Tumble Dryer Buyers Guide: How To Buy A Tumble Dryer
We have over 100 tumble dryers in our range, with a wide selection of premium brands, offering practical, compact, and low-budget choices, to high-end, multi-functional, and eco-friendly tumble dryers. Whatever your requirement, we will have a tumble dryer that suits your needs and specifications.
Do tumble dryers shrink clothes?
Before using a tumble dryer make sure to look at the label on your item of clothing to see if it’s dryer safe. If it is not tumble dryer safe, then do not put it into the tumble dryer.
Some pieces of clothing can’t be put into a tumble dryer since it is bad for the fabric and will shrink it, hence the label will show a cross through the tumble dryer icon. Other fabrics may be fine to use in the tumble dryer however, they might need certain temperature settings, as some clothing will shrink if the drying temperature is too high. So change the setting to a lower temperature setting so that the item doesn’t shrink.
Some tumble dryers will come with specific fabric settings programmed in. This means you can choose the setting suitable to the fabric your clothing is made of so that the tumble dryer will dry your clothing at the correct setting.
Are tumble dryers expensive to run?
Tumble dryers have traditionally been one of the more expensive home appliances to run, due to the amount of energy they use. However, here at DB Domestics, we offer a range of more economically, energy-efficient tumble dryers that are most cost-effective to run.
Condenser tumble dryers and vented tumble dryers are the less energy-efficient variants. Both of these tumble dryers have energy-efficiency ratings of B and C. They specialize in prompt, moisture removal from clothing, using the most efficient volumes of energy. Between the two, the condenser tumble dryers have a higher B rated energy-efficiency, which makes them the more eco-friendly option.
For those of you who want a tumble dryer that is both energy efficient and cheap to run, then our range of heat-pump tumble dryers will be most suitable. These tumble dryers have energy ratings of A+ and above which makes them both energy and cost-efficient. The heat pump style reuses the hot air multiple times to dry your clothes, helping to keep the running costs low, saving you money in the long run.
Which tumble dryers are best?
Ultimately, the best tumble dryer will be the one that ticks most, if not all, the requirements you are looking for in a tumble dryer.
The most popular attributes that customers look for when it comes to purchasing a tumble dryer are drum size, functionality, speed, and energy-efficiency. As well as costs of course.
If you are a household that does frequent laundry then a tumble dryer with a drum size of 9kg or more, will be perfectly suitable. For smaller households, that do small to average size laundry per week, then a 6kg drum size will be fine. We stock a range of Hotpoint tumble dryers that offer a variety of drum sizes from 4kg to 8kg. If you want a drum size that is larger than 8kg, we stock a Blomberg tumble dryer with a 10kg drum.
Another great function that can be found in new tumble dryers is the anti-crease function, which helps keep the clothes loose and separate instead of bunching up.
We also stock tumble dryers that offer a dry sensor technology, which enables the tumble dryer to operate at a lower heat, to stop damage and the shrinkage of clothing. We have two brands that offer a good range of functions like the ones mentioned earlier; AEG tumble dryers, and Hoover tumble dryers.
Speed and energy efficiency go hand in hand when looking at tumble dryers. This is because a lot of washing machines operate on low heat and use less energy but dry clothes slower. Heat pump tumble dryers are a good example of these attributes, as they boast a high efficiency with most of them having a rating of A+ and above. This is because they reuse hot air, they are slower and take longer to dry clothes.
Our Bosch tumble dryers offer a good balance of both speed and energy efficiency. They have a heat pump tumble dryer that comes with a 40-minute quick-dry program so you can choose from different speed settings.
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How can I prevent clothes shrinkage in a tumble dryer?
There are four tips that can help with preventing shrinkage in a tumble dryer. The first tip is to read labels. Reading labels on your clothes can tell you a lot, like whether the fabric is tumble dryer friendly, or what temperature to use with it. What works for wool may not work for synthetic fabrics, so make sure you know what fabrics you are dealing with before drying your clothes.
Secondly, if you aren’t sure if you can use a tumble dryer or what temperature is best to dry on, then stick to low heat. High heat can damage fibres of some fabrics and that’s why clothes end up shrinking, so it is best to be cautious and use low heat.
Thirdly, make sure you don’t over-dry your clothing. Put your clothes on a suitable setting if you are using high heat, on a lower timed setting so that they don’t over-dry, otherwise, you may end up slightly shrinking your clothes, even if the fabric is okay on high heat. It also helps to take your clothes out of the tumble dryer as soon as the cycle has finished, because the drum is still hot and the clothing fibres can still be damaged.
Lastly, it is sometimes worth putting your clothes in cold water before putting them in the tumble dryer. This is because the washing machine heats the clothes with the hot water it uses and so the extra heat of a tumble dryer can increase the risk of shrinkage. If you put it in cold water first it shouldn’t get as hot and will decrease the risk of shrinking.
What’s the difference between condenser and heat pump tumble dryers?
A condenser tumble dryer removes the moisture from your clothes and stores it in a tank found inside the dryer. This type of dryer is good if you don’t have a way of venting the water out of the dryer. You will need to empty the tank though.
You can view the chart below that shows the cost per dry as well as time and energy consumption dependant on the tumble dryer type you choose.
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Heat pump tumble dryers create hot air inside the drum of the dryer and then reuse this air to keep circling around the laundry in order to dry it. Because it reuses the hot air it makes it a really energy-efficient machine and can save you a lot of money, however because of how it works it can take a longer amount of time in order to fully dry clothing.
Are tumble dryers environmentally friendly?
If you want your tumble dryer to be as environmentally friendly as possible we suggest you look at the ratings. The ratings go from C to A+++, if you want to get the most environmentally friendly tumble dryer, then you want to buy one with a rating of A and above, as these are the most energy-efficient tumble dryers.
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