Heat Pump Dryers!

[combo52]

Whirlpool heat pump dryers

The 27 inch 7 ft.³ American ones have nothing to do with the 24 inch French belt whirlpool heat pump dryers. They do not use the same refrigeration system at all. It’s much bigger in the US dryer.

You may remember that I bought 18 of these heat pump dryers from Eugene in Cleveland. We still have some to sell have not had any trouble with them so far this is the small French unit.

 

[me]

He's actually right about our condenser dryers using slightly less electricity than vented models. It used to be the case that vented were more efficient, but as designs improved their efficiency caught up and surpassed vented machines. The efficiency does fall off badly in a hot room, and cheaper models particularly have a reputation for leaking hot humid air into the room.

The original energy efficiency ratings labels even allowed a condenser dryer to use slightly more electricity to achieve the same rating band, so at one time a condenser rated 'C' for efficiently might actually use slightly more energy than a 'D' rated vented, which I always thought was daft because you could use it to directly compare a vented to a condenser and it could mislead people into choosing a slightly less efficient condenser dryer over the vented version. Not a big deal if you don't already have a vent hole through the wall, but if you had put one in for your previous dryer, you then had the extra expense of bricking it up, on top of a higher purchase price and slightly higher running cost.

 

[me]

I can understand the repairman's negativity towards heat pump dryers, their designs have gradually improved with better filtration, self cleaning heat exchangers, and self cleaning that's less likely to clog with lint and leak water, and he probably gets to see a higher proportion of the older and inferior designs.

I think the video below shows a good example of a questionable design choice. It's a self cleaning model, and they've clearly realised the heat exchange is likely to require cleaning at some point, because they've provided for a cut out panel to gain some access. So instead of making it user serviceable, after a few years ownership, when they notice it is not drying as well as it did, the owner is likely going to fork out to have a repairman to visit to clean it for them.



Some newer machines have an extra filter in front of the condenser, such as this miele



Heat pump dryers are also supposed to be gentler on clothing than conventional dryers due to drying at slightly lower temperature. I've seen comments by owners supporting that, some even say they regularly dry clothing marked do not tumble dry in their heat pump, usually on lower temperature, and they come out fine.