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; forecasted for September 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(will be superseded by new standard EN 60704-26:2012/prAB:202X) - EN 60704-3:2019: Household and similar electrical appliances - Test code for the determination of airborne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 5064:2018+A1:2020 if connected appliance)
Final moisture content and declared capacity
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. If a too-high final moisture content is measured in the compliance testing, the test is invalid. In the case of a triple test, this means that the model is suspected non-compliant. In case of a subsequent triple test, the model fails as soon as one of the three additional devices fails on the final moisture content, no matter how well the other two perform.