The green tumble dryers that pay for themselves in two years! 

Wilma Allan says her tumble dryer is too expensive to run. “I never use it to dry laundry – so I keep potatoes inside because it’s nice and dark.”

You may not have turned your dryer into a potato store like Wilma, 62, a leadership coach from Monmouthshire. But with energy bills reaching record highs, many of us are concerned about using an appliance with a reputation for draining energy.

As a result, the humble tumble dryer has been demonized.

Humid British weather makes hanging laundry outside a challenge, especially in winter, while drying laundry on radiators releases moisture into the air, leading to condensation and mould.

So, should you really feel guilty about using yours — and is there a way to tumble dry without breaking the bank?

“The key is making sure you have an energy-efficient model,” says Ben Peach, laundry product manager for Haier Europe.

“The difference in running costs between an older model and the most efficient new one can be hundreds of euros per year, so it will pay for itself quickly.”

He may have a vested interest, but analysis by comparison website USwitch backs him up. It found that a Hoover heat pump dryer with an A++ rating of £479 costs around £88 per year, based on two uses per week. By contrast, a £280 Hoover vented dryer with energy rating C costs £216 a year.

A lower energy bill means that you can earn back the difference with the purchase of the more expensive model in just 18 months.

Even between new models, the energy label of the tumble dryer you buy can make a huge difference in costs – and it can pay off to invest in a more expensive machine.

So what will you decide?

There are three types of tumble dryers to choose from.

Vented clothes dryers, which exhaust hot air through a duct, are usually the cheapest type to buy, but the least energy efficient. They typically cost around £1.82 per cycle at current energy prices.

Condenser dryers convert hot air into water that collects in a tank and needs to be emptied. They cost about the same to operate as vented dryers.

Heat pump dryers recycle hot air, which means they use a lot less energy, but can take a little longer to dry clothes — costing around 74p per cycle.

“Heat pump dryers are by far the most economical type of tumble dryer – they are more than 50 percent more efficient than condensers,” explains Mr. Peach out.

He says those using a dryer five times a week would save around £1,000 on their energy bills over four years (at current prices) by replacing their old dryer with a heat pump.

The savings explain why sales of heat pump dryers experienced “major growth” in 2022, despite a drop in sales of other types, he adds.

Currys says heat pump dryer sales are already up 30 percent this year. has increased and expects this trend to continue.

They have been widely used in countries such as Germany and Switzerland since the mid-2000s, but have only become popular here in recent years.

Alastair Cooke of manufacturer Miele says heat pump dryers are kinder to fabrics because they use lower temperatures.

Many modern dryers also come with sensors that automatically stop once the clothes are dry, preventing wasted energy and heat damage to your laundry.

But not everyone has the means to replace their old dryer with a heat pump, which costs £329 to £2,699.

Wilma Allan, for example, cannot upgrade her 15-year-old machine because it belongs to her landlord.

If you are stuck with your model, you can save by turning the heat setting down or using it for less time, for example to finish drying clothes. You can also use an appliance such as an £8 Ecoegg dryer – a plastic appliance that helps separate clothes during the spin cycle to reduce drying time.

Jodie Clough, of eco-friendly subscription box Between Green, suggests using wool dryer balls. “They reduce the required temperature setting, but also the cycle time,” she says. “They also reduce wrinkles, so there’s less ironing to do.”

Regular cleaning of the machine’s lint filter also helps to improve efficiency. Another trick is to avoid overloading, as clothes that are too tightly packed cannot move freely in the drum.

Better technology: many modern dryers also come with sensors that automatically stop once the clothes are dry, preventing wasted energy and heat damage to your laundry

A+++ dryer saves £500 a year

With three kids and a mud-loving dog at home, motivational speaker Andy Coley, 46, and his wife Sophie, 45, handle about ten full loads of laundry a week.

They struggle with drying clothes in their 1930s semi-detached house in Lewisham, South East London, so they use a clothesline outside in the summer, but rely on a tumble dryer in the winter months.

The pair invested in a £430 Grundig heat pump tumble dryer rated A+++ to update their old model, which was rated C.

The dryer costs around £1.42 per two hour cycle to dry a full load, compared to around £3.40 per cycle for their previous dryer at current prices.

It means it costs the family around £369 a year to dry the laundry – a huge saving on the £884 they’d spend if they hadn’t upgraded their dryer.

“I saved the cost of a new dryer many times over by buying a more energy efficient one,” explains Andy.

Old gas dryer is so cheap

For over 30 years, Guy Wilson and his wife, Christine, have relied on a gas tumble dryer.

Gas dryers are no longer available in the UK. They were more common in commercial buildings than in residential homes.

The couple, who live in Leamington Spa, bought their first gas dryer after the birth of their eldest daughter 31 years ago and have had their current model for some 13 years.

However, they had stopped after the recent rise in energy prices.

But with the help of Money Mail, they found that their White Knight machine is very energy efficient, costing just 22 pence in gas to dry a load of towels in about an hour.

‘We saw it as an unnecessary luxury, assuming it was a heavy consumer of gas,’ says Mr Wilson, 71, a retired IT consultancy.

“We can afford to use it about six times a week again.”

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