Selection Criteria Tumble Driers

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Methodology

Topten (Best products of Europe) lists the most energy efficient electric tumble driers of Europe. Driers on topten.eu comply with the following criteria:

  • Household and semi-professional driers: energy efficiency class A or better. In general, only heat-pump tumble driers reach class A.
  • Professional driers: heat pump driers. For professional driers, there is no energy label.

Scope

Three tumble driers categories are presented on Topten.

  • for residential use (driers designed for one apartment, 6kg to 8 kg load)
  • For semi professional use (driers designed for several apartments, with a usage intesity about 5 times the usage of residential driers)
  • For professional use

Data Sources


Order of presentation

The products are ordered according to their specific energy consumption (kWh/kg, according to the declarations on the energy label). The order can be changed individually by clicking on the head of the tables.
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Glossary

Brand and Model

A click on the column of a product shows the detailed view.

List price €

Prices indicate rather an order of magnitude as there can be large differences depending on retailers, rebates etc. The values listed on Topten are according to the declarations of producers, retailers, national Topten-sites or data bases as Encodex. The drier prices are Swiss prices calculated to Euro by the rate of 1.60.

Electricity costs (€ 15 years)

Assumptions:

  • Costs for electricity during 15 years (product life). According to the standard energy consumption (EU energy label).
  • Tariff of electricity: 0.15 €/kWh
  • Residential use: 1’000 kg laundry per year
  • Semi professional use: 5’000 kg laundry per year

Capacity (kg)

Laundry capacity of the drier in kg, according to the energy label.

Drying time (min)

Drying time of the 'dry cotton' cycle, according to the labelling regulation.

Energy class

The EU energy label from 1995 defines the classes A (very efficient) to G (very inefficient). Topten only displays class A appliances. Starting in June 2012, declarations according to the new energy label with classes up to A+++ can start to appear. The two labels coexist until end of May 2013, when the new energy label becomes compulsory. From January 2013 Topten will only publish data accoring to the new labelling regulation.

Energy Consumption  (kWh/kg laundry)

Specific energy consumption according to the (old) energy label declarations in kWh / kg laundry.

Countries available

This item displays in which countries the products are available according to producers’ declarations, national Topten sites and data bases as Encodex. The considered countries are all member states of the EU, plus Croatia, Norway and Switzerland. However, the availability is sometimes difficult to define precisely as it can depend on marketing and sales decisions by retailers and national manufacturing units.
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Infoplus

Publications

Standards and Labels

  • European Commission: Commission Directive 95/13/EC of 23 May 1995 with regard to energy labelling of household electric tumble driers (old energy label, expires end of May 2013). Official Journal of the European Union L 136, 21.6.1995, p. 28–51.
  • Commission Regulation 392/2012 on energy labelling of household tumble driers (new energy label, compulsory from end of May 2013. It can already be applied from June 2012).
  • Corrigendum to the energy labelling regulation 392/2012

Links

  • Preparatory study for ecodesign requirements for laundry dryers: www.ecodryers.org
  • Encodex, Nürnberg, Germany; Encodex is a subsidiary of the GfK Group and is present in over 50 countries worldwide. Encodex provides data bases of appliances.

Producers and retailers are kindly asked to inform info(at)topten.info about more products meeting the selection criteria of Topten.

May 2012, Bush, Berger-Wey, Michel