Tumble dryers are not only convenient, they also use little energy. When drying on the stand, more energy escapes through ventilation than is consumed by the device. A striking number of devices performed well.
Tumble dryers are better than their reputation. Your heat exchangers are no longer clogged with fluff and the power consumption is now so low that the dryer is more efficient than drying on the line in the apartment. Tumble dryers are therefore reliable helpers in many households. Almost 20 million of them now dry their laundry in Germany. In the past, the devices had the reputation of being real power guzzlers, but that has changed with the installation of heat pumps. Of course, laundry can also be dried without a machine. But if this happens in the apartment, the energy consumption for ventilation is higher than operating a dryer. In addition, modern apartments are packed almost airtight in foil, so you should avoid adding too much water to the air.
In the current test, 16 tumble dryers with heat pumps are represented. Devices are still offered without this exchanger, but because of the high consumption it is not worth buying. Of the devices in the test, 14 scored good and two with satisfactory. The prices are between 390 and 930 euros. If you add the power consumption over ten years, most devices are the same price. Machines that are cheaper to buy usually consume more electricity. So the purchase price is equal to each other. When measuring consumption, the testers work differently than the legal standards; they try to determine realistic consumption by also taking into account the easy-care programs, for example.
Inexpensive devices are also good
The delivers the best drying performance with a grade of 1.9. The device consumes the least electricity and is quite expensive to buy at 705 euros. Also cut well (2,3), this device is available for 470 euros. The price-performance winner of the product tester was tested last year. Of the costs only 440 euros. Four devices from Bauknecht, Gorenje, Privileg and Samsung still use the climate-damaging refrigerant tetrafluoroethane (R134a) instead of propane. If disposed of improperly, it is highly damaging to the atmosphere. However, those who hand in their devices at a recycling point do not have to fear that the gas will escape.
Conclusion
Thanks to the heat pump, dryers consume less electricity, and the technology is now much cheaper than it was five years ago. And also more mature. In the first generations, the machines quickly choked on their own fluff. Like washing machines and dishwashers, however, the dryers achieve their minimum consumption with very long running times. If the device is not in a separate washroom, you should pay more attention to the volume than the test makes.
14 models out of 16 did well. This is indeed an amazing result, because clothes dryers are one of the household appliances that still cause the most trouble and often fail after a few years and thus do not even achieve the assumed service life of ten years. This is also due to overloading and the careless cleaning of the filters. A test cannot simulate all household problems.
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