Wondering which clothes dryer to buy? Get advice in our clothes dryer buying guide or see our comparison of models from Bosch, Miele, Samsung, Fisher & Paykel and more in our clothes dryer review (member content).
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Do you really need a dryer? We look at the pros and cons.
We have found in Brisbane, no. We have a drier which has been handed down to us from inlaws when they bought a new one, and in the 20 years we have had it, it has been usedā¦zip, nil, zero times.
In this time we have even been through a period were we used modern cloth nappies and in a work environment where a high change of clothing was required (working outdoor in the field or in smelly conditions). We generally hang washing on the old 60 year old Hills Hoist in the backyard on sunny daysā¦or if we need to wash on a wet day (which we try and avoid), we hang it under the house where it dries usually in a day or two.
The only downsides to hanging on the clothes line is possibly aditional effort to hang and retreive and also that the sunās UV tends to slowly fade the fabric colours (especially natural fibre fabric which we tend to use).
Depends on your circumstances. If you live in a unit that does not allow hanging of clothes in outside areas then a dryer could almost become a necessity, if you are unable to reach a line to hang the washing on then it could also be a benefit. If you can use a line or a drying rack then it saves money and helps to reduce power generation needs. If you live in a very rainy area then it could also save time and effort if you have a dryer.
Horses for courses.
In my case: no.
At my house there was a good
Hills hoist in the back yard, or on a wet day there were clotheslines in the double
garage.
I found no need for a dryer to take up space in the laundry, add to the cost of the power bill, and to maintenance and repairs.
Now thereās even less space in my flat, and I can access the Hills hoist in the common area, or place a clothes airer near the open balcony door.
Clothes actually dry faster in a strong breeze, even if in the shade, than in a windless sunny day. And Melbourne doesnāt lack windy days.
Of course it does depend on the size and age of the family if a dryer would become a necessity.
Weāve awarded Australiaās best clothes dryer brand (member content), see the winner below:
Still waiting to use our 35+ year old Simpson hand-me-down in Brisbane. Have had it for about 16 years and still waiting to use it. I worry that the first time we do, we may be toasting marshmallows.
Sadly even that manufacturer makes some lemon dryers. I can show you one in my laundry. It has been completely reliable for 9 years and counting, but operationally it has issues with design that cause lots of irritation. Many posts on the net about the same thing(s). Unsurprisingly the model was short lived as appliances go.
The moral is buying the best brand helps your odds, but the specific product is what matters.
The Aldi heat pump dryer will be on special this weekend. Here are some details to consider if youāre thinking of making a purchase:
O. M. G.
I would laugh hard if I hadnāt experienced this visiting my inlaws in Brisbane. I kept checking my laundry hanging in their sunroom expecting it to be dry, and it took TWO DAYS.
Where Iām from the laundry on the verandah takes two or three hours most of the time, and less than one on the Austral some days (far quicker than my older Simpson dryer!)
We still have and use a dryer despite that, because of the time required to hang out laundry vs load it in the dryer. Busy with work and kid, its just easier to shove it in and forget it. Not to mention where I live if youāre not careful your washing could end up halfway down the street on a ābreezyā day.
Iāve been happy since buying my heat pump dryer from Appliances Online. Its an Esatto model and I got it for $615, it had been aroud $600 for months. And then, after I bought, it bounced back to its regular retail price of >$1400. right now, its back down in the 600s. Iāve not used it a lot, but for me its been excellent. Its going to get a workout today because the rain is just not quitting. I like being able to use the extracted water on plants which might otherwise miss out (not so at the moment). Anywayā¦ if anyone is lookingā¦ the link will take you direct to the product page.
The Choice review [member content] was updated 20 October 2020.
@BrendanMays, @airedale, a curiosity is why a model with an 80% rating is recommended, but another with an 81% was not. I read the comparison tables, āhow we testā, and ābuying guideā to try to discern why and noticed a single ābad pointā of āNot able to run within drying timeā for the dryer at 81% that was apparently thus not a recommended model as a result (since there seemed no other clue as to why).
I was unable to discover what was ānot able to run within drying timeā suggesting it was either not described or not sufficiently conspicuous. Would you please explain what was ānot able to run within drying timeā.
The Gerbil or hamster or small rodent they use that rotates the drum @PhilT. It was just too puffed out to run anymore. 
They probably meant it didnāt dry the clothes enough in the specified time or if it is a sensor one perhaps it didnāt dry enough when it had stopped. It will be interesting to find out. And they might supply the Gerbil some oxygen supplementation.
This is a common complaint in the Whirlpool.net.au forums. I must confess I have not had any issues with my Esatto, but then, I donāt use the presets. I know roughly how much time will be required and set it accordingly.
Probably is a magic word. I guessed many possibilities but none seemed āthe oneā.
The drying time scores for the 80% and 81% dryers are the same 72% with a 1 minute difference listed in test cycle time and the 81% product has a 5 minutes shorter āfull load program timeā.
I need to run off for a moment as I probably won the lotto tonight 
Lots of possibles I knowā¦itās possible the Gerbil died 
The definitive answer will arrive at some time once CHOICE respond.
I doubt it would be the Gerbil - I know Miele use only the highest quality Gerbils in all their appliances.
Seriously though, this could have been worded better, but what this refers to is a requirement under the Australian Standard whereby a dryer must be capable of drying a full capacity load of laundry from 90% moisture content down to 6% moisture content or better for it to qualify for an energy star rating and for it to be legal to sell. In this instance we found the dryer was unable to reach 6% or lower moisture content in our test, which uses the same program and settings as the registration test - an auto sensor program. It only missed the 6% target by a very small margin, but it still missed it.
Does this mean it shouldnāt be able to be sold in Australia then? Not necessarily - the registration test is done to the full capacity of the dryer whereas we test to 3.5kg in order to better reflect real world use. It may well be able to get there on a full capacity load, but we didnāt test it as such.
As always, thanks for your attentiveness to the .community and related explanations.
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