I think blomberg makes a heat pump dryer of that size for the US market, you may want to look at that.

Larsi... My Miele dryer didn't die (I'd really cry, if that happened). Actually, I was looking at this Miele Linkie and alas, the matching dryer only comes in a condenser model. And Yes... I already knew *it*, but.. I wanted to ignore the screams in my head :P

Obviously... I might be a little irrational, but it's so disappointing. Miele is trying to keep a foothold in the US Market, why don't they think we'd want american style dryers?

The thought of having a "moist" laundry room, is horrific.. when you worry about the possibility of Mold & Long term storage of Powder detergents. Emptying a water dispenser.. isn't the end of the world, but.. I probably wouldn't have access to a nearby drain or laundry room sink.

Longer cycle times, aren't necessarily the end of the world. Nor is cleaning a condenser or cleaning a lint filter ;) And... I'm pretty warm-natured, so I don't mind heat at all. Although... that could get very old, real fast... in the summer months.

Beyond Larsi's review.... which is very appreciated, yet scary at the same time. Does anyone else have anything else to say about them? Am I over-reacting? :P

Mich

Not sure which ones pump moisture back into the room, the Miele T8023C sure does not. Actually seems like mechanical failure if steam is coming out and not getting condensed...

Mitch, in my opinion vented > condenser, although admittedly me experience with vented dryers is quite limited. If I had the room, I think I would have gotten a non-Miele vented dryer. But if you're forced to stack or have no vent it's fine. You still get wrinkly sheets, but clothes seem to do fine (I hang them on hangers after the dryer since I'm not a fan of ironing, and that gets all creases out unless the load got overdried). Our tiny bathroom gets warm, but if doors are open it's only uncomfortable at over 90 degree temps, so not sauna levels. And being in MA we like the added warmth in the cold months. The air coming out is NOT damp if your dryer is working properly.

At the same time when I was playing around with a vented TOL GE dryer at an airbnb it amazed me how fast the load dried, how soft and wrinkle free the clothes came out and, most importantly, how cool they were to the touch mid-cycle. Open a condenser mid-cycle and my glasses fog up from the steam and I can barely touch the clothes, even with the Gentle setting activated. That to me is the biggest issue - I feel these higher temps could over time cause fading and damage, but then again I am no engineer and could be wrong.

I second what has beem said above.

Condenser dryers emit heat. I'd say the air blown out of mine is about 120F. Depending on the ambient temp and the size of the room, it can get quite cozy. Humidity is not a problem these days, unless you go with a really cheap brand. Miele and Bosch dryers condense over 90% of the water. Heat pump dryers are equally well sealed now.

Both Miele and Bosch have two very fine lint filters so the condenser should only require cleaning every couple of months. The Beko heat pumo dryer will require weekly care (or every fifth cycle).

Cycle times depend also on the ambient temp. My dryer is in the basement, very close to a door leading outside. Even a full load of towels takes about an hours now - especially if I open the door and let the cold air in. The same load will take about half an hour longer in the midst of summer.

Temps during the cycle are high. The operating thermostat in my Bosch will cut off the heater when the temperature inside the drum reaches 167F. The Low setting gets up to 120F. That being said, I used a Speed Queen dryers for some months and it heat my clothes so high I damn nearly burned myself when removing some items mid-cycle. And yes, its filter was clean and the vent was about one foot long. That's actually a benefit of condensing dryers: hardly any need to sort items according to thickness, since the entire load dries at the same rate.

As for: why are there no vented Miele dryers for the American consumer? I guess with the rapid decline of vented dryers in European and the small market share of Miele laundry in the US, it doesn't make sense in Miele's opinion to keep the vented dryer assembly line going very much longer.

Alex, that's really interesting about the SQ experience. When I was drying a load of towels in the GE I opened it mid-cycle and everything was barely warm to the touch, yet the whole load was dry in about 30 minutes... Seemed like magic to me, but then again maybe the cool down cycle had already kicked in?

Why have vented dryers been banned? I wish I'd know ventless dryers existed way back when we lived in an apartment. Makes me wonder why they aren't more common here.

I have a condenser dryer and I love it. I was forced into buying one when or vent became disconnected at some point and was venting into the kitchen cabinets! Thank you DH-haha.

Anyway, we decided to just get a condenser dryer rather than go to all the work of getting into the walls from the lower level to the main level to find and fix the problem. I had an Asko first and now have a Bosch. No complaints at all. Ours is located in an open area near my husbands workroom and not in a small laundry room. It does not cause us any problems as far as putting out too much heat, but maybe we just don't notice. It is easy to clean the condenser which I do every 4-8 weeks-should probably do it monthly, There are several settings for the amount of dryness one wants, but it rarely takes long since our front-loading Bosch washer spins the laundry practically dry anyway. No worries about lint stuck somewhere in a vent causing a fire either!

ETA: cleaning the condenser involves pulling it out, running water through it to clear the lint, and replacing it. Takes me less than five minutes. Occasionally, I do get down on the floor to reach way back and clear any lint that might be in the back of the condenser space, but since I am now at the point of having difficulty hetting up and down, that is a rare thing. :-)

So I thought I'd experiment a little, and here are the temperatures and humidity levels in our teeny tiny bathroom with no windows and minimal ventilation (can't open the door all the way since the laundry closet door gets in the way) before and after running a load of towels through the dryer. The after was taken when the dryer had started cooling down.

You can see the temperature has gone up, but the humidity levels have actually gone down by a bit.

In Europe, every appliance is rated for efficiency and, where applicable, performance. Vented dryers are only rated C for energy efficiency, condenser dryers B... and heat pump dryers up to A+++. Because most consumers want the best energy efficiency (and because electricity is expensive), hardly anybody bought these "inefficient" dryers any more. If I am understanding things correctly, energy efficiency class C and below were also banned this November. Wouldn't surprise me, as washing machines must already achieve an A for energy efficiency (and washing performance) in order to be legally sold.

The good thing is that dishwashers and tumble dryers have one, washing machines two, dedicated Eco cycles that are used for the rating. Other cycles can use as much water and power as they like - contrary to the US, where seemingly all washers will give you a 75F warm wash and 100F hot wash. Of course, this doesn't work for vented dryers, as you'd have to eliminate heat almost completely to make them super efficient.

Speaking of vented dryers and mid-cycle heat/temps.....If I open my VENTED Miele dryer 1/2 way through a cycle, the laundry is warm, but never, ever hot. I find my Miele dryer to really, really care for clothes. Even using the "turbo" setting (which I almost never use)...the temp still seems fairly gently. I love my dryer! I plan on keeping my vented model as long as I can, but am not totally opposed to going to a heat pump model one day! For me, the high, hot temps of a condenser dryer worry me the most!

Considering the power draw of the average 24" vented dryer, which is not that much more than a (European) hair dryer, it takes quite a while before the clothes are so dry that the temp inside the dryer get very hot.

If you want hot and fast... get a Little Giant with its 6,000 watts heater. ;)

Alright. Just started this load of towels etc. Rinsed in icy water, spun at 1200 rpm, ambient temp in the basement is, I am guessing, 60F.

I'll assume "heat pump" dryers will be the norm in the future.

I owned a condenser dryer -- Bosch -- for 2 years in our apartment. I don't understand what the fuss is about. It did a perfectly fine job. The condenser filter was harder to clean than the mesh filter. It did get very hot -- it was stacked in a closet and the closet door had to be kept open with the dryer was running so the heat can circulate. I didn't notice it taking any longer than my current vented dryer but that's from memory.

One thing you don't get with a condenser dryer is an arctic express of cold air coming through the vent in the winter. When it's cold outside, the dryer door must be kept closed or the room gets very cold.

Okay. A little more than "about an hour" later - 75 minutes - the laundry is dry.