February 1, 2025, 4:22 pm | Read time: 3 minutes
A tumble dryer has a number of advantages – among other things, it saves you the hassle of hanging wet laundry all over your home. The appliance can be optimized even further with a trick – read on to find out what’s behind it and whether it really works.
There is a trick to saving money and energy when drying laundry in the tumble dryer. Numerous online portals recommend simply putting a dry towel in the tumble dryer. The towel is supposed to absorb moisture and dry the rest of the laundry more quickly. Conversely, this would mean that the shorter drying time means that the tumble dryer consumes less energy, saving you money. But is this really true? myHOMEBOOK asked the experts.
Does the Towel Trick in the Tumble Dryer Work?
Finally, a trick that doesn’t involve a lot of extra effort. Simply put a dry towel in the tumble dryer – done! Does that sound almost too good and easy to be true? This is because a dry towel in the tumble dryer saves neither energy nor money.
When asked by myHOMEBOOK, Bernd Glassl from the Industrieverband Körperpflege- und Waschmittel e. V. (IKW) explained that the energy required is not affected by the dry towel. “By adding the towel, a small amount of the water to be evaporated can be transferred from the wet laundry to the towel,” says Glassl. “The towel thus increases the […] available surface area.” However, this only has a marginal effect on the drying speed, as it does not change the limits of the appliance.
The energy requirement may even increase slightly, as the towel is also heated up in the process, explains the expert. “In the end, all items in the laundry drum must reach the same final moisture level again.”
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Putting a dry towel in the tumble dryer does not help to save energy and money. But there are other options. “Compared to thermal drying in the dryer, it is much less energy-intensive (and therefore also cheaper and usually quicker) if the moisture is reduced mechanically by spinning,” explains Glassl.
Textiles that are to be put in the dryer should, therefore, be spun at the maximum permitted speed beforehand. What this is can be found on the label, explains the expert.
- No line under the washing tub: maximum spin speed (e.g., 1,400 revolutions per minute)
- One line under the washing tub: easy-care program at a lower spin speed (e.g., 1200 or 900 revolutions per minute)
- Two lines under the wash tub: delicate wash program (e.g., 900 to 600 revolutions per minute)
Glassl explains that the spin speeds in the light and delicate wash programs are normally preset to the same or similar settings as indicated.