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AIBU? My new tumble drier makes me feel I've been connec

(19 Posts)
Jess20 Tue 24-Oct-23 18:26:05

The machine arrived at a total cost of over £800 inc delivery and it doesn't get hot. It seems to get a bit warm but this will not imho kill any bacteria or dust mites that might have survived the washing machine. It's a heat pump one made by Bosche. Nothing in the instructions to tell you how warm or otherwise it gets, although it has a hygiene program that I'd have thought would be hot enough to be - hygienic! Customer services couldn't find anything in their copy of the handbook either. Finally discovered, by calling up Bosche to get an engineer out, that it only heats to 40deg over ambient temperature. How bloody useless is that! What a con! AO we're sympathetic but because I'd plugged it in, said it had been used. To return it without an exchange would cost over £200 and I've already paid to have it delivered! What should I do? I need it because I am a carer with a lot of washing and now have this heap of junk in the middle of the kitchen waiting for a Bosche engineer as it surely has to be broken as all it seems to produce is a waft of slightly warm air.

NotSpaghetti Tue 24-Oct-23 18:32:46

Modern tumble dryers have a "high" heat around 66ºC
If yours is 40⁰ above ambient and your ambient is (say) 20 - that's still 60⁰

And of course too hot can damage fabrics.
Are you checking it towards the end of the cycle?

JaneJudge Tue 24-Oct-23 18:36:34

I think this is how they work sad I would accept the £200 loss and order a good condenser or traditional one

AskAlice Tue 24-Oct-23 18:38:59

I don't think tumble dryers are meant to kill bacteria or dust mites - that is what washing clothes is meant to do, isn't it?

I've recently (a week ago) had delivery of a new heat pump tumble dryer and it is very different from my previous ducted one. It doesn't get as hot, and when you first switch it onto the selected programme the time it says it will take to dry seems horrendous! But as it dries, it adjusts the time for the stuff inside and doesn't take as long as I thought it might. It is also much quieter, and according to all the blurb on the Internet before I bought it, it costs about a third of my previous dryer to dry the same amount of washing.

I'd persevere with the dryer you have bought and see how it goes. Bosch are a very good make, we have Bosch appliances elsewhere in the kitchen and they have always performed very well and have been long-lasting and reliable.

Germanshepherdsmum Tue 24-Oct-23 18:42:33

I don’t rely on the tumble drier to kill germs or dust mites, just to dry the laundry which emerges warm, not burning hot. The washing should be done at a sufficiently high temperature to kill germs and bugs. I very much doubt that yours is a useless piece of junk. What sort of temperature do you expect before it would catch fire and burn the laundry? I suspect you’re not used to a tumble drier and expect far more from it than it’s designed to do.

JaneJudge Tue 24-Oct-23 18:44:59

I suspect she has mentioned she is a carer for a reason (excess washing) and needs it dried more quickly

Primrose53 Tue 24-Oct-23 19:42:06

If you genuinely believe it is faulty you need to go back to the retailer as your contract is with them.

Callistemon21 Tue 24-Oct-23 19:44:16

We bought a Bosch tumble drier with several programmes that was a waste of the extra money because we only tend to use one.

Because it has a gentle touch sensor for on/off DH just can't cope with that and gets increasingly frustrated with it.

Next time it will be a simple one with a couple of programmes, a timer and proper switches!

I never expected a tumble drier to kill bacteria or dust mites, I think washing at 60C or more will do that.

Callistemon21 Tue 24-Oct-23 19:47:38

I'd keep on at them, Jess20.

Check what the 'hygiene programme' entails.
If the claims are untrue insist on a refund.

lemsip Tue 24-Oct-23 19:58:23

that's why they take two to 3 hours to dry your washing..

Theexwife Tue 24-Oct-23 20:01:10

My niece bought a similar one, described as eco-friendly or energy-efficient, totally useless takes ages to dry anything.

AreWeThereYet Tue 24-Oct-23 20:25:53

I'm not familiar with heat pump dryers so did a quick Google and as others have said it seems they are supposed to be a lower heat and take a bit longer- it's how they are designed to work. They are also supposed to be far more economical.

"While conventional tumble dryers release hot air used to dry clothes, heat pump technology conserves and reuses it. It will take longer to dry clothing as the maximum temperature reached is 50°C. In comparison, the maximum temperature reached in a condenser dryer is 70-75 °C."

If you are more concerned about a faster turnaround because you have a lot of washing to dry, rather than the running costs, this looks like being a bad choice for your situation.

LovesBach Tue 24-Oct-23 21:45:36

I would cut my losses and get a cheaper conventional dryer, Jess20. We had a condenser dryer some years ago and it almost drove me potty. At the time I needed to get laundry done quickly, washing for two households. Towels, well spun, would flop about for two hours in the dryer and come out still wet. Nothing every appeared to get even warm. Eventually I managed to persuade John Lewis to exchange it for a conventional dryer.

Shelflife Tue 24-Oct-23 22:38:26

I bought a Grundig tumble dryer with a sensor. IMO a complete waste of money! Constantly switching of and informing me the contents were ' cupboard dry ' what a joke - still damp! I would switch it on again and it would run for 10 minutes before switching off and repeating the message. I went back to the store and explained only to be told " that's how they work , there is nothing wrong with it" After struggling for many months , trying different programs I eventually rang my local council and paid for it to be taken away, and be recycled.

I had to cut my losses , it was driving me bonkers! Tumble dryer it wasn't, never dried anything. Towels would be in four hours and were still damp.
Conventional dryer next for me if I can find one - any ideas please ?

welbeck Tue 24-Oct-23 23:32:53

can't you hang them on radiator rails, or a clothes horse, with the windows open, if line drying not possible.
that's what i do. never had, or want, a tumble dryer.

paddyann54 Wed 25-Oct-23 00:27:33

Ialways spin clothes twice before putting them in my heat pump dryer ,They dry much quicker that way .I haven't hung clothes out for decades,I would put them out before going to work and come home to find it had rained on them so quite often they wold need rewashed and dried.Much simpler to just put them in the dryer

Sara1954 Wed 25-Oct-23 06:06:39

I bought a heat pump / condenser drier as few months ago, it takes a bit of getting used to, but I like it now.
It has multiple settings, so for example, if you put in a load of towels on the towel setting, they will dry perfectly, same with bedding or cottons or whatever.
I don’t think it would suit a big family though, there wouldn’t be enough hours in the day to get al the drying done.
I would persevere with it.

karmalady Wed 25-Oct-23 06:43:14

My miele condenser dryer never produces hot dried clothes, it is not meant to do that, any sanitation has to be done in the washing machine. A lower drying temperature is better for the fabric and is a reduced fire risk. Consequently it does take longer but the result is worth the wait

Primrose53 Wed 25-Oct-23 09:21:02

Believe it or not, my husband just told me that our tumble dryer is one of these! I didn’t realise. I seldom use it, preferring to dry everything outside. I have used it to just finish things off for a few minutes.

He says the OPs machine is working as it should! It’s not good for your clothes to come out red hot as stuff shrinks.