With winter just a few months away, hanging sopping-wet clothes outdoors is out of the question, and letting them airdry in the basement is an invitation to for mold growth. Instead, you might want to consider picking up a full-size electric laundry dryer set. Below, you’ll find some of the best full-size electric laundry dryer sets available today, as well as a comprehensive guide on how to choose the best set for your dollar.
Full Size Electric Laundry Dryer Buying Guide
Finding the best full-size electric laundry dryer for your home isn’t all that tricky, but there are numerous points you need to take into account. In this guide, you’ll learn about the types of laundry dryers available, where the ideal placement of your laundry dryer should be, and what crucial specs and features to look for.
Types of Laundry Machines
The types of full-size laundry machines typically fall into two categories based on the type of door hinge: top-loading and front loading. Here’s a quick description of both types and how to choose which type is better for your home.
Top-Loading
Top-loading laundry machines sets are generally the more affordable type. They’re also a lot easier on your back since you won’t need to lean down to load your laundry in them. In addition, the top-swinging door requires vertical clearance space instead of horizontal, so it requires less space to use comfortably.
They also come with quick-working agitators to roughly scrub hard-to-wash stains. Plus, they’re generally the cheaper option, making them the more widely-used choice for homeowners and renters with limited spaces.
Front loading
Front loading washer dryers are pricier and, if we’re being honest, look classier. Their reliability is what makes them the ideal choice for commercial laundromats and large hotels. However, if you’re not looking to score style points, front loading washer dryer sets still offer some tremendous value.
They can come with gentler agitators that can still achieve ideal washing and drying levels. A major benefit of a front loading washer dryer is that their large tubs can accommodate larger items like multiple pillows and blankets.
Types of Dryers
When it comes to the dryer portion of your laundry dryer set, you should know that dryers always come as front loading machines. As for the types, there are two available based on the source of fuel: electric and gas.
Electric Dryer
These are the more popular type of dryer since electricity is fairly cheap across the globe. It requires no special installation; instead, simply plug it into a standard wall out, turn it on, and let the machine do its thing.
Gas Dryer
As for gas dryers, not only do you have to pay the upfront cost to purchase the machine (they’re cheaper, by the way), but you will have to get a gas line professionally installed and connected to your dryer. Natural gas is cheaper than electricity, but hiring a technician to reroute or extend a gas line is fairly expensive.
We recommend sticking to an electric dryer, just because they’re already inexpensive and super-easy to set up.
FYI. Gas dryers can also use liquid propane as its fuel source. LP is a lot more efficient than natural gas in terms of how much is needed to produce heated air, but they’re also a lot more expensive per pound and not the ideal option for homeowners.
Laundry-Dryer Combos
There’s a third option for those with limited space: laundry-dryer combos. Instead of investing in two appliances, a single laundry-dryer combo does the jobs of both while taking about half the amount of floor and air space.
A single-drum laundry dryer is considered to be a homeowner’s last result. They’re not as efficient at doing both jobs, and many models do not dry clothes with heated air. They can also take longer to wash and dry a load of laundry as opposed to moving the load from a washer to a dryer.
Sizing Your Laundry Dryer Set
One of the most important factors when shopping for a laundry dryer set is determining how much space in your basement/bathroom/kitchen you can allocate to the set. Here are a few things you can do to find out how large or small a laundry dryer you should get.
Measure empty floor space and clearance space
Obviously, your dedicated laundry space needs to accommodate the physical size of your laundry dryer set. Measure how much space you have and work from there. The average laundry and dryer machines measure in at 27 inches in width or 54 inches total width. However, you need to leave at least a one-inch gap between the appliances when placing them side-by-side. You never know when your laundry machine will go rocking and a rolling.
Pro Tip. Did you know that laundry dryer sets are stackable? If you don’t have a ton of floor space, you can stack your dryer on top of your laundry machine to save space. Obviously, this only works for frontloading laundry machines, and the dryer should ALWAYS go on top. Dryers are naturally lighter than laundry machines, and heat floats upward away from the machine.
Weigh your average laundry load
How long do you typically wait before doing a load of laundry? On average, how much does your laundry weigh before washing? It’s generally more cost-efficient to do larger loads of laundry, but it ultimately depends on how many articles of clothing you have.
How often you wash large items
You should wash pillows, pillow cases, blankets, and comforters frequently to kill microscopic creatures sleeping beside you at night, but let’s be real; not many people do it that often. In this case, a larger laundry dryer set would be more appropriate since they all get washed at the same time.
How to Save Energy with Your Laundry Dryer
The average American household does about 300 loads of laundry annually, while a laundry machine uses around 1,400W and a dryer 5,000W. As you can see form these figures, this means spending quite a lot on running your laundry dryer every year. However, there are several ways you can save a couple bucks here and there.
Auto-Temperature Control
Laundry machines with preconfigured heat settings will use a predetermined amount of water at a specific temperature, regardless of whether your clothes need it or not. You can save on utility costs by finding a laundry machine with auto-temperature control. This feature uses less heated water and instead relies on cold or warm water to achieve the same results.
Moisture Sensor
Dryers are the more energy-hungry appliance between the two. However, you can save quite a bit of money by finding a model with a built-in moisture sensor. This sensor automatically adjusts how much heated air the dryer uses based on how much water is left in the load. It also saves your clothes from shrinking since it doesn’t provide a full-blast of heated air from the get-go until the cycle is completed.
Caution. Auto-temperature control and moisture sensors serve may always be 100 percent accurate. If your laundry combo has a digital dashboard with temperature controls, you’ll have more control over how much energy the machine uses.
ENERGY STAR Certified
Of course, it never hurts to choose a laundry dryer set sporting the ENERGY STAR label. ENERGY STAR laundry machines can use up to 25 percent less energy and one-third less water to achieve similar if not identical results. An ENERGY STAR certified washer has a smaller kilowatt-hour rating.
Additionally, you can look at the IMEF (Integrated Modified Energy Factor) rating in a laundry machine and CEF (Combined Energy Factor) in a dryer. These ratings indicate the amount of energy these appliances use while active, on standby, or shutoff but remain plugged in. A higher IMEF or CEF rating means the appliances consume less energy.
FAQs
Sometimes, this can be the case, especially if they continue to blast super-heated air when there is no moisture left over. That’s why you should consider investing in a dryer model that has moisture sensors; when no more moisture is present, the machine automatically switches off the heating element and blasts room-temperature air at your laundry instead.
It can be, especially if it’s humid or freezing cold outside. During the winter, you should always look for an alternative to drying your clothes, whether it’s air-drying in a basement (though humidity and mold can be a major issue) or using a dryer. Feel free to hang your clothes outside in the summer, but excessive exposure to natural sunlight can dull your clothes’ colors.
Ideally, a separate room for your laundry and dryer machines is ideal, but if you don’t have that kind of space, keeping them in the bathroom or basement is fine. You should consider picking up a dehumidifier for the space since excess moisture can wreak havoc on the metallic components of these machines.
Yes, it is, provided you get them in a set. This is the more space-efficient way since the airspace above a laundry or dryer machine is typically left unused. Only frontloading machines can be stacked on top of each other, and the dryer should always be placed on top of the laundry machine.
If you have any questions or comments, please add them below in the comment section. Similarly, please let us know if you spot any mistakes or omissions. Thanks!
Last Update: 2024-04-17 | Affiliate links/Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
