clothes dryer

i'm also pondering whether to get the Citigas gas dryer or Fisher & Paykel manual dryer AD56... i made some calculations...

citigas dryer (6 kg):
cost of dryer = $630
cost of installation of gas pipe = $80
total cost of dryer + installation = $710
power consumption = 1.9 to 4.6 kW => assume average of 3.5 kW
drying time = 1 hr
gas utility cost = $0.1676 per unit
assume 1 unit is equivalent to 1 kWh
each load of laundry will cost about $0.60.

Fisher & Payel AD56 (5 kg)
cost of dryer = $480
power consumption abt 2 kW
drying time = 2 hrs
electric utility cost = $0.2052 per kWh
each load of laundry will cost abt $0.80

therefore, if 3 laundry loads per week, each month is 12 loads, savings in utility bill is 12 x $0.20 = $2.40 per month i.e. abt $28.80 per year.

difference in prices of dryers = $230

payback period abt 8 years

besides monetary considerations, must also consider the non-monetary aspects:

Pros of citigas over F&P
1. citigas dryer dries clothes faster
2. citigas dryer's capacity (6 kg) is larger than F&P dryer (5 kg)
3. citigas dryer has automatic sensing
4. electric tariffs tend to rise faster than gas tariffs so savings in running cost can increase if suing citigas dryer

Cons of citigas over F&P
4. citigas dryer has only 1 year warranty compared with 2 years for F&P (5 years for drum unit)
5. if moving house next time, easier and cheaper to move and set up F&P in new house than citigas (need to spend another $80 to lay gas pipe in new house)

think most probably will get the F&P because its cheaper and longer warranty. also, most probably i will be using the dryer only for drying large items like bedsheets, blankets and jeans; with lower usage, F&P makes more monetary sense.