A vented dryer costs about €1.26 a load at Irish rates, a heat pump dryer about 54c. Work out yours from the energy label and see the cheaper ways to dry.
A tumble dryer is usually the most expensive appliance to run in an Irish home after the immersion and electric heating.
How much each load costs depends mostly on the type of dryer, and the energy label tells you exactly how much yours uses.
Tumble dryer cost per load calculator
Cost = kWh per load × rate. A month is 4.33 weeks. Real use varies with the load size, the fabric and how wet the clothes are after the spin.
Typical cost per full load
How to read your energy label
Older-style EU energy labels for tumble dryers show an annual energy consumption in kWh, worked out on 160 drying cycles a year.
Divide that figure by 160 and you have the kWh per load, which you can enter in the calculator.
If you can't find the label, the model number on the door seal or the back of the machine will bring up the specification online.
The figures in the table above are typical for 8 kg machines and are a reasonable guide if you can't find yours.
Why heat pump dryers cost so much less
Vented and condenser dryers heat the air with an element, the same as a fan heater, and that's where most of the electricity goes.
A heat pump dryer recycles the heat instead, so it uses well under half the electricity per load.
They cost more to buy, so whether one pays for itself depends on how often you dry.
At four loads a week, the difference between a vented and a heat pump dryer at the typical rate is roughly €150 a year.
Cheaper ways to dry
If you dry most days, the alternatives below can cost a fraction of a vented dryer per load:
- A heated airer with a dehumidifier, about 68c for five hours at the standard rate.
- A dehumidifier on its own in laundry mode, about 32c for six hours with a low-energy model.
- Any of the above on a night rate, which cuts the cost by more than half.
- A line outside, free, on the days the weather allows.
Our guide to drying clothes with a dehumidifier covers the set-up in detail.
The most capacity of any dehumidifier we found from an Irish seller, with a laundry mode for drying a full load overnight.
Even at its maximum listed draw of 285W, a six hour session costs about 62c, half the price of a vented dryer load.
A full-size heated airer at 8.3c an hour. With a dehumidifier in the same room, a load dries overnight for well under a vented dryer's cost.
Renting with no garden?
Under the minimum standards for rented homes, private landlords must provide access to a washing machine, and to a clothes dryer if the property has no private garden or yard. Citizens Information sets out the full list.
If you're renting an apartment with no outdoor space and no dryer, that's worth raising with your landlord.
With Ireland's household electricity the dearest in the EU, according to Eurostat, the type of dryer matters more here than almost anywhere. For other appliances, try the appliance running cost calculator or the heated airer cost calculator.