Electric Dryers or Gas Dryers

At Express Appliance Repair, our experience extends to just about every dryer under the sun. As you can imagine, we’ve accumulated a lot of insight from providing maintenance, repairs, and replacement work for a wide range of dryers from either of your two main possibilities. Not surprisingly, this degree of understanding has brought homeowners and others to ask us to choose between gas or electric dryers. Is there a clear winner in this arena?

The truth of the matter is that there isn’t. We can’t offer a universal answer to the question of electric dryers vs gas dryers. This is a subject that has a lot of particulars that you will need to keep in mind.

Electric Dryers or Gas Dryers: Which Is Better?

To reiterate: We can’t just choose one over the other, as there is really no such thing as a clear winner, if we’re going to be objective about choosing electric dryers over gas dryers, or vice-versa. What we can do instead is highlight the various strengths and weaknesses of each choice, and then leave the decision up to you.

Why? To put it simply, we just don’t know what kind of experience you’re going to need. The strengths and weaknesses of gas/electric dryers are such that we can’t just blindly assume your needs will be met flawlessly by one type of dryer or the other. If you’re building the home of your dreams, or are just replacing some of your appliances, you will need to check over the pros and cons of gas dryers very carefully. By the same token, you will want to also understand the pros and cons of electric dryers, as well.

You certainly want to make the right call. While you can probably have either one in your home, it remains a good idea to research this subject carefully. You want something that will be efficient, give you the best energy savings, and work with your specific needs and home type. No one wants to waste a bunch of money on a dryer that is only going to be but so useful. This is something our appliance pros at Express Appliance Repair run into once in a while. The problem comes down to the fact that they chose the wrong type of dryer for their situation.

You can avoid that scenario easily. Just keep in mind everything we’re about to discuss. This includes a serious look at the advantages and disadvantages of gas dryers. From there, we can check out the advantages and disadvantages of electric dryers, as well.

But let’s start with a brief comparison of these choices.

The Basics of Gas vs. Electric Dryers

Later in this article, we will discuss the pros and cons of your choices in more specific terms. For now, let’s create a basic understanding of just how different these two possibilities can really be:

• Venting requirements: Gas dryers are always going to need proper venting, which means putting in an actual vent. Some electric dryers need one, but this is not always the case.
• Initial costs: Generally speaking, the initial costs associated with buying/installing a gas dryer are going to be higher than what you will likely spend with an electric dryer.
• Upkeep costs: This is an important consideration for many of our clients. More often than not, the upkeep expenses associated with electric dryers are higher than what you can expect from a gas dryer.
• Power requirements: The terms “gas” and “electric” should give you an idea of what you will need. Gas dryers need their own dedicated gas line. Electric dryers will require a 240V outlet. More likely than not, your home will already have the outlet.
• Drying speed: While speed is not your only consideration with dryers, it is obviously still something you are going to want to keep in mind. In most situations, gas dryers are going to prove to be faster than their gas counterparts.

This hould give you an idea of why we can’t just give you a straight answer. When you break things down, the choice becomes much more subjective than you may have suspected. You can accomplish a lot by matching up those considerations above to what you are looking for.

Pros and Cons of Gas Dryers

A gas dryer utilizes a gas burner to create the necessary heat for drying. An 110V outlet is generally going to be used in conjunction with the gas dryer. The cycle starts when the sensor in your motor sets the igniter to light, after it has reached its full speed.

Here are some more details on the pros and cons of a gas dryer:

• PRO: The upkeep isn’t quite as expensive: This is one of the biggest pros to gas dryers, which mainly comes down to cost of gas against electric, but in most situations, your upkeep demands are not going to be as challenging, or as expensive, as what you get with gas dryers.
• PRO: Are gas dryers really faster? The vast majority of the gas dryers you will encounter are going to be faster than electric ones. While this benefit sounds like it should trump everything else, this is inherently the case. The benefit of a faster dryer is often a worthwhile consideration, but it can be outweighed easily enough with cons/challenges of owning a gas dryer.

In order to make sure you choose the best dryer for your needs, we also need to take a closer look at everything you may not like about owning a gas dryer:

• CON: Venting. All gas dryers are going to require a vent that goes to the outside. This means you can’t just hook everything up to an outlet, and call it a day. Your home needs to be prepared for a gas dryer. If not, then you will need to kick in the money necessary to ensure everything goes smoothly. In some situations, depending on the type of home you have, we are talking about what could amount to a very expensive process.
• CON: Initial expenses can be a little annoying. This is something we touched on in the point discussed above. If your home is already set up for a gas dryer, then this potential headache doesn’t apply to you. However, if your home is not prepared for such a dryer, then you will have to spend the money to bring the space in question up to snuff.
• CON: You’re going to need a gas line. This is another major downside that compels a number of home owners to think twice when choosing gas over electric. Again, if you already have a gas line, then you don’t need to worry. Those who need to have a gas line installed could be looking at work that is expensive and intrusive.

What Are the Pros and Cons of Electric Dryers?

We understand the main appeal of electric dryers: Simplicity. However, is that factor more important than anything else?

Perhaps, depending on your situation. Even so, it’s helpful to take a closer look at the advantages and disadvantages of electric dryers:

• PRO: You don’t need a gas line. Don’t have one? No problem. Bringing an electric dryer to your home is a pretty straightforward process. For most people, you just have to get the dryer into the space, follow the setup instructions, and go on with your day.
• PRO: There are vent-less models available. One thing that drives people absolutely nuts about gas dryers is the fact that you have to prepare a vent, as well. This can sometimes amount to more work and money than someone likes. With electric dryers, you are going to find a number of models that do not require the inclusion of a vent.
• PRO: Lower initial costs are always going to be exciting to homeowners. If you’re moving, and you find yourself dealing with a pretty tight budget, any opportunity to cut down on those expenses is going to strike you as a good idea.
• CON: The upkeep is going to be more expensive. This can potentially the benefit of lower initial costs, as well. Energy costs can vary from one place to the next, but electric dryers are often more expensive to run.
• CON: The 240V outlet can be a little problematic. Most laundry rooms in this day and age have this outlet included already. If not, you will have to deal with the trouble of either purchasing a converter, or hiring an electrician to make sure your laundry room is ready.
• CON: An electric dryer is usually slower than any of the gas dryers you are going to come across. Some people are fine with that, but understand that when we talk about electric dryers in this context, it often means higher energy costs, with more time for the clothes to dry properly.

Conclusion

As we mentioned before, our expertise at Express Appliance Repair means we have to consider all of the particulars to this issue very carefully. While the electric dryer has more cons than the gas dryer, it doesn’t mean you should opt for an electric dryer. Those cons can vary from one homeowner to the next, and it’s important to understand that your experience with an electric dryer can be completely different from the experience someone else has.

When you weigh the pros and cons carefully, it should be easy to figure out your best bet. You will naturally want to keep your budget in mind. Money will likely drive a great deal of your decision-making process, but it shouldn’t be the only thing that moves you in one direction or another. While people certainly have their preferences, remember that their preferences are not going to automatically mean your preferences.

To be sure, if you have any questions, you can certainly contact us for more information. We can explore all of these things in greater detail. For example, remember that when it comes to manufacturers, you will find that most companies offer choices that cover both electric dryers and gas dryers.