Source: http://www.amerigas.com/consumer_appliances.html

- The cost of drying a typical load of laundry in an electric dryer is 30 to 40 cents compared to 15 to 20 cents in a gas dryer

- Most gas dryers use only 110 electric current to run the drum to circulate the clothes, rather than the 220 electric
current that electric clothes dryers use

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The U.S. Department of Energy states it costs half as much to run a gas/propane dryer than electric.

I'd put in a call your electric and propane companies and see if they have any up-to-date information or statistics.

The front page of our newspaper said we're going to get a price hike (electricity). Glad I rarely use the dryer - the lines in the basement and the one outside are pretty cost effective.

-Grainlady

Wow. Cynic thanks for all the GREAT information. Makes me lean more towards electric. I overestimated the current electricity costs (closer to 6-7c/kwh) to account for changes in season and usage and the current cost of propane in my area is 2.96/g. Lots to chew on here.

I imagine that with the new, high efficiently washers that spin out more water, the cost-of-use difference between gas/propane/electric dryers are less significant now than they were in the past.

If your washer is an older traditional Top Load model, and you use propane to heat your water, switching to a HE FL washer which uses much less hot water, and removes more moisture, may be a possible cost saver in the long run. You will use less propane to heat water, and less to dry the clothes since they will need less time in the dryer.

Just thought I would throw that out there.

Joe

We use a HE FL washer and it does spin our clothes pretty dry. Not dry enough to wear, but pretty dry!

Well i think the calc's look good for you, but out where i'm at in calif, i'm on pg&e and 11 cents is the baseline, and it goes up from there on a tiered arrangement.. peak use 300% is .52 cents per kWh in the summer. that said and looking at your electric baseline then you can account for your cost. i know there are areas that have straight price per kWh.. (sounds like you do) nice, but i'm on a tiered setting.. so although i did wire for 220 and propane i'm using propane right now.

I'm have a family of four and we seem to wash at least once a day, and i use 1 gallon of propane per day on the dryer, cooktop and water heater, so that's about 30 gals per month, propane out here is in the 3.25 range last i checked.

One more thing to note is that propane, and natural gas, both contain a certain percentage of moisture... Therefore although they are used to dry your clothes, they are also injecting moisture at the same time resulting in a longer dry time. You can see this moisture in highly efficient furnaces which have to drain off the moisture to a discharge line.

I disagree that gas dryers are slower than electric.

It has been my understanding that the gas and propane burners in a dryer have the potential to generate more heat than the heating element in a dryer. Comparing the gas and electric dryers I have used, it seems gas dryers heat up to the set temperature more quickly and dry a little faster. I have also read that they are gentler on the clothing, for the very reason that there is moisture in the air.

If I have a load that has been sitting in the dryer and I run the touch up cycle on my gas dryer, I see the moisture condense on the window at the very beginning, but then it quickly dissipates, and the wrinkles are reduced in a few minutes. When I use an electric dryer, I usually have to add some moisture, like a wet washcloth or mist the clothing for the wrinkles to come out.

Joe

About "Cynic" calculations. it appears that in 2014 his price per kWh of electricity is outdated. I just moved to Mid Hudson Valley in NY. The total (all the categories and fees in the bill added) price per kWh of electricity for the last quarter fluctuated from $.17 to $.24/kWh. While price per gallon of propane I just obtained a quote for is $3.36 (based on consumption for cooking and water heating).

So, using calculation of "Cynic", par. 5, average ($.20/kWh) cost of 26.729 kWh would be $5.35 vs. $3.36 per gallon of propane, to produce the same amount of heat. Per information in the attached link, let's say you consume 1 gal of propane per week in your dryer. Your saving per year would be at least $100.

I think all are right to a point. It would be a very challenging justification to add gas lines or high voltage electric lines and justify a cost savings if both were not already in place.

The only real truth is that blanket statements don't apply to everyone because of substantial variations in utility cost across the country, differences in water temperature, and differences in the spin capability of different washers mated to the dryers.

At one time I did a calculation of the change in entropy at about 42% efficient for the change in state of liquid water at 60F to evaporated at 120F. I doubt it has changed much through the years. Electric dryers are indeed a bit more efficient and can in fact dry a bit faster because they produce a dry heat. As others have stated, one of the byproducts of combustion is the creation of water, and that water passes through the load on its way out the vent.

Where I live, upper Midwest, electricity is relatively cheap, but natural gas is even cheaper, and natural gas has crashed 40% in most areas over the last 2-3 years due to gluts of gas availability. For the average homeowner in our area, natural gas is still the best option. But, this is for natural gas, LP is potentially a different story because of higher average costs. Some recent winters have had shortages in LP, which caused sudden, violent spikes in price. Meanwhile electricity cost, while still cheap, is rising quickly with some significant rate hikes on the horizon.

And yes, a gas dryer uses electricity to turn the basket, but those are typically equipped with 1/4 hp motors or at most 1/3 hp, which draw about 200-300 watts of electricity, so only about 5-10% of BTU equivalent of a gas dryer running. For those not living watts and horsepower as parts of their career, about 746 watts = 1 hp, and induction motors are anywhere form 50-80% efficient in converting electrical energy into mechanical energy, the rest lost as heat. For comparison sake, I think most small electric dryers use 4800-5400 watt heating elements, so 300 watts to turn the drum and run the controls is next to nothing compared to the elements.

Laundryvet

Cynic!!! I think im in LOVE :-)

Love a SMART man <3

...except that propane puts out twice as much heat than natural gas, not sure how you can start out with such a big mistake!

LP Dryers are not 100% efficient in conversion of stored energy to heat energy. Most are 80-90% efficient.

I would not purchase a true electric dryer anymore. They are terribly inefficient. Heat pump dryers are the modern electric dryer. They use about 1/4 of the electricity of an electric resistant dryer (essentially an electric oven with a fan).

We bought a Miele Heat pump dryer (TWI-180). It replaced an older Miele electric resistance dryer. Over the design life of the dryer it will pay for itself solely in electricity savings. It runs on a standard 110V outlet. We already had the 220V, but don’t need it anymore.

LP must be terribly expensive outside the Midwest. My last fill from the co-op was 1.19/gallon this last May 2020.

Natural Gas also has more embodied energy per unit of sale (therm) than a gallon of LP.

1 Gallon LP=91,502 BTU

1 Therm Natural Gas=99,976 BTU

1 KW Electricity=3413 BTU

Neither natural gas no LP are 100% efficient. Electric for your purposes (money) is close to 100% efficient. We are ignoring the losses in getting power from the generation plant to the customer.

Electric dryers are “safer” than gas since they don’t use an active flame. They can still start fires if the vent pipe is littered with lint or the coils short and get too hot. Heat pumps run at lower temps and it is almost impossible for them to over heat. They work like a refrigerator in reverse.

Electric rates vary wildly all over the country. To really compare you need to look at your average electric bill and divide by kilowatts used. Many electric companies hide fees outside of the actual electric rate. Some use tiered pricing (cheaper at night, etc.).

Do some simple math and see which comes out cheaper. I can almost guarantee you the heat pump dryer is going to be cheaper than all of them. There is also the bonus that a heat pump dryer does not exhaust any air outside the house. No conditioned air from inside the house that has to be replaced by cooled or heated air.

Just saying per cubic foot, Propane is more energy than Natural gas, the above post was a little misleading. I have solar, but will still be going gas (natural in my area) since any kWh not earned is a kWh lost (stores don’t seem to grasp that concept!), and I’ll have the option of a more off-grid friendly option if we move somewhere more remote. Gas is expensive here in California, but still far cheaper than electric, especially on peak hours as some of the others have mentioned!

Not misleading when the OP was trying to figure out costs. Natural Gas is sold by the therm and it has more BTUs than a gallon of LP. Most people don’t care about the energy density, only what it costs them to run their appliance.

Simply pointing out that "Also, propane provides less heating BTUs than natural gas and this confuses people too." is fundamentally incorrect, and becomes somewhat more relevant, say, if you were to try to run your natural gas dryer on propane and end up burning your house down. The unit of sale is entirely arbitrary.

Propane has more BTU per volume than Natural Gas.

1 cubic foot Natural Gas= 1000 BTU

1 cubic foot of Propane= 2520 BTU