Best Heat Pump Tumble Dryer UK 2026

How We Picked

We took the live "heat pump tumble dryer" search on Amazon UK and verified each candidate was actually in stock with a real price (not "currently unavailable" or "available from third-party sellers"). From the in-stock pool we filtered out anything below 8 kg, anything where the manufacturer wouldn't publish a verified annual kWh figure, and anything with fewer than 50 customer reviews. We then picked five that cover the genuinely different use cases: cheapest reliable entry, AEG-brand build, smart-home premium, big-household 10 kg, and outright budget.

We didn't run our own washing tests. Which?, Trusted Reviews, and Reviewed have already done the proper sock-and-towel chambers and we trust their numbers. What we did was the part those reviews skip: cross-check the manufacturer EU energy label figures against the listings, work out the real running cost at the April 2026 Ofgem price cap, and pressure-test each pick on actual Amazon stock the day we wrote this.

Our Picks

Cost-per-year figures below use each model's manufacturer-declared annual kWh consumption (the EU label assumes 220 cycles a year), at 24.67p/kWh from the April 2026 Ofgem price cap. Real UK households typically run closer to 120–160 cycles a year, so divide by roughly 1.4x for a realistic figure.

Best Overall: Hoover H-DRY 350 HRE H9A3TBE-80/N

The Hoover wins on the one thing that actually matters: cost over the lifetime of the appliance. At around £418 on Amazon UK (we've seen it dip to £399 in sales) it's the cheapest A+++ rated heat pump dryer you can buy from Amazon today. The A+++ figure is verified at 194 kWh a year, which puts it level on energy with the Samsung that costs £200 more and ahead of every A++ rival.

The inverter heat pump motor is the technical reason it's so efficient at this price. Inverter motors vary their speed continuously, which is quieter, lasts longer, and dials back power use at the tail end of the cycle when the load is nearly dry. Cheaper sub-£300 models often skip this and use a single-speed motor instead.

The hOn app is fine. You can start, pause and resume cycles, see how much time is left without going into the utility room, and get a notification when the load is done. We wouldn't pay extra for it, but at this price you're getting it included. The Anti-Allergy programme is the standout extra, it runs hotter for longer to deal with dust mites and pollen, useful if anyone in the house has hay fever or asthma.

Where it falls short of the AEG and Samsung is build. The drum lining is plastic rather than stainless steel, the door hinge feels lighter, and the buttons are membrane rather than mechanical. None of that affects how well it dries clothes, but you can tell where the saving went. Hoover's long-term reliability record is mid-table in the industry: not as strong as Bosch or AEG, generally better-regarded than Samsung or Hotpoint.

Pros: Cheapest A+++ rated heat pump dryer on Amazon UK, inverter motor, Wi-Fi included, Anti-Allergy programme, 9 kg drum

Cons: Plastic drum lining, hOn app is functional but plain, Hoover reliability is mid-table

Best Smart Premium: Samsung Series 7 DV90T6240LE/S1

The case for the Samsung Series 7 is SmartThings. If you've already got a Samsung washing machine, fridge, or hub, this dryer slots into the ecosystem and the laundry assistant function will suggest cycle settings based on what came out of the washer. AI Energy Mode picks the most efficient cycle automatically, and the 194 kWh/year figure matches the Hoover at the same energy class.

OptimalDry is the genuine technical differentiator. It uses moisture and temperature sensors inside the drum to predict not just when the clothes are dry, but how dry they need to be for the fabric type, and it's the system Which?'s testers consistently praise for even dryness across mixed loads.

Where it falls down is the Samsung problem. Samsung's laundry appliances have repeatedly ranked at or near the bottom of Which?'s public reliability summaries. The faults aren't usually the dryer mechanism (the heat pump itself is sealed and well made) but the electronics: control boards, Wi-Fi modules, and the touchscreen interface. If the screen dies after five years and the part costs £300, the smart features stop looking quite so smart. Cycle times are also the longest in this list, 220 minutes for a full cotton load against around 189 minutes for the Sharp.

Pros: OptimalDry sensors are consistently praised by Which? testers, SmartThings integration works well, AI Energy mode, A+++ on the old label, Quick Dry 35 min for small loads

Cons: Slowest cycle time in this list at 220 min, Samsung's laundry appliances rank at or near the bottom of Which?'s public reliability summaries, premium price for the same energy class as the cheaper Hoover

Best for Big Households: Haier X Series 7 (10 kg)

If you've got four or more people in the house, a king-sized duvet, or you regularly wash bedding, a 9 kg dryer fills up too fast. The Haier X Series 7 is the only 10 kg heat pump dryer on Amazon UK at a sensible price that still earns the A+++ old-scale rating. At £519 it's £100 more than the Hoover for the bigger drum and a slightly higher annual energy figure (215 kWh/year against 194), but it works out to about £5 a year extra to run.

Haier is owned by the same group as Hoover and Candy, and the Haier X Series 7 uses the same hOn app for Wi-Fi control. The Ion Fresh feature is a UV-light cycle that runs without heat, useful for refreshing worn clothes between washes (jeans, jumpers, towels you've used once). It's a gimmick if you don't use it but it works as advertised.

The drum is what Haier calls a "Pillow Drum" with slight curves rather than straight ribbing. It's gentler on clothes but reduces effective fill volume slightly, so a full 10 kg of cotton bedlinen will take closer to 3.5 hours rather than the 3 hours an equivalent Samsung 10 kg would run. The flip side: significantly less wear on fabrics over the long run.

Reliability data is the weak link. Haier is newer to UK laundry, and the published Which? reliability surveys don't yet have enough Haier owners to give the brand a star rating. Anecdotally the dryers are well-built (Haier owns Candy and Hoover, so the underlying engineering is shared), but you're partly taking the brand on faith.

Pros: 10 kg drum is rare at this price and energy class, A+++ on the old label, Wi-Fi via hOn app, Ion Fresh UV refresh cycle, Twin Turbo for faster drying

Cons: Long cycle times on full loads (allow 3.5 hours), Haier reliability data is thin, the brand is still building UK service network

Best AEG Build Quality: AEG 7000 Series TR708L0B

If you want AEG cabinet build quality and aren't willing to spend the £800+ that the AEG 9000 Series goes for at Currys, this is the AEG on Amazon worth buying. The AEG 7000 sits below the premium 9000 line but uses the same SensiDry humidity sensing technology, the same EasyClean integrated filter design, and the same solid cabinet build. AEG laundry appliances have a strong long-term reliability reputation, typically grouped with Bosch and Miele at the top of consumer reliability surveys.

The catch is the A++ rating on the old EU label, which converts to roughly a D on the new A-G scale and means it uses about 21% more electricity than the Hoover or Samsung. At 235 kWh/year that's around £58/year to run versus £48 for the A+++ models, a difference of £10 a year. Over a 10-year life, that's £100 in extra electricity to save £200 on the purchase price vs the AEG 9000 (which isn't even on Amazon). Versus the cheaper Hoover, the maths is worse, you're paying the same money for a less efficient dryer with no Wi-Fi.

So why include it? AEG reliability. The brand has a long-running reputation for laundry appliances that survive past their warranty without major faults, where cheaper rivals often need a control-board swap somewhere in the middle of the appliance's life. If you're the type who buys appliances expecting them to outlast the warranty by a decade, this is the one.

Pros: AEG build quality at AEG-7000 price, SensiDry humidity sensors, EasyClean integrated filter, AEG groups with Bosch and Miele near the top of laundry reliability surveys

Cons: A++ not A+++ so noticeably more electricity than the Hoover, 8 kg drum, louder at 66 dB, stock often shows "only 10 left" on Amazon

Best Budget: Sharp KD-NHH8S7GW21-EN

The Sharp is here for one reason: it's the cheapest heat pump dryer on Amazon UK that isn't a gamble. At £299 it's £100 less than the AEG 7000, £120 less than the Hoover, and £200+ less than the Samsung. For people who tumble dry occasionally rather than as a daily habit, the up-front saving covers the years of higher running costs and you still end up ahead.

The specs are honest. 8 kg drum, A++ on the old EU label, 235 kWh/year (the same figure as the AEG 7000), 189 minutes for a full cotton cycle, 64 dB. The cabinet is plain plastic with a basic LED display, no frills.

What you don't get: Wi-Fi, an app, smart sensors beyond a basic moisture probe, steam refresh, or a touch screen. What you do get is a tumble dryer that costs less than four months of vented-dryer running costs to buy, and which earns its place against vented or condenser dryers on running cost alone. If your previous dryer was vented, this will pay back the price difference in roughly 18 months.

The risk: Sharp's UK appliance service network is thinner than Bosch or AEG. Out-of-warranty repairs typically go through Sharp's authorised contractor network, which can mean longer wait times for parts. The 2-year manufacturer warranty is industry-standard but doesn't cover labour after year 1.

Pros: Cheapest verified heat pump dryer worth buying, genuine 235 kWh/year (not a fake "heat pump" badge), 8 kg drum, faster cycle than the Samsung

Cons: No Wi-Fi or smart features, Sharp UK service network is smaller, basic LED display, no steam refresh

What You Don't Need

Wi-Fi for the sake of Wi-Fi. If you're not going to use the app, skip the Wi-Fi premium. We've owned three smart dryers and after the first six months we mostly just press buttons on the machine like normal humans. The exception is if you're stacking the dryer on top of a washing machine in a cupboard you can't easily reach: notifications on your phone become genuinely useful.

An 11 kg or 12 kg drum. Unless you have five or more people in your household, drum sizes above 10 kg are wasted capacity. Heat pump dryers run at lower temperatures and they need air space around the clothes to work. Over-fill a big drum and the cycle time stretches to 4+ hours, which defeats the point.

Reverse drum rotation as a headline feature. Every dryer above £350 has reverse drum rotation. Manufacturers tout it as if it's special. It isn't.

Quick 30-minute programmes. A 30-minute cycle on a heat pump dryer doesn't dry clothes, it warms them. Heat pump tech doesn't get hot enough to drive moisture out in half an hour. If you genuinely need clothes dry in 30 minutes, you need a vented dryer (or a hair dryer and patience).

Bigger water tanks. The size of the condensation tank doesn't change how often you need to empty it, that's determined by load size. Connect the drain hose to a sink trap or external drain (about £8 on Amazon) and you never empty the tank.

Heat Pump vs Condenser vs Vented: What It Really Costs

The chart above is the single most important piece of information on this page. According to Which?'s 2026 figures, vented and condenser dryers actually cost almost the same to run, around £130 a year for three loads a week, because both use a 2.5–3 kW heating element. The split between them is whether the moisture goes out through a hose (vented) or into a tank (condenser). A heat pump dryer costs about £51 a year for the same use, less than half. The £80 a year you save will pay back the price difference between a heat pump and a basic condenser in roughly 3–5 years, and the heat pump itself runs cooler so the appliance typically lasts 12–15 years versus 8–10 for a hot-element machine.

The case against heat pump dryers used to be cycle time. A vented dryer would do a load in 90 minutes, a heat pump in three hours. That's still broadly true, but the gap has narrowed: the Sharp does a full cotton cycle in 189 minutes, the Samsung in 220, with most A+++ models landing somewhere between. If you regularly need clothes dried in under 90 minutes, get a vented dryer and accept the higher bills. For most people, "I want it dry by morning" is the real requirement, and three hours overnight is fine for that.

About the New A-G Energy Label

This is where things get genuinely confusing. The EU rescaled the tumble dryer energy label on 1 July 2025. Before that date, dryers were rated A+++ down to D. Since then, the scale runs from A (most efficient) to G (least efficient), with A reserved for the genuinely best-in-class appliances.

The catch is that almost no current heat pump dryer earns the new A class. The threshold is set deliberately high to give manufacturers something to aim for. Most current heat pump dryers fall into B, C, or D on the new scale. That doesn't mean they're suddenly less efficient than they were on 30 June 2025, it just means the goalposts moved.

What you'll see on Amazon right now is messy. Listings for products manufactured before July 2025 still carry the A+++ old label. Newer listings show the A-G label. Both can describe the same physical appliance, sold a year apart. Some retailers print both for clarity.

The honest takeaway: pay attention to the kWh per year figure rather than the letter grade. The picks above use 194–235 kWh a year. Anything sub-200 kWh/year is excellent, 200–250 is fine, anything above 280 isn't really a heat pump dryer, it's a condenser with extra marketing.

Installation and Maintenance Tips

Plumb the drain hose. Every dryer in this list has a drain hose connection on the back. Run a hose to a sink trap, washing machine standpipe, or external drain, and you never empty the water tank. The hose isn't always supplied (some manufacturers include one, others don't). A 1 metre hose with the right fitting costs about £8 on Amazon. Worth doing on day one.

Don't stack on a vibrating washing machine without a stacking kit. Heat pump dryers contain a sealed refrigeration circuit. Long-term vibration from a washing machine spin cycle below them can prematurely fail the compressor. A proper stacking kit from the manufacturer (typically £25–£50 depending on brand) decouples the dryer from the washing machine vibration. Don't use bungee cords or sit it on a tray.

Rinse the filters monthly. Most dryers have two filters: a fluff filter inside the door and a condenser filter at the bottom front. Both need rinsing under a tap every few cycles. If you skip it, drying times stretch and the dryer eventually flags an error. Bosch's higher-end SelfCleaning models (not on this list because they're not on Amazon UK) do the condenser one automatically, but you'll still have to do the door filter.

Air it before first use. Heat pump dryers are filled with refrigerant gas at the factory. After delivery, leave the dryer upright for 4 hours before plugging in so the refrigerant settles in the compressor. Skipping this is the single most common cause of a brand-new dryer failing within the first week.