Has anyone measured how much energy tumble drier, washing machine use while on delayed start?

[ericmark]

The big three, dishwasher, washing machine and tumble drier all have a delayed start feature, so I can set to start when off-peak starts, but the washing machine and tumble drier tumble the clothes every so often while waiting for the start time.

My energy meter will I am sure measure this, but not as yet tried, and clearly need to use the power to measure the power, so the drier sits with damp washing, door open, until midnight if I remember when I will close the door and turn it on.

Batteries are 6.4 kWh, which this time of year is really not enough, so don't want to forget to put drier on, but not sure how much it saves when it keeps doing a tumble every so often through the evening.

 

[SpecialK]

My washing machine uses 6 watts when counting down to a start. I cant imagine the dishwasher uses any extra as it doesn't have a fancy display.

 

[Wayners]

I have a few thoughts regarding running costs and safety.
Sorry I don't know the answer to your question.

Never run those appliances when your away from home or asleep.
We only use our dishwasher maybe once a month now as cheaper and quicker to wash by hand. We only use it to clean difficult items that need to be run through every once in a while

Our tumble dryer gets used only for towels to soften them for 10 mins as all the washing gets dried with a dehumidifier. It's a fraction of the cost of a tumble dryer plus the benefit of no condensation in house. Better off running that at night. Save a packet!
The only appliance worth using regularly on your list is the washing machine and maybe keep an eye on it when it's running. Skip the delayed start...
I guess your theory is run them on the cheap tariff and just risk it that no problems happen.

 

[JohnD]

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[ericmark]

I guess your theory is run them on the cheap tariff and just risk it that no problems happen.

Yes they are run after midnight in the Winter, in Summer they are used when solar is good. We are often up past midnight, but we forget to set them off.

all the washing gets dried with a dehumidifier

I suppose it does, that is what a heat pump tumble drier is, just it compacts it into a small space.

Any electrical equipment can go wrong, and can cause fires, but I use my fridge and freezers overnight, and it used same technology as the tumble drier, so why not use a tumble drier over night?

The alternative to running the machines over night, is to increase the size of the batteries, these can also it seems cause fires, so seems what ever we do there is a risk, but if the risk was high, then the machines would not be fitted with delay start timers. They are designed to run over night.

The dishwasher is not a problem, we set it with a 2 hour delay start, and it simply sits there until start time, the washing machine and tumble drier however every so often tumble the clothes, I can see why the tumble drier does that, but why the washing machine tumbles at that point still dry clothes not a clue.

Tumble drier runs for hours, so having it start at midnight is important, or it could still be running at 5 am when off peak stops, the washing machine we are not sure about using liquid detergent, can't use the balls in the wash, as it will all spill out when it tumbles, not sure about using the soap trays, as if reopened the liquid detergent has run out. As to if it sits at the bottom of the drum safely, or still runs onto clothes not sure, so delay start only used with whites, as the detergent is unlikely to cause colours to bleach if left on them.

But today is a typical winters day, 12:40 pm and battery down to 62% solar not keeping up with demand, comparing November last year when we had solar but no smart meter so no off peak, to November this year with off-peak our bill has halved, nearly spot on half the cost, we would say solar in winter saves around the £40 a month, no good records to confirm this, but seems about right, and the smart meter and 6.4 kWh battery saves us £60 a month, in hind sight we would have been better having 12.8 kWh of battery (limit for our inverter) and no solar. But we didn't so using stuff in the off-peak time, is something we are forced to do to reduce fuel costs.