Which would you pick, and why?
You’re talking about a clothes dryer? I’ve only ever seen electric ones. Never gas ones.
Whatever hook up is already in the house. It doesn’t matter to me.
Recent trends in new construction is even when gas is available to go with electric. Many people have concerns(valid or not I don’t know) that gas dryers will cause yellowing in white clothes. So if building a new house I’d go with electric just in case to avoid that concern on the resale.
I always prefer gas stoves to electric however cooking with real fire is just better.
Gas is usually for larger capacity dryers. I’d go with electric for ease of installation and the option to move it in case you remodel. You’re also less likely to have lint fires without the flame.
From ConsumerReports.org
Consider a gas dryer. The major differences among dryers are not in their overall efficiency, but in the type of energy they use to heat the air. Gas dryers are generally cheaper to run and have less impact on the environment than electric dryers, contributing only about 40 percent as much carbon dioxide. They do cost about $50 more, on average, but because their operating cost is typically lower, you can make the price gap in a year or two. If you obtain your power from alternative electric sources such as solar power, you may want to consider an electric option.
If installation cost of Gas is high and you won’t be staying long enough for payback then electric might be better choice. If you’ve got gas supply reasonably close to the dryer location then the plumbing bill to install should not be too bad.
The second paragraph (about install cost of gas) is my opinion, not from the consumer report website.
Not only is the gas unit about 50 more, the install charge is north of 150 for the plumber.
With a electric unit, the biggest question is to buy a three proged cord, or a 4.
If you have the option, go for gas.
Perhaps if you need a new gas line installed into the laundry room, but otherwise, the store you buy the dryer from charges the same to connect the thing to gas or electric. In the case of the washer and dryer we bought two weeks ago, we went with gas even though the laundry room has both a 220 volt outlet and a gas line. Delivery and installation charge for the pair was $49.00
We picked gas because gas costs significantly less per load than electric.
Starting at the beginning of the process - washing - our new washer’s Energy Star label claims the operating cost of the washer is 20% less if it’s fed with a gas-fired water heater versus an electric water heater.
On to the drying. Even more dramatic savings… The US Department of Energy says a load of clothes dried in an electic dryer will cost 30-40¢ per load, and 15-20¢ per load in a gas dryer. In other words, a gas dryer costs half as much as an electric dryer to run.
We do enough laundry that the $50 more on the purchase price is paid off in about six months. From then on, it’s gravy.
I have an electric dryer, which I purchased new when I got my home. There were both gas and electric hookups right there.
I got electric because I grew up with electric and frankly gas squicks me out. It just makes me nervous to have gas appliances around, like they’re going to blow up or something. All I have is a gas water heater and a pilot-light-free gas furnace.
gotpasswords the difference is only, at most, 25 cents per load? Apparently it costs me, at most, $40 a year in electricity to run my electric dryer (if I were to do 2 loads per week) and would only cost $15 to run gas. Considering how much we all pay for gas, bottled water and Starbucks that’s sort of a negligible cost, isn’t it? (not trying to snark gotpasswords - pondering out loud) Seems like people should choose gas/electric based on other factors.
I’ve got electric, because I wanted a stackable and they didn’t have stackable with gas.
We generally wind up doing eight to ten loads a week, so the gas dryer is saving us about $2.50 a week, or $130 a year.
$130 is a month’s worth of electricity and gas for the house, so it’s not exactly inconsequential to be able to get a whole month’s utility bill for free just by your choice in appliances.
I’m not saying everyone needs to go rip out their electric service, run gas pipe and buy new gas dryers, but if you have the option available in the laundry room, gas will be much cheaper in the long run.
**twickster ** - you apparently didn’t look very hard. Sears carries three stacked sets with gas dryers, and several stackable gas dryers in all price ranges.
Oh, as for the myth that gas dryers cause clothes to yellow? It’s not gas. It’s not even the dryer. It’s the washing machine - your detergent is not being rinsed out of the fabric. Use less detergent, try different detergent, go for the extra rinse if it’s an option, and make sure the washer’s actually working properly - a clogged drain hose will prevent it from pumping out all the soapy water, for example.
True.
Of course, I use my dryer no more than two or three times a year, so operational costs weren’t really a factor.
Two or three times a year?? Do you hang all your clothes to dry?
Yup. Outdoors in the summer; indoors in the winter: the evaporating water serves to humidify the air. 
(What can I say, I’m just an old hippie.)
I bought a new electric dryer a few years back … actually more like ten years ago, now that I think about it. Time flies. Anyway, I picked electric for the simple reason that there are no gas lines in my neighborhood. FWIW, I got a Maytag with a lint catch right under the front door that is incredibly easy to get to and clean before every load.
yes they do, I own one. Maytag.
I grew up with a gas dryer, and prefer it. When I lived out on my own, I had to get electric because the rentals and military housing we lived in never had gas hookups. But now that I’m back in a real house, I’m back with gas.
And for the record, I hate electric stoves and hope to never, ever cook on one again.
Hard call. I find both equally easy to repair, and equally capable of drying my duds.
Appliance guy here.
Without having to rehash what everyone else has said my next piece of advice would be this: Get a model with a sensor dry option. The sensor will monitor temperature and humidity on the inside of the drum and shut off automatically when it reaches a certain point. That way you don’t set the dryer for 70 minutes when the load is actually dry in 40. No dryer carries the Energy Star label, and to cut down on some of your operating costs you should go with this feature.
As for specific brands, look at Whirlpool, GE, and (if you’re considering owning front-load model washers in the future) LG and Bosch. Bosch ranked highest in customer satisfaction in J.D. Power and Associates for dryers. All of those brands have pretty good track records for dryers (and washers as well if you plan on having to go that route in a few months or years).
Oh yeah, no dryer carries an Energy Star label for a reason: they’re incredibly wasteful machines. One electric dryer will cost about the same to operate as any other electric dryer; the same goes for gas (though gas is supposed to be more efficient and affordable in the long run, YMMV).
Email me or post here if you have any other questions.