- All dryers use electricity to rotate the drum that holds the items being dried and to run a fan that blows hot air into the drum. The difference between electric and gas dryers is that electric dryers also use electricity to provide the heat while in gas dryers natural gas or propane provides it.
- Electric dryers require a dedicated 240-volt circuit. Your laundry room is likely to have this already. Gas dryers require a professionally installed gas hookup. Your laundry room might, or might not, have this already. If it does not, a gas dryer is unlikely to produce enough savings to justify the expense of installing one.
- There is a small difference in price for equivalent models of gas and electric dryers, with gas being more expensive by about $50.
- Assuming that you have a choice of hookups, the ultimate decision between gas and electric will likely come down to their relative running costs. This depends on the costs of gas and electricity, which vary widely from state to state, and also often from one time of year to another. Typically, however, a load of laundry will cost about twice as much to dry in an electric dryer as in a gas dryer. What this means to you will depend on how much laundry you do, and therefore how many loads you have to dry.
- Gas dryers heat up more quickly than electric ones, therefore making drying times shorter---making them generally kinder to fabrics. On the other hand, gas dryers naturally involve having gas in the house. Gas always brings with it the small but real possibility of explosion, and the process of burning gas results in small amounts of pollutants being released into the air in the house.
- All dryers, whatever their source of heat, are intrinsically inefficient. If you live somewhere where you can, consider hanging at least some of your washing out to dry on a line, at least in the warmer months. Sunlight and wind are, after all, entirely free.
How Dryers Work
Do You Have the Hookup?
Buying Costs
Running Costs
Other Factors
Consider a line
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