The new EU energy label for dryers - coming mid 2025

[henene4]

I just had the thought to google once more when the new EU labels for dryers will become necessary, and the regulations have been released a few months back as I found out.
Of course I did my typical back of the napkin math to see where we are and where we need to go.

Some side notes:

Same label design and classes as anything else basically.

Vented dryers are still legal, but only technicly. All dryers need an EEI of 85 or better. The EEI is a metric calculated in a specific way taking into consideration stuff like load size, usage for both full and half loads etc.
But, from now on, for vented dryers at least, cycle time becomes a metric as well - that means you can't run cold air through the load for ever and make that "Eco" drying. And reaching an EEI of 85 is basically impossible for a vented dryer - even for a normal condenser.

The EEI of 85 is equivalent to the new class "E".
That would mean that an 8kg dryer would be allowed to use about 2.3kWh for a full load spun at 1000rpm (60% residual moisture) to reach class E.

There has to be an Eco cycle - just called Eco, similar to Eco 40-60. That is supposed to dry to 0% residual moisture.
Residual moisture after the Eco cycle will now be listed in the spec sheet.

There are new condesation efficency rating clases. I haven't found the actual values as of yet, but any condensation efficency has to be better than 80% and the label shows 4 classes.

I did some calculations for current models and things look rough.
Th best dryer I could find - VZUGs V6000 dryer - reaches an EEI of 50.2, so a C rating.
All Miele dryers woth mentioning reach C. Actually ALL higher efficency dryers I checked reached C, I haven't found a single B class dryer.
And things likes AEGs 9000 series dryers, which are efficent, but not the same as the other A+++ -10% dryers, now land in the same class as them. All C.
Even some of the least efficent heatpump dryers - which are still VERY efficent - are outlawed under the new standard. Given those are older models (like the 7kg A+ Beko models) and you can get cheaper, more efficent models from other manufacturers now, but that's still something to wrap your head around: A heatpump dryer using to much energy to be legal in the future.

Reaching B shouldn't be impossible though - VZug is almost there, just barely missing an EEI of 50.
But getting an A-class dryer honestly seems impossible to me without some MAJOR changes in compressor technology.
A-class would mean an EEI of 43 or better. With a 9kg dryer, the usage would have to be similar to that of the VZug - which is rated at 7kg. Or to put into perspecive: We would have to improve efficency per kg by over 20%!

Curious to see if we'll see anything at IFA this year.
Still some ways out, but honestly, given where we were 20 years ago, this is still incredible.

 

[lavamat_jon]

Interesting, I was wondering when the regulations for dryers were due to be updated seeming as most other major appliances already have been updated.

A positive step overall, although it seems it will realistically spell the death for vented dryers. Whilst outdated in the scheme of things, they still sell well here as a lot of people have their dryer in a garage or outbuilding/shed where heat pumps just will not work in winter, which is exactly the time you would need your dryer. Our Miele heat pump is in an unheated outhouse and whilst it is fine for most of winter, if temperatures drop below 5°C it just won’t dry laundry (as expected) in anything less than a few hours, and will also build up significant condensation on the exterior of the cabinet. Whereas in normal operation it will dry a load in around 1h-1.45. Easily solved for me as I use the vented White Knight which sits beside it, but obviously that’s not an option for the layperson.

It would be great if a manufacturer could somehow design a “winter safe” heat pump dryer, in a similar way a lot of freezer manufacturers do nowadays.

Of course one could argue airing laundry naturally is even yet still more efficient, but in the depths of winter that can can be inconvenient for larger families, not to mention the mould/mildew problems if there is inadequate ventilation.

A positive move though, for those who have their dryers installed in a heated area.

Jon

 

[combo52]

New EU dryer energy regulations

A move in the right direction, but the sad thing is they could move to natural gas dryers and you can dry the laundry in 20 or 30 minutes with a vented gas dryer and they could even make a gas dryer that uses outside air so it would not take any heat out of the dwelling.

Most homes are using natural gas to heat water and the home itself anyway the savings on the electric grid would be enormous using natural gas in homes where it already is in use.

I know in the long run new homes and dwellings will be all electric, but it would still save an enormous amount of energy for the next 30 or 40 years because the change is not gonna happen overnight .

John

 

[henene4]

Good thought, actually

There are a few dryers, notably Arcelik made ones (Beko, Grundig) that have a speed drying function, sometimes called by them "Hybrid" dryers.
Those have a button to engage "Turbo" mode - which is just a small-ish heater that comes on for a few minutes to "jump start" the drying process.

Those should be perfect for those setup conditions.
They'd just have to market them that way.

 

[launderess]

Europe has nearly nil native natural gas resources. There's Norway, UK and Russia, that's pretty much about it. Everything else is largely LNG imported from USA and elsewhere.

This goes long way to explaining why in many parts of Europe electricity provides energy for things that require heat. Cooking, baking, clothes dryers, heating and domestic hot water, etc...

Source of electric power range from rather inexpensively produced hydro to nuclear and fossil fuel burning power plants. Of late solar and wind are also becoming players in that area as well.

EU as a whole has had energy efficacy in their crosshairs for decades. Russia's invasion of Ukraine has added a greater push to get shot importing coal and natural gas from that country.

Regardless of energy source using clothes dryers in Europe tends to cost dear. This in part explains why such appliances aren't widespread in Europe as say compared to USA. That and even when homes do have clothes dryers they aren't used often as one may believe. https://www.businessinsider.com/ame...23 article from the,according to 2022 EU data.

Line drying being it out of doors, or on clothes horses or other devices indoors still is fairly common.



Over head laundry airers (laundry maids) have been popular since Victorian era if not before.





Such devices were common enough in American homes say prior to WWII. Arrival and widespread use of clothes dryers put and end to laundry maids, clothes horses, racks, etc... by shall we say "polite society". These are same sorts who ban outdoor clotheslines I suppose. They just feel drying things that way smacks of poverty or whatever.

That being said such things never left American market and indeed are enjoying a resurgence of interest.



Oil and or natural gas for host of uses may not be long for world in many parts of Europe. Individual nations have already and or are planning to implement restrictions on new installation of appliances that burn either of above. To avoid overwhelming electrical grid all sorts are on table including heat pump technology.

https://cbey.yale.edu/our-stories/renewable-thermal-heating-lessons-from-scandinavia

Hot water for heating is rather popular in many areas of Europe. Whether provided by district heating sources or within individual buildings. Once you go that route it's easy to create drying rooms of old by simply having a radiator or just pipes heated by hot water and perhaps a fan. Very low tech and energy efficient.

 

[henene4]

The new regulations actually have things covering gas heater dryers.
But they are not privileged in any way - a kWh of gas is counted equivalent to a kWh of electricity, basically.

It is true that on average a kWh of electricity over here produces more CO2 than an average kWh of gas heat would.
But given that you'd need 3 times the gas heat in kWh compared to what a current average heat pump dryer might use, and the factor for CO2 is only 2, you are still being greener with the current heat pump dryers.

Running a dryer isn't as dear as it used to be.
An average load might cost you about 40-50 cents in electricity, with US dryers I guess you might end up in the same ballpark.

 

[combo52]

Why no gas dryers in the UK

My dear laundress almost 75% of homes in the UK use natural gas for heating more than in the United States even. And natural gas is far less expensive Per BTU electricity in the UK.

I suspect the reason gas dryers never became more common there was because dryers themselves were not taken seriously until more recent years as you rightly state, many people don’t use dryers in the UK as in the United States.

But it would still be far cheaper and better for the environment to be using gas dryers now in the UK they as efficient as heat pumps easily, in overall operating cost.

Especially when you consider how much less it cost to build a gas dryer and it’s extremely long life compared to a heat pump dryer the lifecycle of the dry areas superior gas dryers in the United States commonly last over 40 years with very little maintenance.

 

[me]

Why no gas dryers in the UK

Gas dryers never caught on here in the UK. There were very few models ever on the market, maybe as few as 3 and I think that rapidly went down to just one (made by White Knight, if I recall correctly), most appliance stores didn't carry gas dryers.

They were much more expensive to buy than a vented dryer with an element, and on top of that required the services of a CORGI registered gas engineer to run the gas pipe around the kitchen, knock a hole for the vent through our typically brick built walls and connect the appliance. The vent would have been required to be a minimum distance from opening windows and doors to avoid fumes / carbon monoxide getting blown in, which limits where the appliance can be installed.

Whereas, an all electric vented tumble dryer was cheap to buy and just needed plugging into any convenient socket and the end of the vent tube shoving out an open window. Condenser dryers did away with the need for an open window, so ended up dominating the market until the heat pump dryers came along.

Repairs would have also been difficult as they would have require a CORGI gas engineer trained to repair a tumble dryer.

I looked into getting a gas one myself about 25 years ago, and even with the low KWH prices of gas, it would have taken us years to recoup the purchase and install costs at our then usage, on top of that at that time we could get cheap electricity during a 7 hour period overnight by switching to an economy 7 tariff, which made the difference in running cost quite small if you put your electric dryer on a timer. We would have also been very limited in where we could put a gas dryer because of the windows and doors, so we'd also need two walls chasing out to bury the gas pipe in, so a lot of mess and work.

 

[henene4]

Actually, let me do the math

I'm using Mieles usage data for the T478 G. That's a 5kg dryer, and I'll have to do some guestimatiing and interpolating.
Also assuming the usage for a full load would be linear to the half load usage and that 1m³ of gas has about 10kWh of energy content (Miele lists usage in m³).

Drying time for 5kg at 1000rpm would be approx. 45min.
Gas usage would be approx. 0.37m³, so 3.7kWh. Electricity usage would be about 0.23kWh.

With gas dryers, you have to calculate an equivalent energy usage in kWh which comes to 2.18kWh for this dryer for that load.
We'll just assume half that for a half load (1.09kWh). Cycle time will also be assumed as half (22min).

Given these factors, the EEI would be 110, firmly in "G" terretory.

 

[lavamat_jon]

From the viewpoint of somebody living in the UK

White Knight used to manufacturer a gas dryer here for years, but was only a really niche product and they went when White Knight stopped producing dryers 5 years ago. Gas dryers are just not really a practical option here in the UK. Unlike in the US, space in most British homes is limited so the dryer is often in a spare corner of the house or garage/outbuilding, with only access to a power point. Bear in mind the majority of UK homes have the washing machine in the kitchen, and most nowadays would rather sacrifice space for a dishwasher rather than a dryer in the kitchen.

It would require a gas safe registered engineer to run a gas line, install the machine, service it should it need it and then to finally decommission/move it. Gas appliances are heavily regulated here, and it is illegal for a non-gas safe engineer to do anything but use a gas appliance. A heat pump is also simply more efficient in terms of kWh consumption, and with the increasing use of solar panels and renewable energy use on the grid they are increasingly the more environmentally friendly way to mechanically dry laundry- especially if you can do it for free using spare power from a solar battery for instance.

Soon, new build houses will not even be able to install gas boilers and will have solar panels and heat pump systems - a lot of developers are already stepping on the trend. Gas is simply being phased out. On top of that vents are not installed for dryers in new builds (that’s if there’s even a space provided for one), and will actually void the housebuilders warranty if the owner installs one at a later date.

That’s not to mention that the majority of people here still prefer to dry their laundry for free using the most green and fabric friendly way - naturally. A dryer is only really seen as a necessity for something that’s needed quick, or if it’s impractical to dry indoors naturally, whether it’s due to volume of laundry, poor weather or no access to an outside line, the potential damp problems from drying laundry in properties with inadequate ventilation, or physical disability. A lot of people still see it as lazy to shove everything in the dryer without good reason to do so.

Even as an avid appliance collector, and with the heat pump dryer costing only 18.4 pence a load (based on the average consumption I get of 0.8kWH for a load based on 23 pence a kWH, in a Miele heat pump dryer), day to day I still prefer to use no electricity at all and dry naturally outside when I can - which is much more friendly on fabrics especially jeans and t shirts etc (being a tall person I find things do shrink even in a heat pump). If not possible, most loads will dry overnight on the clothes horse with the window slightly cracked open. I only use the dryer to dry towels in winter or if I’ve a lot of laundry to get through, which is in line with how most people tend to use their dryer here.

 

[logixx]

I don't think it will be too long before we start seeing A labeled dryers under the new scheme. I read somewhere that the energy label for washers was supposed to be so strict, that I should take manufacturers many years to produce A class machine. Here we are, a few years later, and we already have washers that surpass the best class by 20%. Then again, there aren't many refrigerators/freezers that achieve A. We'll see, we'll see.

Worst thing will probably be convincing customers that a C dryer isn't terribly inefficient.

 

[qsd-dan]

Seems really unnecessary with front loaders dominating the EU which have high final spin speeds. I can see this crap migrating to the US in the future. Glad I have ton of spare parts for my vintage dryers.

 

[maytag85]

I never understood why gas dryers never caught on in Europe since they can dry as mentioned in a short amount of time, economical to operate, if you own for long enough, will essentially become free since it will not only have saved lots of money but will have paid for itself many times over.

That’s one thing me and John both agree on.

Of course, some people think a gas dryer is dangerous since there’s a flame in inside, but many electric dryers have caught on fire over the years compared to gas since people either assume “it’s electric, doesn’t need as much maintenance compared to a gas dryer” along with forgetting that it gets much hotter around a heater box than it does to a burner come.

People also mig a big deal on how “gas dryers admit carbon monoxide”, but considering the amount of air that’s pulled through the burner on a gas dryer, there’s more complete combustion which means there’s very little to no carbon monoxide admitted at all. The whole reason why dryers are vented to the outside is because of the lint and moisture the admit, not carbon monoxide.

Another thing too is some people think gas dryers are an explosion hazard need to take this into consideration, if gas dryers were REALLY that dangerous, they would have been outlawed a long, long time ago. I’ve pretty much grew up with gas dryers as well as family and friends, we are all here years later. If you let every little fear get to you, you’ll have a lot less in the bank which means you won’t have the funds to go out and explore the world.

 

[lavamat_jon]

Maytag85,

I think this subject highlights just how European and American attitudes to drying laundry are completely different. Hopefully my previous post as well as me’s (reply 7) will help you understand how things are different here and why gas dryers just aren’t a viable solution. In the same way you can’t understand why we don’t have gas dryers, a lot of Europeans see the US approach of using the dryer for everything when it’s not necessary, especially in summer just wasteful when it can truly be done for free using fresh air. In good weather here it is not unusual to look across the neighbouring gardens and see several households with a line of washing out, and it’s not uncommon to see a clothes airer somewhere in the corner of a house during winter. Whether it’s seen as right or wrong, it’s just the way it is.

Gas is still a non renewable fossil fuel, electricity is increasingly becoming renewable here especially with solar panels becoming more and more popular. Our energy supplier only uses renewable electricity for example, and a lot of other providers offer similar tariffs. The only advantage gas has environmentally is if you are using dirty electricity, in which it is more efficient to use 100% of the fuel at the source rather than electricity that’s been generated given the efficiency losses that would occur during electric generation.

Bottom line is, in Europe heat pumps (and the humble washing line and clothes airer) are here to stay - especially given our more eco and environmentally conscious attitudes on average - and gas dryers just do and will not realistically sell here.

 

[maytag85]

Line drying is all fun in games until it rains, gets dust and pollen especially during the spring months, takes away time from doing other things in life.

As a compromise, sometimes I’ll dry things for 20 minutes on the ‘damp dry’ cycle in my Maytag DE806, then hang them up the rest of the way to dry, that’s what I did with 5 pairs of shorts I washed a couple of hours ago. Will do the same thing with shirts as well. However, socks, underwear, towels, bedding will be dried completely.

 

[me]

Line drying

What put me off line drying was birds splattering the washing, it just got a bit too common. I think somebody living nearby had been attracting the seagulls by putting out food for them, and we also had a colony of sparrows roosting in our trees. That and sheer laziness.

 

[me]

gas dryers in UK

I'm not sure that the gas dryers that were sold here would have been significantly faster than our all-electric vented ones and I doubt it would have helped sales anyway.

Looking up the specs of a 7kg load capacity gas one, which I think was as big as they ever got, it had a 3kw burner with an outlet vent temperature regulated to 60°C. The element in a typical electric vented dryer seems to be 2.5kw - 2.7kw with a maximum drying temperature of 70 - 80°C. Lack of popularity kept the prices very high, and high prices and the high cost and inconvenience of the required professional install killed off sales.

Seems I was wrong about a UK requirement for the external vent for a gas dryer having to be 2m away from opening windows, that only applies to non-domestic models. It was permissible to stick the vent tube out an open window, and you were supposed to have a window open to let air in while using one anyway. I think there was a limit to the length of the vent pipe.

 

[Marky_Mark]

Here is the Which? test of heat pump, condenser, electric-vented and gas-vented dryers 10 years ago.  

 

Note that the British-made White Knight gas dryer gets the highest score and also the lowest running costs over 5 years (including purchase price and gas installation costs).  

 

The White Knight gas dryers were more expensive than White Knight electric models, but they were still cheap compared to many other dryers.

 

[henene4]

With that which? article I'd like to point out that that WhiteKnight model was the timed only version, thus the price.

In Germany, the equivalent sensor version under a different brand name retailed for about the same as a BOL Miele condenser or vented model.

The Panasonic is also a good thing to point to.
That model was A-60% at the time using an inverter compressor.
That pretty much exactly scaled to the later A++ label.

Today, you can get a simple A+++ dryer for under 400€.

That's why gas just isn't really feasible over here anymore.
It's as expensive to run as a good heat pump dryer, plus you need venting and a gas line to your laundry room.