Review of Fisher and Paykel Vented Dryer DE7060M1
I wrote this review of Fisher and Paykel 7kg Vented Clothes Dryer (Model DE7060M1) after using it for about 7 months. I bought it on Shopee at S$525 (after a S$10 credit card discount) and received the product on 28 Jul 2020.
Back when we were getting appliances for our new flat in 2017, we were against getting a dryer. Wrote the reasons, along with the considerations to buy a washing machine in this article, “Buying a Washing Machine in Singapore“. You can also read my review on LG1410SPRE, our final choice of washer, before any purchase.
Types of Dryer
There are three main types of clothes tumble dryer – vented, heat pump, and condenser. Heat pump allows for significant energy savings. However, like other energy efficient appliances, they have high upfront cost. That is out of our budget, and so we settled for a vented dryer.
Since we have an existing washer, we bought a standalone instead of a Washer & Dryer combo. In any case, the latter does not seem to be highly recommended because of its questionable efficiency and life span, unless you want to save space.
Operating our Vented Dryer
The buttons are easy to navigate, simply go from left to right.
- Power on.
- Press your desired function.
- Press the start button. Forgot to add in some wet laundry? Press pause and throw in.
Of course, you can select the dryness level and drying temperature. However, the pre-set functions work for us. We select “Everyday” for a mix of adults and children’s clothes, and “Delicate” when it’s only the children’s clothings.
Be sure to read the clothes labels before you throw them in the dryer. Certain clothes will shrink, like 100% cotton. Also, bamboo material is not recommended for clothes dryer.
So far the clothes are dried relatively well in this Fisher and Paykel dryer. However, if the load is too full, some big pieces like bedsheets might still have damp patches. Hence you need to have a quick feel of each piece when you take out, especially the larger pieces. This is to make sure they are fully dried. If not, you either can hang dry or throw into the dryer with another shorter cycle.
The best is to fill the dryer tub with clothes until it’s half or three-quarters full. Three-quarters full is usually about the total of our usual adult’s and children’s loads. Weirdly, this 7kg dryer can fit much more than our 10kg washer tub.
Downside of this dryer is that the drying time can be long, about two to three hours. So be sure to factor in when you put the clothes in. Also, I would suggest you to fling your clothes before putting in and after taking out from the dryer. This is to reduce crumpling of the clothes.
Tips for Operating the Dryer
Don’t cover the vent at the bottom. Once, the wind blew our machine cover and covered this part without us knowing. Our clothes were still damp after the drying cycle, worse, there’s a musty smell stuck to the clothes.
Remove the lint from the dryer after each drying cycle. Doing this will increase your dryer efficiency. This means lowering your electricity bills, while drying your clothes faster. Also, this good practice also increases your dryer’s life span and reduces its possibility as a fire hazard.
There will be more lint if you washed laundry such as towels. Speaking of which, I like our towels becoming hot and fluffy after drying. I heard that dryers are also better at disinfecting clothes than simple washing in washer.
Conclusion
Overall, we are quite pleased with this workhorse. It significantly cut down my time to hang and keep the clothes. With another new baby last year, I got busier and the laundry load increased. Thus whatever “free” time I got was devoted to doing laundry, I seemed to be doing laundry all the time! So this dryer is a good helper.
In fact, we were thankful we had this dryer during the wet season in November and December. I didn’t need to spend time and energy fretting over the lack of space to hang and the lack of clothes for our family of four.
But I must say, this extra help and convenience comes at a price, via the sharp increase in electricity bills. For the sake of sanity and rest, this is a good trade off I guess. If the bills get too high, I can simply step up to hang dry the clothes once in a while. 🙂
Its “musty smell”, not “musky smell”. Musky means a specific kind of smell you would get from organic glands of certain animals.
Thanks for pointing out the error, edited! It would have been weird with a musky smell, not sure why I didn’t notice it earlier. Thank you again!
Is the vent in front or behind?
It’s in the front 🙂