10 ways to cut the cost of tumble drying

Tumble dryers are an incredibly convenient way to dry clothes, bedding and towels, but the energy costs can be high.

Here are our top 10 tips and tricks to help you reduce the cost of drying your clothes. 

We also reveal the cheapest tumble dryers to run, the best energy-efficient tumble dryers and how to use your dryer efficiently.

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1. Use a speedy spin cycle first 

Selecting a quick spin cycle on your washing machine before tumble drying will drain more excess water from your clothes.

Washing machine spin cycles cost less to run than tumble drying, and the dryer will need to run for less time to dry your clothes.

Visit our washing machines hub for reviews, buying advice, how-to guides and your rights if something breaks.

2. Separate out different clothes types

Mixed loads make your dryer run for longer. This is because some fabrics are heavier than others and will take longer to dry. 

While some clothes in a mixed load might be bone dry or even over-dried, which could lead to them becoming damaged, others could still be damp to touch.

Separating types of clothes before you start drying is best if you can manage that.

3. Choose drying programs with care

Select the program that most accurately fits the load you're drying. If most of the load is made up of cotton bed sheets, for example, select cotton cupboard dry and your sheets should be ready to be folded and put away when the buzzer sounds. 

If you like to iron your sheets before putting them away, select cotton iron dry. This program will leave some moisture in the sheets that will be helpful if you plan to iron them straight away.

And if you have a load of just-washed sports gear made of manmade fibres that needs to be dried, go for the synthetics cupboard dry setting.

Most modern tumble dryers have humidity sensors that will stop the program when they detect dryness in the clothes.

The best dryers have accurate sensors, but some stop the machine too early, leaving clothes still damp, or too late which is wasteful of energy, money and could lead to damaged clothes.

Read our tumble dryer reviews to find out which ones dry most effectively, and which we've named Best Buy tumble dryers.

4. Clean the lint filter after every use

The lint filter collects fluff from your clothes as they tumble in the drum. If it gets blocked, hot air won't be able to circulate around the dryer freely.

This makes the dryer work harder than it needs to and will cost you more.

A clogged lint filter could also pose a safety risk. With air not circulating freely in the drum, the already very high drum temperature could rise and with a machine full of fabrics, this poses a fire risk. 

Dryers are designed to fail safely when this happens, but many domestic fires are caused by overheating tumble dryers.

So clean your filter after every use to keep your dryer efficient and safe.

Find out more in our tumble dryer safety guide.

5. Untangle shirts and separate socks

Drying will take much longer if you put your laundry straight in the tumble dryer without untangling it.

Doing up buttons or poppers on your duvet covers will prevent small items getting trapped inside the cover and staying damp.

6. Choose a tumble dryer that dries well

Check out our pick of the best tumble dryers of 2023 to see which models will give you superb drying. 

But don't pick a dryer based on price alone – cheap tumble dryers are likely to be vented or condenser models, which can be expensive to run.

Vented tumble dryers will cost, on average, around £139 a year to run, and condenser tumble dryers will cost roughly £127 a year.

An energy-efficient heat-pump tumble dryer will cost between £76 and £88 less to run per year.

7. Pick an energy-efficient Which? Eco Buy tumble dryer

Heat pump tumble dryers are the leaders in energy efficiency, costing around £51 a year to run.

Keep an eye out for our Eco Buy badge when looking for a tumble dryer with low running costs, and consider our top five energy-efficient tumble dryers to help you reduce your energy bills.

Heat pump tumble dryers usually cost more to buy than vented or condenser dryers. But with energy cost savings of £76 to £88 per year, you'll soon recoup the extra money spent.

8. Clean the heat exchanger

Condenser and heat pump tumble dryers use a heat exchanger to take the steam produced during drying and turn it back into water, so it doesn't steam up your house.

Vents in the heat exchanger can become caked in fluff and hair. Regularly cleaning it helps it function more efficiently.

Check the instruction manual or the manufacturer's website to find out how to do it. Cleaning it should be a monthly task.

Read our tumble dryer tips and maintenance guide for more useful advice.

9. Be smart about positioning your tumble dryer

Cold places aren't great for condenser or heat pump tumble dryers, which need the temperature to be 5°C to work properly.

So, if you have a condenser dryer or a heat pump, it's best to put them in a heated and ventilated part of your home, rather than the garage or shed.

A vented dryer would be OK for an unheated room, but you'll need to vent the warm and damp air away.

Read our advice if you want to put your tumble dryer in the garage.

10. Run your tumble dryer off-peak when electricity is cheaper

Cheaper off-peak electricity tends to be available after 10pm and before 8am. As long as you're at home and awake, this would be a cheaper time to use your tumble dryer, maybe before you go to work or take the kids to school.

Also, look for promotions from your energy company, such as PeakSave from British Gas, which provides half-price electricity for a short set period. 

In summer 2023, half-price electricity was available to customers who had enrolled in the PeakSave scheme between 11am and 4pm on Sundays.

If you can save your tumble drying till Sundays, this would also be a good time to get your clothes dry cheaply.

Find out more about 'time of use' tariffs and how they can help reduce your energy bills.

More tumble dryer tips

Read on for more tips on how to use your dryer, how to fill it and how much tumble dryers cost to run.

How to best use a tumble dryer

Not everything in your washing machine will be suitable for a tumble dryer, so before moving the load from one machine to the next, pull out anything that might shrink or get damaged, including anything made of wool, such as a jumper.

A dryer will work most effectively if it has the same kind of fabrics in each load. This is because some fabrics are heavier than others and will take longer to dry.

Separating lighter quick-drying manmade fibres from heavier cottons is also a good idea to help your dryer work as efficiently as it can.

Keeping your dryer clean matters, too. Every time you run a program, wipe the lint filter clean afterwards. A clogged filter makes it harder for air to circulate and slows drying. 

Regularly cleaning the heat exchanger on a condenser or heat pump machines will also help with overall efficiency. This is a removable box you can rinse under the tap on a condenser. 

With heat pumps, there will be a sponge filter to wash and a fitted heat exchanger to carefully brush clean.

And wipe the drum clean every now and then to stop specks of dark fluff attaching themselves to whites.

How full should a tumble dryer be?

Whatever type of dryer you own, it’s only going to work efficiently if air can move around freely.

If you jam your dryer full there won’t be enough space for clothes to tumble and air to circulate while drying the load. Equally, a practically empty dryer will waste energy drying a small load.

Filling up your dryer without overfilling allows it to work efficiently. We test dryers at 70% of their rated cottons capacity. 

The cheapest tumble dryers to run

Which? tests reveal that, on average, vented tumble dryers cost around £139 a year to run and condenser dryers will add £128 to your energy bill over a year. 

But energy-saving heat pump tumble dryers are much cheaper, with recently reviewed models costing little more than £51 a year to run on average. The most energy-efficient heat-pump dryers cost even less.

With vented and condenser dryers costing much more to run, when your current dryer gives up the ghost, your next machine should be a heat pump tumble dryer. 

They can be expensive, but you can find Best Buy heat-pump tumble dryers for around £495. And with energy prices still high, heat pump dryers will pay for themselves in energy savings over a few years.

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