Gas vs Electric clothes dryers

I would like to get a stackable washer/dryer but I would need to get all electric. I worry about getting thrown into the dac rate and wonder if any of you has used an electric dryer and if it ran your bill up a lot. I would only do a couple loads of laundry each week. TIA for your help!

Yes it will run your bill up. Use a clothesline whenever possible?

The stackable washer/dryers are not very big. If you are used to a standard sized washer, you may end up with more than two loads a week. CB's advise is right on.

Some regular sized units are stackable. We purchased ours at Tio Sams after our all in one unit died...

Buy gas, not electric, you will regret it if not. Agree with CB, use a clothes line, sun is free! Most days it takes my clothes a couple of hours to dry on the line, nada mas.

It may be worth finding out how much they will charge to run a gas line to your laundry area. It may be less than you think.

I had an electric dryer and gave it away... I use the line to dry clothes most of the time and I still gave the thing away..

Not to mention most electric dryers use 240v and special plug, which could be a hassle to find and get installed properly.

If you use the electric dryer 2 - 3 times a week for an hour at a time you can expect it to add 100 to 150 KWH per 2 month billing cycle. The DAC limit is 500 KWH per 2 month billing cycle so if you are currently near that threshold you can expect to go over.

Clotheslines are fine if you have any place to put 'em in the sun.  Thanks to our neighbors VERY tall recent building since I moved here, I'd have to climb to the roof to get enough sun.  So...a gas dryer saves my creaky old knees. However the roof does have nine solar panels on it, which I recommend.

We installed an electric dryer 2 years ago since it would be in our master bath and didn't want gas that close to the bedroom. Never noticed any increase to electric use and things dry faster since electric heat is drier than liquid propane heat. The motor that turns the dryer drum uses more electricity than the heater part.

Oldshoe, curious if you are in the DAC with CFE?

One other consideration for a gas dryer is the burner. Many/most have a natural gas burner installed, not a propane burner. Since propane burns much hotter than natural gas, over time you will damage the fabric. When I had a propane burner installed in a gas dryer it cost me 600 pesos (parts and labour) but this was several years ago - no idea what the costs would be today.

Oldshoe, you are the first person who has ever said using an electric dryer made no difference in their electric bill. That is amazing!

Axixic wrote:One other consideration for a gas dryer is the burner. Many/most have a natural gas burner installed, not a propane burner. Since propane burns much hotter than natural gas, over time you will damage the fabric. When I had a propane burner installed in a gas dryer it cost me 600 pesos (parts and labour) but this was several years ago - no idea what the costs would be today.  

When I bought my gas appliance's (BBQ, dryer and stove top) from Tio Sam's they came out upon delivery and replaced the nozzles in each one of them to accommodate the propane as all these appliances apparently were imported from Canada (Frigidaire, Whirlpool & Weber).