I suspect many people have never even heard of gas tumble dryers. White Knight are one of the only white goods manufacturers that make them. So they are pretty much a specialist product. I’ve received a press release regarding White Knight’s 7kg “carbon friendly” gas tumble dryer.
Carbon friendly gas tumble dryer
White Knight are owned by Crosslee, and have specialised in tumble dryers for many years. They usually make budget priced but decent tumble dryers. This product is of interest because it claims to have a very low carbon footprint and running costs. However, it must be remembered that it needs a gas supply to run as well as electric.
I’ve enquired as to how much it’s likely to cost to install one and was told, “on average, installation costs around £100.” This is a one off cost, but it would take several years to recoup through reduced running costs unless you are replacing a very inefficient dryer or unless you tumble dry a lot.
There are A rated electric dryers with heat pumps that are not too far off the efficiency and carbon figures for this gas dryer – however, they are still “higher”, are more complex and take much longer to dry clothes so a gas tumble dryer is a viable option to consider.
White Knight claim several benefits over an electric dryer
White Knight say a gas tumble dryer has the lowest running costs. It also has the shortest drying Times (The BG44AW is the fastest drying domestic tumble dryer in the UK drying a full load in 60 minutes). They also claim that they have the lowest Carbon emissions.
However, I must point out that the figures used to promote the dryer are mostly comparing with C rated tumble dryers. I was initially very suspicious of this, but a quick look at common dryers on sale from Hotpoint, Indesit and Hoover etc. show that many of their dryers are in fact only C rated (which I’m surprised at). Hopefully this will improve.
CO2 REDUCING TUMBLE DRYER IS NOW EVEN BIGGER
British manufacturers Crosslee, Europe’s largest independent tumble dryer producers are launching their first ever 7kg capacity gas tumble dryer range. These unique products are a reaction to an increase in consumer demand for larger more powerful machines with low CO2 emissions.
More than 40% of UK households use a tumble dryer and almost 4 million dryers are sold every year. Tumble dryers account for a massive 4.3% of the UKs entire domestic energy consumption (Figures from MTP). This percentage could be significantly reduced if the UK was to convert to gas tumble drying.
The Market Transformation Programme, a government funded organisation reporting on sustainable products, states that gas dryers could significantly help the government reach its CO2 emission reduction targets. These simple facts helped contribute to White Knight gas dryers being backed by the Energy Savings Trust, now sporting the Trust’s Energy Efficiency Recommended logo
White Knight has also teamed up with Carbon Footprint Ltd, the company behind the carbon reducing website Carbonfootprint.co.uk. The website now highlights the massive benefits of the gas dryer by comparing its CO2 emissions and running cost to an electric equivalent in their home appliance energy consumption comparison table.
Andy Stevenson at Carbon Footprint Ltd says, “the new 7kg gas tumble dryer is the silent hero of CO² reduction, an extremely worthwhile product and excellent addition to our website”.
Gas tumble dryer fact sheet (small pdf document).
Should you Buy a Gas Tumble Dryer?
Personally I’m not so sure. The idea is novel, in the sense that they have always been electric. Gas obviously has advantages, and if you look at it from an environmental point of view maybe it’s a more important option for these times.
They are a lot cheaper to run than an electric dryer. But we do now also have heat pump tumble dryers. They also use very little electricity, though unlike a gas dryer, they achieve the savings at greatly increased drying times.
My main concern, apart from the expense and potential impracticality of having a gas tumble dryer installed, is repairs. As far as I can see there are very few appliance engineers that can and would repair a gas tumble dryer. Any engineer would have to be Gas Safe registered. Most appliance engineers aren’t because they don’t repair any gas appliances.
White Knight have confirmed that you even need a Gas Safe registered engineer to connect it up too. It also appears that even White Knight’s own service agents (who repair white Knight appliances, “both in warranty and out of warranty”) do not repair gas tumble dryers once out of their warranty period. See comments below for more details from people who have bought one.
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Hello Mark. Yes I would not be remotely surprised if anyone with a gas tumble dryer found it impossible to find an engineer who could repair it. I have never heard of this Cert Lau1 certificate. So I don’t know if it is something that people can apply for if they want to reassure people that they are competent, or whether it is mandatory.
As far as I am currently aware, if you are a domestic appliance engineer and also gas safe registered, then that is all that is required. I find it hard to imagine that someone would need to be gas safe registered and also to have a separate certificate required.
Any appliance engineer who repairs tumble dryers can repair tumble dryers. But they would need to be gas safe registered to repair a gas tumble dryer. I would have thought that is more than enough. This might be why is not mentioned on White Knight’s website.
But having said that, I wouldn’t be surprised if any engineer who is also gas registered would still not be interested in repairing a gas tumble dryer, simply because it’s just not worth their while. They probably never come across them, and it’s hard to imagine any real benefit from getting involved with a unique product like that.
I have just had a look on the white knight website. I found their service page where they list telephone numbers for their service agents for repairs in and out of guarantee. Bizarrely, at the side of the gas tumble dryers there is a caveat that says, “under guarantee only”. So this appears to indicate that even White Knight repair agents don’t want to repair them once out of guarantee!
I have to admit I have never liked the idea of a gas tumble dryer. I accept that there are clearly benefits, not least the fact that they are cheaper to run. But as they are such a specialist product, and very few other (if any) manufacturers produce them, I honestly cannot see why anyone would buy one.
Hello Mark. I have just added an extra paragraph to my article above at the end. It reflects what we’ve been talking about. I’m still open to new information and I will re-edit my article if necessary.
Thanks once again for your lengthy response.
If you Google lau1 it will explain it’s a course a gas safe engineer can sit at a cost of nearly 400 pounds .
Gas safe cannot and will not touch gas tumble driers.
I was seduced by the fact of it being 70 per cent cheaper than electricity to run.
Thanks Mark. I had a quick look into the certificate before replying. I have to admit I haven’t done a serious research on it but all I could find was someone selling training courses on it. I haven’t been able to find anything official, or anything that states that the certificate is mandatory. However, as I said I have only done several minutes of research at this stage.
So I’m still not sure that the extra certificate is mandatory. But if it is then you are correct in saying that White Knight should definitely be indicating that on their website to potential purchasers. A gas tumble dryer can’t possibly be any more involved or complicated than a central heating boiler. The most complex part of the gas tumble dryer is likely to be the normal parts of tumble dryers that are present in all tumble dryers and operated by electricity.
If an engineer is a domestic appliance engineer, routinely working on tumble dryers, and he is also gas safe registered and able to work on gas appliances I can’t understand why they would not be able to work on a gas tumble dryer. As it also doesn’t mention the certificate on White Knight’s website it would seem to imply that you just need an appliance engineer who is gas safe registered.
But having said all that of course I think we can both agree that even if that is the case it still makes trying to get a gas tumble dryer repaired once out of its guarantee look extremely difficult. Please keep posting any updates. I will do the same if I get a reply from gas safe
Can I just add, that in my experience Gas dryers are inherently more simple than electric ones. They are also far cheaper to run.
The gas part of it is the tiniest of burner from which the convected heat is circulated through the rotating drum and vented.
Really its so simple but in my experience of ownership over the last 30 years, my year old Eco 86a is the third one in that time, they tend to be very reliable indeed no doubt because of the simplicity.
The complexity is now coming from the more sophisticated electronics and they are much more likely to fail than the gas side. I clean mine out with a cinder cleaner each year and take care to keep the fluff filter and vent clean and clear.
My grand parents owned a Gas fridge for half a century without any major problems it was only thrown out after their passing.
I do agree, Crosslee and White Knight do need to change their attitude and improve their service and accessibility but once you have one working, I doubt you will regret it.
I have an update on the installation issue. I’ve had a reply from gas safe. In some ways the regulations seem ridiculous, but essentially they are based in technical fact. They said that the bayonet design connection is specifically designed so that a customer can disconnect it and pull it out to clean behind it. But if the customer replaces the gas appliance with a new one, it must be reconnected using a gas safe engineer.
I immediately challenged this. It seems crazy that a customer is allowed to connect and disconnect potentially a 20 year old gas cooker, but is not deemed competent enough to connect a brand spanking new gas cooker. Surely I said, we have to assume that all brand-new gas cookers are safe by default?
I received the following reply –
The gas regulations are there to protect us all. I reckon over the decades there will have been many serious incidents and fatalities caused by leaking gas. Though it seems that the authorities are quite happy to let us keep a gas appliance and its connecting hose potentially for 30 years or more if it lasts that long without any regular checks. But they want to ensure that brand spanking new appliances are safe. It’s a bit of a contradiction in some ways for me. But at the end of the day you can’t argue with the fact that safety is paramount. It’s a very easy and profitable job for Gas safe engineers though.
Hi
I’ve had a answer from white night.
They say Gas Safe is broken down in many parts. And it’s up too individuals to obtain extra certs if they wish.
With a fee payable of course.
The fact still remains engineers with LAU1 are very hard to find.
White night should be clearer about who can install.
Thanks Mark. I interpret that as that not all Gas Registered engineers have the LAU1 certificate and it’s an extra that they can pursue if inclined? But are White Knight confirming that no one can repair their gas tumble dryers without a LAU1 certificate or not?
Hi
Not sure about repairs yet as cant get mine installed.
White Night need to say can only be installed by an engineer with LAU1.
WOULD SAVE ALOT OF CONFUSION.