more than I would (my "working" t-shirts for example).

The point I was trying to make was that tumble-drying isn't the only option for drying clothes, and that even "old fashioned" air-dried clothes *can* finish up with a minimum of creases, especially if you are careful in your choice of styles and fabrics as you have explained.

On top of that, using the washing line is completely free, and not only is it free but anyone trying to reduce their personal energy use (we're getting into "green" arguments here) will make a great saving by only using a tumble dryer when absolutely necessary. In these circumstances it makes perfect sense (to me) to have the wet part of the laundry close to the washing line - usually downstairs and out the back though as someone else has pointed out, not always!

Hwyl!

M.

[Christian McArdle]

The problem with washer dryers is that the majority of them use cold water from the mains to add condensing. This results in the water consumption being similar to that of a fully open fire hydrant. This is bad if you have a meter and bad for the environment anyhow.

Christian.

[Suz]

I'm sure this is all true, but I wouldn't know as I slumped forward into my dinner and nearly asphyxiated in the mash half way through.