Heat pump driers, am I just unlucky?

[ericmark]

Daughter had one, lost gas, so had to get new, we got one also lost gas, so question play safe with condenser drier, or get another heat pump drier?

Freezers last for years, drier only got in August. So not very old. I like the idea of a heat pump drier, but getting it into car to take back not easy.

 

[dishman]

My view on this is that unless the running cost (including purchase) vs current running cost vastly favours a new machine, stick with what you have.

Older vented types may use a lot of power, but, they are usually super simple, nothing to clever about them and usually last a long time.

My old hoover vented is from the 80s. Still works fine. If not looking rustic.

My brother went through two Hoover smart heat pump dryers in a short space of time. Very unreliable, touch controls got moisture ingress and become inoperative. Both took an age to dry stuff. They had fancy wifi smartphone contol.....just more to go wrong.

Having said that, he eventually swapped it out with a Samsung Series 9 Heatpump dryer. And I have been very impressed by it. Much higher build quality.

Usually with heatpump or condenser dryers it is often the case that they take an age to dry stuff. But this one seems to work as close to a vented in actual use. Also super quiet. I am a new tech sceptic, but I have been impressed by it.

They are heavy dryer users and probably use it daily for at least 2 years now. Zero issues.

Also, always get it plumbed into a permanent drain on install. Makes things much easier.

You also have to factor in heatpump dryers are still considered "new tech" even though the underpinnings are nothing new in theory. I never early adopt and wait for the application of the tech to mature and the price to drop to something affordable.

A lot of people do not factor in how much money they are spending to save a comparatively small amount of money.

 

[ericmark]

Main reason for change is no vent in wall so had to leave window open. With a condenser drier it uses room air to cool, and my utility room is small so likely it will over heat with a non heat pump dryer, so theroy heat pump is the way to go.

But not if they fail all the time. Hense the question.

 

[dishman]

Well, the Samsung one my brother bought has been bullet proof after heavy use. Like I said, I am usually quite critical of "smart" domestic appliances, but this one I have been impressed with.

It is also in a small side room, and the room does not feel any different with it on. (I know it's condenser dryers that can be bad with this, but I'm sure the hoover heat pumps affected the room atmosphere too, so probably a build quality thing).


It looks like this one, so maybe a model number similar to DV90T8240SX.

 

[BlueLoo]

Dunno about reliability but my whirlpool hp dryer is far better than it's older condensing one.

A) it does not leak condensation at all.
B) runs cooler which really helps the clothing stay in shape.
C) is FAR more efficient.

Payed for itself at this point tbh.

 

[ericmark]

Got like for like replacement, so now the question is closed, crossing fingers I have done the right thing, a heat pump dryer is a condensing dryer, there are three ways to get a cool surface for the moisture to condense out of the circulating air, one is a water cooled condenser, wastes water, but is compact and used with many washer/driers, second is air in the room, this will warm the room, so depends on how big the room is, and the third is refrigeration (heat pump) main draw back is room must not be under a set temperature often 5°C or the moisture will freeze on the condenser.

Because the room used is small and not using a washer/drier, and not hole for vented the heat pump does seem best option, and on swapping from vented 1000 watt to heat pump the current used dropped by half, and the time was around the same, as time went on it was using more and more power to dry the clothes until it finally stopped.

When we first got the heat pump drier we did use an energy meter, but once it showed it was working well stopped using it. It was not easy to see what was going on, these two graphs done when the failed drier was new, The mark/space is keeping the maximum temperature down to some pre-set figure, and one would have thought this showed working OK, but got the same mark/space ratio with the failed machine. The estimated time to dry also did not seem to alter, but before complete failure the actually time was getting longer and longer although estimated time stayed the same.

 

[robinbanks]

I'd expect the time to be driven from a humidity assessment of the drying comparent, and if it's not drying well the humidity will drop more slowly, so the "50% means 3h, 45% means 2.5h.." mapping means the slower humidity decrement translates to a longer time though the estimate remains the same. I expect drying humidity would be a curve rather than linear and the maths probably too complex to project two recent relative readings to a finish time

We have a Bosch HP dryer that has worked well the past 8 years (~3 low heat drying cycles a day), even if the naff door catch has broken switch and the "door is closed" sensor switch needs regular vacuuming to stop fluff from preventing it registering a door closed condition. Also, the waste heat is useful as there is a drying rack for delicates and MVHR extract in the same room

 

[ericmark]

At an average of between 300 and 500 watt clearly the drier must heat the room, but the vented drier needed to window left open, so hard to say how much heat the drier now puts into the room, the Haier HD80 did work well while it was working, and the no quibble replacement has resulted in replacing like for like, we could have simply had our money back, but my daughter had problems with hers trying to return it when faulty, so we felt the no quibble with replacement is worth a lot.

The big problem was getting the drier in and out of the utility room.

I did not want to drill a hole for the vent of the vented type, and with the other condenser types either wasting water, or heating the room up far more, OK this time of year, not so good in the summer, we feed the birds so putting washing out to dry means it needs re-washing too many times. Still being dried with solar, but from solar panels, which can deliver 500 watt better than 1000 watt, so heat pump does seem to be the way to go.

All done now, just waiting for sun to come up before starting for the first time.