Air Dry vs Dryer Cost Calculator

What one load costs to dry

A dryer is one of the biggest energy users in a typical home, because it pulls a lot of power for a long time. An electric dryer draws roughly 4,000 to 5,000 watts while it runs, and a load takes 45 to 60 minutes. Multiply the two and a single load is about 3 to 5 kilowatt-hours. At a US average of about 17 cents per kilowatt-hour, that works out to roughly 50 to 85 cents a load.

The number is easy to work out and hard to guess, which is why the calculator above takes your own figures. Find the wattage on the label inside the dryer door or on the back of the machine. If it lists only amps and volts, watts equals amps times volts. Then enter what you pay per kilowatt-hour, which is printed on your electricity bill, along with the number of loads your household runs in a week.

Air drying is not free in the strictest sense, but it is close. A line or a rack uses no electricity at all. A fan to move the air adds a couple of cents. That gap is the whole comparison, and it runs in favor of air drying by a wide margin almost everywhere in the country.

Worked example: 5 loads a week

Take a household with a 5,000-watt electric dryer, a 45-minute load, 5 loads a week and electricity at 17 cents per kilowatt-hour.

• Energy per load: 5,000 divided by 1,000, times 0.75 hours = 3.75 kilowatt-hours
• Cost per load: 3.75 x $0.17 = $0.64
• Loads per year: 5 x 52 = 260 loads
• Cost per year: 260 x $0.64 = $166

Hang everything on a line instead and the energy cost drops to nothing. Dry indoors with a 40-watt fan running 3 hours per load and the fan adds 0.12 kilowatt-hours, about 2 cents. Over a year that is $5 instead of $166, a saving near $161.

Put that $161 next to a $30 drying rack and the rack pays for itself in about 2.2 months. Everything after that is money you keep.

Worked example: a family doing 8 loads a week

A family of five runs 8 loads a week, and the dryer is an older 4,000-watt model that takes a full hour.

• Energy per load: 4.0 kilowatts x 1 hour = 4.0 kilowatt-hours
• Cost per load: 4.0 x $0.17 = $0.68
• Loads per year: 8 x 52 = 416 loads
• Cost per year: 416 x $0.68 = $283

Add the carbon for context. At the US grid average of about 0.85 pounds of CO2 per kilowatt-hour, 4.0 kilowatt-hours a load is 3.4 pounds, and 416 loads is about 1,414 pounds a year, roughly 0.7 of a ton.

Not every load can go on a line. Towels and jeans take two days indoors in a humid climate, and nobody wants to wait that long. A common compromise is to line dry everything except towels and bedding, which cuts the dryer to 2 loads a week and the annual cost to about $71.

Drying methods compared

All of these use electricity at 17 cents per kilowatt-hour, which is close to the US residential average.

The heat pump dryer is the interesting row. It uses a sealed refrigeration loop to pull moisture out of the air instead of venting hot, damp air outside, so it does the same job on roughly a third of the electricity. It costs more up front, which is why the saving shows up over years rather than months.

What air drying costs to set up

Air drying has almost no running cost, but it is not free to set up.

• A folding indoor rack: $25 to $45
• An outdoor rotary line with a pole: $40 to $90
• Clothespins and a line: $10 to $20
• A retractable line for a small balcony: $20 to $35

Against a dryer bill of $166 to $283 a year, any of those pays back inside the first season. The cost people forget is time. Hanging a load takes about 5 minutes, and taking it down and folding takes another 3, so 8 loads a week is around an hour of extra work.

Indoors, the hidden cost is humidity. Wet laundry puts water into the air, and in a tight apartment that moisture has to go somewhere. A dehumidifier solves it and draws 300 to 700 watts, which can cost more than the dryer for the hours it runs. A cracked window and a fan usually beat the dehumidifier on cost, when the weather allows it.

How long clothes take to air dry

Drying time depends on the fabric, the airflow and the humidity far more than on the temperature.

• Outdoors in sun and breeze: 2 to 4 hours for shirts and light fabrics, 4 to 8 hours for towels, jeans and heavy cotton.
• Outdoors in humid or still weather: double those times, and towels may not dry before evening.
• Indoors with a fan: 6 to 12 hours.
• Indoors with no airflow: 18 to 36 hours, and the laundry starts to smell before it is dry.

Two habits speed it up. Space the items out, because fabric touching fabric stays wet in the middle. And dry heavier items on a rack with air underneath rather than folded over a rail, which traps a wet seam and takes twice as long.

One thing a dryer does that a line cannot is soften. Line dried towels feel stiff until they have been used once. Running a line dried load through the dryer for 5 minutes on air fluff fixes that for about 7 cents, which is a trade most people are happy to make.

When a dryer still makes sense

Air drying wins on every line of the spreadsheet, but it is not always the right call.

Weather and climate. In a rainy or humid stretch, laundry can sit damp for days and develop a musty smell that a second wash will not remove. A dryer ends the argument.

Allergies. Pollen settles on line dried laundry. For someone with hay fever, a dryer is the better choice through spring and summer.

Apartment living. No yard, no balcony, and a lease that bans lines on the railing. An indoor rack works, but a load a day is the realistic limit.

House rules. Some HOAs and many apartment buildings prohibit outdoor clotheslines. A rack on a private balcony is usually allowed, so check before you buy.

Wrinkle free clothing. A dryer with a steam cycle handles dress shirts better than a hanger, and a line dried shirt needs ironing.

The practical answer for most households is a mix. Line dry what you can, run the dryer for towels, bedding and the rainy weeks, and expect to cut the bill by half or more without changing your routine much. The Energy Star dryer pages list the most efficient models if you are replacing one, the Department of Energy dryer guide explains how each type works, and the EPA eGRID data is where the grid emissions figure comes from.