Who is using a ventless (heat pump or condensing) dryer?
 

I am just wondering what is even available, and how they work out. I know there has to be someone out there using them. :)

I have a LG, about 8 years old. It only had one minor problem in that time (drain pump failed, plus a cracked hose from when I replaced the pump). It uses a Peltier heat pump instead of a compressor, so efficiency, while great, probably won't be as good as some of the newer compressor based units available.

Thanks Mike. What model do you have? Do you know how many kWh it uses per load (approximately)?

WM3677HW. Energy use per load is about 3kWh with default settings (already impressive compared to the estimated 6kWh+ for the dryer it replaced), but I found that setting it to timed dry cuts that down to 2kWh or less. The main flaw is that since the Peltier isn't too good with extracting that last bit of moisture, it would burn up a lot of energy and time trying to get there. The newer compressor based units no doubt work much better in that respect. Also, since it's ventless, it doesn't have the venting losses that normal dryers would have. The amount of heat it puts into the room is minimal, about the same as leaving a desktop PC running at full load.

Peltier heat pump!!
 

That's very interesting! I've been thinking about a way to fight rust inside cabinets and tool boxes, down in my damp basement.

Maybe a cheap Peltier CPU cooler with CPU heat sinks on both sides,
and a controller that would switch the current flow direction back and forth, (slowly)
to melt off the ice that forms on the cold side, while forming more ice on the other side..
http://img685.imageshack.us/img685/2923/gridds.jpg
The water would drip down into a drain pan with a small drain hose..

I have a small 22watt peltier junction dehumidifier that is designed for keeping cars, closest's and under sinks dry that I toss under my wood drying rack, it seems to cut the drying time by a few hours at least and adds a little heat and air movement to the drying rack.
I have space for a dryer next to my washing machine but I haven't bothered to buy one yet, I like the looks of the Bosch ventless dryer, they apparently use the water collected to wash the condenser plate, the reviews I've read all seem to have people saying that they take forever to dry or that they never fully dry the cloths, I'm used to line drying and I've never owned a drier so I assume that it's just people who are used to driers taking 15 minutes to cook the cloths dry.
I have a vent hole already, but I don't have a gas line to my laundry room or an easy way to get one to it, but the Bosch is $800 to $1,000 more for the ventless version.

The father in law has one of those Bosch dryers and the thing is a nightmare. It gets used about as frequently as the drying rack right next to it. :( The thing is always clogging and giving esoteric error codes represented by symbols and numerals. It requires maintenance on a weekly or so basis. And this maintenance isn't just giving it a cleaning. You need to disassemble a decent portion of it.

I'm really torn about what to do for drying clothes in the winter.

Yeah, there seem to be different types. Some 'condensing' ones use cold water to condense the moisture, where as others have heat pumps to heat/cool things. I suppose like anything you gotta read reviews on them and see which models work well and which don't.

Thanks, and keep the feedback coming!

Yes, agreed. But some of the commercial sellers seem more suspicious in their reviews than others. One site, that shall remain nameless, has 93 overwhelmingly positive reviews on an LG model, the vast majority which were posted in the last 3 months. Yet you go to Amazon and LG reviews are mediocre at best. I would trust Amazon reviews more than some of the other internet sites for reviews since they don't really have a dog in the fight and just act as a middleman.

Not to say that I love Amazon, as they seem to be taking over the world, and are not playing on a level field with smaller retailers. But they are a good source of information about products.

Any idea how old it is or what model it is?