Laundry Choice

Clothes dryers: vented, ventless, heat pump, and the 240-volt question

A dryer is decided by two things the listing puts near the bottom: whether it needs a vent to the outside, and what voltage it runs on. Everything else on the specification sheet follows from those.

What the category is

Vented dryers blow hot, damp air out through a duct to the outside; they are the standard, the fastest and the cheapest to buy, and they need the duct. Ventless condenser dryers cool the damp air and collect the water in a tank or send it down a drain; they go anywhere with a socket. Heat pump dryers are ventless too, use a fraction of the electricity, and dry at a lower temperature for longer. Most full-size dryers are 240-volt electric or gas; compact and ventless models are often 120-volt, which is the whole reason they exist.

How to read the spec sheet

Venting is the first line, because a vented dryer cannot go in a cupboard, a flat or an inside room without ductwork. The sheet says vented, ventless, condenser or heat pump; a review should turn that into what it means for where the machine can go.

Voltage is the second. 240-volt electric or gas needs the laundry outlet most houses have and most flats do not; 120-volt plugs into any socket and dries more slowly. Gas needs a gas line and its own installation.

Drum capacity in cubic feet: 7 and above is full-size and takes the load from a 4.5-cubic-foot washer; 4 is compact; 2 and under is a portable. A dryer’s drum should be roughly twice the washer’s for the load to tumble.

Cycle time, where stated, is the number heat-pump and 120-volt buyers should read twice: energy efficiency is bought with time, and a two-hour dry is normal for both.

Sensors and cycles: moisture sensing stops the cycle when the load is dry instead of when the timer runs out, and is the feature that saves both electricity and shirts. Steam, sanitize, wrinkle-guard and delicate cycles are named on the sheet.

Reversible door and stacking: whether the door hinges either side and whether a stacking kit exists for the matching washer decide whether it fits the space.

Energy: annual kilowatt-hours and Energy Star status. A heat-pump dryer’s figure is the reason to consider one at all.

Who it suits

A vented 240-volt dryer for a house with the duct and the outlet; a heat-pump or condenser dryer for a flat, a cupboard, an inside room, or a household that wants the running cost down; a 120-volt compact for a space with an ordinary socket and no laundry outlet.

Who should skip it

Anyone whose laundry is one person’s in a small room: a portable dryer is cheaper, lighter and plugs in anywhere. Anyone without the outlet or the vent should read the ventless lines above before anything else.

Where to start

Six of the 21 clothes dryers washers and dryers reviewed on this site, one per model, across manufacturers. Every review is written from the manufacturer’s published specifications — how, and what that leaves out.

All 21 clothes dryers washer or dryer reviews

Newest first. Consumables, accessories and parts that were once filed here are excluded.