Dryers in the US consume ~3% of residential energy budget, 6x washing machines | Hacker News Reader

Dryers in the US consume ~3% of residential energy budget, 6x washing machines

news.umich.edu

No mention of heat pump air dryers? They save considerable amounts of energy. Probably not enough to make up for the increased costs, though -- AFAICT most people install them because they don't require a vent outdoors.

I assume this is region dependent. Over here, heat pump dryers start at 400 EUR, and you almost can't find a dryer without a heat pump.

Additional benefit is that heat pump dryers dry with a lower heat, which is better for the clothes.

Actually in Germany there are heat pump dryers for 400€ but in this price range you find way more non heat pump dryers, it’s even worse when you consider a washdryer

Relevant to my life.

Anyone have experience with these? They seem pretty uncommon in the the US. Thinking about pulling the trigger on an all in one heat pump to replace an all in one with a condenser.

So many mixed reviews about heat pump dryers saying they don't dry well.

FWIW, I got a combo washer dryer, specifically this one https://youtu.be/x44YAiVCbAY (not my video), because I don't have a dryer vent.

While it was a pretty big upfront cost, the combo does have the advantage of entirely reimagining how one does laundry! Specifically because it both washes and dries you can just run it overnight and in the morning you take out dry clothes. So no more laundry days; every night is a potential laundry night. Not only is it energy efficient, it also runs on my ultra-low overnight time of day rates, because that is simply the most convenient time of day to run it anyways.

I think the above video review covers basically everything. I do agree the clothes do not come out super dry, and sometimes I do run it a little longer, or let things air out a bit. Clothes are usually fine and sheets are slightly less fine. Also there is no lint trap, so I have to keep wiping out the lint.

Overall I think the advantages outweigh the disadvantages with not having to babysit the washing machine ensure wet clothes are transferred to the dryer in a timely fashion.

I've had one for almost 10 years, but I didn't have a dryer at all before that so I can't compare it to a 'normal' dryer. My only comparison is commercial-grade dryers on trips outside Europe, where I've been astounded at the thickness of the power cables or even natural gas connections.

The default programme, which I almost always use, takes a relatively long time. Clothes have a slightly-damp feeling when it's finished, but it quickly disappears in the time I take to fold them.

Good luck fixing it when it breaks and thus creating more e-waste.

Electric dryers, especially older models, are very simple appliances, you can easily repair yourself and keep them running forever. Can't say the same about heat pump or gas dryer

Certainly something to consider, but they don't fail that often. I've had 1 issue to fix over around 10 years. The cost of that repair over the whole period is ignorable. Once you factor in the running cost, you're just spending more than the maintenance on the energy instead.

They dry fine, but it does take longer.

> They seem pretty uncommon in the the US. Thinking about pulling the trigger on an all in one heat pump to replace an all in one with a condenser

They are widely available. I have the GE heat pump washer+dryer combo. I know people who have the LG and it works pretty well. They dry fine as long as you don't mix heavy clothes with lighter clothes. For most of my not-very-dirty laundry, I run a "quick wash" cycle that finishes washing and drying in 90 minutes.

We got one 6 months ago, a washer dryer combo (Samsung bespoke.) We have 3 kids so we use it daily, sometimes twice. Comforters will take 8 hours but that's ok, just plan for it overnight. It takes much longer for sure, but because we took our chances with a 2-in-1 it actually ends up being less cogload because we don't need to change the load over. So far I haven't felt like it's bad at drying. Previously we had an industrial 5kw drier and I can't notice a difference.

Since the heat pump doesn't pull air from the exterior your basement will have smaller temp swings as the drier isn't pulling air from the outside cracks (old houses like mine especially.)

My only negative is the lint filter: because the heat exchange coils need to stay cleaner the filter has two stages which means twice as much lint picking.

We primarily hang dry but we do have a Miele heat pump dryer.

It was on the expensive side, but we have no issues. It does take a little longer to dry some things. That’s about all the negatives I have.

It also depends on the weather where you live. Unless you don't mind clothes that smell funny.

In Japan they don't commonly use dryers and mostly hang dry everything (except maybe Okinawa where I guess it's too tropical). But their bathrooms as set up to operate as a big dryer. You dry both your clothes and the bathroom itself.

Many townships make line drying illegal, at least in PA.

Also, quite a few lease agreements I have had place restrictions on it.

What public good could possibly come from such a restriction/ban?

"We don't want the building to look like a ghetto". Seriously. That's the explanation I got from the rental manager for why it was banned on their property.

It is mostly cosmetic. (Lowers property values in the eyes of the investor) In my case it would be 2 lease violations since simply putting up a line would be a second violation for doing "unapproved work".

Lease agreements are a bit out of hand...especially in states with little/no renter protections.

I am imagining the Clothesline Police climbing up the fence to peek into your backyard to see how you are drying your clothes. We truly have run out of real things to be upset about and are just inventing more.

>What public good could possibly come from such a restriction/ban?

Often it's to keep out the "wrong" sort -- don't want some uppity poor moving into your school district.

So small things like hanging your laundry to dry or hosting a lemonade stand will have the cops rolling up on your house.

(Yes, that's right -- I witnessed a township cop come destroy a child's lemonade stand signs, demand they disband, and threaten to cite the parents, and ultimately arrest the father within a week of living in an allegedly "upscale" neighborhood.)

I once did some math and rain water tanks around auckland(by far most common way to get water if you don’t have municipal source) cost less than the land that they sit under.

My guess it might be similar to rotary dryer - the land under it costs more than lifetime of power your dryer will use.

P.S. if you have lots of small kids then at some point hanging out tons of small clothing becomes an exponential chore.

Florida has a statute that prevents local governments and HOAs from banning or prohibiting "solar collectors, clotheslines, or other energy devices based on renewable resources"

http://www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Displ...

I recently unplugged my dryer and stopped using it, but for a dumb reason: I moved it for cleaning, the dryer vent detached itself, and there's not enough space to reattach it without moving the washing machine.

Previously I was already line-drying over half of my clothes. Dryers add additional wear, can shrink or deform items, and a lot of my clothing is synthetic or wool. The cost savings was a bonus, since the dryer is already there and fed by gas. There's a drying rack in the corner of my home that just never goes away. Some items come out rough like towels, and things that need ironing with a dryer need even more ironing when line dried. But it's rare that I need an article of clothing that can't wait overnight to be line-dried.

I wonder how ultrasonic dryers have been doing lately. I don't know anything about them, but heard about them at an ARPA-E conference a while back. Don't know if this is still very low TRL, or just massively too expensive, or really doesn't work all that well. But they are supposed to be much more electrically efficient.

https://www.energy.gov/eere/articles/no-heat-no-problem-ultr...

> Over the lifetime of a dryer, 100% line drying could save a household upwards of $2,100. That would also cut back CO2 emissions by more than 3 tons per household over the same time. Though the contrast between dryers and line drying is stark, it’s not surprising, the researchers said.

Sad to say, I know people who've spent well over $2,100 on the dryer itself. (Initial purchase, then repairs.)

Purely monetary speaking, that doesn't seem like a lot. Let's say 10 years lifetime, $210 per year, $18/month so that I don't have to spend a ton of time hanging up laundry the bdey? Totally worth it (inviting the CO2 factor, though our heat pump dryer is very very efficient).

i mean if your goal is to save time completely, might as well pay the laundromat to wash, dry, fold, and deliver everything to your door. That would actually save you a lot of time. But hanging clothes to dry? Not really.

Draping clothes over a large clothing rack takes me about 10 minutes (2 adults in my household). I only put bed sheets and towels in the dryer, which means the cycle finishes much more quickly too.

10 minutes of saving a week is basically nothing, no? It’s also much faster for me to put away my laundry because i already sorted my clothes when hanging (put all shirts together, all shorts and pants together, etc). A nice bonus is my clothes last much longer.

I'm going to assume you don't have children. A bunch of towels? Sure no problem, clothes line every time. A giant load of small people clothes? That's a half hour hang job minimum

little ones, especially the first few years, are the exception rather than the norm. My sister has kids. They don’t blow out their diapers at 10 years old. :-)

dryers definitely are great when they have frequent accidents! agree with that 100%

You'd have to account for the extra time buying cloths too. Machine drying wears out cloths.

I machine dry socks, underwear and towels. I just guess trade off is about there. Especially socks are tedious to line dry.

https://www.energystar.gov/products/clothes_dryers/heat-pump...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zw183KZQNwc

It is too bad many Cities made it illegal to hang cloths. I use to do that years ago, but now you get fined.

So instead we use the dryers and toss chemical sheets in the dryer to give the cloths a 'fresh smell'. Time to repeal those laws.

Which cities made it illegal to hang dry clothes?

I know some HOAs unfortunately do.

Here you go, came up in a simple google search :)

https://www.livinggreenandfrugally.com/drying-your-clothes-o...

That site is mistaken. I live in Massachusetts and can tell you with certainty you are not banned from having a clothesline, notwithstanding an HOA rule in place.

In fact, the states given by that page are all listed as “right to dry” states - meaning associations do not have the right to ban clotheslines:

https://www.abajournal.com/news/article/20_right_to_dry_stat...

Although note this information isn’t accurate either - because Massachusetts never passed it’s right to dry law - it got stuck in committee:

https://malegislature.gov/Bills/190/S1117

There seems to be a circle of sites here regurgitating the same incorrect information.

Regardless, I don’t understand how any state or municipality can ban clotheslines.

I have an electric clothes dryer in my apartment, but growing up my family always had natural gas-powered dryers. Even when my parents added a washer/dryer to their bathroom, they ran a new gas line for it.

I switched from electric to gas in my last move. Gas is faster and according to the article, cheaper. This is one of those areas where it might be possible to save energy, but I prefer to live in a world where I can choose to spend energy in this way. Line-drying the few clothes that can't go in the dryer indoors often seems to end with them smelling mildewy.

I think a huge factor not touched on in the article is how an investment in faster spin cycles (or switching from top-load to side-load high-speed spin) could dramatically lower drying times and save energy as well.

Washers and dryers already do a lot of harm to clothes. My guess would be faster spin cycles do more harm than slower.

Strangely enough, the home I bought in 2022, which was new construction, has gas stove and water heater, but no gas in the laundry room. (I'm sure I can have it run relatively inexpensively if I chose)

Not strangely, it is regional preference. Go to Lowes or HD and see what housewife in that area prefer; there will be 20 models of one kind and 2 of other kind.

Is the laundry room and the gas stove on the same level? I was told when I (illegally) hooked up a gas stove that building code didn't allow running a gas line between two levels of the house.

Yes, it's a one-story house.

There's got to be some health benefit to having clean dry clothes and towels.

There’s no benefit to a clothes dryer.

They cost money, take space, ruin your clothes, are bad for the environment.

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