The slowest and fastest clothes dryers

Speed isn’t the only factor of course – there are pros and cons for different types of clothes dryers.

Heat pump clothes dryers are the most energy efficient type, and they're usually cheap to run. The trade-off is they cost more than vented clothes dryers, and they're often slower. But that's not always the case.

We’ve found 5 heat pump clothes dryers that'll dry a 3.5kg load of washing in under 2 hours and 3 to avoid if you don’t want to wait around half the day. They’re all large dryers with 8kg–10kg load capacity.

Our clothes dryer test is based on an Australian / New Zealand Standard. We use a standard 3.5kg load (dry weight) of cotton bed sheets, small towels and pillowcases at a 90% moisture level.

The slowest heat pump clothes dryers

1. As slow as a sloth - Bosch WQG24200AU

Price: $1,734
Overall score: 49

Don't buy this Bosch 9kg (capacity) heat pump clothes dryer. It works at a snail’s pace. It took nearly 4 hours to dry a 3.5kg load of washing. It’s the slowest in our test, taking twice as long as the fastest models.

At 54¢ per load, this Bosch clothes dryer is also the most expensive to run of all the heat pump dryers we’ve tested – about twice as much as the best models.

In addition, this sloth-like Bosch doesn't have reverse tumbling, which means your washing can tangle into a damp lump.

2. Just crawling - Beko BDPB904HW

Price: $1,598
Overall score: 54

Another slowcoach is this Beko 9kg clothes dryer. It took about 3.5 hours to dry our test load.

At least this heat pump dryer has reverse tumbling, so your washing will be fully dry when the cycle ends.

But at 50¢ per load, this Beko model is one of the more expensive heat pump dryers to run.

3. Plodding along - Bosch WTH83001AU

Price: $1,519
Overall score: 54

This Bosch 8kg heat pump dryer is in the slow lane, too. It isn’t much quicker than the Beko clothes dryer above, taking nearly 3.5 hours to dry our test load. And it lacks reverse tumbling.

Plus, at 53¢ per load, this Bosch clothes dryer is one of the most costly to run of all the heat pump dryers we’ve tested.

Continue reading for the 5 fastest heat pump clothes dryers we’ve tested. They’re energy efficient, cheap to run and have our Consumer Recommended tick.