Money Saving Expert founder Martin Lewis is advising households to opt for a dehumidifier to dry their clothes, rather than relying on what he calls a ‘demon appliance’. As January’s chill sets in and the days of clear, dry weather are behind us, many are struggling with the challenge of drying clothes indoors, which can lead to issues such as mould, condensation, mildew, and garments that just don’t smell fresh.
However, Lewis warns against turning to tumble dryers if you’re watching your energy bills, labelling these machines as costly ‘demon appliances’ to operate, reports the Express.
Ideal Home has provided some insight into the costs associated with running different types of tumble dryers. It reports: “An example 9kg vented tumble dryer uses 5.34 kWh for a full load cycle and approx 636 kWh over a year (if you use your dryer around two times a week). This means that this vented tumble dryer costs £1.33 per cycle and £158.11 per year on average.”
It continues: “An example 9kg condenser tumble dryer uses 5.2 kWh for a full load and approx 617 kWh annually. This means a cost of £1.29 per cycle and £153.39 annually – that’s almost as much as a vented model.”
Furthermore, “An example 9kg heat pump tumble dryer uses 2.16 kWh for a full load and 259 kWh per year. This means that you’ll be spending just 54p per cycle and £64.39 per year.”
Lewis suggests that people should consider using dehumidifiers instead, which are not only significantly cheaper to run but also quick at drying clothes and helpful in preventing mould, dampness, or condensation.
Discussing dehumidifiers on The Martin Lewis Podcast available on BBC Sounds, Spotify and Apple Music, the financial journalist Martin Lewis highlighted the cost-effectiveness of using these appliances. He pointed out: “Many dehumidifiers have different wattages – the one I checked out was 200W.”
He further explained: “Once we know it’s 200W and we know a kilowatt is 1,000W, which is how electricity tends to be priced, we know this is a fifth of a kilowatt.”
Breaking down the costs for listeners, he added: “And you pay roughly 34p per kilowatt per hour. A fifth is 7p, so you’re going to pay roughly 7p per hour to run a dehumidifier at 200W, assuming it uses full power the whole time.”
Martin then updated listeners about recent price changes, noting that “Energy costs are slightly down since those calculations, meaning it will only cost about 5.5p an hour now based on 26p unit prices this winter.”
For comparison, he cited energy supplier Utilita’s estimation that running a tumble dryer can cost significantly more, between 53p to £1 an hour, representing a ten to 20-fold increase over the dehumidifier.