MajicDiver
Solar Enthusiast
I and I’m sure a good number of others run dryers on solar, just do it when suns out, don’t use battery power. We run our dryer - draws about 4.2kW - during the day
Powering high loads like dryer
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MajicDiver
Solar Enthusiast
Me too, but if you already have a traditional dryer, you can more cheaply buy a whole lot of panels to over panel the inverter(s) with so you can run the traditional dryer and other stuff when sun is poor or short in winter. When current dryer dies will consider heat pump version.
Like mini splits, heat pump dryers will likely get cheaper
Quattrohead
Solar Wizard
They are along with HPWH.
OzSolar
Whatever you did, that's what you planned.
A friend got one. It was 120v and didn't have a vent like a traditional dryer. It drained the water it was taking out of the clothes into the same drain the washing machine used. Very cool!
It had a few problems that required a technician to come out under warranty then and then it died just outside of the warranty period. They went back with a regular dryer. That was a year ago so hopefully they are better now.
I recently replaced my 18 year old 50g electric water heater with the same. It was still working but I wanted to changed in on my schedule, not when it chose to fail at the most inconvenient time. I struggled with the HP water heater decision but the actual reviews, like after one year, are still very discouraging.
If you've got the space I think it will be cheaper in the long run to install more solar panels than try to rely on heat pump dryers and water heaters. That statement tends to be true across the board for the most efficient of anything.
Great point. Probably 7 or so years ago, in a previous house, we installed a HPWH in our house. Worked great. Then we had a freak electrical surge the day before Thanksgiving that fried its board. I ran to a big box store, picked up a cheap "regular" WH to get us through the holiday, installed it, and all was well. I can't remember the details now, but there was some hassle with getting the HPWH repaired. We eventually moved it to another building, where it sat until we sold that property and junked it. So, you make an excellent point about replacing things on one's own schedule.
The boss is opposed to propane out of safety concerns. So, I make compromises. If it were up to me, I'd probably install mini-splits for April-September/October, and a propane/wood-fired system to do domestic HW and heat during winter. I might then put in a HP dryer, but put in an "old-fashioned", second-hand washer and dryer out in the barn. That would allow me to wash grease-covered stuff that draws a skeptical look (rightly so), dog stuff that clogs up the "fancy" washer, and serve as a backup if the HP dryer ever goes down. Hmmm.... You might have helped me think through a solution!
MajicDiver
Solar Enthusiast
An event like that is what drove me to take our house off grid permanently instead of staying grid tied. Lost boards on dishwasher and clothes washer in same event - was able to buy replacement boards and replace myself. One neighbor lost an oven and something else, another lost a dishwasher- many people in general area lost stuff. Of course the power company does not pay for such stuff. What happened (as best we can gather from what little the company will admit) was a high voltage line fell on a lower voltage line during high wind and the automatic system that attempts to isolate a fault and restore power reclosed breakers on the high voltage line multiple times causing surges in the feeder to our little area.
At that time I had my small system gridtied, I bought a auto transformer, another inverter to run ac coupled and more panels and went off grid partly so that would never happen again. Also installed surge suppressors at my main panel, but we don’t get lightning strikes here, nearby hills seem to pull that stuff away, and cause solar shading in winter.
OzSolar
Whatever you did, that's what you planned.
"With age comes wisdom" Well, speaking only about me, sometimes at least. Ironically I almost put "when it goes out on Christmas eve". LOL
SupraSPL
Solar Enthusiast
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Are you sure your dryer is on a double 15 breaker and what is the dryer model? My Samsung 7 Cu ft dryer is labeled 5600 watts which i though was standard. I rewired mine for 120V so it is much more inverter friendly and draws 1500 Watts from the batteries. Takes longer to dry of course but it gets the job done.
If you have a side load washer with high rpm spin saves a lot of energy, poly and wool clothes come out of the washer nearly dry its the cotton clothes that need some time in the dryer.
In winter the air is so dry I usually just hang the large clothes on a rack near the ceiling fan and let cotton clothes dry thoroughly. If SO complains the towels or shirts are stiff I tumble them with no heat for a few minutes. When I do use the dryer in winter I vent the warm humid air indoors through a filter.
Hanging clothes may be a little extra work but these tactics will help get us by in grid down or winter off grid situation.
Or you can just use a large split phase inverter and large 48v battery system as mentioned. The heat pump washer dryer combo is a great idea but 300lbs, $2000+ and the complexity may reduce relaibility.
If you have a side load washer with high rpm spin saves a lot of energy, poly and wool clothes come out of the washer nearly dry its the cotton clothes that need some time in the dryer.
In winter the air is so dry I usually just hang the large clothes on a rack near the ceiling fan and let cotton clothes dry thoroughly. If SO complains the towels or shirts are stiff I tumble them with no heat for a few minutes. When I do use the dryer in winter I vent the warm humid air indoors through a filter.
Hanging clothes may be a little extra work but these tactics will help get us by in grid down or winter off grid situation.
Or you can just use a large split phase inverter and large 48v battery system as mentioned. The heat pump washer dryer combo is a great idea but 300lbs, $2000+ and the complexity may reduce relaibility.
Ampster
Renewable Energy Hobbyist
Someone may also have pointed out the it is considered a 15 Amp breaker because both legs are hot. That is also the reason a 240 volt breaker is ganged together. If only one leg were to trip there could still be a potential for shocking someone on the untripped hot leg.
Ampster
Renewable Energy Hobbyist
I have been using heat pump water heaters for ten years. In heat pump mode the use one third the power. I tried to find a heat pump dryer six years ago but they were expensive and not easy to find. They are more available now.
MajicDiver
Solar Enthusiast
I’m curious why you use the word “heaters”? Have you had any failures?
ksmithaz1
Solar / EV Junkie
Spooky! I've been involved with THREE Holiday HWH failures, they all happened on Thanksgiving. . . I helped my brother swap his the day before, I had one die the day after, and I helped my dad when his died the day after. In every case the whole fam damily was there.
That being said, I'd rather just have a bigger solar plant. IMNSHO, hot water heaters and clothes dryers are tough on demand, but in the grand scheme don't really use that much power, because you don't really run them all that much. Trying to tweak lower your power envelope kinda makes sense if your paying someone else, but once you CAPEX your solar plant to meet demand, I can't see the ROI of a more complex device. I flipped to the grid yesterday after a couple loads of laundry, the sun is refusing to shine, but I would have flipped even if the boss had not done three loads of clothes, so we are talking spending thousands for a couple of hours of power. OTOH, if it was critically important, I could have dumped the same money in a generator, and/or more batteries, and not flipped at all by simply deferring laundry, until solar production was better. My goal is to get my system up to the point where I don't have to deal with hyper-management of my power consumption.
At some point a HPHWH or HPDryer might be worth it, but the price needs to be 50% more not 5X more. Same argument with mini-splits. I have a fully ducted system with a 4T on the roof. I could spend $15K+ ripping all that out and putting in splits, but that would be dumb. If I was building new, I'm still not sure, there is a reason we starting putting central air in houses, and it was not because of efficiency. Instead, I would probably over-insulate, and get the most efficient standard split I could find.
Ampster
Renewable Energy Hobbyist
I have moved three times in the past ten years after installing HPWHs in those homes. I also put one in at my nephews home. I only had one failure of a GE Geospring after about six years. The last three were Rheems and have been great. GE got out of the heat pump business and their failure rate may have been the reason.
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Ampster
Renewable Energy Hobbyist
Yes, I would like the price to be lower but the payback also depends on how high your rates are. If you have solar the efficiency of moving heat may save you future capital expense so one needs to look at all costs. There is no doubt that moving heat with a heat pump can use one third the energy that resitive heat takes to create the same number of thermal units.
In my case, we're strongly considering NO grid. We live in Maine, where sun is plentiful in summer but not so much in winter. So, you can spend all the capital you want but still have little sun for several days in a row. In those cases, avoiding a power-hungry dryer or WH can allow for far fewer batteries, which is the big cost these days. The more I think about it, the more I like propane for these needs, but the boss is against it out of safety concerns. Compromises...
k490
Solar Enthusiast
I have had a 65-gallon Rheem heat pump water heater now for about 5 years. It had a few issues sometimes it throws dry element alarms if I shut down the power to it. The water is city water there is no issue with pressure or the tank being dry. It won't turn on until that alarm clears not sure why it does that. Next time I shut the power off I'll try doing a soft shutdown I think there is a way to do that. That's the drawback of having a computer-controlled water heater. It's supposed to have a 10-year warranty, but I'm sure the installer will figure out a way to get out of that I didn't pay anything for it got it through a pilot program my Utility offered. I figure if it breaks down just go back to an old direct element style tank.
The phone software is not great all cloud based you can't control it through a website has to be their phone app. All you can do with it is program a schedule, and look at the amount of KWH it's using. I have read some comments on Reddit that the KWH numbers on that phone app are not accurate. It would be nice to see the tank temperatures for that I have to go into the garage and read it off the screen. Odd that they put tank and sensors output on the control screen, but you can't program a schedule on that control screen. It requires an internet connection if you want to program a schedule. I suppose they are collecting some use information and selling it to someone.
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Propane is a great option for heating in cold areas, BUT it is a very dangerous fuel in several ways.
If you have it, it is NECESSARY to have seasonal service performed.
The slightest lint in the unit and you have a raging failure dumping heavy explosive gas into the surrounding area looking for a spark.
When clean and well serviced, they are fantastic heating sources.
hwy17
Anti-Solar Enthusiast
That's a bit dramatic, the flame sensor is going to cut off the gas flow if it gets extinguished.
Incorrect...
The flame sensor will cut off if the flame isnt burning around the sensor.
However, the high soot content of propane when perfect can allow one or more burners to extinguish, with the burner or pilot near the sensor to still show flame...
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