What is the most energy efficient clothes dryer available? 

The sun.... /s

Our Bosch S4 uses about 3000w for a cycle, not sure what others do

Edited April 15, 20233 yr by mzezman

I would think something like this:
https://www.takealot.com/bennett-read-1000w-dribuddi-laundry-dryer/PLID46863506

1000W  heater/blower fan

The cheapest would be a clothing line in the SUN.  🤣

 

Edited April 15, 20233 yr by Modina

I keep telling my wife this but she likes to dry the small stuff instead of hanging🤣

I'm using an old defy and it's 2200w and cycles on/off. Was just looking around but any heating appliance is around 2000W really. 

I chucked mine years ago, those things are way too power hungry. I am cheap so the sun it is for me

Probably most efficient to go for one of the newer heat-pump dryer types. Like the one below that uses 1,1kW.

https://www.miele.co.za/domestic/tumble-dryers-1575.htm?mat=11684670&name=TCB140_WP

But in our climate it's probably cheapest just to get a washing machine with a fast spin cycle and hang stuff up to dry.

5 minutes ago, GreenFields said:

in our climate it's probably cheapest just to get a washing machine with a fast spin cycle and hang stuff up to dry.

This. 

Get a new A+++ rated front loader. I got one recently. An LG. 

Quieter, fast spin cycles, uses less water, and the clothes are nearly dry and not so creased when they are taken out. Has all kinds of doohickeys & wotchamacallems to reduce water use. 

Ours does 1200rpm on most programs, but you can push that up to 1400. 

Yeah I have a huge LG 18kg top loader. All the tricks with it too. Inverter drive, turbo spin and a fan but damn it uses a lot of water. 

33 minutes ago, Chris_S said:

Yeah I have a huge LG 18kg top loader. All the tricks with it too. Inverter drive, turbo spin and a fan but damn it uses a lot of water. 

Thats a big load. 

Front loaders are significantly more efficient when it homes to water. Apparently they are gentler on the clothes too. 

But a modern top loader will be more efficient than one 10 years old. 

1 minute ago, Bobster. said:

Thats a big load. 

Front loaders are significantly more efficient when it homes to water. Apparently they are gentler on the clothes too. 

But a modern top loader will be more efficient than one 10 years old. 

Yeah it uses 200-300L of water to wash a full load and I'm on rain water tanks so it hurts. Time to start saving for new appliances now😢

i recently got this one.

Defy Tumble Dryer, thats A++ rated..tested its consumption over the last few weeks and it uses on average 1.5Kw per cycle

https://www.hirschs.co.za/defy-9kg-heat-pump-dryer-dtd323

15 minutes ago, Iiceman said:

i recently got this one.

Defy Tumble Dryer, thats A++ rated..tested its consumption over the last few weeks and it uses on average 1.5Kw per cycle

https://www.hirschs.co.za/defy-9kg-heat-pump-dryer-dtd323

How often do you need to empty the tank? 

it has a drain pipe as well as the tank, so i dont use the tank

So these heat pump dryers use hot water to heat? 

On 2023/04/16 at 7:39 AM, Chris_S said:

So these heat pump dryers use hot water to heat? 

No, the unit uses a a heat pump to heat the air and an evaporator (looks like a little radiator) to extract the moisture.

The evaporator extracts the moisture allowing the already heated air to be re-used for the drying cycle (requiring a lot less energy) and not just blown either outside or into your room (a standard tumble dryer or condenser unit has to continuously heat new air using lots of energy).

The condensate is collected as water into a tank which you have to regularly empty, or you can connect the optionally provided pipe fitting to automatically eject the water to an appropriate drain.

I find that I have to empty the tank at least once a cycle when I dry a standard load of towels.

On 2023/04/16 at 7:39 AM, Chris_S said:

So these heat pump dryers use hot water to heat? 

No. Think of it like an aircon in reverse. It compresses air to generate heat. The same basic idea that is used in heat pumps for water heating, and those are significantly more efficient than a traditional geyser element.

Figures I've seen say that the heat pump units run for longer, but still use less power. So if you have a PV system, you will not load that as heavily. But you will pay more up front.

Here's a useful comparison of the different types. The savings figures are not so helpful because they are using UK tariffs. But if you can figure out what the current one uses (should have a plate on it, or you may still have the manual), then you can look at some options and work out what the savings are likely to be. If you buy a kill-a-watt type meter (shouldn't cost an arm and a leg) then you can get a very good idea of what your current unit uses.

There's no one right answer here. If reducing your carbon footprint is important to you, or you run the drier a lot, then heat pump wins. Otherwise do some sums to make a better educated decision.
 

4 hours ago, Bobster. said:

No. Think of it like an aircon in reverse. It compresses air to generate heat. The same basic idea that is used in heat pumps for water heating, and those are significantly more efficient than a traditional geyser element.

Figures I've seen say that the heat pump units run for longer, but still use less power. So if you have a PV system, you will not load that as heavily. But you will pay more up front.

Here's a useful comparison of the different types. The savings figures are not so helpful because they are using UK tariffs. But if you can figure out what the current one uses (should have a plate on it, or you may still have the manual), then you can look at some options and work out what the savings are likely to be. If you buy a kill-a-watt type meter (shouldn't cost an arm and a leg) then you can get a very good idea of what your current unit uses.

There's no one right answer here. If reducing your carbon footprint is important to you, or you run the drier a lot, then heat pump wins. Otherwise do some sums to make a better educated decision.
 

Just my input. It depends on the size of heat pump. If using a 4.7kw(heat) 1.2kW electrical power then 9 months of the year the heat pump will be quicker for a 150L geyser. I do however see a number of people use this size for a 200L geyser so in this case it might be taking longer. 

I always thought the heat pump does not compress air but uses the compression and expansion of gas to create the heat to heat water and for sure it expels cold air via the fan. That is why it has the compressor like a aircon. 

9 minutes ago, Scorp007 said:

Just my input. It depends on the size of heat pump. If using a 4.7kw(heat) 1.2kW electrical power then 9 months of the year the heat pump will be quicker for a 150L geyser. I do however see a number of people use this size for a 200L geyser so in this case it might be taking longer. 

I always thought the heat pump does not compress air but uses the compression and expansion of gas to create the heat to heat water and for sure it expels cold air via the fan. That is why it has the compressor like a aircon. 

You're right. I knew it compresses something. What it compresses is the refrigerant (or what would be a refrigerant if it were a fridge, which it isn't). You are right about the cold air on the outlet side, you can distinctly feel this with my heat pump. 

2 hours ago, Bobster. said:

You're right. I knew it compresses something. What it compresses is the refrigerant (or what would be a refrigerant if it were a fridge, which it isn't). You are right about the cold air on the outlet side, you can distinctly feel this with my heat pump. 

I am just thinking out loud. Perhaps for clothes drying it works totally different. 

I have a LG RC90V9JV2W dryer. I bought it for the specific reason of low energy consumption.

It gets used on overcast rainy days or for specific items. Cannot even tell on electricity consumption when its been run or not. Extremely low electricity usage. 

Strangely enough - I cannot find a spec sheet on actual consumption, but I did find this, Mine shows A+++ -10% 

4 minutes ago, spotity said:

I have a LG RC90V9JV2W dryer. I bought it for the specific reason of low energy consumption.

It gets used on overcast rainy days or for specific items. Cannot even tell on electricity consumption when its been run or not. Extremely low electricity usage. 

Strangely enough - I cannot find a spec sheet on actual consumption, but I did find this, Mine shows A+++ -10% 

Wow thats some crazy efficiency , for about R18000 its probably more than most of us can afford .... nice to see what you can buy these days if you have the moola.

2 hours ago, Nexuss said:

Wow thats some crazy efficiency , for about R18000 its probably more than most of us can afford .... nice to see what you can buy these days if you have the moola.

It's a kind of irony. You can get marvellous efficiency, save on running costs & reduce your impact on the planet. But it costs you.

I've got my electric bill down to nearly nothing, and now I've declared war on the water bill, but I could  have a lot more money in the bank. 

Saving money is an expensive game. 

On 2023/04/24 at 9:26 PM, Bobster. said:

It's a kind of irony. You can get marvellous efficiency, save on running costs & reduce your impact on the planet. But it costs you.

I've got my electric bill down to nearly nothing, and now I've declared war on the water bill, but I could  have a lot more money in the bank. 

Saving money is an expensive game. 

Couldn't agree more, sort of like eating healthy...

Interested to hear what you have in mind for your water bill, I am also trying to control mine, I like visibility, but have been unable to find any water usage monitors that actually work on our water meters 

Edited April 27, 20233 yr by spotity
Typo

On 2023/04/24 at 9:26 PM, Bobster. said:

It's a kind of irony. You can get marvellous efficiency, save on running costs & reduce your impact on the planet. But it costs you.

I've got my electric bill down to nearly nothing, and now I've declared war on the water bill, but I could  have a lot more money in the bank. 

Saving money is an expensive game. 

So with solar we join those that save a lot of money by spending it on a sale. 

Just read a comment of a guy calculating it would take about 40 years at current prices to save what his system cost him. 

11 hours ago, spotity said:

Couldn't agree more, sort of like eating healthy...

Interested to hear what you have in mind for your water bill, I am also trying to control mine, I like visibility, but have been unable to find any water usage monitors that actually work on our water meters 

There are meters that can be placed in a line, but you have to do a little bit of labour, and make sure that there's no leaks. Whenever I involve myself in plumbing there are always leaks and a ride in blood pressure.