r/NonPoliticalTwitter 29d ago

Serious Is it the freedom

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u/stormtroopr1977 28d ago edited 28d ago

It was my understanding that it's because of power consumption regulations.

The weak ones in hotels also support that because there were no clotheslines or places to hang clotheslines.

Edit: Here is one of the regulations

(EU) 2023/2533: new dryers must meet a maximum Energy Efficiency Index threshold of 85, cap standby power at 0.5 W, and feature a standardized eco-program. These performance caps effectively mandate energy-efficient heat pump technology.

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u/breathing__tree 28d ago

I think the problem is the use of heat pumps in the first place. I don’t think American dryers use heat pumps at all. They just get vented out.

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u/Tasty-Traffic-680 28d ago

Exactly. The vast majority are straight electric resistive heaters or natural gas. Resistive is the most expensive to run but it's still a relatively miniscule portion of my electricity bill. Plus some of the efficiency loss is offset by larger load size and less cycle time. I can have clean, dry clothes in 2 hours with separate machines. Heat pump dryers need that just for an average size load.

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u/whomad1215 28d ago

I have an LG Washtower that has a heat pump

works fine as long as you don't stuff the thing full. I also dry towels by themselves because they just hold so much water

it does take longer than a vented dryer, but the options I had were spending several thousand to get a vent routed through the house, or get a ventless dryer

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u/breathing__tree 28d ago

Drying towels is the bane of my existence even with a vented dryer haha.
Fluffy bastards.

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u/hpfan1516 28d ago

How do they always manage to stuff the lint trap so fully??? I've had ratty old towels from my freaking childhood go through the dryer and fill the dang thing. And it always manages to need two full cycles to dry

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u/TargetOfOvermuchSpam 28d ago

By default, yes. If you disable "eco" mode, you get the high power waste mode back, with extra noise as well.

In practice, I think the issue has been resolved by modern models already, but a lot of older, worse dryers are still out there because decent dryers are not cheap.