Appliances - The EnerGuide Label

Refrigerators
Electric Ranges
Dishwashers
Clothes Washers
Clothes Dryers

Test Methods for Measuring Energy Consumption and Drum Volume of Electrically Heated, Household, Tumble-Type Clothes Dryers

CSA Standard: C361-92

Compact clothes dryers (drum volume less than 125 litres) and standard clothes dryers (drum volume greater than or equal to 125 litres) are tested for their energy consumption.

Energy consumption is measured in kilowatt-hours (kWh). The instrument that measures electrical energy use is similar to the meter used by electric power companies to measure the total electrical energy consumption of a home.

Before testing begins, the following criteria must be met:

• The dryer exhaust is connected to an airflow restrictor, which simulates the clothes dryer exhaust air ducting in a typical home.
• The temperature of the testing room is 24°C, and the relative humidity is 50 per cent-the approximate conditions of a laundry room in a typical household.

Dryers are given a test load of laundry to test dry. For a compact dryer, the test load weighs 1.36 kg. For a standard dryer, the test load weighs 3.17 kg. The test load consists of pieces of cloth, 60 cm x 90 cm, that are 50 per cent cotton and 50 per cent polyester. The bone-dry test load is wetted and then put in the spin cycle of a washing machine. The result is a test load that weighs 70 per cent more than its original bone-dry weight (a soaking wet test load would weigh 100 per cent more than its original bone-dry weight).
Tests measure the energy consumption required to dry the test load to a point where its weight is 4 per cent more than its bone-dry weight. This means the test load is dry, but not bone dry-the typical way an average household dries its laundry.

A dryer's annual energy consumption is calculated by multiplying the energy used during a complete cycle by 416-the average number of times a clothes dryer is used in one year by an average household.

For example, if a clothes dryer has a per cycle energy consumption of 1.99 kWh, then

Note: In the calculation for energy consumption, a credit is given for dryers that are equipped with an automatic control (i.e., they turn off the dryer when sensors indicate the load is dry).