Ventless Clothes Dryer
Last Post 01 Jul 2014 05:29 PM by BadgerBoilerMN. 24 Replies.
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LbearUser is Offline
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22 Oct 2013 02:32 AM
LG makes a ventless clothes dryer. It is described as an "Electric Condensing Dryer". Would this be the same as a heat-pump clothes dryer or are they different technologies?

Which is the better setup if one wants to go ventless on the dryer?




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30 Oct 2013 06:11 AM
Lbear -

Thanks for posting. This is very interesting.

As far as I can tell from their website this is, as you suggest, a heat pump clothes dryer like they have in Europe. It also appears that they only sell it as a "washer-dryer combo" which seems like a nice bonus in itself for both ease of use and space.

We of course know that a heat pump dryer is more efficient - but what I had not considered it that it could be ventless as well. As an owner of an ICF house I was pretty sad to cut a big hole in the concrete wall to put a vent in. Had a I known about these I would have gone that route and had a tighter house! Maybe when my current unit gives up the ghost I'll buy this and plug the hole with foam.

Thanks for sharing.
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30 Oct 2013 11:13 AM
I've been tracking these for a couple years, hoping they catch on in the states. The amount of air that is exhausted with a classic dryer is huge - pretty much does a complete home air exchange over a dryer cycle. Assuming dryer is 240 CFM and you have a 2,000 sq ft home with 8 ft ceilings (16,000 cu ft) it will take about 67 minutes to do an exchange.

I would recommend a combo washer\dryer ventless, instead of separate. That is more convenient (no moving clothes from washer to dryer) and because of space if that is a concern. If you need more capacity (since is takes about 2.5 hours for a load) then just buy two. I don't mind slightly damp clothes either, as wrinkles are more of a pain.

Note I don't own one, but I will when my current washer dies.
LbearUser is Offline
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30 Oct 2013 12:47 PM
Here is the combo washer & dryer unit.

What's nice is that you can wash and dry the clothes in one setting without having to remove them and place them in another machine. Space savings of 1 unit vs 2 is nice.

What draws me to these units is not having to cut a hole in my wall and vent.


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02 Nov 2013 12:18 AM
I assume there is still the "lint" by-product during drying. Where does the lint go?
cmkavalaUser is Offline
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09 Nov 2013 08:24 AM
they take f o r e v e r to dry
Chris Kavala<br>[email protected]<br>1-877-321-SIPS<br />
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09 Nov 2013 09:24 PM
Posted By cmkavala on 09 Nov 2013 08:24 AM
they take f o r e v e r to dry

They do take longer to dry, that is true, it is one of the drawbacks. What is nice is that you can set the wash and dry cycle and walk away. No need to take clothes out of the washer and stick them into the dryer. The dual purpose unit does both; wash and dry.

Of course, if you are in a rush to get your clothes dried, a conventional dryer works best. A vented dryer needs to have the duct cleaned once a year. It is one of the leading causes of house fires in the USA. Lint catching on fire within the duct work is a common house fire cause.


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12 Nov 2013 01:14 AM
Lived with one for a decade in Europe. Wouldn't want to do it again. They do take a really really long time to dry. Heat and moisture go down the drain. Lint gets accumulated in a trap just before the drain. After a few years the drying capacity of the unit dwindled and one was left with a musty smell if one used anything but the wash function. We ended up hanging all of our clothes.

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12 Nov 2013 06:26 AM
Posted By Jelly on 12 Nov 2013 01:14 AM
Lived with one for a decade in Europe. Wouldn't want to do it again. They do take a really really long time to dry. Heat and moisture go down the drain. Lint gets accumulated in a trap just before the drain. After a few years the drying capacity of the unit dwindled and one was left with a musty smell if one used anything but the wash function. We ended up hanging all of our clothes.

Kondenstrockner


The newer units have improved drastically on efficiency and speed. An older Euro unit and a modern LG unit are quite the difference. One should always install a lint catch on all washers since all washers will release lint into the discharge water. Ive seen it happen on standard washers. So much so that it clogged the septic tank.
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12 Nov 2013 10:13 AM
So much so that it clogged the septic tank.

Not going to happen!! Lint would be one of the smallest particles flushed to the tank. About half would breakdown and the balance would reside in the sludge and wait to get pumped out. Relative to other crap, its a nothing!
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12 Nov 2013 06:52 PM
Posted By FBBP on 12 Nov 2013 10:13 AM
So much so that it clogged the septic tank.

Not going to happen!! Lint would be one of the smallest particles flushed to the tank. About half would breakdown and the balance would reside in the sludge and wait to get pumped out. Relative to other crap, its a nothing!

Washing Machine Lint Trap

It depends on the clothes you wash and how often/large of a load you do. Synthetic clothes fibers will NOT decompose and will eventually cause problems in the tank. Cotton fibers are easier on the tank than polyester and nylon.

I prefer to play it safe and trap the lint that is discharged from the washer, rather than letting it run down the drain into the septic.


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12 Nov 2013 10:41 PM
Bear - don't believe all the advertising BS you read! If the lint doesn't plug the one inch discharge hose, it is unlikely to plug a 4" line.
Since I have only been doing septic system install and repairs for just under forty years it may be I just haven't run into this problem yet.
Lint would be much less of a problem then hair.
Lint will either float or sink. In either case it will not get past the baffle in the tank so it will not reach the field.
The is a million times greater chance of the filter clogging and the wash machine flooding the house then the lint clogging the septic.
Do you think there is a reason that the filter has been discontinued???
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13 Nov 2013 08:23 PM
Posted By FBBP on 12 Nov 2013 10:41 PM
Bear - don't believe all the advertising BS you read! If the lint doesn't plug the one inch discharge hose, it is unlikely to plug a 4" line.
Since I have only been doing septic system install and repairs for just under forty years it may be I just haven't run into this problem yet.

My other home had a nylon stocking wrapped around the discharge hose in the laundry room sink. It would catch the lint into the stocking and it was cheap but effective.

Your points are taken and I will rethink my position. Maybe just doing the old nylon stocking attachment on the discharge hose is cheap $2 insurance?

Since you install septic systems, what do you think of the Infiltrator Chamber leach field?


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13 Nov 2013 11:43 PM
Bear - Infiltrators have their place. They are acceptable when the cost of drainage stone is high.
They must be pressure distributed, that is, the effluent must be distributed along the whole length of the trench.
Many are installed by just dumping the effluent into the end of the run. With this type of installation, only the first 10 or so feet of the trench is used. Over a period of time, bio mat builds up and blocks the soil pores in these first ten feet and then the effluent will run to the next ten feet and so on till the whole field is sealed off and you can put in another field (good for the installer!!.) AS the first part always remains wet, it does not break down. With pressure distribution, the effluent is sprayed out at intervals so the whole bottom of the trench gets some moisture each time. Since this is a small amount of loading on each square inch, the good bacteria will keep up with the bad (bio mat) and it will probably never seal the trench bottom if you don't abuse your system.
If you use a secondary treatment plant (add air, run the effluent through an attached media bio filter) and you have sandy soils, there may never be a sufficient bio mat build up so all the effluent will infiltrate the soils in those first ten feet so they will never receive the final treatment required for safe disposal. The rest of the field is wasted.
Contrary to Infiltrator's hype, they are not better then drainage rock.
With drainage rock and perf tile or pressure distribution each stone acts an attached media point. The good bacteria culture these stone in a mostly aerobic atmosphere and wait there for the bad guys. With chambers all you have is the open space and the bio mat bottom. During the first years until the whole trench is in use, the unused portion is the perfect home for gophers and in your case probably a few of their friends. In areas that they frequent, rattlers are know to den up in them.
While you should never drive over any field, a stone and tile field will standup to much more abuse then a chamber field.
As I said, there is a place for them and I have used them but for the most part my standby is 3/4" drainage rock c/w 3" perf pipe if gravity or 1" pvc if pressure. If a raise sand filter is required, its 12" of filter sand and 8 to 12 inches of 3/4 inch drainage rock with the 1" pvc in the top inch. Usually use Norweco's Singulair Green plant rather then a raised filter but have use both and sometime together.
A treatment system is a delicate thing and almost all failures are homeowner driven. If you don't want to eat it, don't put it in the system unless it can from your body in the first place. 'couse when I see what some people eat, maybe that shouldn't go in either ;-) See residential forum for continued discussion
rlsmith017User is Offline
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16 Jan 2014 12:09 AM
LG has announced that they will begin selling the heat pump dryer in the US later this year. Price should be $1500 to $1600. A few additional details are here:

http://lgusblog.com/product-news/lg-innovation-takes-laundry-revolutionary-spin/
Roger
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16 Feb 2014 11:12 PM
Posted By rlsmith017 on 16 Jan 2014 12:09 AM
LG has announced that they will begin selling the heat pump dryer in the US later this year. Price should be $1500 to $1600. A few additional details are here:

http://lgusblog.com/product-news/lg-innovation-takes-laundry-revolutionary-spin/

Nice ..... Will finely get to find out how well Americans accept them. As others have mentions dry times will be rather long and if they are anything like some of the HPWH on the market I think I would pass until its safe. It could be possible they are only tolerable in situations where a dryer is very difficult or imposable to vent.

What would be the bomb is if the water heater, fridge, dryer and HVAC could all be hooked up to a high performance multi-split systems.

Only negative I can think of is if the
multi-split systems heat pump goes out, your going to be and some deep dodo... ..... Back-Up?
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20 Feb 2014 08:02 PM
I saw one of those units years ago in an apartment, the tenant was in a wheelchair and the laundry was on the second floor, he was super happy with it, granted just for him 1 unit would be plenty, a family with 6 kids??????????????? not sure

I have considered it myself been scratching my head how to go about a dryer in a PH one thought was to somehow run it together with the HVR this takes care of a lot of other issues
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20 Feb 2014 10:37 PM
My Ideas ....each one have their pros and cons

  • Design home with laundry room detached from conditioned space.
  • Add a quality dryer vent damper.
  • No HVAC register in laundry room, and Air tight entry door.
  • Vent less Dryer and hope you don't need whats in the drying mode anytime soon.


ERV/HVR lint would make it inoperative within a short period of time.

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25 Jun 2014 05:32 AM
I've seen a couple of cool passive house designs with NO clothes dryer. Instead, the laundry room had an exhaust vent that went through the energy recovery ventilator. Dryers are nice for convenience, but they are really bad for your clothes. All of that lint that collect in your dryer's filter used to be your clothing! That said, I'd rather have this technology than an exhausted gas or electric dryer. The whole in your thermal envelope is not worth it for the convenience of quickly drying the clothes.
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25 Jun 2014 10:47 AM
Design home with laundry room detached from conditioned space.
The room could be as small as a dryer closet with a balancing damper to supply outside air. Perhaps including a co-axial heat exchanger that is resistant to getting clogged with lint. But when I looked at the numbers, the whole thing wasn't worth worrying about.
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