Gas Dryers vs Electric Dryers?

Automatic Washer - The world's coolest Washing Machines, Dryers and Dishwashers

Help Support AutomaticWasher.org:

Has anyone ever noticed...

If anyone has ever been out looking to purchase a brand-new house, what I have noticed for years is weird! My sister's house in an Atlanta suburb, for example, had been set to have every appliance/heat/water heat with gas, EXCEPT the dryer! it cost them 200.00 to add the gas line from the garage to the laundry room when building the house. My family never regretted the slight extra expense! Several of my friends' and family's new houses away from NYC area have the same, stupid arrangement!
 
before we bought new....we looked at several homes.......and the areas that offered gas, did have strange arrangements.......

one had 2 water heaters....one gas and one electric

2. a gas dryer, but an electric stove

3. gas water heater, oil fired heating, electric stove and dryer

in the home we got, gas water heat, gas furnace, gas fireplace, both hookups gas and electric for the stove and dryer....your choice for what was preferred......oddly enough, a dual-fuel stove was installed, top burners and broiler are gas, oven is electric/convection

you do wonder what are they thinking when building these homes....
 
Oil Heating & Gas Water Heater

Actually with some variations is becoming common for multi and single family homes. It depends upon how one wishes to have hot water during the warmer months of the year when the boilers aren't required for producing heat.

Depending upon several variables it may work out cheaper to shut down the boilers and just have hot water supplied by a stand alone heater.
 
Yes, Dual Fuel Ranges Are Very Common

Many prefer the ease of use and quick control of flame that comes with using gas burners, but also like electric ovens especially when combined with convection. The result? Dual fuel ranges.

In many homes on this side of the pond the above isn't much of an issue as ovens and burners are separate units thus solves the problem. Well provided the kitchen has the proper electrical connections.
 
Been using gas since the 70s. Used electric before that. I hated having to change out those electric coils every so often. The gas dryers have been completely maintenance free for me (all Maytags) and only replaced to match new washers.

Im thinking most of those folks who had gas smelling clothes either had natural gas with a leak in the gas valve or clogged venting (lucky they didnt blow up) or they were using stinky propane.

We have loved our gas dryers for the gentle drying action all these years and the economy which pays for the machine itself in a relative few years.

Down here in Oklahoma our electricity is made with natural gas fired power generation so you pay for gas no matter how you cut it.
 
Gas it is!

OK, you guys and gals have sold me.

I'm considering gas then. Apparently, the lead time on the dryer is six weeks! Guess I better order it now so that I can get it in January.

At least that gives a pipefitter lots of time to come in to put in the hook up.

Thanks for the input everyone, I highly appreciate it.

I'm a little perplexed as to why, since there is a gas line practically running right above the washer and dryer, the builder never put in a hookup, but they did put in an electrical outlet. :-/

Oh well.. Now, converting our electric stove to a gas one will be a huge uphill battle, but that's for another thread. (FYI, Our house wasn't designed for it and it would be illegal to put one in.)
 
It's a preference.

We have electric.  Not to say we have always been electric.  Way back when my Mom had a Norge gas dryer.  She complained of the gas smell, the browning of the clothes, and --long drying times.

 

Though she has admitted in her later years that that dryer may have been inproperly, or ineffectively vented; she will not allow a gas dryer (period)  I do think an electric dryer is more forgiving with stupid things like piling clothes around the machine and irregular duct maintenance.

 

As for burning with electric, I feel it comes more to design than the fuel.  With our former GE dryer with the heater built into the back of the drum you had to be careful that items had room to tumble, and never use dryer sheets.  With the Whirlpool sourced and Maytag machines the electric heater is below the drum and ducted to the back so there is less chance of direct contact with the elements in back and less scorching.

 
 
Propane!

My Mom had a propane dryer for many years after our 52 Westinghouse bit the dust.It was a Whirlpool, and it certainly did NOT yellow anything, or make anything smell burned, we loved it!
 
So WHY would it be illegal to add /convert to a gas stove in your area of Canada?

Venting requirements?
air-changes per hour requirement?

Governmental acknowledgement of poisons produced by combustion?
 
Gas Dryers

Doesn't the burner in a gas dryer have to be adjusted to be sure the gas burns properly? I know on my gas range, the burner in the ove floor had to be adjusted to be sure the gas burned blue and not yellow. Do dryers require the same thing?

Malcolm
 
Gas Adjustment

I don't think you necessarily HAVE to, as I know the 2010 dryer my bro has and the 1990 dryer had no adjustments, but (Kind of like you stated) there is a way to adjust it, should it be needed.
 
To Toggleswitch

To answer your question,

Our house doesn't have any venting for a gas stove. There has to be a proper hood exhaust which vents to the outside, which we don't have.

Our kitchen came with one of those recirculating ones which just recycle the air inside the house.

So, installing a gas range properly while conforming to building codes would be prohibitively expensive, unfortunately.

My wife is also afraid of how the fumes from the gas burning could kill our birds. She has the same concern about a gas dryer, but I don't think it would be an issue.
 
About the only way

a properly vented gas dryer could hurt pet birds would be if the cat lured them into the drum, closed the door, and set the heat on "high," and turned it on.

My Rosa is not that evil.

Lawrence/Maytagbear
 
My wife is also afraid of how the fumes from the gas burning could kill our birds.

Funny how we put other animals before ourselves. If it hurts them, wont it hurt you?
Just takes more poison with humans to have a noticeable effect.
 
I'm a little perplexed as to why, since there is a gas line practically running right above the washer and dryer, the builder never put in a hookup, but they did put in an electrical outlet

1- Cheaper for the builder to do.

2- In some areas the homeowner doesn't want to pay to have the gas connection made, since they may not be allowed to do it themselves.

3- Some people "feel" (not believe or have any logical reason to think) that flames and clothing are more dangerous than an electric dryer.

4- The first dryers were electric since practically no one wanted to plumb in the gas, and people just got used to them being electric. (These early ones were able to use 110v when 220v was non-existent or there was limited amperage to the home).

In actuality. I am not fond of an electric dryer's penchant for popping a heating coil/element and having it short out to the frame of the machine. If the resulting break (and ground-fault) does not result in blowing a fuse or popping a circuit breaker someone may get zapped!

Also as spilt-phase 220v system here in North America, in theory, the element may be energized with 110v (during a ground-fault) if BOTH sides of the line are not property switched (off) during non-operation. BOTH poles (hots) need to be disconnected from the power supply with our way of achieving 220v [hot-to-hot a/k/a line-to-line rather than line-to-neutral or line-to-ground/earth]. Not all sure appliances do this. An electric stove I disassembled only cut power to one of the two hots with all 6 elements.
 
I dry with gas during the summer and with electric during the winter. I like electric better but not enough to pay the higher summer rates. I think the clothes smell nicer out of the electric dryers, but I don't have to justify that to anyone since it's my nose and my money. In the early 50s, there was some discussion about gas dryers being more prone to yellowing nylon just by the interaction of the products of combustion and the fabric, but maybe people don't have white nylon garments anymore or some part of the nylon-making process changed to prevent the yellowing.
 
I have a dual fuel range-gas cooking burners, electric oven with convention fan that has it's own electric coils.  I would rather have electric induction for the cook top, but the oven is fine.

 

For dyer I have gas.  I guess it depends on the model and how old it is.  My previous gas dryer used a much higher heat setting  than my current one, but my current one blows way more air across the clothes and out of the vent so you basically get  very very warm air blowing like crazy over the clothes which dries them very quickly.  You can also choose a gentle setting to cool down the air or a turbo setting which increases the temperature.

 

Never had any problem with smells or yellowing.  I have noticed a difference in the heat when pausing the cycle.  The heat produced by gas seems contain more moisture than that of electric.  In the end they both dry.  Where I live gas continues to be cheaper  for drying clothes so that's what I continue to use.  When I use fabric softener it is only in the last rinse of the washer and the gas dryer doesn't seem to have any impact on the scent.

 

I use gas to heat my house, and I have a tank-less gas hot water heater, and have never had a problem with needing a flame mixture adjustment on any of these appliances.
 
Burned - Yellowing???

I grew up with Gas Dryers, if your dryer is buring or yelloing clothes
I would think it is time to have the dryer service. As for smells the Softener or dryer sheet smell is still on my clothes when cycle completes.
 
gas

Growing up, we had a gas dryer. In a lot of my adult life, I've had electric dryers and gas stoves.

However, around 1994 I read a Lancet study that boiled down to "If you have any allergies or breathing difficulties, don't have gas flames in your home." We switched to an electric stove and it DID make a world of difference for my wife. (I don't have any breathing problems).

In a vented dryer it's hard to imagine that you'd have that issue.

Currently we have a gas fireplace insert that draws external air for combustion and vents outside. Ditto for the furnace. We figured that these'd be fine and they are.

Just my $.02.
 
After reading most of the responses so far I only saw ONE person mention the heating coil popping on an electric! My dad is a firefighter and went to dryer fires all the time, gas and electric alike! It doesn't matter if it is gas or electric DO NOT USE PLASTIC FLEXIBLE DUCTING! Avoid aluminum flexible ducting as well! Only use solid steel or aluminum ducting with as short a run as possible with as few turns as possible and CLEAN REGULARLY! My mom had the same weird fear as most people do; gas dryers are less safe than electric ones because of the lint and the flame. TOTAL BS! If you use solid ducting, SEAL IT UP WITH ALUMINUM TAPE (NOT PLASTIC DUCT TAPE), and inspect/clean the dryer and ducts often (at least twice a year) you will not have a problem.

Now, for my preference, having had both, gas baby! Why? Ever have to replace an electric element? If you're lucky you will have a Whirlpool that has the pod under the drum, if you're unlucky you'll have a GE that has the coils on the back of the drum! Either way, you have to stretch the coil as evenly as possible to avoid hot spots. BTW, if you use sneakers or tennis balls to "help" dry items you are causing extra vibration that will shorten the life of your electric coil. There is no coil in a gas dryer to break. Sure there is the gas valve and an igniter that might have to be replaced, but you probably won't have to remove the drum to do it (nods to GE dryer). The thermostats are the same. BTW the electric element isn't feathered up and feathered down while the dry cycle happens. The coil is on, or it's off, just like gas. High heat, medium heat, low heat, no heat is still controlled by the same switch on the control panel. The thermostat controls how hot the air gets. The coil might not get as hot on low as it does on high, but the flame might be as high on low as it is on high. Same gas valves do have multiple flow settings. So gas or electric? All other things being equal (aside from cost to purchase and cost to operate) gas gets my vote for ease of servicing.
 
Well---

there is the semi-rigid flexible ducting, and then there is plastic ducting with a foil coating.

CU has warned against the plastic with the foil coating, and reluctantly approves of the semi-rigid ducting.

Lawrence/Maytagbear
 
When we moved into our house, the dryer had plastic ducting with a wire coil in it. Took that off and couldn't believe the amount of lint inside of the ducting.

Can't say how fast I replaced it with aluminum ducting.

Good point about the coils in electric dryers. Never had an issue with my GE, but I would like items to dry faster, it's much slower than my parents old Whirlpool.

Thanks for the advice everyone.

To DELaurie, we haven't inspected the dryer vent since 2004. Guess it's about time. :) (Never had any issues.)
 
Any form of flexible ducting is going to have far more edges for lint to catch on than solid ducting. The more lint you have in your ducting, the less air that you are moving through it, the hotter your dryer and clothes are going to get, the more likely that something somewhere is going to combust.

Argue that plastic ducting is smoother......it itself is also combustible! Aluminum flex pipe....not combustible BUT a truckload of ridges on that stuff!

For my money I prefer 4" aluminum solid ducts versus steel....why? Steel, unless is it galvanized with rust. But steel also holds on to heat. I would rather use the heat transference properties of Aluminum to help warm the basement just a bit. It's not a huge help, but it is a bit. Aluminum is also easier to work with when cutting with snips to get it to fit in just right.

Speaking of warming a space with a dryer, we all know that you should not used inside venting for a gas dryer, right? It's OK for electrics to provide heat and humidity, but don't do it with gas. While you should only get Carbon Dioxide off of that flame, you could get Carbon Monoxide. Don't do it. Don't chance it. I don't think any of us need the sleep THAT bad! ;)
 
I grew up with gas, and had no issues with any of the mention issues.

I had electric in a few rental and our current house when we first moved in. It seems that the electric scorched the clothes a bit, and seems to run hotter, so I had to lower the temp down to low.

I ran a gas line for the dryer, and while I was at it, I did it for the stove.. Getting rid of the electric dryer, and stove, my electric bill dropped about $15 a months, and gas didn't even go up.
 
My wife has posted on the bird forms and she's gotten two replies back saying that gas dryers don't pose a threat to birds. (I sure hope not!)

I don't want to mess around when it comes to installing the gas line. The cheapest gasfitter I could find says they can do it for $275 flat rate and then $8/ft for the pipe to put in.. All the others wanted somewhere around $500-$600 to put it in.

I suspect it'll probably be 30 years before I get my investment back, as opposed to just using the electrical outlet which is already there. At least I'll only have to get the gas line installed once.

The previous owners of our house where such techophobes, I had to pay a professional installer almost $400 so we could have telephones in rooms other than the kitchen.. Erf.
 
As I mentioned earlier we use Gas on the dryer and we also have a gas range and gas water heater and gas furnace. We have 6 birds too, and they are happy and alive and well. The only risk of fumes/carbon monoxide is with negligence the great majority of the time.

Edit.. oh and we also have a gas fireplace!
 
DAVEAMKRAYOGUY's First Post in "Deluxe" Forum:

I do smell gas as well as the musti-ness of the basement coming right up through my Laundry Chute; I hope it's normal to...!

Must be my "Gassy Trio": The Furnace, Water Heater & Dryer!

(Though I notice no difference, really if the dryer is on & the water heater & furnace have pilots, so that might be why...)

-- Dave
 

Similar threads

maytagneptune
The Great Debate. Gas vs Electric Dryers
2
Replies
31
Views
1K
jrap330
J
pierreandreply4
In need of advice for upcoming renovation febuary or march 2026 including moving washer dryer from second floor to basement
Replies
18
Views
409
DADoES
DADoES
Unimatic1140
An Interesting Test with a New Meter
2
Replies
43
Views
3K
kb0nes
kb0nes
A
Hello from Brad
Replies
5
Views
782
nashmaytagbear
nashmaytagbear
R
Samsung dryer DV56H9100GG/A2 heat duct
Replies
3
Views
103
raven61662
R

Latest posts

Back
Top