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I’m trying to figure out if it’s even worth it to keep my old gas dryer running. It works fine, but I’m realizing how much fossil fuel it uses just for laundry, and that feels wrong when everything else in our house is electric. I’m just stuck on whether the environmental cost of manufacturing a new efficient electric dryer outweighs keeping the old one going until it dies.

We kept the old gas machine running because it still works and is simple, but I started tracking energy use and I was surprised how much fuel it chews through over a month.

A neighbor upgraded to a heat pump electric unit and installed solar. They say the cost took years to pay back but now their electricity bill dropped.

I worry the environmental math is messier than it looks. A venting system, maintenance, and the big manufacturing footprint of any new appliance.

I decided to keep the old one until it dies, and in the meantime we air dry more to cut energy use.

I did a quick test with the old one on a couple loads, clothes dry in thirty to forty minutes, but the energy use seems high and the heat in the laundry area is noticeable.

On the other hand, the latest electric models with heat pump feel like overkill for a small family, maybe the real issue is laundry frequency.

Do you have a rough sense of how many loads you do per week and your local energy mix?

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