Standards for measurement of tumble dryers

The only harmonised standard for testing tumble dryers is currently EN 61121:2013 “Tumble dryers for household use – methods for measuring the performance”, however, this only applies in connection to the energy label regulations (EU) 392/2012 and the ecodesign regulation (EU) 932/2012.  (+A12:2025; published in February 2025)

In Chapter 9, the standard specifies, how to measure the 

• Final moisture content 
• Electrical energy consumption 
• Water consumption 
• Programme time 
• Condensation efficiency 

Methods for noise measurement are not covered in this standard but are part of EN 60704: 

• EN 60704-1:2021: Household and similar electrical appliances - Test code for the determination of airborne acoustical noise - Part 1: General requirements 
• EN 60704-2-6:2012: Household and similar electrical appliances - Test code for the determination of airborne acoustical noise - Part 2-6: Particular requirements for tumble dryers 
  (will be superseded by new standard EN 60704-2-6:2012+A11:2025 published in February 2025))
• EN 60704-3:2019: Household and similar electrical appliances - Test code for the determination of airborne acoustical noise - Part 3: Procedure for determining and verifying declared noise emission values.

Methods for measurements of low power modes are covered in EN 62301:2011

• EN 62301:2011: Household electrical appliances - Measurement of low power consumption 
  (EN 50564: 2011 and EN IEC 63474:2023 if connected appliance)

Final moisture content and declared capacity 

Under regulation (EU) 2025/2262, the specific formula previously included in the energy labelling regulation for calculating the average final moisture content was removed. The assessment shall instead be carried out using the applicable harmonised standards or other reliable, accurate and reproducible measurement methods referred to in the regulation. Accordingly, this parameter does not have to be declared anymore, although it remains a test validity criterion: the determined value must be below 1.5%. 

The declaration of the product capacity should be done with caution. As a supplier, you can declare the value freely. There is no formula for the assessment of the capacity and therefore, market surveillance authorities cannot check the value directly. However, this check can be done indirectly: The product will fail the test if the capacity is declared inappropriately high because this can lead: 

• To door openings (the door must open at a certain pressure due to security reasons and this is more likely if more laundry is inside) 
• And/or to a too-high final moisture content (the more content, the more difficult it is to dry the load resp. if the door opens during the test, it is most likely that the final moisture content is not met). 

For non-automatic dryers, you should also define the program time long enough. 

Repairability index 

From the 1^st  of January 2027, a repairability index must be determined according to the amended energy labelling regulation. The index is based on criteria related to: 

• Disassembly depth (weighted 45%). 
• Type of fasteners (weighted 22,5%). 
• Type of tools (weighted 22,5%). 
• Availability of repair information (weighted 10%). 

There is, for the moment, no standard for the assessment of the repairability index, all formulas are given in the amended regulation (EU) 2023/2534 resp. in the regulation (EU) 2025/1353. 

The assessment focuses on the so-called priority parts. In detail, the weights of the priority parts for disassembly depth, fasteners type and tools type are as follows: 

Further details can be found in Annex III.5 of regulation (EU) 2025/1353.