Tumble Dryer

Jellybaby1

I've almost given up but thought I'd ask here before I do. I wanted to move my dryer to another area of the house but couldn't because its vented. So when my husband received a gift voucher we thought we'd splurge it on a new condenser model dryer, which we did and I got an electrician to install a power point where we could use it. We bought a lovely expensive dryer with all the bells and whistles. The problem is that it does not dry clothes as quickly as my old vented workhorse which is 20 years old. This super dryer has a sensor which means when it senses the clothes are dry it stops, which can take one and a half hours, two hours, two and a half hours, three hours depending on the load and the wetness. In my old machine almost everything can be dry in one hour, and one and a half hours for the very heaviest load. I was not told when I was buying it that the programs would take this long to run. They did tell me about the super duper sensor system and I said 'oh great, so it might be dry in LESS than the hour', and the salesman said 'well, whatever time the program takes, if the clothes are dry before that time, it will stop'. I didn't quite cop on that he hadn't actually answered my exact question. I asked the shop if I could return it and they refused, and I asked if they would exchange it for a more suitable model and they refused. The dryer is working but not to my satisfaction, but it seems that's my hard luck. Would people here agree?

vandriver

I don't think that there is anything wrong with it,as my drier has similar times for a full load.

Jellybaby1

That's just it, I'm not saying its not working, but I'm annoyed that I didn't know its limitations before I bought it. Towels straight from the washing machine, are taking two and half hours in this new dryer. In my old machine they will dry in half that time. I'm just very dissatisfied with this dryer. I had thought modern machines would be better than a 20 year old one. As my mother would have said, see what thought did! I'm feeling guilty that I have wasted my husband's voucher on something that is not going to work for my family as we are used to washing, drying and wearing all within two hours!

dudara

From my experience, condenser dryers are simply not as good as the larger, single purpose machines. I had one in my previous apartment and to make it work best, the drum had to be about half full. In addition, I couldn't leave the clothes sitting in it for any time, as they would get damp again and creased. I had to make sure they came out while still hot from the drying process. I wouldn't buy one of these ever again.

Moving thread to the Home Appliances forum, as there really isn't a Consumer Issue here unfortunately.

OU812

Have a condensor dryer with a moisture sensor & find it great. Program starts at 3.5 hours, is generally done in around an hour & half. The less clothes in it the quicker it's done as the hot air has more room to cycle round. Ours is a 9kg one and we have n 8kg washer so probably no more than 7kg goes in at any time (leave room in the washer too).

Condensors do take slightly longer to run anyway as the water stays in the machine rather than being vented out. I'd prefer a vented one but don't have anywhere to vent it to.

Jellybaby1

[QUOTE=OU812;99659120]Have a condensor dryer with a moisture sensor & find it great. Program starts at 3.5 hours, is generally done in around an hour & half. The less clothes in it the quicker it's done as the hot air has more room to cycle round. Ours is a 9kg one and we have n 8kg washer so probably no more than 7kg goes in at any time (leave room in the washer too).

Condensors do take slightly longer to run anyway as the water stays in the machine rather than being vented out. I'd prefer a vented one but don't have anywhere to vent it to.[/QUOTE]

Bet you'd enjoy my 20 year old vented one then which would do it in an hour! I think I will eventually arrange to move my vented one to the shed and continue to use it there, not ideal though to bring your washing to the end of the garden in bad weather. This new one will have to stay for now I think but if I can sell it at some time in the future I will do so. Has anyone else noticed that all the adverts on the TV and that come in your letter box for home appliances, rarely if ever have tumble dryers included on them?

byte

Be glad you didn't buy an A-rated heat-pump dryer so! :eek:

They are much slower at drying clothes, as it takes a fair while for them to build up heat.

The upside though is they use less electricity than standard dryers.

K.Flyer

We went from a vented dryer to a condenser dryer when we moved house and did notice the drying time being a lot longer as well. But we got around this by giving the clothes, especially the heavier items, another run through the spin cycle to get more water out of them.
This only took a few minutes more and greatly reduced the amount of time that the dryer took to dry the clothes.

Water John

Byte, yeah the heat pump dryer is slow but the clothes are much softer. There is a real diff. Got the Zanussi one fro €500, really pleased with it.
Flyer always with towels, the 2nd spin is worth it.