You might be pleasantly surprised at the price of energy-saving heat-pump tumble dryers this Black Friday.
Many will be cheaper than expected and we’ve found some excellent machines available for less than £500, including eight Which? Best Buys.
The energy savings you can make by switching to a heat-pump dryer are enormous. The 79 heat-pump tumble dryers reviewed on the Which? site cost on average £42 per year to run – this is based on drying three loads every week for a year.
For vented dryers this cost more than doubles to £97 and for the condenser dryers we’ve tested, you’ll need to pay £108 – that’s £66 more than a heat-pump dryer.
Head straight over to our heat-pump tumble dryer Best Buys
How much do heat-pump tumble dryers cost?
These days you have a very good chance of finding an excellent heat-pump tumble dryer for less than £500.
There are 25 reviews for heat-pump tumble dryers costing less than £500 on the Which? site and eight of these tumble dryers did well enough in our tests for us to make them Best Buys with the cheapest costing less than £370.
So, while heat-pump tumble dryers might have started out life 20 years ago as an energy-efficient but costly alternative to a vented or condenser tumble dryer, that simply isn’t true of these machines today.
What is the lifetime cost of a tumble dryer? Use our tumble dryer costs tool to find out
Five affordable heat-pump tumble dryers
Haier HD80-A636, £480
There’s room in the drum for 8kg of clothes and this A++ rated Haier heat-pump dryer will cost around £41 per year to run.
Read our review of the Haier HD80-A636 to see if it’s worth considering.
DEAL ALERT: We’ve spotted this tumble dryer in the Black Friday sales reduced to £448.97 at AppliancesDirect.co.uk.
Bush BCGBTD8HP, £320
Rated A++ for energy with an 8kg drum, this is the cheapest heat-pump tumble dryer on our site.
Read our review of the Bush BCGBTD8HP to find out how it scores.
Beko DTLP91151W, £420
Look for the roomy 9kg drum on this A+ rated Beko and expect drying to cost around £51 per year.
Read our review of the Beko DTLP91151W to find out how it scores.
Sharp KD-NHH8S7GW2-EN, £449
This A++ Sharp dryer will cost just £41 per year to run as it dries clothes in its 8kg drum.
Read our review of the Sharp KD-NHH8S7GW2-EN to find out how it scores.
Zanussi ZDH87B4PW, £479
Expect annual running costs of around £46 per year with this A++ rated 8kg Zanussi.
Read our review of the Zanussi ZDH87B4PW to see how it does in our tests.
Take a look at our top five cheap tumble dryers for 2021
How do heat-pump tumble dryers save energy?
Saving energy is the mantra of heat-pump tumble dryer designers, with everything being done to reduce the power they need to dry your clothes.
All dryers generate heat and pump it into the drum to help dry clothes as they tumble. But a heat-pump dryer will reuse heat leaving the drum and pump it back into the machine to help to continue drying the clothes.
Vented dryers just pump warm damp air out through a hose and conventional condenser dryers, capture moisture from the air before releasing it.
Heat-pump dryers also have a reputation for taking longer to dry clothes than vented or condenser machines. This is because in working to save energy, the heat provided will be at a lower temperature than that used on a vented or condenser machine.
But drying times are coming down with very little difference between the quickest heat-pump dryers and many conventional machines.
Some heat-pump tumble dryers will also save energy by not reversing the direction of tumbling as often – this means that the machine doesn’t have to waste energy by regularly stopping and starting.
A downside is that with some machines, every now and then you might find your laundry in a ball, but this won’t be an everyday occurrence.
Check out our top five energy efficient tumble dryers for 2021
Can I still buy a vented or condenser tumble dryer?
There are still plenty of excellent vented and condenser tumble dryers out there that dry clothes quickly and well, if that’s the kind of dryer you’re looking for.
But as they use so much energy to dry clothes, they’re unlikely to score highly enough in our tests to become Best Buys.
And with the tumble dryer energy label set to change in 2022, with its energy-use requirements becoming ever more challenging, we could soon see vented and condenser tumble dryers disappearing from the market.
Is your tumble dryer beyond repair and do you need a new one this Black Friday?
If your vented, condenser or your old heat-pump dryer is approaching the end of the road or if you’re just in the market for a new dryer this Black Friday, head over to our tumble dryer reviews to find an energy-saving heat-pump dryer.
Best Buys start at less than £400 and there are eight Best Buy for less than £500.
Tumble dryer tips and maintenance
source https://www.which.co.uk/news/2021/11/can-you-still-buy-a-cheap-yet-energy-efficient-tumble-dryer-this-black-friday/