Gas dryers vs. electric dryers

     Our laundry room has three dryer hookups…electric for both 120 and 240 volts as well as gas. Most people won’t have all those options, but what is the best, gas or electric? Does it make much difference? 
     Both gas and electric dryers use heat, air, and tumbling to dry clothes. Obviously, electric dryers use a heating element, gas dryers use a gas burner. In the former, an electric current travels through the heating coil, building up electrons and heating up the metal and in turn, the air. The heated air is then sent into the drum via a blower or fan. Using natural gas or propane, gas dryers use an ignitor to burn the gas and a blower or fan draws the hot air into the drum. 
     Both dryers get vented to the outside because they expel moist, lint-filled air. Failure to vent to the outside would result in a mildew-filled laundry room as well as lots of tiny fluff particles filling the air and eventually settling on everything. In addition, the vent on a gas dryer exhausts out the products of combustion, which you also don’t want to inhale. 
     There are ventless electric dryers that are sometimes found in apartments. There are two main types: condenser and heat pump. These dryers are more efficient energy-wise (the heat pump is the most efficient), but their cycles take longer than vented driers. 
     With a condenser dryer the air is heated by a condenser and then travels to the drum and starts evaporating the water from the wet clothes. Air returns to the condenser for a cool down and while the moisture condenses, the air gets reheated and returns to the drum to start the cycle over again. Either a drain to divert the condensed water is required or it will collect in a tray that needs to be emptied after each use. 
     Heat pumps use a refrigerator-like compressor technology, recirculate air, and remove moisture from the clothes and air. They uses lower temperatures than conventional dryers, and are therefore gentler on clothes. 
     Gas dryers cost more...around $50 to $100, not to mention the installation cost if a gas line has to be run. Gas dryers are more energy-efficient in the long run, though that may depend on rates in the area. 
     Front-load washers spin three times as fast as they did in the early ’80s, meaning clothes aren’t as wet going into the dryer. There are now Energy Star-certified dryers, in both electric and gas versions, and these dryers use 20 percent less energy than standard models. They use moisture sensors to stop the dryer when clothes are dry instead of running the entire cycle and lower heat settings that increase dry times but use less power. This can reduce energy costs and you could save about $245 over the entire life of the dryer. Therefore, depending on how much you spend, the savings may not be enough to recuperate the extra money. 
     Guess what? Manufacturers tend to keep the features the same for the electric and gas versions of the same dryer. That means whether if you have gas or electricity, most experts will tell you to stay with what you have because there just isn’t that much difference between the two.