Will more liquid in dryers dry clothes better?

Clothes dryers are the second-biggest household energy hog, according to the US Department of Energy. Most are so similar in terms of power hunger that the Energy Star label of efficient appliances doesn't even bother with dryers. But by this autumn, we could be enjoying faster, greener and safer clothes dryers that draw half the power of conventional models, according to Hydromatic Technologies Corporation.

Ironically, the key ingredient to drying clothes more quickly is liquid. The company's Dryer Miser technology would dry garments 41 per cent more quickly without shrinking clothes as much or stinking them up with the odour of burnt lint, says Michael Brown, the inventor and company president.

"We used NASA and MIT engineers to prove the technology is an oxymoron and (that) I'm not a moron," says Brown.

His copper and aluminium system heats a fluid, which mixes with air that is then blown hot into the clothing drum. Each unit would use about three cups of a non-toxic, hydrocarbon-based oil. Unlike natural gas dryers, no carbon dioxide would be produced.

Nor would the non-combustible system -- which could be plugged into 110-volt outlets -- create a fire hazard, Brown says. Conventional dryers may reach 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit (538 degrees Celcius) in order to raise the tumbler temperature up to 155 degrees (68 Celcius). They're blamed for 15,000 household fires counted each year by the Consumer Safety Product Commission.

Brown plans to sell the Dryer Miser in the autumn as a $300 (£150) retrofit kit that he says could be added to existing dryers in 20 minutes by a technician. Up to 40 per cent of dryers from Whirlpool, the top American brand, as well as others, could be converted. Hydromatic Technologies is also working with a large European appliance manufacturer to integrate the technology into a scratch-built dryer model.

The Dryer Miser, says Brown, would also be more effective than relatively efficient heat pump or condensing dryers we've got here in Europe, which are about half the size of dryers in the US.

Brown, a heating and air conditioning technician, invented the device in 2004 in his garage in Kissimmee, Florida. He hopes his work will lead to the first Energy Star-rated clothes dryers -- he's also working on an off-grid, solar-powered dryer that would draw power in the daytime from rooftop photovoltaic panels.

Refrigerators and dryers are the hungriest of all household appliances and make up one-fifth of energy consumption, according to the US government's Energy Information Administration. A washer and dryer are found in nine out of ten single-family American homes.

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