How the hell does this work?

[dj-gabriele]

@toggleswitch2

Well, using a vented dryer indoors would be around the same as using a condenser one plus the added lint and moisture, if one sticks to the Eurolabel values (or this Candy -again- vented dryer) you have:

http://www.candy-domestic.co.uk/products/details.aspx?pid=153
4,5 kW for 8kg (0,56 kW/kg)

that is just a little more than a condensing B class ordinary dryer that scores 4,4 kW for the full load (0,55 kW/kg) so the difference is negligible to me.

Anyway, I always iron all the stuff that gets washed unless it is underwear or kitchen rags. It usually takes me 1 to 2 minutes to do a t-shirt or jeans to 10 minutes for a shirt or a complete bed set. That's way faster than using a dryer. I don't know what magic happens in your machine (so please tell me because I hate ironing!) but even when underloading the dryer, cottons are always a little creased and I need to iron them. Even stuff left a little damp. Call me crease-manic if you want but I can't stand them!

@favorit: I love that Candy combo, it has sweet memories as it is the first machine I recall, a neighbor of mine had one (and still has it, working!). I used to call her grandma all the time (she had the age of my grandma indeed) as she often took care of me when my mother was working. I was told once that I had put one of those string curtains in the machine and the old woman didn't notice, so when she went to use the washer she was afraid as she thought that there was a dead animal inside hehehe

 

[toggleswitch2]

~My understanding is that USA dryers use 2.5 kwh to dry one load of laundry. But I need to verify that factoid that was found in Consumer Rerpots magazine.

~I don't know what magic happens in your machine (so please tell me because I hate ironing!)

1-There is a big differeence between a sondenser dryer and a vented one.
2- Slower spin speeds (i.e. as found in tradtional top-loaders) cause less wrinkling.
3- Our dryers are large and use 5,600 watt heaters. Perhaps intense quick heat and a long cool-dpwn period help to de-wrinkle.
4- I give my shirts a quick shake before they go into the dryer. I also "iron" my trousers (especially jeans) with my hands and fold them as if they are going to be placed on a hanger. (Hip folded on top of hip, no creases, crotch out).
It really sounds ridiculous, but it helps. The dryer will only set any crease found in jeans from the washer.

~from huge American-style commercial dryers all the clothes seem to be far more creased for me.

These don't cool-down long enough. The true commercial machines have a heat input 5+ times greater than a home-style machine and will over-dry some parts of the garments/contents before other parts are dry. Another disadvantage of these machines is that they tend to dry near 190*F (88*C). I believe home machines tend to hover between 140*F to 180*F (60*C to 82*C). (American) commericial dryers tend to shrink and fade clothng as well, but hey...they only take 1/2 an hour. *LOL*

Personally I think we all see what we WANT to see in terms of expected results.

 

[toggleswitch2]

Here is a picture of my dryer's timer. The amchine is an 80s to 90s vintage, I believe.

Notice the long "Press Guard" ending to the automatic cycle/programme. This is a selectable option, meaning the machine will terminate after a 10 minute cool-down or it will incorporate this porion of the cycle as well, which I'd say is about one hour in duration.

There are three things in life I won't do. Ironing is one of them. (But I will in an "extreme emergency") *LOL*

 

[toggleswitch2]

Pumping Iron

Well, Ok. Maybe it's not against my religion to iron.
*LOL*

 

[favorit]

Toggles' "no-iron secret" does really work !

quote: "4- I give my shirts a quick shake before they go into the dryer. I also "iron" my trousers (especially jeans) with my hands and fold them as if they are going to be placed on a hanger. (Hip folded on top of hip, no creases, crotch out).
It really sounds ridiculous, but it helps. The dryer will only set any crease found in jeans from the washer"

This works even for line drying.

IMHO even different spinning patterns make differences in wrinkles. A continuous 5 mins-600 rpm spin causes more wrinkles than a pulse spin pattern up to 900 rpm.

Toggles: all our dryers/combos have the cooldown, even that Candy combocrap (570 rpm..) I had.
Many dryers(BSH,Miele,E'lux) even switch to low heat when they sense "damp dry" moisture.
Don't know about "6th sense" Bauknechtpool doing the same

Gabriele, do you really iron even towels coming from the dryer ???

 

[dj-gabriele]

If they are linen towels, yes, I hate wrinkles, if they're standard cotton terrycloth ones, they get folded only (you canìt iron them!) hehe

Toggles, are you sure about that value? I gess it's more like 5,2 kW and not 2,5 otherwise everybody would have USA style dryers

Evaporating 4 litres of water (say 50% moisture remaining in 8kg of laundry) with rise of 70°C in temperature needs some 2.8 kw alone with the usual "rough" calculations

 

[toggleswitch2]

Yes I'm sure. I remember saying to myself AHA, the 5,200 watt heating element is on for about half the time of a one hour cycle, so 2.5 KWH makes sense.

Are you sure the KW value you are speaking of is not the value (measure/intensity/energy) of the heat input rather than kilo-watt hours consumed?

The metric system confuses me. Kilowatts are used to denote not only heat input (where we use BTU/h-- British Thermal Units per Hour) but energy consumed (Kilo-watt hours). In the metric world I have seen kilowatts used to measure heat from a gas burner.

 

[toggleswitch2]

This document uses 2.5 KWH per dryer load for an American vented dryer

If condenser dryers take 4.4 to 4.5 KWH per load it is no wonder that they are considered the devil.

Are you sure, again, that that figure is not the heat input? (I'm sorry I REALLY dont know what tot make of KW as heat inputs figures!

[Another good thing about this site is that *C temperatures are now making sense to me as are metric sizes and dimensions].

How long does a condenser dryer take to dry a typical load?
In the days of top-loaders with 640rpm spins, dryers took one hour. I'd say now, with 1,000+ rpm spins, dryers take about 45 minutes.


http://www.ksre.ksu.edu/library/hous2/GT342.pdf

 

[dj-gabriele]

Toggles:
Yeah, sorry I skipped the kWh thing, I meant an easier writing than in Joules and I ended up with power and not energy! (A really bad mistake for the energy engeneer in me haha!)

The figures I gave you are for a load of 8kg of laundry spun at around 1000/1200 rpm.
But I have yet to see somebody loading a domestic dryer with that much clothing.
I can't tell how long it takes to dry in a standard dryer as we use an industrial 20 kg dryer that does the full load in 30 minutes (usually spun at 3600rpm in the extractor first) as here we have an advantage that my parents own a laundry.
When I once brought there the load (5 kg spun at 400rpm) of our home machine because it started raining and I was leaving the day after, it was done in 15 minutes, cooldown included but as I told that thing is a monster!
My guess is that a standard (4-5 kg load) is done in a little less than 2 hours with a heater with 2kW power

 

[dj-gabriele]

BTW:

It actually is not-legal to use kWh as an energy measure, you're supposed to use only Joules but as electricity is metered that way, many people use it outside the scientific field, confusing power with energy! (Just like I did wihout noticing)

1kWh = 3,6 MJ

 

[toggleswitch2]

.

 

[toggleswitch2]

One degree difference Celcius, is 1.8 degrees Farenheit

~I believe home machines tend to hover between 140*F to 180*F.

Actually, I meant to type 140*F to 165*F