Energy efficient laundry

[joe90]

12 hours ago, Hecateh said:

 

we'll see

 

 

No, she agrees, no point in having an energy efficient house to save “ fuel” then spend it on running a tumble drier when we have other means to do the same job for free!

[SteamyTea]

You will be amazed how fast things dry on a line in a force 9 (8 is the usual).  It can even stand the odd spot of rain and still dry.

And as you have probably found out, it can be raining on one corner of your garden and not on the opposite one.

[willbish]

Is anybody using a hot fill washing machine? Or are they all a thing of the past.

 

Could I connect a normal cold fill washing machine and even dishwash to a plentiful 34° hot water source?

[SteamyTea]

Generally they are a thing of the past.  The argument goes that less energy is used in heating just the water needed, rather than water that is in a pipe.

Modern machines use less water too.

 

I personally think that you could put in water at 34°C as it is not excessively high, so should not be any mechanical reasons not to.

The machine manufacturers may have other idea and stop the rinse cycle or some other nonsense.

[Roundtuit]

10 hours ago, joe90 said:

 

No, she agrees, no point in having an energy efficient house to save “ fuel” then spend it on running a tumble drier when we have other means to do the same job for free!

You're still having a washing machine rather than a scrubbing tub though?  I guess it's one of those 'lifestyle' choices about where the line is drawn on energy use.  I like the idea of a pulley clothes airer in the utility room with the mvhr doing the drying job, but there is still a tumble drier going in for quick turnaround stuff (got teenagers; you know how it is...)

[dpmiller]

dishwashers use the incoming cold water as a condenser during the drying phase so expect wet dishes if the supply is too warm. Likewise if it's a washer/dryer, but at least in that case there tends to be a specific condenser water supply valve so you *could* pipe cold direct to it.

[joe90]

10 hours ago, Roundtuit said:

You're still having a washing machine rather than a scrubbing tub though?  I guess it's one of those 'lifestyle' choices about where the line is drawn on energy use.  I like the idea of a pulley clothes airer in the utility room with the mvhr doing the drying job, but there is still a tumble drier going in for quick turnaround stuff (got teenagers; you know how it is...)

 

actually my washing machine has a built in tumble dryer but she has never found how to use it, so I am keeping quiet about it ?

[lizzie]

40 minutes ago, joe90 said:

actually my washing machine has a built in tumble dryer but she has never found how to use it, so I am keeping quiet about it ?

I had one of those combi machines. Useless, it takes forever to dry things compared to a regular dryer.  I gave up on the dryer part of the washing machine and installed a dryer as well. Much more efficient drying and less energy costs too.

[newhome]

40 minutes ago, lizzie said:

I had one of those combi machines. Useless, it takes forever to dry things compared to a regular dryer.  I gave up on the dryer part of the washing machine and installed a dryer as well. Much more efficient drying and less energy costs too.

 

I’ve got a washer dryer too but the dryer is dreadful. Things come out wrecked or creased so I only ever use the separate dryer. Would never buy another combi machine. Anyway when I do laundry I want to be able to wash and dry at the same time. 

[SteamyTea]

44 minutes ago, lizzie said:

Useless, it takes forever to dry things compared to a regular dryer.

You may find that it is a basic condensing dryer.  They do take longer.

Do a comparison between two identical sets of drying and see what the energy usage difference is.

 

The few times I have used my drying, time is not an issue as I usually get the machine to start at 3 AM and it is all washed and dried by 6 AM.

[MikeGrahamT21]

We always used to wash at 30C, with 60C for bedding, but I recently discovered a new mode on our washer, Eco Clean 20, not only lower temp, but also uses half the amount of water the the other mode used! We put in the anti-bacterial liquid to kill any nasties, which we always did anyway, and that works down to 15C, i've not noticed any difference in terms of wash quality. Just need to get me a heat pump dryer now, then i'll be able to run it off the PV with zero cost quite easily.

[Dreadnaught]

32 minutes ago, MikeGrahamT21 said:

heat pump dryer

 

I had never heard of this, so I looked it up: e.g. https://www.beko.co.uk/lifestyle/benefits-of-a-tumble-dryer-heat-pump

[Cambs]

57 minutes ago, MikeGrahamT21 said:

 Just need to get me a heat pump dryer now, then i'll be able to run it off the PV with zero cost quite easily.

 

We have a heat pump tumble dryer - the other big advantage of it for us vs a conventional tumble dryer was that there is no need to punch a great big hole through the fabric of the building to vent it to outside. Plug it in and go....  We couldn't plumb it in where we were, so just need to empty the water tank every so often.

[jack]

Just to be clear, the heat pump is just the means by which heat is generated. A heat pump is more efficient than direct electric heating.

 

It's the condensing nature of the dryer that avoids the needs for punching a hole and feeding huge gobs of energy to the outside world. There are condensing dryers that don't use heat pumps (in fact, the vast majority don't).

 

I don't know whether heat pump dryers use the cold side of the heat pump to improve condensing. Seems to make sense that they might.

[lizzie]

This  is a girlie view........I just want to dry my laundry, quality and time of drying is far more important to me than a few £’s on the electricity bill.I never use it in the midde of the night.

 

I had aaa rated Miele before cost a fortune, had to leave it behimd when I sold the house. Bought a cheap as chips Candy condenser dryer B rating for rental house.  Turns out it is more efficient at drying than the Miele and the saving in cost of equipment will pay for an awful lot of electricity.

 

When I bought the cheapie stop gap 2 years ago I thought I would just use it until it died and then get a ‘proper brand’ again for new house.  I am so pleased with cheap Candy I have decided I will do as planned and run it until it dies but then I will get another. I could have a new dryer every 2 years for 10 years for the price of a Miele and if the result is as good its a no brainer for me.

[SteamyTea]

I used to by Candy Washer Dryers, they were excellent, both last over 10 years each and were probably repairable, but so cheap it was not worth the bother.

Have a Bosch now, cost about the same as the Candy and is good.

[Hecateh]

2 hours ago, lizzie said:

This  is a girlie view........I just want to dry my laundry, quality and time of drying is far more important to me than a few £’s on the electricity bill.I never use it in the midde of the night.

Reading the info it could also be better for clothes because it runs at a cooler temp

 

[ProDave]

In our house the Tumble dryer is actually the towel fluffing machine. If you dry towels any other way they fail the fluffyness test. That is it's sole reason for existing.

 

We now have a condensing dryer, so at least we don't shove 3KW of heat out through a big hole in the wall any more.

 

However the condensing mechanism is very poor.  It takes in room air at floor level to pass through the condenser.  That might work okay in an old house with no floor insulation so the floor is always cold, but in a well insulated house with under floor heating, the room air it sucked in was simply not cold enough and you could run the thing for ages and the towels came out wet and warm.

 

I swear in the new house the TD is going in the garage where there is more likely to be cold air for the condenser.

 

Perhaps we need ducted air from outside, over the condenser, then back outside again?

[jack]

I've heard this before, but ours (AEG) works perfectly well in our warm and well-insulated house.

 

The previous condenser dryer we had needed its heat exchanger cleaned periodically. Could yours be clogged with lint or has it always been the same?

[Stones]

We have two clothes pulleys in our utility, and they do a great job of drying clothes in conjunction with the MVHR.  On one occasion we were packing before going on holiday the following day, and some last minute essential washing had to be done so a particular item of clothing was available.  With no tumble drier to fall back on, we opted for a fan heater.  Shut the utility door, and left the heater running for half an hour.  Warmed the whole utility up and dried the clothes (again the the MVHR running) in an hour and a half.  Not something we would do every day but a good emergency fall back.

[newhome]

4 hours ago, lizzie said:

This  is a girlie view........I just want to dry my laundry, quality and time of drying is far more important to me than a few £’s on the electricity bill.I never use it in the midde of the night.

 

I’m with you @lizzie. I never ever use the dryer overnight or even if I leave the house. I only ever run the dryer, washing machine or dishwasher during the day when someone is home for safety reasons. Yeah maybe I’m paranoid but if I don’t have to take a chance why would I? 

 

In addition, I don’t want to find a crumpled heap of clothes in the dryer after they’ve been sat there for a few hours. Part of my ironing free strategy is hanging everything up as soon as the drying cycle is finished. 

 

I looked at the heat pump dryers when I changed mine about 3 years ago. The additional purchase cost was more than I would save in electricity, and the longer drying time didn’t work for me so I bought another condenser. Haven’t had a vented dryer since 2001. 

[SteamyTea]

About time for this

 

[SteamyTea]

Just a quick update on my energy and why it is best at night.

Having tinkered a bit with the temperatures of my new water cylinder and storage heater, I have reduced my daily usage by 10 kWh/day.  Now it is 17 kWh/day.

Yesterday my mean was 703W, during the day it was 75W and at night is was 2320W.

The room temperature is now at a better 20.5°C, yesterday it was at 21.9°C, day before it was 21.7°C.

 

 

[newhome]

15 hours ago, jack said:

 

The previous condenser dryer we had needed its heat exchanger cleaned periodically. Could yours be clogged with lint or has it always been the same?

 

My old condenser worked great and I still feel sad it died. The new one has never been quite as good but did get to the stage where everything was coming out damp. As you say above I eventually fixed it by cleaning the heat exchanger periodically. It’s still not as good though and the sensor always seems to stop the dryer before the clothes have reached the level of dryness selected. 

[Guest Alphonsox]

I'm still hoping the ultrasonic dryer technology anounced this time last year comes to fruition. It all seems to have gone quiet at the moment.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-39643452