spot on we split ours down last week to get to the source of the electrical short (Ruddy bra wire). heater element had lint in it as did a lot of the internals of the dryer.
poor cheap designs all round
Tumble Dryers
- Thread starter Jean-F
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spot on we split ours down last week to get to the source of the electrical short (Ruddy bra wire). heater element had lint in it as did a lot of the internals of the dryer.
poor cheap designs all round
Associate
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Aw hell nah! I was/am a smart meter fitter, part of our job is providing energy efficient advice and proving what appliances in the home cost what to run (with our monitors)
The cheapest driers I’ve ever come across are around 45pence p/h and they’re newer A rated models. That’s 90 pence for 120 minutes. And that’s being cautious. My own drier is 61pence per hour!!
General rule of thumb, appliances that have a heating element inside of them use the most energy and cost the most.
Back to OP, never, ever leave a drier unattended. Appliances that set on fire will usually trip an RCD, lint from a drier getting to hot and igniting, won’t.
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No amount of cleaning the filters clean will stop the lint building up on the heater element, that's the real issue. The only real way to prevent that is to strip it and clean it.
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Soldato
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Available to the British forces so the cheapest one possible.
Soldato
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We have to remind people on a weekly basis to empty the bin. RTFM is not an option
That seems way too much for an A rated model.
My drier on a synthetics 65 min program (Which is enough for everything I've used it on) uses around 1 - 1.5 kwh (it stops early with some small loads) So 13-20p.
Ours is a Bosch, but I can visualise always having a nag of doubt.
Well, as I said in my OP, the filter is ALWAYS cleaned out, but apprehension will always nag at me.
Ours is a Zanussi and starting to get more use now the days are getting shorter and cooler. We always do towels in there as it is the only way to ensure they don't dry like stiff cardboard on the line outside. I couldn't put my hand on my heart and say we have never gone out and left it on, but we do try not to. Certainly not on the full drying part of the cycle - might venture out if it's on the cooling/anti-crease section. We always clean the main filter after each load and try and do a heavy clean at least once a month with the vacuum around the door, plus take the second filter out and put the schnozzle round there too. Condenser gets cleaned as soon as the warning light comes on.
I don't know about something that cost that much as ours was about £230 for an A++ rated one that has been going a couple of years now.
Drying clothes on a rack only works well if you have very good air flow, otherwise you are likely to cause or add to damp/condensation issues. Obviously not great for health, especially for those with existing respiratory conditions.
The problem was that even if you cleaned the filter the fluff still built up and there was no protection around the element.
I know this because I used to clean the filter after every use, and still have to stick a hoover nozzle down to get the fluff that made it past the badly fitting filters (on at least two models of hotboint tumbe dryer), and Hotpoint themselves admitted the modification was to install a shielding part over/around the element to prevent fluff being drawn over it by the air movement.
The problem would obviously have been much worse if you didn't clean the filter (although the fluff would build up and stop the clothes drying), but it was a design flaw that didn't allow for fluff getting past the filter at all..
Even the replacement dryer we got still has the issue with a badly fitting and designed filter that allows fluff past it when in use, and when you pull it out to clean it, thus still requiring the occasional manual clean out of the filter area by finger and hoover
I don't know many people with £800 tumple dryers, or many £1 racks
Tumble Dryers start at ~£100 and racks when I've looked at them at about £10 for a small/weak one.As dcsarge says, drying clothes on a rack in the house has a lot of issues, especially in modern buildings that are often fairly well sealed to keep the heat in, often by stopping the sort of airflow you need to remove damp air caused by wet clothing(all those old drafty areas were great for airflow), and in many instances modern houses already have some issues with removing moist air.
there is also a strong element of how long can you wait for your clothes to dry and how much space are you going to give over to the drying...a rack may be possible if you're on your own in a reasonable size house, but if there are say 3 or 4 of you you're likely to be doing a wash load at least daily* which is going to cause issues especially if it's say cold outside and you're not able to open the windows to let the damp air out (or the air outside is already damp).
*One wash per person per week for clothes, probably another couple of wash loads per week for bedding (more if you do all the bedding every week), towel washes etc.
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Well it does matter because it seems a lot of people are looking at Tumble Dryers and not just the Whirlpool/Merloni products.
Whirlpool took Merloni over after this debacle.
if you use a dryer regularly don't you get economy7 electricity too, or foreign equivalent, so you can run it cheaper at night ? The BG smart meter tarif, free on one day, could be exploited.
The heat pump dryers, although threy are more expensive, less reliable?, have reduced energy costs, plus the attraction that they run at lower temps, and are reputably less aggressive on the clothing, so that lasts longer.
The heat pump dryers, although threy are more expensive, less reliable?, have reduced energy costs, plus the attraction that they run at lower temps, and are reputably less aggressive on the clothing, so that lasts longer.
have you measured it with a smart plug ? I did this for washing machine to check; it's all like average mileage scams on cars.
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Economy 7 tariff is something different then just using more energy, eco7 is mainly for people with no gas central heating who run storage heaters for warmth, storage heaters run through the night and cost a fortune, so eco7 was brought in (used to be a split tariff many years ago) so folk paid cheaper electric through the night then you did through the day. If you were on eco7 you could do cheaper drying, but would have to stay up after midnight, every night,to start your tumble drier.
The free electric one day tariff is amazing, offered by us when you get a smart meter, or at least it was. It’s no longer available to customers, those that are on it were honoured for their first 12 months of being on it
I try not to leave any of the major white goods on when I'm not at home (oven, tumbledrier, dishwasher, washing machine) just in case there are water leaks, fires etc.
The tumbledrier and oven are never ever left alone though, the dishwasher and washing machine I'm a bit more relaxed over if I'm just popping to the shops etc.
As for why to use a drier over racks, with a family of 4 the washing machine is on daily, and over the winter I would forever have a house full of drying towels, bedding etc. Plus drying a full set of king size bedding would take days on a rack.
The tumbledrier and oven are never ever left alone though, the dishwasher and washing machine I'm a bit more relaxed over if I'm just popping to the shops etc.
As for why to use a drier over racks, with a family of 4 the washing machine is on daily, and over the winter I would forever have a house full of drying towels, bedding etc. Plus drying a full set of king size bedding would take days on a rack.
exactly how hot does it get in your tumble drier in order for it to ignite cloth?
My £50 tumble drier dries clothes significantly faster than my £25 drying rack. I have never seen a drying rack for £1 at Poundland.
In the winter, if ambient temperatures are low, clothes often do not dry sufficiently quickly to prevent them from smelling.
I also travel a lot, so regularly need to wash and dry two loads of clothing in the space of 24 hours. That's usually alright with t shirts, but for jeans or jumpers you can forget it.
Mine costs nothing like that, when the drier is on the whole house readings average around 0.8kwh, with the odd high off about 1.2kwh.