How do heat pump tumble dryers work?
One of the most energy efficient innovations that has come to tumble dryers is the heat pump.
This exciting new feature comes with a range of benefits to any home that has them, and rethinks the entire method of drying clothes via tumble dryer to the advantage of the owner – you can find excellent examples in the Haier range.
But what are they and how do they work? In this blog, we’re going to take a look at these questions and more and run through some of the major advantages in investing in a heat pump tumble dryer for your home.
What is a heat pump tumble dryer?
A heat pump tumble dryer is a kind of tumble dryer that uses heat to absorb water directly from your clothes, drying them in the process.
Here’s how it works: the heat pump dryer will pump hot air into the drum of the appliance where your clothes are. The hot air collects and absorbs the moisture from the wet clothes, picking it up and carrying it through to an evaporator.
The evaporator evaporates the air and the water from the air collects in a reservoir which is drained. The air is reheated and sent back in the drum again to pick up more moisture, and the cycle continues until the clothes are dry.
How is a heat pump tumble dryer different to a regular tumble dryer?
The most common kinds of tumble dryer are condenser and vented tumble dryers which are different appliances to heat pump tumble dryers.
Vented tumble dryers are tumble dryers that are attached to a vent in your external facing wall. They expel the heat through this vent, directly into the outside so that you don’t have to worry about it.
Condenser tumble dryers are not connected to any vent, and instead move the hot air to what’s called a condensing chamber. These chambers are where hot air will be condensed into water to be removed by the owner or drained.
Crucially, both of these models continuously create new heat to dry the clothes in the tumble dryer. The heat pump tumble dryer by contrast, constantly reuses the same air instead of creating new hot air – making it much more energy-efficient by essentially recycling the heat.
What are the benefits of a heat pump tumble dryer?
One of the reasons heat pump tumble dryers are becoming more and more popular in homes is thanks to the different benefits they offer compared to their regular alternatives. Here are a few examples of those advantages:
- Energy efficiency
We’ve mentioned it before, but sustainability and energy-efficiency are big factors that put heat pump tumble dryers high up on the appliance wishlist.
As we said, heat pumps constantly reuse the same hot air to extract moisture from the clothes in the drum – it doesn’t need to reheat and use electricity to do so. You get a constant run of recycled heat to get the damp out of your laundry.
Because of this, it uses less energy to power compared to condenser models that need a steady supply of electricity to operate. Many of our own Haier tumble dryers, like the Tumble Dryer I-Pro Series 7 are rated A++ for energy, one of the highest classes you can get for a more sustainable laundry set up. - Flexibility
For any appliance, where it will fit in your home is always a big consideration – especially for bigger machines like dishwashers and washing machines.
Tumble dryers are no exception, and if you go for a vented tumble dryer, you’ll need to place it close to an external wall and install a vent for the hot air to go out of into the world. That makes them difficult to place and difficult to shift if you ever need to move home.
Heat pump tumble dryers don’t have this problem because the hot air is constantly in use and cools down naturally by itself, with the water deposited in its own reservoir to be disposed of whenever the user is ready.
At Haier, we offer both freestanding and built-in options so you can choose the tumble dryer that best fits your needs and aesthetics. - Reduced clothes damage
For those people with more delicate clothes, and indeed, regular clothes, heat pump tumble dryers are excellent options – giving added protection to your laundry which you might not get with regular tumble dryers.
This is because heat pump tumble dryers heat your clothes at a much lower temperature which can prevent them from getting holes in them or shrinking in the face of higher heats.
Haier heat pump tumble dryers take this a step further with our pillow drum features, perfect for delicate fabrics – this feature means our drum is smooth and refined on the inside, preventing fabrics from catching in holes and snagging.
Looking for a new heat pump tumble dryer for your home? Discover the complete Haier range of heat pump tumble dryers here.
