Since tumble dryers dehumidify clothes without using any water themselves, they do not require a water connection. Tumble dryers, with one notable exception (more on that below), do not require the use of water to complete the drying process.
If you’re curious about the water that gets drained from your clothes in a tumble dryer and where it goes, keep reading! This article examines the process by which a tumble dryer removes moisture from a load of laundry, the destination of that moisture, and the one type of dryer that does require the usage of water.
Can you explain how each variety of dryer works?
Tumble dryers come in three primary varieties, each with its own method of drying clothes. This third group consists of;
Laundry is placed within a perforated metal drum in a vented dryer. As the drum rotates, heated air is pumped through and over the garments to eliminate the moisture from the clothes.
A vent line then carries the hot, humid air away from the device and out of the house. Dryers with a vent hose must be placed in close proximity to an exterior wall in order to exhaust the damp air outside.
They don’t need to be linked to the water supply because they don’t use any water other than what’s already in the machine to dry your clothing.
Condenser dryers and the drying process
Like traditional dryers, these use heated air to drive moisture out of clothing stored in a drum. However, condenser dryers differ from conventional dryers in how they handle humid air.
A condenser collects the water vapor from the cooled air, transforming it back into a liquid that can be stored in a water tank.
There is no need for a vent hose because the steam is condensed and stored on board. This freedom from needing to be near an exterior wall, window, etc. implies that condenser dryers can be installed just about anyplace.
The water storage tank should be drained on a regular basis, although ventilation is unnecessary.
Again, condenser tumble dryers don’t require plumbing because they don’t use water throughout the drying process.
How Clothes Dry in Heat Pump Dryers
Like condenser dryers, these use a drum full of holes through which hot air is blown to dry the clothes, and they also collect the condensation to use later.
The key distinction is how the hot air is recycled for repeated passes over the drum. This takes much longer to dry clothes, but it saves on electricity and money.
Heat pump dryers can be outfitted with a drain line that allows the water to be sent out with the waste water, eliminating the need to empty the on-board reservoir.
Some clothes dryers that use heat pump technology are plumbed into the sewer system, but they still do not require any water to operate.
Washing machines and dryers?
Now we get to the portion about how water is used by tumble dryers. But that’s not yet up; let’s first define a washing dryer and how it works.
A washer dryer is defined as.
Washer dryers are a type of combination washing machine and dryer. They’re more space-efficient than having a washer and dryer in your laundry room side by side.
The washer component performs its function in the same manner as any other standard washer. It’s the tumble dryer component where washer dryers vary from conventional tumble dryers.
Washer dryers don’t differ in all aspects however, they operate in the same way as a heat pump tumble drier. Recirculating the warmed air over the drum helps dry the laundry faster. The water is condensed back into a liquid form and then drained away.
How do washer-dryers actually use water to dry clothes?
All okay so far, but water is used when the steam is condensed back into water and discharged out of the washer or dryer.
The fan blows the steam out of a plastic chamber on the back of the drum; this steam is the consequence of hot air passing over wet clothing. To complete the drying process, cold water is slowly poured into that chamber, where the steam condenses back into liquid form.
The liquid eventually collects at the drum’s base, from whence it is drained.
Is There Any Downside to Using This Method?
When drying, washer dryers can sometimes produce too much steam. Most of the time, this is because there isn’t enough cold water entering the condenser.
The broken condenser water valve is primarily to blame for this.
Alternatively, there may be something blocking the water’s path into the drum at the condenser chamber’s base. Because there is no lint filter in washer dryers, fluff is a common culprit in this scenario.
For either of these situations you will need to call the manufacturer if the appliance is still under warranty or a fully qualified electrical engineer or washing machine technician.
Don’t try to fix anything on the inside until you’re sure you can do it successfully.
Is There Anything Else That Can Go Wrong With Washer Dryers?
The fact that most washer dryers can only dry half the load they can wash is a major drawback. As a result, they are not as user-friendly as their marketing would have you believe.
While a 10 kg wash load is possible, a 5 kg dry load is more realistic. This implies that you will have to separate your laundry into two loads, one for each half, and dry them separately.
The drying time of a washing machine is also an issue. Due to the lower temperatures at which washer dryer combos operate, drying garments can be a very lengthy process.
The plus side is that your clothes will last longer because it is gentler on them.
