Eco-friendly cleaning of your tumble dryer
Okay, that fine dryer is damn handy, but not an eco-friendly appliance. The sustainable tip is: invest in a new energy-efficient appliance, dispose of the old dryer properly at the recycling centre and keep your new economical A++ heat pump dryer properly clean. By doing so, you will prevent the appliance from malfunctioning and a clean appliance uses less energy. This step-by-step plan will help you get your tumble dryer clean in an easy and environmentally friendly way.
Tools
- dash of vinegar
- soft cloth
- hoover
Instructions
- Check beforehand which type of dryer you have: condenser dryer, heat pump dryer or air discharge dryer. There are differences in cleaning.
- The main dirt in a clothes dryer is dust. The drying cycle causes large amounts of lint to enter the filter. Therefore, it is important to clean the filter after every drying cycle. Remove the filter from the tumble dryer and remove the largest lint by hand. (The lint belongs in the rubbish!) Then you can use your hoover to remove the other lint. If the filter is very dirty, you can rinse it with the shower head or in a tub with a soft brush. Make sure that the lint filter is completely dry before you put it back, otherwise your laundry will take longer to dry.
- Do you have a condenser dryer? If so, remove the condenser to clean it. Consult the manual where the condenser is and how to remove it from your tumble dryer. Rinse the condenser, for example with a shower head. Also clean the drawer opening and seals of the condenser with a soft cloth. Put the condenser back in the machine.
- On a heat pump dryer, you clean the pedestal filter under running water. You can usually find the socket filter on the front left of your dryer behind a flap. Read your machine's manual where your machine's sock filter is located and the best way to clean it. You can carefully clean the cooling fins (which are behind the sock filter) with the brush of your hoover. Do not touch them with your hands as they are very sharp and you can cut yourself. Always read the manual carefully before doing this job, as damage to the cooling fins can cause your clothes dryer to stop working properly. Put the clean filter back in your tumble dryer.
- For a drain dryer, you clean the drain hose for the hot air and outlet vents or roof penetration. To do this, disconnect the hose and clean everything with the hose from your hoover. This prevents clogging and this way the dryer can always get rid of its hot air properly, making it work better.
- After this, clean the dryer drum with a damp cloth topped with a dash of vinegar. This will remove dust and grease from the drum. Check in the manual where your tumble dryer's sensor is located, so you don't skip it. The sensor registers how dry your laundry is. If it is not properly clean, you could be using more energy than necessary because your dryer is not properly measuring that your laundry is dry enough.
- Finally, clean the outside of the tumble dryer with a damp, soft cloth with again a dash of vinegar, so that your dryer is once again grease-free and clean.