Back from dinner and the 8 large bath towels are ready to go in the dryers.

The 8 towels get divided, 4 into each dryer.

This dryer was set to the "towels cycle" (high heat) which initially showed 1 hour (estimated) until dry.

The other 4 towels go into the '55 Filtrator and it too is set for the same 60 minutes.

As there is no "safety switch" on the Filtrator, it will obviously keep running when you open the door.  (Make sure to keep the little kiddies away!)    

The towels are now dry and Rich is folding all, again for consistency.

FYI... the 2006 gas Frigidaire dryer finished it's 4 towels in about 40 minutes.  

The 220V Filtrator took about 10 minutes longer at 50 minutes.

Drum roll please...........

Filtrator dried towels on the left and 2006 vented dryer stack on the right.

Again the results speak volumes. 

Approx 9.5 inches for the stack on the left and 8 inches for the stack on the right.

So there you have it folks, we removed the variable of washing in different washers by washing all 8 towels in one load in one machine.

Condensing dryers are the way to go for fluffier towels.   Oh, BTW I also did the "touch test" rubbing my hand on each stack of towels.... and the stack dried in the 1955 Frigidaire Filtrator dryer did feel softer!

Rich also wanted to demonstrate just how much water was removed from the towels, even after a 1000 rpm spin.   He poured the water from the Filtrators drain pan (after this load of course) into the measuring cup.   Just over 1 cup!   Very cool!

I hope you enjoyed both part une and part deux of our little towel test!

Kevin

Boys!! really enjoyed this. Science comes to Laundry--- finally!! Holla!

But where did you go to dinner????????

Lots of fun information, but if you saw how full my linen closet is I think that the shorter pile of towels would work better in my home, LOL.

I'll post the Bendix method. Its more similar to Ingemar's machine but has no filter for lint. The Bendix is a sealed system that recirculates the same heated air over and over. It also has the heated air make direct contact with the cool water stream to cause condensation. All the moist air and lint is then pumped down the drain.

My Bosch dryer (which runs at 167F until the load reaches Damp Dry - then it shuts one heater off) will wrinkle clothes just fine. Even with partial loads. Here's a de-wrinkle video I made. This is with office shirts that were still damp when removed. Even if they were dry, the wrinkes wouldn't have fully disappeared - they'd just be a little "softer". I think CR comes to the same conclusion that steam dryers remove odors but not so much wrinkles.

I have read in Europe they are using some heat pump dryers which I guess are a similar concept!

Yes, they just run at lower temps - round about 113F.

1)"This was a really great test. I wish they made these dryers today. I have read in Europe they are using some heat pump dryers which I guess are a similar concept!!

1)There always been condenser dryer around over here even running on elements, I just recall the old one they gave to me and that I discarded soon as I hated it for too many reasons!


 2)I believe that the European heat-pump dryers use the waste heat from the refrigeration system to aid the evaporation

2) Actually the  heat pump is just meant to heat the air to dry (they just do not use discard heat, they rather still use it and create it on purpose ton dry clothes, rather some uses discard cold for the condenser), is not all about room temp and refrigeration, they would take sooooo long if so (they're already long to dry, even ones running with  fully cold activated condensers) the heat pump cold side activated condenser iprovides less time...they take anyway so much to get the job done compared to vented ones ...some commercial laundries over here and also in USA adopted this heat pump heating and cooling system for space and locations where venting is not possible.

3) Would there be a significant difference between a gas dryer and an electric one?

3) you mean a from a vented electric one and gas one? Well drying times, gas drying time require less, laundry gets somewhat softer and fresher...plus not for last running costs! Gas is so cheap than electricity....but I'm sure you wanted to know differences fot the laundry..these are the main ones...


I've used condenser dryers both with element and heat pumps   and were  terrible experiences, it was not fluffier nor fresher etc... lots of wrinkles they take forever also.
I actually think most of the fluffiness of the filtrator is imputable to the dryer  drum shape and rotation speed so clothes tumbling getting them fluffier...filtrator is a good dryer.
I personally prefer vented dryers, and I find them to provide fluffier clothes than  condensers, plus they're faster and laundry comes out fresher and with way less wrinkles...
 

I didn't understand the speech between Yogi and Ingemar....so let me understand,  european condenser dryer re-use  the same  air over and over...that's a fact we fully know...but from the pics it shows the filtrator just discard the condensed air outside and start with new dry air...this is what I understand from the pic! Also  in your pic Ingemar is so! looks a dryer that discard out the air after it passed through condenser!!! This is not how European dryer works! At least all the ones I've seen and used here!

How the filtrator works?  It reuse the same air also? Yes or not? I thought it would use the same air but from the scheme looks like it don't!

If so.....

So why all these people saying  about the steamy athmosphere? (Thing that for my personal experience never brought my laundry to be fluffier or better).
 BTW I  have a SQ vented dryer and never get stuff in bottom dry before the front, laundry moves inside a dryer drum.....drying is just uniform for all the load...
It's funny to hear all the different thoughts opinions and guesses....

Oh Okay Ingemar, thanks... I could understand differently at first glancen from the pic.

Oh BTW now that I have the opportunity even if does not matter with the topic now...are you no longer interested about italian detergents for your collection? I didn't hear from you anymore.
I just got some  detergents bottles I never tried branded: "peluche", "Alba", "ambra"...from an online shop located near Naples.
Thought of you since they're unusual brands...
They for sure are rare brands.....

Tom you're pretty right about saying that, of course they act like a steam chamber to steam wrinkles when you put dry wrinkled items along with  few wet ones.
But from my experience it totally changes when you dry a full wet load, the progressive heating and so drying of all the laundry does not act like a steamer fo this purpose...so I found that steaming function, both of old and newer models is not comparable nor it's the same thing of what happens in a condenser.
The load dry progressively...until getting totally dry, so the closer you get to the end of the cycle the less steamy atmosphere will be present in the dryer thus getting huge amount of  fixed wrinkles in the last minutes of drying....I got lots of wrinles by using  condensers, thing that I don't get at all by using my gas dryer...
Plus not less important my clothes used to smell weird ....you know that dry/burnt smell you also get when you try to dry an ironing board  spilled with water and you try to pass the iron on it to dry (just do not know if with this I give the idea)....
All the of the condenser from me tried used to provide laundry that smelled that way.... and took forever to do the job.
I would rather hang laundry all the time than having a condenser dryer...

 I used Bosch, Electrolux (AEG) and an older Miele, the one I was given was a Siltal they all worked the same way......actually the air intakes to cool the condenser were placed in the front if I remember right the right one sucked the air and left one was the out-take.
I just do not know, perhaps is your AEG the bad one, but all vented dryers I used were faster....including the last I bought (Bomann, the worse vented dryer I have owned)
Regarding the smell....I just don't know, they all used to leave my clothes with that smell...

I always made sure the condenser was clean and I used to shower it every 3-4 loads...they always took forever and if in those situations I could have hanged outside I would have done it (vacation apartments in France and Switzerland, no clotheslines allowed),  they always took up to 2 hours  vs. the average 40-60  minutes of  european vented dryers always for full 7kg loads I used in my life, american electric ones are way more faster  than europeans also.
We have owned a Zoppas (same thing as a REX/zanussi) vented dryer for 13 years, then a whirlpool.... after whirlpool came the white knight (sold because too loud), then the Bomann that is actually down in the garage waiting for a new owner (selling it for 30 euros, paid 250, used 4 months).... actually I feel like I'm frauding someone by selling it as it is terrible.

Anyway
The Siltal  condenser that was given to me was sent to the town damp after a year of sporadic use.....I could not stand it anymore, I still remember the first time I used it when our Zoppas went down.......it was suddenly given to me just for that reason from a family friend in Turin that moved abroad,  when I told her our dryer abandoned us and I needed one quickly .
It was a thing that I still remember as if it was yesterday:
I was attending the first year of superior school (hotel and catering school) back then, I studied away from home  and returned home just the weekends, my school as you can understand required an uniform, jacket, tie... a "classic dress" to attend regualr classes... well, I have been busy all the weekend so I could do laundry for the week just on Sunday, I was alone to do the chores like always been since then,  14 years old,  just me and my sister, my mom was  just passed away in that year....
I had so sister's laundry to do and mine that day.....I washed a load of sister's darks and around the 8:45 PM it came out the washer...so I started the dryer and started another white load in the washer, thinking it was quick like a vented one, well after 40 minutes I touched the laundry to check the dryiness point, it was still so wet... passed an hour, and it was less than half a little dry, I could not believe it.
The load finished to dry just about the 11:30 PM!!!!!
I had another white load to dry and the load included all my white shirts, undies  towels etc all the stuff I needed for the week ...it was a big load with towels etc..well it came dry just after 3 hours and 20 minutes, at 2:50AM!!!!!!
I had to iron it as it was incredibly wrinkled, so I finished the ironing that night at 4.30 AM! Suitcase read about 5:00AM I had to leave to catch the train  to the college at 5:45 AM.  I didn't sleep that night just to do the laundry! I could not believe that dryer took that long!!! But I had to get this job done!

I still remember it so vividly and it was a shocking thing! Couldn't believe that a dryer could take so much and give such wrinkled items!


Despite I heard people who said their condenser dryers do the job in less time, this is what I  personally  experienced , all the ones I tried were incredibly long to dry, they never completed a full load in less than 2 hours,  if found the Electrolux/AEg to be the faster among the ones I've tried, but never less than 2 hours,  they certainly were not as long as the siltal but, anyway incredibly long for my canons...you just can't wait two hours! Also they gave lots of wrinkles too and the stink I mentioned.

No no no....before having to use one of them I would rather hang laundry all the time, this does not become a comfort anymore...at least I would not  get wrinkles and stink.