An electrical engineer friend told us last year about heat pump electric clothes dryers, which I had never heard of. After some research, we decided to give the Beko 4.5r cubic foot ventless dryer a go since it was described as a very reliable brand in use in Europe for many years. Last reviews warned us that in general, heat pump clothes drying times could be up to twice as long as conventional dryers, but that was worth it for us.

It’s more efficient than our old dryer, and it allowed us to seal the last venting hole in our basement, which was a source of cold air coming into the house during the winter. Drying with our heat pump dryer has sometimes, but not always, taken longer though no longer than we expected. Cleaning the lint trap, however, is important and takes about a minute per load versus 10 seconds with a non-heat pump dryer.

All this has been well worth it though, and our model could be powered by either 120-volt or a 240-volt circuit. So, we went with the 240-volt option since we already had it for our old dryer. The tiny bit of water discharge from the dryer just goes through a small tube right to our existing washer drainpipe. This has been one of the easiest and lowest effort efficiency choices we’ve made.

In my research, I found out that some heat pump dryer manufacturers available in the US are still new to this technology, so it’s worth taking a careful look on your own as you research this kind of worthwhile appliance.