The constant tumbling and exposure to high heat can cause your fabrics to wear out faster. Your favorite T-shirts might fade, and the elasticity in your undergarments could deteriorate. Over time, this can lead to a shorter lifespan for your clothing items, meaning you'll need to replace them more frequently.
They really aren't that bad on most clothes. As long as you follow the manufacturer's instructions on care and drying, and don't overload the dryer, the damage to most clothing is minimal.
Vary the heat levels: Not every fabric should be dried using a hot setting. Excessively high heat contributes to shrinkage and over-drying clothing causes damage to fabrics. Never overload the dryer: Your clothes need room to tumble freely for efficient drying and to prevent wrinkles.
Electricity consumers: Your tumbler eats up electricity and money. Harmful to the environment: Therefore definitely the worse option for your sustainable lifestyle. Loss of quality: The wear and tear of clothing is higher if the dryer is used regularly. The clothing may get lint or holes.
Don't leave appliances unattended – don't turn the tumble dryer on before you leave the house or go to bed. Tumble dryers contain powerful motors with fast moving parts that can get very hot.
Places to avoid when installing your tumble dryer
The garage is a no-go area for installing your tumble dryer. For the appliance to work, the room temperature needs to be at least above 5°C, and this can't be guaranteed in the garage – particularly during winter.
Air-vented dryers draw air from the room in which they are installed, heat it and lead it through the humid clothing in the drum to evaporate the moisture. The humid air is then expelled to the external environment. Air-vented dryers thus require an exhaust to the outside, making them less practical.
Energy use
We've previously found condenser dryers to not be very energy efficient. Along with older vented varieties, they use around three times more energy to dry a load than their heat pump counterparts. This means vented and condenser dryers cost more to run in the long term than a heat pump.
If you suspect that it's your dryer that's damaging your clothes, different parts might be causing the types of damage you see: My clothes are getting snagged: Clothes might get caught if the filter cover is out of place or has sharp edges. Also, tiny objects can get wedged inside the drum and pull at your clothes.
Be sure to zip up those zippers to protect your fabrics! When you leave the zippers of your jeans, jackets, etc unzipped, the metal teeth in the zipper can get caught on other clothing and cause tears. Delicate or woven garments will see the most significant damage.
As you might've guessed, the delicate (or gentle) cycle is for your most delicate items. This dryer setting uses the lowest heat and a longer time to dry items. “The lower heat is good for more delicate fabrics, like rayon and chiffon, or items with embellishments or embroidery,” says Wang.
Although tumble dryers can be great at giving you fluffier towels, they can also wear the fabrics down in the long run, even if you use gentler settings. That's why we suggest to line dry your towels occasionally (possibly outside, if it's a windy day), alternating between the two methods.
Don't overload your tumble dryer – as well as your clothes taking much longer to dry and costing you more money, overloading can cause a fire risk; the element at the back of the tumble dryer can cause the clothing to overheat and combust.
Shrinking in tumble dryers primarily occurs due to heat application, so the greater the heat, the more likely clothes are to shrink, depending on the fabric.
The downside is that you will have to regularly empty the reservoir of extracted water. A vented dryer is usually cheaper to buy than a condenser model, however it does need to be installed in a suitable location for venting.
A vented tumble dryer will be more cost effective than a condenser in both the purchase and running stages, if you are able to find somewhere to run the hose externally. It will also dry your clothes more quickly than a condenser dryer, as it is not required to spend time converting the hot air into water.
Growth of Mold. Improper venting of a dryer typically results in moisture being deposited in various areas of the room. Moist air serves as a breeding ground for mold-and-mildew when it condenses on different surfaces.
Line drying or clothes rack drying will always be the more sustainable and cost-effective way of drying your clothes. Energy Saving Trust says that avoiding the use of your tumble dryer could potentially save you money each year.
As part of a safety review, two types of tumble dryers been have identified as having a potential issue. Tumble dryers manufactured between April 2004 and September 2015 have been identified as being at risk.
They re-circulate warm air instead of letting it escape, eliminating the need for a hose, so you can place them anywhere in your home. However, avoid garages and outbuildings, as they require a minimum ambient temperature to operate effectively.
The mechanical tossing of your clothes in the dryer and the forced air cause your clothes to constrict and shrink after they balloon in the washer. Cotton and wool are the most vulnerable to these actions. There are also certain materials that shouldn't be put into the tumble dryer: Leather or faux leather.
Other suggestions for keeping clothes smelling fresh in the tumble dryer included using scent boosters, washing pods, dryer sheets, laundry conditioner soaked into a cloth and emptying the tumble dryer regularly. Sandra Armstrong suggested: “Scent boosters that you put in the washer are brilliant, especially Lenor.”