Dryer Cost Calculator

What a load of drying costs

A dryer is simple to cost once you know two numbers: how much power it draws and how long the cycle runs. An electric dryer pulls its full wattage while the heating element is on, and the motor runs the whole time. Multiply the watts by the hours the cycle takes and you get kilowatt hours, the unit on your electric bill. Multiply that by your price per kWh and you have the cost of one load.

The arithmetic for a typical machine: a 4,000 watt dryer on a 50 minute cycle uses 4,000 divided by 1,000, times 50 divided by 60, which is 3.3 kWh. At the US average of about 17 cents per kWh that is 57 cents a load. Five loads a week is 260 loads a year, so roughly $148 a year. Run ten loads a week for a big family and it doubles.

Electric vs gas dryers

Gas dryers heat with natural gas and use electricity only for the drum and fan, which is why they cost far less to run. A typical gas dryer burns about 0.2 of a therm per load. At $1.30 a therm that is 26 cents, and the electricity for the motor adds only about 5 cents, for a total near 30 cents a load. That is roughly half the cost of the electric example above.

The trade-offs are elsewhere. Gas dryers cost more up front, need a gas line where you want the dryer, and have a slightly more involved install. Electric dryers are cheaper to buy and simpler to place, and they are the only option in many apartments. If you already have a gas hookup, the running cost usually pays back the difference over a few years.

Worked example: five loads a week at 17 cents

Take a household that does five loads a week on a 4,000 watt electric dryer, 50 minutes a cycle, at 17 cents per kWh. Each load is 3.33 kWh, so about 57 cents. A week of five loads is $2.83. A month, at about 4.33 weeks, is $12.28. A year, at 52 weeks, is 260 loads and $147.33.

Now change one number. If the household switches to a heat pump dryer at 1.5 kWh a load, the cost per load drops to 26 cents and the year falls to $66.30, a saving of about $81 a year. If instead they hang half the loads, the same 130 dryer loads cost $73.67, a saving of about $74 a year for no equipment at all.

Cost per year at a glance

Annual cost for a 4,000 watt electric dryer at five loads a week, by electricity rate. Gas cost assumes 0.2 therm per load at $1.30 a therm plus 5 cents of electricity.

The rate matters as much as the machine. The same dryer costs three times as much to run in the most expensive state as in the cheapest, which is why the calculator asks for your own rate rather than a fixed one.

How to cut the cost per load

Most of the saving comes from the two levers in the calculator: energy per load and loads per week. Spin clothes harder in the washer so they go into the dryer with less water, which shortens the cycle. Clean the lint filter every time, because a clogged filter stretches the cycle and every extra 10 minutes costs about 11 cents on a 4,000 watt machine. Dry full loads rather than half loads, and dry similar fabrics together so light items are not held hostage by heavy towels.

Then think about the machine itself. A heat pump dryer uses roughly half the electricity of a standard electric model, and ENERGY STAR lists the certified models with their efficiency ratings. If you cannot change the machine, running loads back to back reuses residual heat, and hanging even a few loads a week chips away at the total.

Where the numbers come from

The cost math is only as good as the two inputs it rests on: your electricity rate and your machine's draw. For the rate, the EIA Electric Power Monthly table publishes the average residential price by state, so you can plug in your own rather than a national guess. For the machine, the wattage is on the UL label or in the manual, and ENERGY STAR's clothes dryer pages list certified models with their efficiency ratings so you can compare before you buy.

One honest caveat: no calculator knows your exact habits. It gives you the cost of a load as you described it, and the value is in changing one input at a time, the rate or the cycle length, to see which one moves your bill most.

Line drying, heat pumps and the bigger picture

A dryer is convenient, but it is one of the few big appliances where the free alternative is genuinely free. A line outside or a folding rack inside costs nothing per load and saves the full running cost, which on the electric example is about $147 a year. The catch is time, space and weather, which is why many households use the dryer for some loads and the rack for others.

If you are replacing a machine, a heat pump dryer is the efficiency step to weigh against its higher price. Run the numbers here for your own rate and cycle length, then compare the annual figure with the price gap between a standard and a heat pump model. If you dry a lot, the running-cost difference can pay back the premium within a few years.

One more thing worth keeping in view: a dryer is often the biggest electricity user in a home after heating and cooling, so small habit changes add up. Running full loads instead of half loads, cleaning the filter and hanging the light items all cut the annual figure without buying anything. Even moving one of five weekly loads to a rack trims about $30 a year at the national average rate.