Thanks to tumble dryers, we can put away clean laundry hours after putting it in the washing machine.
But before using the appliance, spin your laundry as thoroughly as possible beforehand, says Ane Esdohr of the Berlin Consumer Advice Centre.
"Removing water from the laundry by spinning requires far less energy than drying it out later with heat,” she says, listing one way to reduce your power consumption and thus what you are spending.
Bear in mind also that the amount of electricity a tumble dryer uses also varies greatly.
"Actual consumption depends on the appliance, the programme, the load and the residual moisture in the laundry,” says Esdohr. "Modern heat-pump tumble dryers use roughly 0.7 to 1 kWh per drying cycle. Older appliances without a heat pump, on the other hand, can use around 3 to 4 kWh per drying cycle.”
If you calculate this over a year, it makes a big difference. If you use your tumble dryer twice a week, you’ll use between 72.8 kWh and 416 kWh of electricity per year, depending on the appliance (two times 52 weeks times 0.7 kWh or times 4 kWh).
Depending on the price of power, annual electricity costs for the tumble dryer may vary say between €25 (RM116) and €145 (RM677), in Germany for example, at an electricity rate of 35 cents (RM1.63) per kWh. That’s a significant sum.
Drying laundry indoors
If you are trying to avoid using a tumble dryer altogether and dry your laundry in the fresh air, that naturally uses no electricity at all. "That works best outdoors, on the balcony or in a well-ventilated drying room,” says Esdohr.
When it is cold outside, however, you may need additional heating energy. "Directing electric dehumidifiers or fans specifically at the laundry merely shifts energy consumption,” she says.
In her view, this does not usually completely eat into the savings made by not using a tumble dryer. But drying laundry indoors is simply not always "completely free,” she notes.
Another important point when drying your wash indoors is to ventilate your room well, so moisture doesn’t remain in your living space.
"Otherwise, while you may save on electricity for the tumble dryer, in the worst-case scenario you could end up with a damp or mould problem in your home,” says Esdohr. – dpa
