Heat Pump Dryers

[Seasoned Oak]

My electric bill is headed for the $200 mark this month and i suspect my clothes dryer is eating up a lot of this.
With a 6 person household it seems the dryer never shuts off. 5 loads a day equals about $50 a month on the bill. Does anyone here have any experience with these new heat pump dryers. They are said to save 75% of the drying cost. They cost about $900 but if they can save $40 a month in electric it would be worth it. First im going to install a metering guage on the dryer line to see exactly what its using.

 

[DBoon]

I was just looking at this http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/guest-blogs/heat-pump-clothes-dryers.

If you take the plunge, I'll be interested to hear how it works out.

 

[Seasoned Oak]

I was just looking at this http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/guest-blogs/heat-pump-clothes-dryers.

If you take the plunge, I'll be interested to hear how it works out.

They are talking 5 loads a week, im sure we do 5 loads a DAY here. So thats 7 times the savings in that article. It would pay for itself in two years.

 

[jb6l6gc]

Two words. Clothes line!
I love the crispness and freshness of clothes dried outside! Saves me a ton!

 

[maple1]

We have a drying rack set up in one of our bathrooms. It doesn't get used as much as I would like to see it get used, but it helps. It also helps, I think, with typically lower winter indoor humidity levels. If you are really drying 5 loads a day, that would indeed be a kicker. Also have a couple of frame type clothes racks that stuff can be hung on hangers to dry.

Bath towels are a bit of a peave with me too. Used quickly for a few moments then tossed on the dirty heap - takes lots of juice to dry towels. Using them more than once seems to be a bit of an ick factor for some & I can't seem to figure it out - aren't you clean when you get out of the shower?

 

[mass_burner]

Two words. Clothes line!
I love the crispness and freshness of clothes dried outside! Saves me a ton!

Two more words...less clothes.

 

[mass_burner]

We have a drying rack set up in one of our bathrooms. It doesn't get used as much as I would like to see it get used, but it helps. It also helps, I think, with typically lower winter indoor humidity levels. If you are really drying 5 loads a day, that would indeed be a kicker. Also have a couple of frame type clothes racks that stuff can be hung on hangers to dry.

Bath towels are a bit of a peave with me too. Used quickly for a few moments then tossed on the dirty heap - takes lots of juice to dry towels. Using them more than once seems to be a bit of an ick factor for some & I can't seem to figure it out - aren't you clean when you get out of the shower?

By my logic, a drying towel is perpetually clean.

 

[Seasoned Oak]

By my logic, a drying towel is perpetually clean.

I feel the same but the better half lnsists on washing every towel used (6 large towels a day) after a single use. Also most of the user,s here do not do full loads,on the contrary sometimes theres 2 sneakers in the washer or a few socks. I tried changing this behavior ,but it doesnt change and its not worth fighting over. I did pay for the most expensive hi- efficiency washer i could find in order to save water ,but now its the power for the dryer thats killing me.

 

[Seasoned Oak]

Two words. Clothes line!
I love the crispness and freshness of clothes dried outside! Saves me a ton!

Thats not going to happen! Only the one thats burdened with the bill worries about the cost, and thats me.

 

[Circus]

Instead of heating tons of air then exhausting it out the wall I bet looping in a dehumidifier would work a lot cheaper.
Never mind, next time I'll read the link before posting. It is a looped dehumidifier.

 

[begreen]

Word again, clothesline. But agreed I too would be looking into a heat pump dryer.

FWIW, 5 loads a day seems a very high number. Does everyone just wear something once and toss it in the laundry?

 

[Seasoned Oak]

Word again, clothesline. But agreed I too would be looking into a heat pump dryer.

FWIW, 5 loads a day seems a very high number. Does everyone just wear something once and toss it in the laundry?

Yup figure one load of towels and wash clothes daily various other items like sneakers,curtains,sheets now and then,work clothes for the 3 employed adults and clothes for 2 kids. Like i said ,seems like the thing is going 24/7 water use is about 7 to 10000 gals a month

 

[BoilerMan]

Wow, that is a lot of laundry indeed! I save a TON on a gas dryer. Our household dries an average of 10 loads/week. I own two 100# propane tanks and they last 12-14 months, our range is also gas. In the far NE everyone has electric ranges and dryers and at least double my electric bill. I fill my tanks (48 gals total) for around $100, so less than $10/month for cooking and drying combined.

TS

 

[Seasoned Oak]

Ill update when if find out exactly how much the dryer is using. My son has a meter that you just clamp on the wires to monitor usage. Then i can calculate the savings with a heat pump dryer. They supposedly use about a third of the power in winter and half in summer.

 

[maple1]

My mind is still boggled at 5 loads a day. Even when our 3 kids were in their 'dirtiest' years, we were nowhere near that. Maybe 5 per week - we try to make sure we do full loads though. That's almost a full time job for someone, just doing laundry - kuddos to them.

 

[drewmo]

We bought one of these dryers when living in France because where we were putting the dryer didn't have exhaust in place for an electric dryer. This was maybe 10 years ago. I'll assume the technology has improved since, but our experience with this thing was horrible. It took forever to dry a load and the water collection container was pretty small, so you had to deal with that. We probably used the thing 5 times before selling it. Clothesline was up year round, and when it was too cold to line dry, a variety of racks were set up around the wood stove. Talk about a savings to your electric bill.

 

[Seasoned Oak]

We

My mind is still boggled at 5 loads a day. Even when our 3 kids were in their 'dirtiest' years, we were nowhere near that. Maybe 5 per week - we try to make sure we do full loads though. That's almost a full time job for someone, just doing laundry - kuddos to them.

Too small loads will do that too. The girls here go thru detergent like crazy too.Then it takes multiple rinses to get all the soap out. I have a separate washer/dryer for my work clothes in the basement and im still working on a 10 year old 5 gal bucket of HE detergent.

 

[DBoon]

I've learned over the years that it is impossible to "modify" some wasteful behaviors if those doing the wasting just don't care...

I'm lucky to have a wife who likes to use a clothesline. In the warmer weather, this is 100% of what we do, and in the winter, we dry most of our clothes in front of a wood stove. I was looking at HP dryers since the village house we are living in now will be rented out in a few years, and the dryer that vents in the basement will be used by tenants who could probably care less if the basement got humid and moldy.

 

[begreen]

Seems to be time for the girls to start buying their own detergent and paying for power/water usage.

 

[Seasoned Oak]

Seems to be time for the girls to start buying their own detergent and paying for power/water usage.

Iv come to the stark realization a long time ago that a divorce is way more expensive than the utilities.But its getting close

 

[Seasoned Oak]

I've learned over the years that it is impossible to "modify" some wasteful behaviors if those doing the wasting just don't care...

Iv got one of those wives who does not like to be told she is doing something wrong,but thats also probably why shes with me for 20 years.

 

[Highbeam]

Yup figure one load of towels and wash clothes daily various other items like sneakers,curtains,sheets now and then,work clothes for the 3 employed adults and clothes for 2 kids. Like i said ,seems like the thing is going 24/7 water use is about 7 to 10000 gals a month

I was under the impression that modern washing machines varied the water level in the drum to match the load somehow. Automatically even. If that was the case, it would seem less of a problem to run 3 small loads vs. 1 big one. Dry time is also reduced with small loads. It then follows that the number of loads isn't the problem but the vast amount of laundry you are washing.

I grew up as a pool rat. Swim team year round, swim lesson teacher, lifeguard etc. We only switched towels when the old one started stinking. They get mildew smell. It's not that they are soiled from one's body but the wetness attracts growth of yuky stuff.

We do the same at home. There is a reason that you have towel racks/bars and not towel drawers beside the shower. It's to allow your towel to dry out.

 

[Seasoned Oak]

Extreme cleanliness can be an obsession. Despite the high level of cleaning everything they seem to be sick more than average. I personally do not suffer from this obsession. For me a bath towel can go at least a week or more ,when allowed to dry on the towel rack between uses.

 

[Seasoned Oak]

Another bad habit is using too much detergent. Along with wearing out the clothes quickly ,it takes that many more rinses to get all the soap out.
Iv found that even when i use 1/2 the recommended amount ,it take about 4 to 6 rinses to get it all back out of the clothes.

 

[Highbeam]

Extreme cleanliness can be an obsession. Despite the high level of cleaning everything they seem to be sick more than average.

I've often wondered about the link between these things. I do not get sick and will admit to being a bit less than a clean freak. Need a glass, see one on the table, smells clean, refill, saved washing a glass!