We are probably going to invest in a condensing (or maybe heat pump condensing (is it another name for the same thing??).
This is because the only space we have left in the house where we could locate a tumble drier has no outside wall, or easy way to get a conventional vent out.
The plan would be not to connect it to a drain, but to keep Emptying the water out tank.
Am I right in thinking that used like this the only connection required is electricity in? (No other inputs and no outputs).
Condensing tumble dryers don't need an air vent. They do need a little more cleaning (to remove lint from the condenser) but IME they work well. They don't necessarily use a heat pump (see below) but they have a heat exchanging condenser to remove the water in the exhaust air by cooling it with incoming air. They do need excess water emptying, but some can be plumbed to a drain rather than using a tank which has to be carried to the sink. Get one with intermittent drum reverse (see below).
However, I now have a Bosch one that I believe has a heat pump. A Bosch Ecologixx 7, WTW86562GB. This cleans its own condenser, which is good, except there seems no easy way to check it has done it properly.
This presumably has excellent ecological credentials, because it saves electricity by apparently making no attempt whatsoever to dry clothes. It seems not to raise air temperature above ambient (though i suppose it may be drier) and takes at least three hours to dry a sock. It is the most useless expensive piece of junk I have ever purchased. It least it keeps a basketful of clothes out of the way for a few hours, I suppose. It also doesn't have reverse tumbling, so it irretrievably wraps up sheets or duvet covers into a solid undriable ball. Intermittent reversing is *essential* for a tumble drier, so it never occurred to me that it might not do it.
There may be better choices with heat pmps, but in this machine any electricity the heat pump saves is undoubtedly wasted by the drum motor running for days on end to attempt any kind of passive drying.
We have the WTW86560GB (presumably the previous model or so). It's about
5 years old.
The air from the drum exits via a filter beneath the door (well, two filters). It then passes through a matrix on bottom left, and that did get badly choked after about 4 years or so. To clean it, you first open the door at bottom front left. Then you use a Stanley knife to remove a marked panel! Vacuum out the matrix, and attach a special seal plate you get from the Bosch spares department.
We recently had another fault where it said the water sump was full, when it wasn't. I removed the top of the sump and cleaned the sensor electrodes. I also sucked out accumulated fluff and water. It stopped once more (on the next run) but then seemed to recalibrate itself, and it's been fine since.
Thanks! That will no doubt save me a lot of research in the nearish future as mine is about four.
AMI, do you find yours effective in drying clothes? Does it palpably warm clothes? I do sometimes wonder if ours was defective from new. It takes three hours to dry a couple of tee shirts.
It does palpably warm clothes. I generally don't use the 'completely dry' setting.
What you describe is a symptom of the matrix being clogged (if they haven't changed it).
No, they haven't. I just looked. I assumed you have the WTW86562GB/16, although the suffix rarely makes a big difference. Looking at the exploded diagram, it looks the same, and they offer the same sealing plate as a spare (part 00646776).
Look at the bottom of this page - they call it a Repair Set (a lot of parts have slightly badly translated names). Exploded drawings there too.
Thanks, but it has not deteriorated since the day it was installed. If the matrix is blocked it is a manufacturing error rather than an acquired blockage I did wonder about a heater or thermostat problem which would have similar symptoms. It gets enough water in the tank and felt in the lint filter to make an airflow blockage unobvious.
You encourage me to pursue it, I had assumed it was just eco-friendly to the point of uselessness. Is the service manual freely available?
Not sure, then. Only the Very Dry setting removes all dampness, though.
I have never seen a service manual. I winged it, with occasional help from YouTube, although the machines are never quite the same! The exploded diagrams help.
Yes, agreed. I've got a fairly basic Beko model and it's been very good for the past 4 years or so - although i don't use it that often, maybe once a week over the winter, rarely the rest of the time.
snip
FWIW, I just checked the Which reviews and they do say the Bosch WTW863S1GB is very slow at drying. The far more expensive models (such as the Bosch WTYH6790GB) do a lot better. They measured the fastest heat pump dryers at 15mins/kg and slowest at 30mins/kg. Seems like yours is well out of spec. This link is outside their paywall (hopes):
I think you'll find that even though it's a bit rubbish, yours will be much cheaper to run. From memory, mine uses 2-3kW and takes about an hour for a full load.
I looked into this some time ago, most seem to be con jobs from what I could tell. The only ones that truly work have a large hose thing for going outside. I now do an extra spin and hang them in a small box room with the window open and a low power heater on for a few hours instead. Of course not everyone has the luxury of free space. Brian
We've had a Beko for around 4 years. Never had a problem (it was affected by a safety recall and a technician called and replaced something), maybe because we do clean the filter! It dries well - it's automatic sensor seems to be set correctly. The pure water in the condenser is a bonus for watering plants.
One issue which hasn't been mentioned is that it's very noisy; you can't really sit in the kitchen and eat while it's on for more than a few minutes. I don't know whether this is a Beko thing or all driers are noisy.
My washer/dryer obviously has a water supply for the washer side, but it uses the occasional squirt of water while it's drying, not sure if that's to clear fluff out along with the condensed water, or to cool down the condenser and make it more efficient?
Ah yes, agreed, forgot to mention that. Luckily I've got a cellar, so it lives in there.
In general, in the Which reviews most seem to have a rating whereby 'you should be able to hold a conversation near the dryer but with raised voices' - suggesting they do make a racket.
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