Installing a vented tumble dryer

Many modern electronic dryers may well even display a fault code if the ambient or, room temperature is too low and just not operate at all. This means that areas that can be subject to extremes of temperature such as garages, conservatories and so on are very often unsuitable to install a tumble dryer in and, some manufacturers will not offer a warranty if you put them in such places.

Almost every winter, especially a cold one, we get a rash of service calls telling us that a condenser or heat pump tumble dryer will not dry.

Often this is accompanied by some sort of water leak or condensation problem. The dryer is ordinarily then found to be in a low temperature environment and the result is unsurprising to us.

What happens is, instead of the water condensing in the condenser of the dryer it starts to condense on other cold surfaces, like the inner cabinet or even the drum of the tumble dryer itself. Meanwhile all that happens to the laundry in the dryer is that it gets mildly warm. Given many unheated garages and other outbuildings can get much lower that this during a typical UK winter it means that a good number of dryers installed in such areas will not work or will go faulty over the winter months due to this alone.

It has to take air in that is cooler than the air in the dryer and it also has to be able to expel that air once it's heated and, even on a condenser or heat pump condenser tumble dryer, that air which is expelled will have some moisture in it, just as a vented dryer expels the air with moisture in it out the vent. The first is that putting a condenser or heat pump dryer in a confined space with little or a restricted supply of fresh air is a non-starter.

You cannot put it in a cupboard and close the door for example. If you don't do this then all that happens is that the dryer ends up recirculating the air and, in the process, heating it up. With condenser based dryers this just kills the efficiency of the machine meaning you can end up using way more electricity than you probably realise. Although not a problem seen that often, at least here in the UK, you can get almost the same thing happening where the air the dryer gets is too warm.

The air passing over the condenser is too warm and the dryer is unable to get a cold enough surface to condense the moisture in the warm air. This is effectively what happens when they are shut in an unventilated room, especially a small one. As with the winter, during the summer months garages and other outbuildings can get really warm, far too warm to allow your dryer to work correctly, if at all. Your edit No2 how about a handyman? Hi there! I'd so appreciate some advice!

I have posted a job on this website and have had a few really great tradesmen come I would like to know if there are any regulations on positioning height above ground level etc of the vent for a Tumble Dryer in Hi guys, Could you please advise: I live in an apartment building in London and thinking about installing a vented tumble Ask a tradesman. There is already a hole in the wall previous owner removed one brick then fitted vent on outside wall , but this is not I had a new conservatory last year, it was built on an old existing base which has since developed damp problems, I have been Ask a tradesman.

Hi there! We are wondering whether tube could run the height of the house, to allow the steam to escape! Like 2. The vented air can go straight out into the gap if you want. Like 1. Installation of tumble dryer vent There is already a hole in the wall previous owner removed one brick then fitted vent on outside wall , but this is not Type of flooring for a humid area on an epoxy resin floor I had a new conservatory last year, it was built on an old existing base which has since developed damp problems, I have been Ask a new question.