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A high-efficiency heat pump ventless dryer that works well and is compact enough to install anywhere. Read More
This highly efficient Energy Star-certified washer-dryer combo comes with a large mold-resistant drum, high-end features, and an excellent warranty. Read More
This LG heat pump dryer is built around efficiency and smart features and dries effectively, if slowly. Read More
This compact, ventless dryer boasts an above-average performance, specialized cycle settings, and low maximum temperatures. It's just very expensive. Read More
The GE GFT14ESSMWW is a decent pick. Your laundry will get dry pretty much every time, but its cycles tend to run long -- and get way too hot. Read More
Consumers who buy ventless dryers usually do so for a very specific reason: Maybe they don't have a vent hookup. Maybe they're living in a city apartment, condo, or a tiny home, without room for a standard-size washer-and-dryer setup. Maybe they’re focused on efficiency.
The best ventless dryers often fit into tight spaces regular dryers can’t, don't require a vent hookup to function, and use significantly less energy than a standard dryer.
While ventless dryers don’t match up to the performance and drying times of a standard or extra-large clothes dryer, they can typically fit where a vented dryer can’t. They're often more expensive than a full-size dryer, as their ventless nature requires more elaborate feats of engineering. If you’re shopping around for a compact, ventless dryer, we’ve tested some top contenders to consider.
Editor's Note: Appliances purchases are a large investment of both money and time. We’ve not only compiled lists of the best dryers to shop, but also the best places to buy in-stock appliances right now and the best times of year to buy appliances to take advantage of sales and new releases.
Extremely energy efficient
Great warranty
Smart features
Heavy dryer loads may require additional drying time
Efficient
Useful smart features
Drain hose not included
Easy installation
Plugs into 120V outlet
Ventless
Have to manually empty water condensation
Gets laundry completely dry
Cycles take a long time to finish
Temperatures get way too hot
Small size
Lots of cycles
Common errors
Backup issues
A ventless dryer does not need to be hooked up to a vent like a full-size or built-in dryer.
These dryers often exhaust their humid air into a drawer, another receptacle, or out a nearby window.
A compact ventless dryer typically measures around 24 inches.
Most of the ventless models we’ve tested were compact—a standard width of 24 inches. It is very common to see compact dryers that are ventless, since these features complement each other and support the same use case.
There’s usually two reasons you’re buying a compact, ventless dryer: You want to save energy, or it’s the only dryer that will fit your available cubic feet. Most of the things people say they want in a dryer—high capacity, fast drying, clothes that come out fully dry—just aren’t here. The ventless design doesn’t allow it to check all those boxes like a vented tumble dryer can.
Smaller than the standard size dryer that Americans are used to, a compact dryer can fit about half the amount of clothes as a traditional dryer. (They’re quite popular in European homes.) And they’re great options for people living in apartments, condos, and even tiny houses because they can fit anywhere, including interior bathrooms or the kitchen.
Ventless dryers are also known as condenser tumble dryers. These units solve some real problems by working in a way that’s quite different from a conventional dryer. This technology eliminates the need for running a dryer duct, which is helpful if you live in a building that simply doesn’t give you the option to have a vented dryer.
Ventless dryers and ventless washer-dryer combo units are also far more energy-efficient than a conventional vented electric dryer. This is true both for the dryer and for your home’s HVAC system, which has to replace the air a typical dryer sucks out of the room. Ventless systems condense the moisture out of your clothes into a tray or tank that you can empty or drain into your standpipe or a nearby sink.
All this results in a more efficient dryer that can be installed in more places.
Though ventless dryers are more efficient in terms of energy usage per cycle, they tend to take longer to dry your clothes. They are not fast. Where a conventional hot air dryer typically takes about an hour to dry clothes, a ventless dryer can take anywhere from two to four times as long. Ventless dryers also get hot enough to warm a room, so keep that in mind if you live in a small space.
The two major types of ventless dryer are condenser dryers and heat pump dryers.
A condenser dryer doesn't exhaust air like a vented model. Instead, it uses a dual loop airflow system. The first loop draws some ambient air into the dryer, heats it up, pushes it through the drum to evaporate water. Then the air goes through a second loop where the hot, wet air is cooled down, allowing its moisture content to precipitate out. The evaporated water is then either sent out a drainage hose or collected in a reservoir to be emptied later.
A heat pump dryer does not have a heating element like the condenser dryer. It instead works more like an air conditioner, but in reverse, gradually extracting cold and moisture from the air as it recycles and reuses the air.
In general, heat pump dryers are significantly more energy efficient as they lack a heating element, but they also tend to have a more expensive up-front cost.
Yes, ventless dryers are safe. You just need to make sure they're set up properly, meaning that their drainage hose is leading to a sink, or that they're properly hooked up to vent out a nearby window.
That being said, if you just run a ventless dryer in a room with no air circulation, that room is going to get hot and humid very quickly. Repeating this process without properly allowing the room to dry out could cause mildew to form, or peel wallpaper.
Ventless dryers are built to dry clothes in small spaces that aren’t equipped to vent out all the hot air that standard, built-in dryers produce. These rigorously engineered appliances are also often extremely efficient. There’s a tradeoff though: Time. Whether they use condensers or heat pumps, ventless dryers take much longer than standard driers. Many will take two to three times as long as a standard dryer.
Time isn’t the only downside to ventless dryers. Most ventless dryers don’t leave clothing as crispy dry as regular dryers will. Instead, clothing often comes out slightly damp.
While ventless dryers have real benefits, remember that if you invest, you’ll usually have to resign yourself to longer cycles that yield laundry that’s mostly, but not entirely, dry
It might not have a vent, but that doesn't mean you won't need to clean lint from your compact ventless dryer.
Most of the best ventless dryers have a classic lint trap. This traps lint using a screen. Some ventless clothes dryers will require you to periodically clean lint from around the condenser, or from other areas within the machine, including the water reservoir.
Whether condenser or heat pump models, ventless dryers condense water to dry clothing. This method uses a similar technology to an air conditioner or refrigerator. Once the water exits the clothing it must then go somewhere else.
Depending on the dryer in question, this water will either be funneled away from the unit with a drainage hose, or you’ll personally need to remove the reservoir and empty it of water.
Some of the best ventless dryers repurpose this collected water and can use it to steam clothing or to clean interior components of the dryer.
Most dryers have capacities ranging from 7.3 to 7.5 cubic feet, enough to deal with the laundry that can fit in most washing machines.
Every ventless dryer that comes into Reviewed’s labs gets put through the same testing regime, which addresses both its performance and the user-friendliness of its design.
Drying performance – How much water does each major dryer cycle actually remove from your clothes, and how quickly can it achieve that level of dryness?
Maximum temperature – We record the maximum temperature in each dryer cycle. Some like it hot, but if dryer temperatures get too hot, it could damage your clothes.
The best dryers completely dry your clothes at a temperature that is hot (140°F-150°F), but not too hot (lest your clothes be scorched or damaged), and have short cycle times.
Beyond these performance tests, we also assess the usability of each dryer, based on our experience, both during testing and during more casual use (one perk of working at Reviewed is that there are plenty of laundry machines on the premises!).
Our main goal is to discern: How easy is it to actually use this dryer? This involves cumulatively assessing the control panel, the door, the vent, and any smart features.
Additionally, we use our experience testing and evaluating dryers to review ventless dryers that we haven't yet had the opportunity to test in the lab. In these cases, we pore over market product reviews and specs, researching available units to find the best ventless dryers.
Mark Brezinski works on the Home Team, reviewing refrigerators, minifridges, dishwashers, washing machines, dryers, air conditioners, air purifiers, and fans.
Jonathan Chan currently serves as the Lab Manager at Reviewed. If you clean with it, it's likely that Jon oversees its testing. Since joining the Reviewed in 2012, Jon has helped launch the company's efforts in reviewing laptops, vacuums, and outdoor gear. He thinks he's a pretty big deal. In the pursuit of data, he's plunged his hands into freezing cold water, consented to be literally dragged through the mud, and watched paint dry. Jon demands you have a nice day.
Leigh Harrington has 25 years experience as a writer and editor for myriad print and digital publications.
At USA TODAY and Reviewed, Harrington oversees large appliances, including refrigerators, dishwashers, ranges, and laundry, and manages Reviewed's overall home content, including areas of focus like home improvement, cleaning, gardening, cooking, and parenting. She focuses on developing and editing consumer ed content, product reviews and buying guides, but she also writes, too.
Harrington is also an experienced travel writer, and has authored books including Fodor's Boston, 100 Things to Do in Boston Before You Die, and Colorful Boston, an adult coloring book. www.leighharrington.com
Gabriel Morgan
Staff Writer, Home
Gabriel Morgan is a staff writer on Reviewed's home team, where he covers consumer education topics such as earthquake preparedness, radon in the home, and concerns about health and wellness in product design. He also writes product reviews and how-to articles on appliances, smart home technology, and goods for the home.
Our team is here for one purpose: to help you buy the best stuff and love what you own. Our writers, editors, and lab technicians obsess over the products we cover to make sure you're confident and satisfied. Have a different opinion about something we recommend? Email us and we'll compare notes.
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