Opinions please:

[samwilkerson]

Can anyone think of a good reason why I can't use an electric dryer to heat my garage if I never ever put clothes in the dryer therefore not adding moisture to the garage. What do you think. Sam

 

[Old Man Roger]

Does a clothes dryer have a blower? Seems like it would be pretty inefficient.

 

[rlitman]

No reason I can think of other than the huge waste of space. It's just an electric resistance heater (unless you have a condensing dryer).

Did you find a dryer on the curb for free or something?

 

[ratdoggy]

Why spend the coin turning the drum for hours?
Just by some electric heaters which are more efficient

 

[tyme2par4]

Why spend the coin turning the drum for hours?
Just by some electric heaters which are more efficient

Some dryers have an option to stop the drum for things like boots.

I suppose it would work. You'd have to put it on timed dry, as a lot of them have moisture sensors that would shut if off on auto mode.

 

[jfrey123]

I don't think a device designed to heat a 7 cubic foot cylinder is going to heat a few thousand cubic feet all that effectively.

 

[rlitman]

Why spend the coin turning the drum for hours?
Just by some electric heaters which are more efficient

The mechanical losses of turning the drum will still equal out as heat. Being that it is electrical resistive heating, it will be 100% efficient, just like any electric heater.
You could also plug in a bunch of computers for the same effect. Just not a bunch of toasters, as they're not designed for continuous operation.

Still, a heat pump is more efficient, if that's what you were referring to.

 

[driftpin]

An analogy: using a lawn tractor to go down the road. Sure you can do it, but isn't there a better way?

Look what happened to these kids riding a lawn mower on the street.

 

[Ben Buck]

I'm going to rig our microwave so it works with the door open , to heat the kitchen.

Just an experiment ?

 

[The Cobbler]

you don't mention how well insulated or how large your garage is.
It will heat with the vent removed, but the question remains , how warm will it get without knowing the other parameters

 

[Bert_]

I'm going to guess most cloths dryers are 3-4kw so that is the same amount of heat that any equivalent electric heater would produce. The fan isn't going to blow the heat in the best direction and it won't have a thermostat but it would work.

I usually dump the exhaust from my dryer into the basement in the winter. Why dump that heat outside and it adds some needed humidity to the house. I don't use it as a primary heat source though

 

[48RON54]

obviously you would have to bypass the door/lid switch but I guess it would work in a pinch

 

[zmaxmotorsports]

obviously you would have to bypass the door/lid switch but I guess it would work in a pinch

the heat comes out of the exhuast,not through the door.

 

[Flashesbuck]

the heat comes out of the exhuast,not through the door.

If the door is not shut, it would cook the element. It would not draw any air across it

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[driftpin]

Sounds like my MI friends who were so-poor they used the open oven to get warm in the winter, back in the early 1970's.

What about those sealed circulating oil heaters?

 

[hh76]

Sounds like my MI friends who were so-poor they used the open oven to get warm in the winter, back in the early 1970's.

What about those sealed circulating oil heaters?

Why would oven heat be cheaper than furnace heat?

Dryer would do a decent job, to a point . Hook up an exhaust tube to direct the heat where you want it. Just seems like a terrible waste of space, painfully loud, and a waste of power to turn the drum.

 

[Tduby]

Not that I used it as sole source of heating but I use to have a device that filter the lint and would dump the heat and moisture from the dryer into the house which was nice in the dry winter. Granted I was a single guy so 3 loads a week at most.

 

[shaggyant]

The mechanical losses of turning the drum will still equal out as heat. Being that it is electrical resistive heating, it will be 100% efficient, just like any electric heater.
You could also plug in a bunch of computers for the same effect. Just not a bunch of toasters, as they're not designed for continuous operation.

Still, a heat pump is more efficient, if that's what you were referring to.

That’s such a great answer I thought I would quote it

A watt is a watt is a watt. You’ll get 3.4 btu/hr for each watt you consume. However many watts that dryer draws will all end up as heat in the room eventually. It would sure take up a lot of floor space but no reason it wouldn’t heat a two car garage like a champ.

 

[Repoman]

Why would oven heat be cheaper than furnace heat?

Dryer would do a decent job, to a point . Hook up an exhaust tube to direct the heat where you want it. Just seems like a terrible waste of space, painfully loud, and a waste of power to turn the drum.

Because slum lords don't maintain the heating system. Everyone ends up sleeping in the living room with the oven partially open and there's no dad around to come up with a better solution.


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[rlitman]

Why would oven heat be cheaper than furnace heat?...

Because oven heat is unvented, so it is just about 100% efficient (disregarding how condensation effects this), whereas a furnace is vented.

 

[48RON54]

the heat comes out of the exhuast,not through the door.

Thanks for pointing that out. Since I have no intentions of heating my garage with a dryer I didn't bother fully thinking out how one would go about this lol