Clothes Dryer facts for homeowners

A clothes dryer is a powered household appliance used to remove moisture from clothes, usually after being washed in a washing machine. Many dryers have a rotating drum called a tumbler, which is where the air is heated and circulated as evaporated moisture. Sometimes, this type of appliance can cause clothes to shrink and change the texture of their fibre.

Here is some information about different types of dryers:

Tumble dryers
This type of dryer draws in the dry, cool, and ambient air around before passing it through the tumbler. This will create humid and hot air that is usually vented outside to make room for dry air to continue the drying process. However, there is a bit of an issue in its design because it does not recycle the heat it funnelled into the load which makes it environmentally wasteful. However, it is a popular choice among homeowners since it is simple to use and reliable.

Spin dryers
This type of dryer is also called a centrifuge machine because its drums are much faster than a typical dryer. In fact, they can remove water in just two minutes compared with a heated tumbler dryer, which often takes twenty minutes or more. Therefore, spin dryers can save significant amounts of time and energy. However, expect that it will be a significant factor in your monthly power bills.

Condenser dryers
Condenser or condensation dryers pass the heated air through the load, so it uses a heat exchanger to cool the air and condense the water vapour into its drain pipe. This type of dryer will require more power than any other conventional dryer but does not emit humid air.

Heat pump dryers
A heat pump dryer often uses a pump to dehumidify the air before pushing it to the load. Typically, it uses less than half the energy of a condenser dryer per load, but it will require more time to dry the clothes.

Stream compression dryers
This is an advanced version of heat pump dryers. Instead of using hot air to dry the clothing, mechanical steam compression dryers will often use water recovered from the clothes and convert that into hot steam.
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Maintenance tips
It is important to understand that dryers expose flammable materials to heat, so it is recommended that you clean the lint filter after every cycle. This will make the machine safe and energy-efficient. You will also need to clean the duct regularly and remove any foreign materials, so it will always have adequate ventilation.
Lastly, always remove flammable materials like rubber, fibre, or plastic items from your load since this can lead to fire accidents.