AEG T9DEB969C Review

Thanks to its excellent sensor and gentle programmes, the AEG T9DEB969C dries clothes efficiently while protecting them from damage. It’s got a great app that ties together this machine with an AEG smart washing machine, too. It’s expensive, but if you dry a variety of clothes regularly, then it’s a top choice.

Introduction

Tumble dryers are there to make life easier by skipping the horrible step of having to hang up your washing, and the AEG T9DEB969C makes life that little bit easier. With its smart connection, you can tie it to a smart AEG washing machine for fast wash-to-dry loads, plus there are programmes to deal with all of the common items you want.

Very low running costs on full loads adds to this machine’s appeal, making it one of the best high-end heat pump tumble dryers that you can buy.

Design and features

• Large drum with a light
• Easy-to-use controls
• Genuinely useful smart app

With its stylish silver-effect front, the AEG T9DEB969C matches the design of other AEG appliances in the line-up, so you can sit this machine next to a washing machine to have a consistent finish.

Open the wide door to get to the sizeable 9kg drum (that’s big enough for large washing loads or bigger items, such as bed linen) and you’ll see that there’s a light that brilliantly illuminates the interior. That’s great for loading but also unloading, as you’re unlikely to miss an item.

As with most heat pump tumble dryers, the default setting is to have water drain into the long pull-out tank that sits where the detergent drawer would go in a washing machine. This tank slips out easily and is quick to empty. If you prefer, you can use the provided hose to send water straight into your drainage, in which case you’ll never have to empty the tank.

That would leave the only regular jobs emptying the filters. The door filter pulls up and out, flipping open to let you get the lint out. 

There’s a secondary condenser filter at the bottom of the tumble dryer, which you can wipe clean and, preferably vacuum out with a brush when the warning light turns on.

Using tumble dryers can require a degree, but the AEG T9DEB969C makes life easy for you. While it’s got a fair number of programmes, they’re all clearly labelled to make sense, such as Wool or Down Jackets. Each programme adjusts the heat and dryer cycle for the item, such as keeping wool items pressed against the drum to replicate drying the flat.

The only way you can go better is with the Samsung Series 9 DV90T8240SX, which has a clip-in shelf that actually lets you lay delicate items (or shoes) flat in the dryer.

There’s also the special MyDry option, which is built for 5kg or less of clothing and should be combined with the MyWash option on an AEG washing machine. Using the two together, you can have a load of normally soiled clothes within three hours.

After selecting a programme, the estimated time remaining appears on the screen, along with the maximum (dry) weight of clothes you can put in. Thanks to sensor drying, the time remaining can reduce based on the size of the load and how wet items are.

 You can add some options, including the drying level (iron, cupboard or extra dry); quiet, which reduces noise at the expense of longer run times; and anti-creasing, which keeps the drum moving sporadically after a cycle to prevent items from creasing.

You can also set a drying time, although I wouldn’t bother as the sensor is so good that you’re better off letting the tumble dryer work out when’s best to stop.

Hook the AEG T9DEB969C up to your Wi-Fi and you can programme it from your phone, plus get fabric care tips. If you enable the remote start feature from the control panel (this has to be done every time you turn the machine on for safety reasons), you can also remotely start and stop the tumble dryer. 

If you have an AEG washing machine, too, such as the AEG L9FEB969C, the app can suggest drying programmes based on the wash cycle, and give you a total wash-to-dry timer. Samsung’s washing machines and tumble dryers can do something similar via SmartThings.

Arguably, in most cases, the app is more useful as a tool to see when a tumble dryer load has finished, particularly as it pings you a notification to tell you.

Performance

• Very gently drying
• Super quiet
• Low running costs

While practically any tumble dryer can get clothes dry, you want them to do it efficiently and without overdrying, damaging the fabrics. I’m happy to say that the AEG T9DEB969C can do that.

Using my regular test load, I put the AEG T9DEB969C onto Cupboard Dry. At the end, the cycle had used just 0.54kWh of electricity and had removed 95.83% of water. That’s just 40 grams of water remaining, which is not enough water that you can feel any dampness. It shows how good the sensor dryer is on this model, stopping at just the right point.

In comparison, the Hoover H-Dry 500 is a bit rough and ready, removing 109.3% of water. That is, my clothes lost a bit of weight through over-drying and lint coming off.

Switching to the Iron Dry programme, the AEG T9DEB969C did well again, cutting power usage to 0.359kWh and removing 86.36% of water: that left the clothes slightly damp to the touch, which is great for ironing.

To get a fair comparison across all tumble dryers, I work out the cost per full cycle from the energy label. Here, with an A+++ rating, this dryer costs £0.19 per cycle, which is very low. Part of the reason for the low costs is because AEG says its tumble dryer dries at lower temperatures.

With this running cost information, I can work out running costs on a level playing field by working out how many cycles it takes to dry the UK’s average amount of drying per year.

At 160 loads of 6kg, that’s a total of 960kg of drying per year. With the 9kg drum on the AEG T9DEB969C, it could do all that drying using just 106.67 loads, which works out to a running cost of £20.48 per year. That’s one of the lowest that I’ve seen.

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