I saw there is not much people asking about standalone dryer here. I wonder how those people who stay in poor ventilated small condo/apartment dry their clothes. Not all condo/apartment has balcony, and not all drying yard has good air flow and sunlight.

Given that 3-4 people stay in the condo, each person do laundry for clothes once per week, each cycle takes 1/2 or 1 day to dry, not to mention you still have bed linen and other fabric to wash, aren't the yard always full with clothes all the time? When weather no good or either 1 forgot to do laundry on the day, then i think the house will fully hanging with clothes and the smell....hnggghhh

I guess demand of household dryer is low in Malaysia because of:
1. landed house no need this.
2. many laundromat around?
3. people prefer natural dry? or prefer use fan to dry faster?
4. using dryer is not our culture?
5. never try using dryer before?
6. want to try but no knowledge on choosing dryer?

Me myself is no.6 previously. my first dryer is vented type and second dryer is condenser type. i will share a bit in simple way so that people will get some ideas, because i think for those first timer will have a hard time to decide which to buy and at what cost. ok, here we go:

Generally there are 3 types dryer: (1) Vented, (2) Condenser, (3) Heat Pump.

[Vented] is the cheapest and Heat Pump is the most expensive.

[Vented] you need to place the dryer at a location that you can connect the vented duct hose to outside to discharge the warm damp air. You need to left some space behind the dryer to bend the duct hose, so you can't place the dryer very near to the wall, unless the dryer has option for you to connect the duct hose behind or in front. But trust me, you won't want to connect duct hose from front, it's fugly.

Can I connect the duct hose and leave the hose in the room and not discharge to outside? Can, if you can endure the humidity and heat in the room, haha.

What advantage [Vented] over [Condenser] type of dryer? From my experience: it's cheap, not much maintenance needed, intuitive operation, and the detergent smell of the clothes easier go away. When the vented dryer in operating, the machine doesn't as hot as the condenser dryer.

What are disadvantages of [Vented] dryer? Limited flexibility in placing the dryer. You need to think how to connect the duct hose to outside. The duct hose diameter size around 4 inch in diameter. Will the wind back flow to the nearest windows? Because the warm damp air contains many lints, yes, still many lints even your dryer has the lint filter.

Another disadvantage is [Vented] basic dryer might not have reverse spin feature. Your bed sheet might spin in clockwise only and it becomes a ball, dry outside, wet inside. You need to manually take it out and turn the wet side face out.

Noise wise, condenser dryer sounds quieter a bit than vented dryer, not significant.

My first vented dryer is 6kg capacity and i feel small. Then my 8kg condenser dryer i feel just right size to use. I think 7kg is the bare minimum capacity to start with, like washing machine capacity, most of it starts with 7kg. Of course bigger capacity is always welcome.

[Condenser] dryer basically works exactly the same like [Vented] dryer, but instead of using duct hose to discharge warm damp air, it turns the warm damp air into water, when the drying cycle ends, the water at bottom will be pumped up to front top left drawer type resevoir. You can take it out and pour away the water. You have the option to connect water hose behind the dryer and directly discharge the water out without going back to the reservoir.

You need to take out the condensor from the front bottom left compartment once in a while to clean the lints stucked in the condenser, that's what i mean "maintenance" like above said.

[Heat Pump] dryer looks like and function like [Condenser] dryer, but in another working method. Imagine the [Vented] and [Condenser] dryer is a hair dryer blowing hot air to your clothes in a box; while [Heat Pump] dryer is like you putting your clothes inside a refrigerator, in a reverse way, inside is hot.
[Heat Pump] dryer save electricity consumption, whether it save your money or not it depends how long your [Heat Pump] dryer last you. If less than 5 years it spoilt, it definitely save your tnb bill but it didn't save your wallet.


Any recommended model for first timer? If you never use any dryer before, I would recommend cheap China brand Midea dryer. The built quality looks better for me compare to entry level Electrolux, Elba, etc branded.

I have 6kg [Vented] Midea MD-6288 and 8kg [Condenser] Midea MD-C8800. I do not recommend the 6kg because capacity is a bit small for daily usage.
For those who interested might try the 7kg [Vented] Midea MD-7388 and 8kg [Condenser] Midea MD-C8800. I bought the MD-C8800 from a neighbourhood electrical shop RM1280 including delivery. That's a friendly price dryer to start with. While the vented MD-7388 should be around RM850-RM900.

From operation wise, this Midea brand dryer functions like what it should be like other brands, just the user manual is shitty, don't rely on that.

Hope my info could help.

one could use the dryer in other way…

like he/she can put in the dryer dry half then take it out proceed airing dry.

or airing dry first then if need to wear the clothes or clear the drying space, just take down the half dry clothes and dry with dryer.

not necessarily have to fully dry the clothes in the dryer. haha

when drying yard is occupied by ladies' delicates, you can't dry other clothes anymore...haha

moreover, if the drying yard is used as wet kitchen, you need to take down the clothes before start to cook

just buy it...as long the drying yard has the space to put washing machine and dryer together, stack it or not that's another story.

some people willing to buy expensive smartphone and become outdated after 2 years but not willing buy a dryer for daily life convenience

i bought my midea 8kg md-c8800 condenser at rm1280

if u have 1.2k budget, just get this.

ermmm...6kg vented midea which i am still using i feel the drum is small, and it has no reverse spin. when i dry my quilt cover, it roll and become a bun "soft and juicy inside, crispy outside"

but if you can get the 7kg vented midea cheap, why not? just go ahead and try. if you have no idea where to buy from, you can do like me, call to midea sales department, ask for the contact see which dealer nearby you (at least 3 shops if you want to compare price, else just go to the nearest 1 and order).

no idea where and how you want to put the dryer, just remember to leave some space for the rear duct hose.

so far okay...drying time around 1-1.5hrs

after you have bought this md-c8800, u will wonder which mode to choose to dry your clothes

of course normal ppl will firstly choose [cotton standard] mode...but unfortunately you won't get your clothes dry completely...haha

u can try [cotton extra] mode first.

for me, i use [mix] mode and increase [intensity] to [max] level, then hold the [intensity] button for 3 seconds to save as favourite [my cycle] mode.
updated: now i use [Synthetic Extra] + max [Intensity] for normal clothes, and [Cotton Extra] + max [Intensity] for those thick cotton like towel and blanket.


btw...if anyone own the 7kg md-7388, please let me know if this dryer got reverse rotate feature or not. thanks.

This post has been edited by BOTAK_WAI: Jan 23 2019, 11:46 PM

for large appliances, if buy from online, ask the seller if they deliver by their own or using courier service like skynet. courier delivery sure higher chance got dent here and there.

This post has been edited by BOTAK_WAI: Dec 10 2018, 06:37 PM

if insist 8kg then no choice but have to buy online lo.

if 7kg that 1 is vented, you need to plan how to place the vent hose.

This post has been edited by BOTAK_WAI: Dec 23 2018, 09:12 PM

not sure how those condenser units become spoilt, but after using few months condenser dryer, i guess is user didn't clean up the condenser radiator and the radiator compartment. the are still lot of lint escape from the lint filter and it might clog up the water pump. while the vented unit, all untrapped lint will go out together with the moist via the vent hose.

condenser type

i'm using this. afaik it doesn't have any drain hose, the water will goes to the top resevoir only.

please be bear in mind that all condenser dryer, you must clean the condenser EVERYTIME after you finish a drying cycle.

why? if u lazy to clean it, the lint that escape from the lint filter will accumulate behind the condenser, so when getting more lint and it mix with moisture inside it will clog your water drain system, so you will wonder why water comes out from the bottom of the machine.

i have both vented and condenser dryer, if you are lazy type of people, just get the vented dryer...but u might want to consider to get/mod yourself a secondary lint trap like this, you need a box or bucket filled with water inside to trap the lint and holes to escape the heat.



if you don't do this, let's say the vent hose you direct to outdoor, but it will flow back to your house or to your neighbour if there's wind.

so in summary: buy the vented 1 and mod the secondary lint trap


also based on my using experience, 8kg dryer can cope with 9-10kg top load washing machine capacity for best efficiency.

This post has been edited by BOTAK_WAI: Dec 29 2020, 04:31 AM

I would choose the Toshiba.

nice power consumption.

if vented or condenser 1 full load cycle already takes 1Kw+

how long does your heat pump dryer complete a full load cycle?

how long does your washing machine+dryer complete a full load cycle? (wash+dry)

btw....i have tried using Panasonic Cuble washing machine+dryer combo during my stay at japan homestay. It took 7-8 hours to complete a full load wash+dry cycle.

i will never consider washing machine+dryer combo after that experience.

if i need to buy a dryer for someone else for the moment, i definitely will choose TOSHIBA 7KG TD-H80SEM.

ya…no joke.

u try quote all ppl who commented here who own washer+dryer combo and ask them how much time it takes for a default normal wash+dry cycle for full load.

i prefer washer and dryer separate so that i can soak the clothes in washer and dry the clothes in dryer.

when all ppl in your family has same prefer timing to do laundry…good luck

too bad i put my dryer at a place that not convenient to connect a hose for water drainage…else i will try it. thx for info

ok ar…quite fast if wash+dry since it's just a combo machine