By Robert Shalett
Neighborhood: Chevy Chase, Washington DC
Building type: Row house
Square footage: 1,600
Year built: 1936
Solar system size: 7.6 kW
Projects: solar, dryer (insulation, water heater, stove, and boiler still ahead)
Products: Samsung Extra Large Steam Cycle Vented Electric Dryer, model DVE52A5500W, $628 from Lowe’s
Contractors: RJ Electric Works replaced the gas dryer with the electric model, Solar Solution installed the solar on his roof.
Lessons learned: Would have looked more closely at heat pump dryer models before defaulting to standard vented electric
Last September, our gas dryer and washer both died within three days of each other. The washer was an easy swap — electric to electric. The dryer was the one that mattered more: it was another step in cutting our residential gas usage.
Robert’s solar app, Enphase
The Why
We installed solar panels (a 7.6 kW system) on our house a few years ago, and we’re producing more electricity than we use. This changes the math on gas versus electric in a very concrete way: every appliance we move off gas and onto electric is running, in effect, off power we’re already generating. The health and environmental case for getting off gas has always been in the background, but the financial case — using power we’re already paying for instead of paying for gas on top of it — is what’s driving us to move now.
The dryer is the first appliance in what’s going to be a multi-year project. Insulation is next, then the water heater, the stove, and eventually the boiler. The goal is to have the gas line to the house capped by 2028.
Finding the Right Dryer
Robert’s electric dyer
We went to Lowe’s and landed on a Samsung Extra Large Steam Cycle Vented Electric Dryer (model DVE52A5500W, white). With needed hoses and attachments and a discount, our bill was $628.
We hired RJ Electric Works to install — local guys who know this type of work in older houses. They installed the dryer right after it was delivered. No new circuit was needed, and the gas line was capped as part of the job. It’s in our basement laundry room, and the whole process was about as low-drama as a home electrification project gets.
Lessons Learned
If we were doing this again, we’d probably look more closely at heat pump dryer models before defaulting to a standard vented electric one. We didn’t spend much time comparing — the old one died, we needed a replacement fast, and a straightforward vented electric dryer was the quickest path. A heat pump model might have been worth the extra research. [See a useful side by side comparison by our friends at Elephant Energy.]
What’s Next
One appliance down, several to go. Insulation, the water heater, the stove, and the boiler are all still ahead of us before we can cap the gas line for good. But with solar already covering our electricity, every one of these swaps gets us closer to a house that runs on power we’re generating ourselves.