What is the Best Dryer?
There is no doubt. The dryer is not the cheapest appliance, and buying the wrong one could cost you a lot. Choosing it can be more difficult than you expected, can it?
Condensing or ventilated? Manual or automatic? What ability will be enough for me? Don’t stress yourself!
You are in the right place. And the only thing you need to do is keep reading … In this article, you will discover the dryers you can buy and a definitive guide with the things to consider when buying them. We are pretty sure that at the end of this article, your choice will be clear!
Table of Contents
Things to consider when buying a dryer
There are several aspects to consider when choosing the best dryer brand for you, and this guide will help you understand which qualities and options to prioritize.
1.Type
When choosing the best dryer to buy, the first aspect to consider is the type of dryer you need and how they heat the airflow to dry your laundry.
Condensing
Condensation dryers usually have a higher price than the other models because of their superior quality and are perfect for you if you have a poorly ventilated house. In this dryer model, the air passes through a condenser, where it is dehumidified and becomes water, which is collected in a tank that can be removed and emptied when the indicator light turns on.
Thanks to this technology, you will not need to place your dryer next to a window or a drain hole. Instead, the water produced by the clothes’ humidity will be distilled water, free of limestone, perfect for any home use.
Ventilated
This dryer is usually the cheapest and uses electricity to remove damp air from clothes and expel it through a tube of about 2 meters: for this reason, you will need to place the dryer near a window, a door, or ideally to a special drain hole in a wall to connect it to.
The best advantage of this dryer is that it does not have a tank to empty regularly, an object present in the other models of the dryer and that if not emptied, it could cause malfunctions. In addition, not all ventilation dryers are equipped with a ventilation kit, so before buying the best model of the brand that best meets your requests, we advise you to check that it has the ventilation kit or worry about buying one!
Heat pump
This dryer model works basically as a condensing dryer, but with the addition of a heat pump that reuses the moist air removed from the clothes instead of expelling it: the moist air is heated and subsequently cooled so that it condenses and return water.
This dryer has a slightly higher price than the other models, but its use consumes about half the electricity, which will allow you to save in the long run!
On gas
In the long run, gas dryer models are much more efficient than other dryers and consume less energy because their system mainly uses gas to heat the air. This type of dryer will allow you to save a lot of electricity: 10% of that used by a ventilation dryer is used, and you can use it simultaneously as other appliances!
2.Automatic vs. Manual
Another essential aspect to consider when choosing the best dryer to buy is its programming model, automatic or manual.
The automatic dryers are equipped with a sensor inside the drum to detect when the laundry is dry and automatically switch off. The main advantage of this dryer model is that its sensor will save you electricity and time; moreover, by setting the dryer on one of the numerous drying programs, you will avoid the risk of opening it and finding the laundry still damp.
Another advantage of automatic dryers is that they are equipped with many different drying programs to choose from, including one that facilitates ironing the laundry, wool, and crease-resistant.
Some economic models show slight malfunctions in automatic programming, and some customers have found that the drying time is not enough not to find the laundry still wet. Our advice is to carefully read several reviews and opinions of customers who use the dryer you want to buy before choosing it.
Manual dryers are the cheapest and most traditional on the market since they are not equipped with a sensor, and you will be the one to set the program and drying time.
These models have few programs to choose from, usually cotton, synthetic fabrics, and delicate fabrics.
For these dryer models, there is always a manual with instructions on how to use it at its best, but often one must know how to use one’s intuition and experience to set the dryer at the right time.
3.Capacity (drum size)
A dryer’s capacity, i.e., its drum size, is also a fundamental parameter to consider when buying the right model for you. There are generally three sizes of the dryer, and this guide will help you choose the right one for you, based on how many kgs of laundry you need to dry at a time.
Our advice is to load your dryer up to 70% of its capacity, regardless of which it is, to allow air to circulate well between your clothes for more efficient operation.
Great
A large dryer is the best choice you can make to save time and electricity because you can load 8 to 10 kg of laundry inside. For example, a 10 kg drum dryer will be able to dry two loads of washing machines at once!
Average
A medium-sized dryer usually has a capacity of 6 or 7 kg and is the most popular model. It is perfect for you if you have a not very large family and don’t have large quantities of laundry to dry every time you use the dryer.
Compact
Compact dryers can hold from 5 to 3 kg of laundry, and one of them is visibly smaller than the standard models on the market. This type of appliance is less efficient than the other models because it is slower and can contain fewer clothes, but it is perfect if you live alone, only have your laundry to deal with or have little space, and need a tiny dryer.
4.Energy efficiency
On the market, there are many models of dryers, from the cheapest to the most expensive. Still, they can also be classified according to their energy efficiency, based on how much electricity they consume: the dryers and all the other appliances are classified using a scale that goes from G to A, from the least economical to the cheapest.
If your goal is to save electricity, you will have to buy at least a class A dryer. The higher the energy-efficiency class of your dryer, the higher the savings on your utility bill: the more efficient and high saving classes they are class A, A+, A++, and A+++; the higher will allow you to have significantly reduced prices on your electricity bill and will also allow you to use your tumble dryer in peace with other appliances, without overloading your electrical system.
5.Noise
The dryer is a fairly noisy appliance: no model on the market is completely silent like a breath, but there are more or less noisy dryers. It depends on the model and brand you will choose. If you need a dryer that makes the least noise possible, we recommend choosing one of the best products listed above.
6.Main Functionalities
Technology in recent years has made enormous progress also for household appliances. There are now many more or less fundamental functions that can make your work much easier and more intuitive, and safe for the whole family regarding dryers.
Our experts have compiled a list of the main features you can find in a dryer: reading will certainly help you understand which one to choose for your home.
Water filter
Always check that the water filter is positioned so that it is easy to remove and that the water tank is in an accessible place: the recommended height is that at the level of the hips so that you can avoid bending over, take it out or run some water while you remove it.
Childproof lock
The childproof lock is one of the most important features that every appliance should have. Certainly, the same applies to a dryer: the best is the one that can prevent your children from playing with the dryer control panel and from changing all programs, risking damaging the appliance or compromising its efficiency.
Anti-crease action
Another type of extra functionality that you can find in the best dryers is the anti-crease action. In the models equipped with it, the drum continues to turn at the end of the drying cycle to prevent your clothes from tangling and having creases to facilitate you when you have to iron them.
Countdown display
In the best dryers on the market, you will surely find a small display on which will indicate the time remaining at the end of the cycle, which will help you organize yourself to be able to do other chores during drying without having to check if and when the cycle is finished repeatedly.
Scheduled start
In the best dryers, there is also a feature that allows you to set the time you want the appliance to start automatically, and according to the opinions of customers who have purchased the best brands of dryers on the market, this feature is handy if you need to organize your day efficiently and save time.
Sound signal
This function allows your dryer to emit an acoustic sound that will signal you when the cycle is finished to further simplify your work – functionality present only in the best ones!
Filter cleaning indicator
This optional, present on the top brand dryer, allows your dryer to indicate when you need to clean the filter for significantly more efficient functionality.
Cooling cycle
Some dryers, the best, also offer extra functionality that makes them carry out an additional cycle. For example, they gradually decrease the air temperature instead of simply turning it off: this function will further reduce the risk of leaving sharp creases on your clothes or damaging their fabrics.
Final considerations
In conclusion, you will have understood that there are various types of dryers of many different brands, each different from the others according to the needs and economic availability of those who buy them.
There are also different opinions on the best dryer brand on the market, from the smallest to the largest, from the cheapest to the most expensive. It can be challenging to understand which brand and model are most suitable for your needs. So what are you waiting for?
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