Comparing Condenser Tumble Dryers
A clothes dryer, called tumble dryer or just dryer is an electrically powered small household appliance which is used to quickly remove excess moisture from a loaded load of dry cloth, beddings and other fabrics, usually quite quickly after they have been washed in a machine. The appliance is often built into a room or part of the home and connected to mains gas or electricity supply to provide a drying time of between one to three minutes. This can be a great convenience when you need to dry out quickly in your own home. But what if there was a way to use it in the office and make a real difference to how fast your clothes dry? It might not sound like such a big deal but it would be great for everyone's health.
tumble dryers and most heat pump dryers in general lose energy as the drying process takes place. Because the temperature outside is lower than the indoor temperature the amount of energy required to achieve the drying phase is greater. Tumble dryers tend to have a larger drying surface than heat pump dryers so they take more of the load of heating from the central heating system. The combination of a larger surface area and lower temperatures means that tumble dryers use more energy to get the same result as heat pump dryers.
Heat pump dryers work by using the heat generated by the pilot light to heat up a large amount of air ( heated air is pushed into the machine to be cooled off) and this heated air is circulated around the room as warm air is pumped through the ducts. The warm air is pulled into the rooms through vents which are usually fixed near doors and windows. The warm air is very hot and it is pushed back out of the ducts into the ceiling where the warm air is again drawn up into the machine to be reheated. Heat pump dryers are placed anywhere inside or outside of a house so they can be used on a continuous basis.
Tumble dryers were invented to reduce the power required to dry clothes in a washing machine and there are two types of tumble dryers - the drum tumble dryers and the electric washer-dryers. The first type is quite obviously a direct competitor to the washing machine and is still used today whereas the other is slowly becoming obsolete due to increasing popularity of electric washing machines. The drum tumble dryers do not spin and have a face containing a spinning blade. This face has two rotating surfaces - one opposite the other. Each blade is driven by a motor, the speed at which the motor turns the blade determines how much heat is produced.
The advantage of using a tumble dryer compared to washing machines is that you do not have to agitate the water to get it to be really hot ( agitating of the water releases energy and gets the water hotter quicker). It also helps to avoid the cotton getting too wet as the blade will cut through the fibres of cotton to expose the next fibred layer. Cotton is very fragile compared to other fabrics and the cotton fibres are very fine.
Most washing machines on the market today use a combination of water pressure and heat generated by a rotary drum. This means that most clothes are hung to dry in their own little chambers - in effect just a bigger collection centre for your clothes than your washing machine would. Bosch Tumble dryers differ from most other manufacturers of tumble dryers in that they do not use a rotary tub and so the clothes hang flat on a metal rack within a rack or cavity made out of steel. This means that the material does not pass through any metal or heating elements meaning that there is no risk of damage to your clothing during the dry cycle.
Most manufacturers of tumble dryers now build condenser tumble dryers into their machines because they save money by not having to buy separate condenser units. These condenser units are still sold separately and are often much larger than the vented tumble dryers. The small size of the condenser usually means that it is cheaper to build condenser tumble dryers into older machines. The vented tumble dryers are more expensive but the amount you pay for the dryer is generally determined by the number of rooms that need to be heated and the size and capacity of the vented dryer.
Condenser tumble dryers are also built with a single heating element compared to two heating elements in the case of vented dryers. This means that the condenser is less likely to cause damage to delicate textiles and fabrics. In addition to this they also require less maintenance as there is only one part to the unit to clean compared to two or more heaters in most vented tumble dryers. In the case of the vented units all the air must be vented out of the room as the dryer uses a large amount of water to dry the items. With the single heat source the unit is more likely to generate more heat, which is then able to be circulated through the rooms.