Saving energy using the air fluff setting on a dryer?

summertime2006

16 years ago

I have a front loading washing machine and I can get it to spin the clothes pretty dry before putting them into the dryer.

I tried using the "no heat air fluff" setting to dry the clothes and it took a lot longer but it worked.

My understanding of energy use on a dryer is that it's expensive to run a dryer because of the heating.

So what I'm wondering is if it's much more energy efficient to have a much longer air fluff cycle with no heat than a shorter high heat cycle?

Thanks

Jim

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Comments (4)

dadoes
16 years ago
It's certainly feasible if one has enough time to wait for drying .... :-)
dudleyfuddpucker
16 years ago
Too many other factors will affect actual energy usage to make this an easy apples to apples comparison. For example, if you have no heat or a/c on at home, I might be willing to bet this would come out cheaper.

On the other hand, if it's high summer or winter, then you have to factor in the hidden costs of all the extra air you've already paid to heat or cool in your house that is being sucked up by the dryer and blown right outside. Will the costs of heating then blowing that air outside offset the lower energy usage of your dryer on a lower heat setting; I have absolutely no idea, and wouldn't even want to try to measure it, but it is there.

My personal pet peeve is with summer on the rare times I run the a/c. You draw in and cool air off, then the dryer sucks it in, heats it back up, then blows it right back outside. The idea of this drives me bonkers, and I always open the window in my laundry room, close the register and door while running the dryer under said conditions.

I always wonder why nobody ever made an external connection for *incoming* air also! :)
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looser
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dudleyfuddpucker,

"I always wonder why nobody ever made an external connection for *incoming* air also! :) "

Well, I guess it all depends on where you live and what the actual temperature and humidity of the outside air are. For us, the air outside would be warm or hot in summertime, which would be good. But then, the humidity is often 80% or more...that wouldn't be effective for drying laundry.
In theory, condenser dryers could be pretty effective. You can recycle the water and use it to water plants or something like that and it should be possible to regain some of the heat. I don't know how practical that would be. We had one of those dryers and the drying time is a little longer than using a vented dryer. So I guess they are not really more energy efficient. The most energy efficient way of drying clothes is to hang dry them (preferably outside).
fenzadonna_yahoo_com
13 years ago
is it cheaper to hang your clothes on a line; then, run them through the air cycle to get the lint and dust out of them, especially if they were outside where there is pollen?

Saving energy using the air fluff setting on a dryer?

Comments (4)

dadoes

dudleyfuddpucker

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looser

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