Introductions
You may use your clothes dryer just once or twice a week. However, it is an absolute energy hog that rakes up your energy bill quite a lot. Since it uses so much energy and deals with heat, its components are also susceptible to more failures. If your clothes dryer is broken, you can search for “dryer repair near me” and hire a professional to fix it for you. However, the more important issue is to offset the high energy cost of using a clothes dryer by squeezing more savings out of it. Let’s check out how:
The Details
- Clothes dryer energy consumption – Before you learn about the ways of squeezing more savings from your clothes dryer, it’s necessary to understand how severe the energy consumption is. Around 80 percent of US homes have clothes dryers and on average the energy consumption is around 768kWh for every clothes dryer.
That means the US uses around 60 billion kWh to use the clothes dryer. That absurd amount of energy can easily power the internet with all the infrastructure, servers, and network equipment for a whole year. Americans spend around $9 billion just to power their clothes dryer. Unlike the refrigerators, clothes washers. Television sets and air conditioners the efficiency of modern dryers is hardly better than models in the 1980s. That’s why you need to save as much money as you can on clothes dryers.
- Clean the lint trap after every drying cycle – The lint trap gets dirty very quickly. With each drying cycle, your clothes get a bit weaker. That’s because some of the fibers get torn and end up in the lint trap. Apart from that, there are other debris, fibers from dryer sheets, and residue from washer balls. All of these can easily clog up the lint trap within half a month. That’s why you should regularly clean your lint trap.
When the lint trap is clogged, hot air isn’t able to move around efficiently and that makes the dryer work harder. It uses more energy which reflects in your utility bill. Moreover, that extra energy heats up components and your dryer breaks down more easily. More money is spent on replacement parts and labor. You can save all that unnecessary spending by cleaning the lint trap after every drying cycle.
- Don’t overload the dryer – Most people think that they are saving money and have quicker dryer times when they stuff the dryer more than they are supposed to. However, it’s actually counterproductive. When you stuff your dryer full of clothes and overload it, there’s no space for air to circulate properly.
When the drum spins and the hot air is released into the drum, it stays trapped in one place and has a hard time making it to the other side. The sensors inside the dryer don’t detect hot air throughout the drum and accordingly send signals to its components to work harder and make more hot air. By the end, your load comes out with a few dry clothes and mostly wet clothes.
Moreover, the drying time is also longer, and overloading makes the dryer use more energy. This can be easily prevented when you use the right number of clothes and fabrics with each load. You get to prolong the life of your dryer, reduce drying times and save money.
- Multiple back-to-back loads – After you throw in the first load into the dryer, divide the rest of your clothes into loads and put them in baskets or segment them in another way. When the first load is dry and out, immediately shove in the next load and start the drying cycle as soon as possible. Repeat this for the remaining loads. This process helps you take advantage of the residual heat of each cycle and use it for the next load.
- Dryer sheet alternatives – Dryer sheets are very convenient and extremely cheap. However, they aren’t good for the dryer, the environment, or for you. They are laden with harmful chemicals that get on your clothes, end up in the environment through the dryer vent, and also put your health at risk. Moreover, they leave small damage on your clothes and dryer and that adds up over time. You end up spending more on repairs and clothes.
Instead, you can opt for dryer sheet alternatives. One of the most popular dryer sheet alternatives is wool balls. They are completely natural and organic and work as well as dryer sheets, if not better. They are also a sustainable solution, unlike dryer sheets that get thrown away after each drying cycle. You can use dryer wool balls for years. You can also add pleasant essential oils to them so that your clothes come out smelling fresh and wonderful.
- Keep the vent free from obstructions – Sometimes dryers refuse to work. No matter how many times you put the clothes in your dryer and change your heat settings, the load comes out wet. This problem makes many people assume that the dryer is at the end of its life. However, more often it turns out to be a clogged vent. You need to keep your dryer vents free from ice, snow, and debris. A clogged dryer vent prevents moisture from escaping the dryer and increases dryer time and energy consumption.
- Routine maintenance – Like any other appliance, your dryer needs regular maintenance to stay in top condition and work at high efficiency. Without routine maintenance, you can’t fix a problem at its bud. Later it escalates and your dryer is susceptible to more expensive failures.
Conclusion
As you see there are many ways of saving money on your clothes dryer. From lowering heat settings to using dryer balls and cleaning the filters more often. If there are fewer items of clothing, you can also line dry your clothes. On the other hand, if your dryer is broken, search for “dryer repair near me” and hire a technician to fix it for you.
