At A F Thomas Electricals we want to give you the same experience that you would get if you were in one of our stores so here are the key facts that you need to know when deciding on which Tumble dryer to buy.
There are four different types of driers to choose from:
1) Condensing Tumble Dryers
Condensing Tumble dryers store the moisture that is generated from heating your clothes to dry them. This moisture is condensed back to water and stored in a drawer in the Tumble Dryer. The advantages of this are that this type of dryer can be used anywhere in the house that has a power supply. The disadvantage is that you will have to empty the water container as it fills, most manufacturers will recommend that you empty this container after every use.
2) Heat Pump Tumble Dryers
Heat Pump Tumble Dryers are principally the same as Condenser Dryers expect they re use the hot air that is normally lost after it is used to dry the clothes, this makes this type of dryer by far the most energy efficient way to dry your clothes and the cheapest to run. This should be considered as the Tumble dryer is generally the most expensive domestic appliance in your home to run.
3) Vented Tumble Dryers
Vented Tumble Dryers still heat your clothes to dry them except they vent the hot air outside via a venting hose. This type of dryer is usually the cheapest way to buy a dryer but you have to have the facility to either put a vent pipe through a window or a door or you connect the hose to a permanent venting kit in your wall. Please be aware that not all Vented dryers will come with the venting hose included so make sure you get one when comparing models and pricing etc. All our Vented dryers come complete with the venting hose.
4) Spin Dryers
The traditional Spin dryer works in the old fashioned way where it simply just spins at a very high RPM to dry your clothes, this however does not always leave your clothes totally dry. There are two types of Spin Dryers, a pumped type and a gravity type. The pumped type has a drain pump fitted that will pump the extracted water through a pipe and into wherever you have placed the hose (usually a sink) and the Gravity type has a funnel on the front where you would have to place a bowl to catch the water as it falls using gravity from the drum into the container.
Once you have decided on the type of Dryer suits your needs best, you will need to consider the following features before making your final choice:
Kilo Load Capacity
- 3Kg load, this is generally only for Compact Tumble dryers
- 4Kg load, this is generally only for Spin Dryers
- 6Kg load
- 7Kg load
- 8Kg load
- 9Kg load
- 10Kg load
The thing to remember when choosing your load capacity is that the larger the drum then the more the clothes will tumble around during the cycle, this will help reduce creasing and also speed up the drying process. The other thing to consider is your washing machine load capacity, you don't want a 8Kg wash load and only a 6Kg drier to put those clothes in when your washing has finished.
Energy Rating
The Energy rating of a Tumble Dryer can range from A+++ through to D, each stage is generally 10% more efficient than the one below it so choosing a dryer that is A+++ can save you a great deal of money over one that is rated C. Heat pump technology is currently the only way to get to this level of energy savings but with ever increasing energy costs this is something that you should consider when selecting your product.
Sensor Drying
Sensor Drying is something that you will find very useful, this function takes all the guess work out of drying times. Instead of guessing a dry time for your washing, with a sensor dryer you tell the machine how dry you want the clothes and the machine does the rest and automatically stops when the clothes are dry. This can save you a lot of money as very often people will over estimate the drying time to ensure the clothes are dry. If the clothes were dry after 50 minutes and you have selected 70 minutes then the machines will be operating for 20 minutes unnecessarily which can lead to high energy bills.
