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Have solar, should I get an Electric Dryer or stay with Gas?

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  • Have solar, should I get an Electric Dryer or stay with Gas?

    Just want to see how many people out there with solar actually bought an Electric Dryer? I'm in the market to buy a new washer/dryer combo since my wife has been complaining about our old laundry combo how it's too small now for a family of 5 with small kids

    When I did my solar calculation last August I never considered an electric dryer since we always had gas but since we have Solar now I'm swaying into buying an Electric Dryer since I told my family to do the laundry during the day when our solar kicks in and never pass 7pm

    For the people that bought electric dryer, is there a big increase in electric use? Is it worth it or should I just stick with gas ..electric dryer is also cheaper than gas dryer

    For reference, my system is a 5.8KW DC ...so far I've been paying about $4ish in SC Edison Bill, granted I only had 2 payments with Edison since I got solar

  • #2
    stick with Nat gas, you should also be using nat gas for cooking and heating hot water unless you use a thermal collector for hot water.

    Comment


    • #3
      As Logan writes, if you have nat. gas, stay with it.

      Electricity is a high quality, low entropy form of energy. As such it is very versatile. Save electricity for tasks other lower quality forms of energy like fossil fuels cannot do - like powering the screen your reading this from.

      Heating with electrical resistance is like cutting butter with a chain saw. Besides, as a heating source, nat. gas is usually about 1/3 to 12 or so as costly as electric resistance heating.

      Comment


      • #4
        It might be nice to find out the energy used by an electric and a gas clothes dryer for say, a 50 minute run. Then actual direct
        comparisons could be made. I'm expecting another significant KWH surplus this year, so a dryer that could run on either
        would be neat (maybe add electric to my propane dryer). But maybe an electric pre hot water heater would be a lot more
        practical approach. Bruce Roe

        Comment


        • #5
          Maybe, Have you had your solar for over a year ? Do you have a surplus at the end of the year that gets thrown away? If you have surplus, and will loose it, then consider electric dryer, Even low Tier usage is more expensive therms, than gas.
          Powerfab top of pole PV mount (2) | Listeroid 6/1 w/st5 gen head | XW6048 inverter/chgr | Iota 48V/15A charger | Morningstar 60A MPPT | 48V, 800A NiFe Battery (in series)| 15, Evergreen 205w "12V" PV array on pole | Midnight ePanel | Grundfos 10 SO5-9 with 3 wire Franklin Electric motor (1/2hp 240V 1ph ) on a timer for 3 hr noontime run - Runs off PV ||
          || Midnight Classic 200 | 10, Evergreen 200w in a 160VOC array ||
          || VEC1093 12V Charger | Maha C401 aa/aaa Charger | SureSine | Sunsaver MPPT 15A

          solar: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Solar
          gen: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Lister

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          • #6
            The only time I would recommend switching is if you find you have an excess of solar generation. If not, just stick with gas.

            Comment


            • #7
              It is possible to have surplus power. Once our battery-bank is 99% of better, we look are other things to do with electricity.

              Having electric heaters purely as an extra load for after your battery-bank is full, is not uncommon in my town. But you could never do it as a primary source of heat.

              Our home heating is from wood which heats a thermal-bank to radiant floor. We have discussed using immersion heaters in our thermal-bank. Just to put some of our surplus power into home heat. But we need heat in winter, which is not when we have the most surplus power. So the two do not synch.

              We have purchased more chest freezers though. We run 3 chest freezers now. which seems to be ideal on timers from 8am to 4pm.

              We also use some gas. The road in our town is pretty solid and our driveway is solid too, So the LPG tanker truck has no problem to our house to top-off our LPG tanks. Some homes in our town do not have such easy access to gas.

              There are no 'tiers' of power in my state. So that is not a consideration here.

              I think your best option is to wait a year, and see how you feel then.














              4400w, Midnite Classic 150 charge-controller.

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by organic farmer View Post

                We also use some gas. The road in our town is pretty solid and our driveway is solid too, So the LPG tanker truck has no problem to our house to top-off our LPG tanks. Some homes in our town do not have such easy access to gas.

                Most of the time when somebody asks about the relative cost of gas versus electricity for heating we answer assuming that they mean piped natural gas.
                That is very inexpensive per therm for heating compared to most other sources.
                If instead they are talking about propane, LPG, the numbers are very different.
                In my area of CA ,resistance type electric heat is comparable to propane in cost per therm.
                And electrically driven heat pumps, where applicable, are comparable in cost to natural gas while also providing for A/C.
                SunnyBoy 3000 US, 18 BP Solar 175B panels.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Originally posted by doboy01 View Post
                  family to do the laundry during the day when our solar kicks in and never pass 7pm
                  If you have Net Metering, it doesn't matter if you use the dryer during the day or night. But, if you have Time of Use (TOU) billing like me, you might save money by doing the laundry at night, when the power is cheaper, and sending the excess solar power to the POCO during the day, when it is worth more.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    I switched from electric dyer to natural gas just before going solar. Natural gas means I can dry any time of day without any TOU plans to worry about. Excess solar capacity in the winter is consumed by oil-filled space heater in the bedroom at night. The gas furnace runs less overnight when the bedroom is all I want warmed a little.
                    Dave W. Gilbert AZ
                    6.63kW grid-tie owner

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Originally posted by inetdog View Post
                      Most of the time when somebody asks about the relative cost of gas versus electricity for heating we answer assuming that they mean piped natural gas.
                      That is very inexpensive per therm for heating compared to most other sources.
                      If instead they are talking about propane, LPG, the numbers are very different.
                      In my area of CA ,resistance type electric heat is comparable to propane in cost per therm.
                      And electrically driven heat pumps, where applicable, are comparable in cost to natural gas while also providing for A/C.
                      Among our four previous homes only one had access to piped gas. I am surprised that piped gas would now be assumed.

                      I had thought that electric heat was always the most expensive too.

                      Thanks
                      4400w, Midnite Classic 150 charge-controller.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Originally posted by sdold View Post
                        If you have Net Metering, it doesn't matter if you use the dryer during the day or night. But, if you have Time of Use (TOU) billing like me, you might save money by doing the laundry at night, when the power is cheaper, and sending the excess solar power to the POCO during the day, when it is worth more.
                        I have Net Metering with Edison, I typically told my family to use most of the electricity during the day ...looking at this it looks like Nat Gas dryer is better than going to electric dryer

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Originally posted by doboy01 View Post

                          I have Net Metering with Edison, I typically told my family to use most of the electricity during the day ...looking at this it looks like Nat Gas dryer is better than going to electric dryer
                          Using electricity during the day does not change anything if you have Net Metering, unless you also happen to have Time Of Use (TOU) rate differences. And if you do, then using electricity during off-peak rate periods is the better advice than using during the day.
                          Buy low, sell high still applies.

                          If instead of Net Metering you get paid wholesale rates for surplus and pay retail rates for consumption, then by all means use while the PV is producing.
                          SunnyBoy 3000 US, 18 BP Solar 175B panels.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Originally posted by organic farmer View Post

                            Among our four previous homes only one had access to piped gas. I am surprised that piped gas would now be assumed.

                            I had thought that electric heat was always the most expensive too.

                            Thanks

                            In my area Nat gas is only available in the cities. But when people ask about gas, they usually mean Nat gas. Otherwise, they usually refer to propane.
                            The cost for each will vary with location, due to electric rates, but around here, electric and propane heat are usually pretty close. Propane used to be cheaper, and was popular in the 90's and early 2000s. When gas prices went through the roof, so did propane, and propane hasn't really come back down.

                            Comment


                            • bcroe
                              bcroe commented
                              Editing a comment
                              In NW ILL propane prices have run $1 a gallon in summer, to $5.25 in Feb, equals 27 KWH resistance
                              heating. Don't buy propane in winter. Bruce Roe

                            • emartin00
                              emartin00 commented
                              Editing a comment
                              Well when you're stuck with propane heat, you don't really have a choice.

                            • inetdog
                              inetdog commented
                              Editing a comment
                              But you can buy or lease a really big tank and only fill it during summer or fall.

                          • #15
                            I would change over to a high speed front loading washer. When we did at our house, the amount of time (and energy) it took to dry clothes dropped by about 75%. A high speed front load washer spins so fast that there is almost no water left in the clothes at the end of the cycle. Laundry that used to take 1+ hour to dry, can now be dried in about 15-20 minutes.

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