Don't Make These Mistakes When Buying a New Dryer

When my wife and I bought our first house, the feature we were most excited about was the laundry. The machines in the house were ancient, but after years of schlepping to the laundromat every week, the most luxurious thing we could think of was the prospect of at-home, on-demand laundry.

Naturally, the washer and dryer conked out about a week after we moved in. I hopped onto the Internet to buy replacements, feeling like a real adult...a real adult incapable of buying the right dryer, apparently.
This I learned a few days later, when my shiny new laundry machines arrived and were wrestled into place by humorless installers, who promptly discovered I'd bought the wrong thing. Turns out there's more to know about your home's laundry facilities than making sure your machines fit in the space provided. Here's what you need to know to avoid my fate (namely, offering the delivery guys an additional tip to lug the thing back to the truck).

Gas versus electric dryers

When I started looking for replacement laundry machines, the first question I had to answer was whether I wanted a gas dryer or an electric dryer. This was new information for me, and I previously had no idea that gas dryers existed. I used logic to solve the problem: Our new house had gas heat and a gas stove. We were a Gas House. So I bought a gas dryer. Which was, it turned out, the exact wrong kind of dryer to buy.

What can be a bit confusing is the fact that gas dryers, which use either natural gas or propane in their heating element, also get plugged into the wall to power everything else. The easiest way to figure out what kind of dryer you need is to look at the back of the one you already own. There will be a pretty obvious gas line and valve back there if you need a gas unit, so you should buy accordingly, unless you've also budgeted to refit your existing facilities.

Voltage

If you need an electric dryer, the next piece of information you'll need is the voltage. Gas dryers almost always need a standard 120-volt plug, which uses a standard appliance plug--the three-pronged kind you'll find on most of your appliances.

Most electric dryers use 240-volt hookups, however, which have a larger plug with three or four prongs, usually at an angle.

However, some compact electric dryers only need 120-volt hookups, so you can't just assume you need a 240-volt model. If you're uncertain, your best bet is once again to pull the old machine away from the wall and take a look at the plug, If your electrical panel is well-marked, you can also take a look to see if there's a double breaker installed for your dryer, which would indicated 240-volt service.

One last complication if you need a 240-volt dryer is the type of cord. Three-pronged 240-volt plugs were officially replaced with four-pronged plugs a few years ago, but there's no requirement that people change out existing plugs, so appliance manufacturers can't be sure what kind of plug you have in your house. As a result they often don't even include a cord with their dryer anymore--you'll need to purchase one separately and wire it in, or have an installer do so.

Vented or unvented

A relatively new wrinkle in the home dryer game is venting. Traditionally, all dryers were vented to pump the hot, lint-filled air out of the house as your clothes dried. More recently, however, ventless dryers (sometimes called heat pump dryers) have invaded the market.

If you're choosing a vented dryer, make sure your home has, you know, a vent. If you're setting up laundry in a new spot, or if your house didn't have laundry facilities before and you're installing a new laundry room, you might not have a vent. In that case, you'll need to install one, or choose a ventless dryer. These dryers offer their own benefits and drawbacks when compared to the traditional kind, but there's no question they can be easier to install--provided you've got the right kind of outlet. But whatever you do, don't buy a vented dryer if you don't have a vent and don't plan to install one, as venting a bunch of dryer exhaust into your home is a really bad idea.