TL;DR
- Size the dryer to the press it feeds, plus 20% headroom — a slower dryer caps the whole line.
- Gas and electric differ far more in running cost than in purchase price.
- Belt width and dwell time, not stated wattage, determine real garments per hour.
Shops buy presses first and dryers last. The dryer then becomes the bottleneck, and the expensive press waits — which is the most costly form of underutilisation there is.
Sizing rule
Garments/hour = (Belt_width / Garment_pitch) × (Belt_speed × 60 / Chamber_length) × Rows
- Belt speed in m/min
- Chamber length in m
- Pitch = space each garment occupies across the belt
Gas versus electric
| Electric | Gas | |
|---|---|---|
| Purchase price | Lower | Higher |
| Installation | Simple (power supply) | Gas line + exhaust |
| Energy cost per hour | Usually higher | Usually 40–60% lower |
| Warm-up | Fast | Fast, but exhaust-dependent |
| Best when | Low utilisation, small shop | Two shifts, high volume |
Running cost at 1,600 hours per year
- Electric, 32 kW at 60% duty, €0.24/kWh
- ≈ €7,370 / year
- Gas, 78 kW at 55% duty, €0.085/kWh gas equiv.
- ≈ €5,830 / year
- Difference
- ≈ €1,540 / year — repays the price gap in 4–6 years
At two shifts the same comparison repays in under two years. Utilisation decides, not the label.
Typical mistakes
- Buying by wattage instead of measured belt throughput at your cure temperature.
- Ignoring exhaust and make-up air, which you pay for in heating costs.
- Not testing cure on the actual garment mix — polyester and DTF powder change dwell requirements.
Interactive example
Curing energy cost per garment and per year
- Cost per hour
- € 4,61
- Cost per garment
- € 0,011
- Cost per year
- € 7.373
Same calculation kernel as the full calculators. For a decision-grade result, open the matching calculator.
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