The Great Debate. Gas vs Electric Dryers

My opinion here is based on what my experience has been using almost every major dryer design on the market either myself or at friends and relative's houses. In both Gas and Electric.

In my opinion, Electric Dryers are superior to Gas Dryers and here's why.

Based on my experiences on my own machines, I have a short vent so that makes a variable. Electric Dryers despite taking a little bit longer to heat up. Seem to be the same or faster than Gas Dryers, The reasoning for this is because Gas produces moisture when burned, where the heat from an electric heating element is the same moisture content as the ambient room air. Also in my experiences. Gas Versions of GE and Frigidaire Dryers, along with gas versions of Whirlpool's 29" dryer design are painfully slow. I have run both a gas and electric Maytag SOH dryer, both Neptunes for consistency, Both take about the same amount of time, sometimes one is faster than the other by a couple minutes but for the most part they've been the same. Also in my experience. Electric GE, Frigidaire and Whirlpool's 27" dryers seem to dry very fast, though Electric GE Dryers have a 5600W Element that is too close to the clothes. It should be a 4500W element like the Frigidaire dryer. It also seems like the GE Laundry Center elements are a lower wattage as well. Both GE and Frigidaire dryers you have to be careful to not overload them because the heating element is directly behind the drum and clothes can get scorched if there is poor airflow.

In my opinion. Why bother with a Gas dryer when an Electric dryer is usually faster, and can even be gentler on clothes. A gas dryer the heat is either on or off. On newer electric dryers, the heat can be regulated by limiting the current to the heating element. The only thing I see Gas Dryers being better than Electric is operating cost and if you are unable to get a 240V circuit.

Natural gas heated dryers are more efficient than electric or even steam.

https://www.usnews.com/360-reviews/... you're shopping,in turn dries clothes faster.

https://www.whirlpool.com/blog/washers-and-dryers/gas-vs-electric-dryers.html

https://www.townappliance.com/blogs/town-appliance-official/gas-vs-electric-dryer

Where NG is available (and venting to outdoors possible) dryers using that fuel as heat source tend to out number electric.

Laundromats, laundries and other professional/industrial places use gas or steam for heating dryers over electricity.

We've had both and prefer gas. My mom just had the option to go back to electric as she was replacing her Maytag stack with a WP Stack and both fuels are available in the closet but she stuck with gas also. For us it is faster than electric. My GE dries perfect almost every time on low setting and my Frigidaire on sensor setting doesn't always get all the way dry but on timed setting it's perfect even on medium setting. And I now have the above mentioned Maytag unit. That dryer is great even on delicate and sensor dry.  And here gas is super cheap.

Dryers are better for the environment and faster

Hi Kelly, you make some good points but your research isn’t complete back in the days when consumer reports tested drawing speed between the identical electric and gas versions of the same dryer and every single case the gas dryer was faster and much cheaper to operate

While it is true, gas puts off moisture when it burns so you don’t get the full BTUs of the gas burner rating, 6000 W of electricity only equals 18,000 BTUs of gas there are no gas dryers that are only 18,000 BTUs generally so the gas is faster.

My vintage whirlpool and Kenmore dryers have a modulating burner so the heat never goes off completely until the cool down. No electric dryer does that accurately.

Gas dryers tend to last longer and have Many fewer fires both within the dryer and fires caused by wiring that fails because the heavy loads that electric dryers consume for long period of time, many outlets, circuit breaker panels burn up electric dryers every day in this country and throughout Europe.

While it’s true that eventually more and more homes will go all electric and heat pump dryers are economical to operate they’re just not as fast and they have more maintenance issues.

John

My 240-volt outlet is adjacent to where my washer and gas dryer are already installed side by side... So I'd hate to have to carry to and retrieve my laundry from an unnecessary distance...

My DC is also the old fashioned 3-wire receptical, somid have to replace it with the newer 4-wire one, whereas my gas unit is much more ready to install with the plumbing and AC also used by the washer and its water required for inlet and drainage...

So like with electric ranges replacing gas in a govt. mandate, I'm not going to like the same thing to happen to my dryer having to be changed over to such, nor my water heater and furnace also located nearby in the same area next to the laundry and both also gas-fired...

-- Dave

Taking the assumption as given that we will have to go 0 emissions by some time before 2050 if at all possible:

The one thing that gas dryers have going for them is that they are currently less CO2 emitting than normal vented electric dryers.
Main issue is that for electricity, you convert gas to heat to movement to electricity to heat again - with gas in the dryer directly you just go straight to heat.

A kWh of heat by gas emits about 200g of CO2.
A kWh of electricity is at about 385g of CO2.

Now, a heat pump dryer uses about half the electricity of a vented dryer.
With that, you're already less CO2 emitting.

At the point some manufacturers realise that offering a 120V gas dryer replacement with a heat pump is not only pretty possible but also a pretty decent future niche market, I bet that'll take off.

If we go further into the future - 2040 or so - we're talking no more natural gas.
The replacement being floated around is hydrogen.
That would be produced by electrolysis which is expected to reach around 85% efficiency by then.

Which doesn't sound that bad - but if you turn electricity into gas into heat, you could just skip the step in-between.

And if a heat pump dryer already does what 2kWh would do in a normal vented dryer with just 1kWh, going through gas is just further loss of energy.
And with power grids already strained and electrification on the road map, reducing that strain is a priority.

So yeah.
Currently, from a cost standpoint, gas is first and ahead of a normal electric dryer.

But the future certainly will be electric/heat pump.

I can't chime in (but I will) because I've literally never lived anywhere that had gas except ONE rental... and the only gas that place had was the HVAC heat was gas...that was the first and only time in my life I remember having a gas bill AND an electric bill...I can't believe of all the places I've lived, everything has been electric...I've never used a gas stove...but I have visited places that had one...

If I keep my vent run clean... which I do... a normal load dries in about 45 min's (give or take).. It has been up to an hour on a big load of whites that contains thick towels or a big load of thick jeans.. Maybe even slightly over an hour for those types of loads... but most of the time if I do a medium load of jeans (say 5 pair) it's under an hour...same with towels... the past few years I've started doing medium loads instead of large loads. They just wash and dry better.

sorry I offered no use here... I'm just rambling.

Here in Southern California, my gas and electricity rates are tiered.

 

Gas starts out at $0.05/kWh and then increases by 1.5 cents to $0.065/kWh.

Electricity starts out at $0.35/kWh and then goes up to $0.45/kWh.

 

We always end up in the higher tiers, so any change in usage will be reflected in the higher tiers.

 

This means that our electricity is SEVEN TIMES the price of gas here in SoCal.  So a heat pump dryer will cost around 3x as much to run compared to a gas dryer.  And a regular electric vented dryer will be around 6x the running cost of a gas dryer.

 

Of course the future is all electric and carbon neutral.  Heat pumps are likely to become more common for water and space heating but right now gas is MUCH cheaper here.  This will change, I expect.

In terms of comparing the performance and user experience of vented electric versus gas dryers, I can't say I've ever noticed a difference.  Of course there are differences between makes and models etc., but I've never noticed a difference resulting from being gas or electrically heated.

In my experience, electric has always outperformed gas in the speed department.

My DE HOH's are much quicker than the DG units.

My DE SOH dryers outperformed matching DG units by a good margin, about 20 minutes.

I have used electric 29" whirlpool dryers and there were always quicker than my '81 gas, even with longer vent tubing.

My '81 29" gas Kenmore dryer and 70's/80's Maytag DG SOH dryers took the same amount of time to get the average large load dried out my 806 washer, about 50-55 minutes using the longer permanent press cooldown features. The electric SOH's are 35 minutes, sometimes less.

I'd say cost is the biggest factor using a gas dryer, minus hookup availability.

 
All the dryers I've used on a recurring/continuing basis have been electric so I have no basis for comparison to gas.

gas

I'd prefer gas dryers especially in laundromat settings. I noticed that they dry fairly quickly and efficiently.

I’ve used both, but since I’ve made repairs to my dryers over the years, electric dryers can have the wires near the thermostats burn out, had that happen to my Maytag DE306 back in 2019 (now a DE806) since the wire that comes off the heater burned out.

Believe his also happened on the Maytag SOH dryers as well neat the heating element, a few others as well.

This may be slightly off topic since this forum index is for more modern machines, but here’s one thing to note. If you ever come across one of those vintage Whirlpool or Kenmore high speed electric dryers with the 8000 to 9000 watt element, you’ll have to upgrade the breaker from a 30 amp to a 60 amp breaker not to mention the wiring which will be costly which will be for a dryer which will be costly to operate.

On the other hand, the high speed Whirlpool and Kenmore gas dryers with the 37,000 btu burner don’t require any special installation other than rigid ductwork, that’s about it. Will have a very fast dryer which will be economical to operate.

 
There's no gas service in my house or neighborhood, either natural or propane, so either one would require modification .. with gas being more of a problem.

I'll stick with a gas dryer unless if I had no choice. Sure it may be more expensive to buy than an electric dryer brand new but in the long run savings wise, it'd make more sense to me. It's the same reason why I'd also choose a front loader over a top loader.

Both houses my parents owned in their married life basically all gas and thus a gas dryer too. When I was offered to move here with my job in 1985, there were no houses in my price range that had gas service to the house that was an acceptable quality. The two houses I had in Houston before I moved here were basically all gas but I knew I wouldn't be in them as my forever home. So I didn't purchcase a gas dryer.

Save using electric or gas dryer...

I use a spin dryer (have both Panda and Ninja). Not only does it cut down on the amount of time to dry clothes, but I can also use lower heat settings. No issues with wiring yet. Maybe the lower heat settings help? Lower heat setting seem to help elastics last longer too. I still prefer to finish up with the dryer because clothes aren't as stiff, and it helps remove lint.

I have both gas and electric connection, but chose electric. Dryers can last a long time. Most places have electric but not gas hookup. So there's that to consider if one might be moving. Also, as someone not trained in appliance repairs, I feel more comfortable trying to repair an electric appliance vs. gas--that's just me.

Never used a gas dryer that I recall nor if any of our neighbors growing up had one. Every house pretty much had gas furnaces and gas water heaters in their basements near the laundry area so I'd assume some people may have had one. Our Kenmore is still working away since new in 1987 with just one belt change around 2003 .

Quite specific to my house, but I would never own a gas dryer because of the bad venting situation I have. My laundry room is in the worst possible location: the exact center of the house. So the dryer vent has to snake its way down through the crawlspace and underneath the kitchen to reach the outside wall. It’s a bad setup (and one that I can’t do much about short of renovating the house), but at least with an electric dryer I don’t have to worry about this terrible venting situation killing me with carbon monoxide.

I’ve often thought about getting a heat pump dryer so I can be rid of dryer venting entirely. Still, my early-2000’s Whirlpool electric dryer keeps chugging along. Fun fact about my dryer: it was apparently the matching dryer for the Calypso! (My washer is a direct drive though).

Late to the party

I actually have both

The Maytag de808 in Harvest gold in in the upstairs laundry room with the Maytag a806

My gas dryer Maytag DG608 is in the basement with the other Maytags

gas was easy in the basement since the dryer is next to the WH

Short gas line and short rigid vent pipe

Reply number 19

Gas dryers produce an insignificant amount of carbon monoxide, and gas dryers are also more tolerant of bad and long vents. You don’t get the overheating of the heating element that you get with an electric dryer with a bad vent.

That said for best performance, you should have a good vent for any vented dryer, have you considered having a new vent run going up through the attic and through the roof it might be a lot more Direct.

A heat pump dryer would be a lot more economical than continuing with an electric dryer, they are about twice as expensive and they do require more maintenance so it’s not the perfect answer either.

John

I prefer vented electric dryers too...

They don’t have as many rust issues as they age due to the heating element not producing acidic moisture during operation, they don’t have the risk of explosion in the event of a leak, they don’t produce CO, so they can be vented indoors if you wish. They are also simpler, as they don’t require a gas valve or igniter. I’ve heard of people having issues getting gas valves for some vintage gas dryers, while heating elements for electric ones could be re-created much more easily. They do have a nasty habit of creating larger arcs on the contacts of the timer than gas dryers do, but a simple HVAC relay for the heater circuit will take care of that. I’m not the biggest fan of heat pump or condensing dryers either. They’re a bit complicated for my taste, and they take a long time to dry. I certainly don’t hate any of them, and love watching the gas burner cycle on the SOH Maytags at one of the local laundromats I visit sometimes. I would also happily use a heat pump or condensing dryer just for the experience. I just wouldn’t want one as my only dryer is all.
Thatwasherguy.

“They do have a nasty habit of creating large arcs on the contacts of the timer”

That’s why I specifically put a low heat 120F double throw switch on the Maytag DE806 I put together last year, usually the heating element will be off right before the timer enters the cool down, sometimes it’ll be on before the cool down engages, but most of the time it’s off before the cool down engage. Sure, it’ll take longer do dry with a 120F temperature, but will certainly be easier on the machine since it’s not getting too hot which helps make the front felt seal and door gasket last longer along with the contact in the timer since the heating element will be off before the cool down.

Sorry to resurrect an older thread, but it all depends where you live and how much you get charged for utilities...

Where I live, natural gas prices rise faster than electricity, and have been for the past decade or so; before this, gas was the cheaper one!

For comparison, my power bills are about $200-250 per quarter (using an electric vented dryer), but when I had central gas heating, iirc the highest winter gas bill I ever got was about $900? I now have central reverse-cycle inverter HVAC, which has shaved off a significant amount from gas charges, but the power bill hasn't risen nearly as much!

In don't know how US gas billing works, but in Germany at least, you get billed gas on the basis of kWhs just like electricity.
That makes billing somewhat complicated since gas composition here varies slightly throughout the year and from place to place, so the gas company has to adjust accordingly.

But from there, it's pretty simple to just make the comparison.
A gas dryer uses ever so slightly more energy for the same evaporation than electric as one of the combustion products is water vapour. That reduces how much moisture the air can take.
The effect however is miniscule, so you can just assume that a gas dryer uses about the same as an electric dryer in terms of kWh's.



Once you bring heat pumps into the game, that comparison gets more complicated as COPs and specific usage and cycle patterns suddenly play a way larger role.

henene4 said:

In don't know how US gas billing works, but in Germany at least, you get billed gas on the basis of kWhs just like electricity.
That makes billing somewhat complicated since gas composition here varies slightly throughout the year and from place to place, so the gas company has to adjust accordingly.

But from there, it's pretty simple to just make the comparison.
A gas dryer uses ever so slightly more energy for the same evaporation than electric as one of the combustion products is water vapour. That reduces how much moisture the air can take.
The effect however is miniscule, so you can just assume that a gas dryer uses about the same as an electric dryer in terms of kWh's.



Once you bring heat pumps into the game, that comparison gets more complicated as COPs and specific usage and cycle patterns suddenly play a way larger role.

Click to expand...

I live in Australia; we pay some of the most expensive utility prices in the world. Because we've been exporting most of our natural gas reserves for decades, our domestic supply has begun to face shortages, although that's only one contributor, in a myriad of factors, as to why Australian domestic NG prices have risen so much.

Residential rooftop PV solar panels are quite popular here; solar storage batteries are also catching on, which further drive down electricity bills for households. I can say with confidence that electric appliances are becoming more attractive these days, from a running cost POV.

I understand the equations of units to work out gas and electricity efficiency and billing are different, but when you're paying that much for a utility in a country where the cost of living is also quite high even before inflation, you take whatever savings you can get!

Here’s an ad that I saw the other day were looking through some old magazines from 1967. It was literally five times cheaper to run a gas dryer here in the Washington area during this time. As well.

As pointed out, it is still much more environmentally sound to use a gas dryer unless you’re generating all your own electricity with solar or wind and not sharing it with anybody else.

Propane, gas and most of the world is at least twice as much as natural gas, but it can vary.

How many of you have tried to figure out what it actually cost you to dry a load of clothing with your dryer.

A large load of clothing that weighs approximately 12 pounds dry And spun in a modern machine that runs over 800 RPMs will usually cost $.30 to more than a dollar with electricity in the United States.

A natural gas dryer and most of the US will cost between $.15 and probably a little more than $.50 for an hour of operation

New developments overhere don’t get connected to natural gas anymore. Due to the limited usable natural gas reserves and the earthquakes gas extraction has caused natural gas will be phased out in the future.

When condenser dryers and later heatpump dryers became popular architects saw no reason anymore to situate laundry rooms on an outside wall. Gas dryers were never popular here but due to the above mentioned reasons there’s no future for them in the Netherlands.

carolina128 said:

Quite specific to my house, but I would never own a gas dryer because of the bad venting situation I have. My laundry room is in the worst possible location: the exact center of the house. So the dryer vent has to snake its way down through the crawlspace and underneath the kitchen to reach the outside wall. It’s a bad setup (and one that I can’t do much about short of renovating the house), but at least with an electric dryer I don’t have to worry about this terrible venting situation killing me with carbon monoxide.

I’ve often thought about getting a heat pump dryer so I can be rid of dryer venting entirely. Still, my early-2000’s Whirlpool electric dryer keeps chugging along. Fun fact about my dryer: it was apparently the matching dryer for the Calypso! (My washer is a direct drive though).

Click to expand...

How bad is the the accumulation of lint through such a long run. How do you keep it clean. My distance is a little over 10 feet so unfortunately I have to buy the 20 foot, foil duct. After a year or two, I just cut it down to get rid of the far end where most lint accumulates.