@ai6yr There's a whole thread on that (among energy geeks) here: https://bsky.app/profile/jgkoomey.bsky.social/post/3mxceqdtw6s24

@ai6yr we were going to switch and do the water heater too, but we don't have enough amperage from the street (only 120) so just ac/heat and cooking all on electric.

@ai6yr I just looked at the search I have set up again, the Miele all seem to be 240 V.... There seem to be a few 120V models by Samsung and GE... But all in the $2000 range!!!? I was in Germany 2 weeks ago, friends showed me their new heat pump dryer they had gotten for $600, including tax....
When I see prices here in the US and compare to Europe it seems we get screwed all the time, no real competition.

@ai6yr Miele makes a couple Heat Pump models, can't vouch for how well they work.

@ai6yr "gas dryer" heck no clothesline before that, dude. Dryers have LINT. We used to carry that stuff as kindling. You do not want fire near there.

@ai6yr we switched to a LG heat pump dryer about a year ago, it works well and has significantly reduced our power bill.

There are only a few 120v dryers on the US market.

I had an all-in-one washer dryer which was 120V and used a heat pump.

It seemed like a neat idea! Throw clothes in, come out dry!

It was: expensive.

It was: slow.

Worst part: if you did not take the clothes out after the cycle ended? They would stink.

If you did take them out? Essentially, they would be damp, yet kinda still hot, and the remaining moisture would evaporate away and it would be: OKish?

Eventually that washer-dryer ended up with some friends, they purchased: a cheap dryer (I think used?) and simply used the combo washer/heat pump dryer as a front loading washer. That seemed as if it was better than attempting to use the all-in-one's heat pump.

@ai6yr out top-of-the-line samsung has been.....meh. It replaced an old 3KW resistive unit, which frankly dried the clothes better in half the time and could accurately determine when the clothes were dry and switch off. It was hugely inefficient. The Samsung doesn't seem able to accurately decide how long to dry for, typically deciding clothes need 2hrs, revising this to 1hr and leaving then most. If we manually set a 2hr fixed cycle, clothes are*usually* dry.

@ai6yr I'm in Ireland, so its 240VAC. I bought a new pair washer and heat pump dryer. Previously the house only had a washer, and a clothesline out back. Usually I just dried my clothes by hanging them on chair backs and door handles around the house. But I finally got tired of that, and the new units I bought are more energy efficient than the old washer, and the dryer stacks on top of the washer so it all still fits in the tiny laundry space.

@ai6yr How about an old electric dryer. The motor is probably 120v and you could use a heat gun like your coffee roaster.

@ai6yr my opinion is why the hell would you use anything else? Either tumble or cabinet (or entire wardrobe with a dehumidifier)

@ai6yr I don’t know about the 120v/220v thing, but I had the Miele washer & dryer — I really overspent on it, but it worked quite well. The only real issue is that it tends to dump a lot of heat back into the room - which you might not care about if it’s in the basement, but in a central location, in the summer… it’s…. Not optimal. Thankfully the furnace heat pump and air exchanger did their jobs, and kept it from getting uncomfortable.

@ai6yr I just replaced my washer and dryer with a combo 120V heat-pump unit about a month ago. I like it; no regrets so far. My clothes don't feel as dry immediately at the end of a default cycle as they did with my previous electric dryer, but 1) they seem noticeably dryer within like a minute after I've opened the door, for reasons I don't understand; 2) I've been trying to hang-dry more things anyway; 3) my housemates have been just running the dryer for longer than the default cycle and they seem happy with how effective that is.

Things I learned from my research before buying this:

• I didn't know that front-load washers use less water than top-load washers do. So I'm not only using significantly less electricity than my old washer and dryer did, but probably less water too.
• Approximately all of the bad reviews I read for the model I purchased complained about lint getting past the lint trap and being bad for later stages, so we've been especially careful about cleaning the lint trap, and so far that seems good.
• A combo washer/dryer with heat pump is significantly heavier than a traditional washer or dryer; mine is over 300 pounds, while non-combined traditional units are more like 120 pounds. They're also bigger in all dimensions; I had to take a door off its hinges to get the new unit in.

I found the information at https://www.familyhandyman.com/article/heat-pump-dryer/ particularly informative about what the heat pump is actually doing in this configuration and what pros and cons they have. I didn't use their list of recommended models, though.

@ai6yr opinion: they’re a super neat idea. but … has nobody yet made one that’s set up as an air handler for a preexisting mini-split compressor?

that seems like such an obvious win-win for home appliance integration …

now if only appliance durability was increasing over time, like technology suggests it should. rather than decreasing year by year like capitalism demands …

@ai6yr I’ve looked into them, and as soon as I can find one that fits in my tiny laundry closet I’m going to get one. (Hasn’t been a priority so it’s lingered for a while, it my gas dryer is dying and the project is moving) This is part of my de-gasification project, and tbh I would say absolutely do it.

@ai6yr @djsundog I had a bosch for a long while. and my all-in-one now is heat pump based. the biggest recommendation I have is "check the airflow on the room where the unit will be held" and augment it if needed. We run a circulating fan to swap the exchanged air. But after a few loads, drying takes forever because the room warms up too much. but I adore my all-in-one and am glad we got the heat pump based variant.