I've had a Frigidaire 220V dryer (along with it's FL washer mate) for the last 13 years or so drying the 4 to 5 weekly loads we'd produce.   Two years ago next month,  I helped a friend run two 220V lines and a gas line into my garage for dryers.   I only have room for three dryers, but can hook up any combo of gas & 220V.   When I first got a couple gas dryers connected, I was surprised how much FASTER they are compared to the 220V dryer in the house.

To echo what many others have said here: I have NEVER had any issues with odd smells or odors in the clothes OR any discoloring or yellowing OR scorching from drying in a gas dryer!  

I would suspect tho that using a commercial dryer, like in a laundromat, all bets may be off.   They are SO heavily used and may or may bt be well maintained AND they run SO HOT that I would think any of those issues could be possible.... IMHO.

For me gas dryers are definately quicker and less expensive to operate the a 220V dryer.

If your water heater is right there, it should be fairly inexpensive to have someone add a "T" and another valve to the gas line.

Go for gas!

Kevin

That is, next to drying clothes on a line.  When gas is burned directly in a gas dryer 100% of the heat energy created by the gas is used to dry the clothes.  Thus, much less fuel (gas) is used than would be if the energy had to be converted to electricity. 

The best combined-cycle gas-fired power stations can send at least 50% of the energy created by the fuel up their chimney/into a river (second law of thermodynamics, I believe).  Thus, an electric dryer actually uses more than twice as much gas!  50% of the electric power in the US comes from coal and the efficiency there is even worse - it would take twice to 3 times as much coal to create the electric power needed by an electric dryer.  Even with nuclear power, there might not be emissions but to think that 2/3 of the heat from nuclear fuel goes in the river/up the cooling tower is a terrible waste just to dry clothes.  It makes me think of the Ziploc bag commercial where the woman says "oh, just wrap half of the ham, it will go bad anyway".

Gas dryers can smell if they take in air from a room that might have fumes in it, as if you were painting with an oil-based paint.  So its best to wait until everything is dry before using any dryer.

Since the best way to combat global warming is to burn less fuel in the first place, go with the gas dryer.  Really, even if you get a plumber, it should not cost that much.

By the way, is gas low priced in Canada?  And do they really call the electric meter the "hydro meter"?  Then what do they call the water meter?

In different homes with a wide variety of gas and electric models through the year, I will always choose gas. Only in electric have I ever burned clothes. With or without dryer sheets, gas dried clothes smell fine to me, electric dried smell like my oven burning up a spill. I have never noticed yellowing on anything.

And almost all manufacturers offer the exact same models in either gas or electric, so you can go middle or high-end and get 3 or 4 temps instead of just Hi-Lo or single temp, reserved for more economically priced or BOL models.

Even at $300 for a plumber, you'll more than save that in energy costs during the life of the appliance. Locally, northeast Ohio, it's generically considered $0.20 per load for gas drying, but $0.40 per load electric.

And---I've lived in lots of homes with gas furnaces, dryers, stoves, hot water tanks, etc, but old sparking electric connections have caused more problems than any gas appliances.

When my parents bought an "All Gas House of Savings" In 1962 with the pink Caloric built ins, it was advertised as having a "smokeless broiler".  There is some truth to it, the problem is when you bring out the broiler pan to clean it you let smoke out bringing the pan from the broiler to the sink and release a lot of smoke.  Calorics tended to burn everything, so you used the smokeless broiler if you wanted the meat well done.

We have electric.  Not to say we have always been electric.  Way back when my Mom had a Norge gas dryer.  She complained of the gas smell, the browning of the clothes, and --long drying times.

Though she has admitted in her later years that that dryer may have been inproperly, or ineffectively vented; she will not allow a gas dryer (period)  I do think an electric dryer is more forgiving with stupid things like piling clothes around the machine and irregular duct maintenance.

As for burning with electric, I feel it comes more to design than the fuel.  With our former GE dryer with the heater built into the back of the drum you had to be careful that items had room to tumble, and never use dryer sheets.  With the Whirlpool sourced and Maytag machines the electric heater is below the drum and ducted to the back so there is less chance of direct contact with the elements in back and less scorching.

If I haven't mentioned this already, I would laud a gas dryer for the idea that in spite of the money that they cost over purchasing an electric dryer, they pay you back instantly in that they cost a lot less to run!

As for repairs, it is most-likely the parts are easy to break down individually and just as quickly to repair as you go--such as the burner, ignitor, manifold, etc. prolonging a long-life even if electrics are more simpler as they use a heating element, which upon its needed replacement, may mean replacing the whole unit, as opposed to the many more parts a gas dryer uses being replaced on a more individual basis, thus still saving over a buying a whole new machine...

-- Dave

 is  outrageously expensive as well.  My grandmother lived in a small speck on the map and everyone there used propane or electric....she had propane but used her electric radiant heaters too, to kind of balance the bill just about evenly I guess although she had electric dryer and hot water too.  I converted my gas grill to NG when I got the house in '98 and have never looked back.  I use the old bottle on an infrared heater when I have to do car maintenance in the winter.  Ever since I've owned my own house it's been "house rule" if the range is on, so is the hood!