How to Buy an Energy Efficient Dryer

Energy costs are a major concern for any homeowner. Each month we shell out a lot of money to cover heating, electricity, water and a variety of other expenses. Your washer and dryer are also consuming energy, which is why it's so important to have as energy efficient a set of appliances as you can afford. You can easily buy an energy efficient dryer if you know what to look for.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. Buy an energy efficient dryer large enough to accommodate the majority of your laundry in two or three loads at the most. The benefit in so doing is limiting the amount of time the dryer needs to operate per week, further reducing your monthly costs.

2. Buy an energy efficient dryer that has sensors that can detect when clothing is actually dry or not. The sensors can detect the ambient moisture still in the dryer and can shut the dryer off at that time. That can lead to huge savings over the long term.

3. Find a dryer that uses gas as opposed to electric energy for drying. Electric dryers can be energy efficient but they are, in general, more expensive overall than gas dryers.

4. Buy a dryer that has a timer that can be manually set. A manual timer lets you control how long the dryer runs, which is especially nice when you're doing smaller loads than normal. Most of today's energy efficient dryers come with multiple different timers, too, for each type of load (cottons, towels and linens, for example).

5. Buy an Energy Star qualified dryer. You can visit the Energy Star website and get a comprehensive list of makes and models that have qualified for an Energy Star rating, which tells you that the dryer is known for being both energy efficient, as well as environmentally friendly (see Resources below).

Tips & Warnings

• Unless you have a large family and need to dry a lot of clothes quickly, then you might want to consider simply drying your clothing on a clothesline or using an upright clothes rack. They require no energy at all and can save you hundreds of dollars a year in energy costs.
• Consider buying a separate dryer as opposed to a combo unit. While a combo unit is great for space saving, if one element breaks down you can end up without access to both until the malfunctioning element is repaired.

Resources

• Energy Star appliance information from EnergyStar.gov