clothes dryer

DryerMiser Promises to Cut Dryer Energy Use in Half

January 21, 2009 By NightOwl

Here’s an interesting new twist on the clothes dryer:

A device that says it can cut dryer energy use and reduce drying time has passed safety tests and will be available this year.

The DryerMiser, developed by Hydromatic Technologies Corporation, changes the way the air inside dryers gets heated up. By using heated fluid instead of a gas flame or electric heating elements, the DryerMiser halves how much energy a dryer needs and can dry loads in 41 percent less time that typical dryers.

The device has recently passed tests by product safety certification organization Underwriters Laboratory (UL). Although the Underwriters Laboratory mark is not required for equipment put on the market, it shows consumers and companies that a product has met certain standards.

The DryerMiser will first be available as a $300 conversion kit that takes about an hour for a trained service provider to install, and the company says it is in talks with appliance makers to integrate it into new dryers.

Hydromatic Technologies also hopes its device will help put in place Energy Star standards for dryers. Although clothes washers can carry the Energy Star label, Energy Star does not label clothes dryers, it says, “because most dryers use similar amounts of energy, which means there is little difference in the energy use between models.”

This comes from GreenBiz,com if you want to visit them, click here.

Staber’s New Electric Clothes Drying Cabinet

May 1, 2008 By NightOwl

Staber, an American manufacturer and online retailer of washers and dryers offers a new clothes drying cabinet as an addition to your laundry room equipment. Although drying cabinets have been used in Europe for years, many Americans are not familiar with them. They are in a simple form a box in which clothes can be hung up or laid out on racks while air is circulated around them to reduce drying time. They are not a replacement for a traditional tumble dryer, but an alternative to tumbling delicate or very bulky items.

Here are some benefits of the drying cabinet from Staber’s literature:
• To be used in addition to a conventional dryer; it is simply a different way to dry laundry

• Less wear and tear on clothing because of no tumbling

• Reduces shrinkage

• Lower operating temperature; increases life expectancy of clothing

• All kinds of clothing can be dried simultaneously, e.g. shirts on hangers together with sport equipment and boots

• Life expectancy of 15 years; minimal maintenance due to simple design

• Quiet operation, which makes it suitable in both houses and apartments

• Provides an energy-efficient drying process, and minimizes the amount of air to be evacuated

• Thermostat controlled, adjustable from room temperature up to around 150 degrees F

• Allows quick folding when removing clothes

The cabinet measures 67 1/2″ tall x 23 1/2″ wide x 24 1/4″ deep and retails for $949.00 online.

Is Your Clothes Dryer Working Effectively?

March 22, 2008 By NightOwl

We invest a lot of money in our clothes and want them to last and look good. Over-drying and over heating clothes wears them out faster. If your dryer is working effectively, you can dry more quickly, sometimes at lower temperatures. If preserving your clothes, possibly preventing wrinkles and saving energy sounds good to you, try these tips from mrappliance.com:

Avoid kinking exhaust vent behind dryer. The shorter the better.
Exhaust ducting should be of a metalized semi rigid/flexible material. Do not use vinyl as it can be easily crushed. Vinyl will not withstand heat as well as metalized ducting.
Check your outside vent hood. Clean if necessary. It is not advisable to use mesh wire or grates to cover the vent hood. This will definitely help keep rodents or birds out of your exhaust but can easily clog as some lint always makes it through the dryer’s lint screen. The best vent hood has a flapper that opens when the dryer is in use and closes when off. Verify proper operation of the flapper periodically.
Clean lint screen between loads and more frequently if drying material with higher cotton content.
Do not overload dryer. Too many clothes will inhibit proper circulation of heated air between and through the garments. On the other hand, too few clothes can create a similar problem by bunching and disallowing proper air flow through the clothes. Proper air flow dissipates the moisture from the clothes faster making for a faster dry time.
In winter months, dryers located in a heated area of the home will dry more quickly than a non-heated utility room.
Drying multiple loads one after the other will reduce overall dry time by utilizing heat retained by the dryer from previous loads.
Recheck pockets before putting clothes into dryer. Chewing gum may make it through the wash with little to no consequence but your luck will run out if it is put into the dryer. Gum, pencils, change, nails, needles, jewelry, etc. can damage clothing as well as damage your appliance (as a rule of thumb, do not lay loose change or other small articles on top of your appliances).

Drying with Liquid? A New Twist on the Clothes Dryer

March 7, 2008 By NightOwl

For the most part, clothes drying technology hasn’t changed in over 70 years, but the people at Hydromatic Technologies have a new plan. They don’t make dryers, but at the 2008 International Builders’ Show, they debuted a new technology – Hydronics- that could make future dryers better.

Hydronics is the utilization of water or other fluids to transfer heat from one location to another. Steam and hot water radiators are one of the oldest forms of hydronic technology. Similar to water heater technology, Hydronic Technologies has produced the next generation of liquid-based technology as a heat transfer delivery system. The result is an energy saving, faster drying technology

How it works:

Made of durable copper and aluminum, the Hydronic Dryer’s heat technology works by heating up a specially formulated, non-toxic and non-corrosive heat transfer fluid with an immersion element (similar to a water heater). The fluid is transferred to a heat exchanger where it is mixed with air. The heated air is then blown into the dryer’s drum. The result is a safer, highly energy efficient dryer, that dries faster than any other brand available on the market – up to 41% faster!

The company says this hydronic dryer can be added to an existing dryer by a trained technician in under 30 minutes. They also claim to be a safer, greener, economical way to dry clothes. Innovation is good, it’ll be interesting to see where this goes.