Hisense DH5I104BWAB

Design and features

• Neat control panel
• Steam mode
• Drying rack

Although part of the Series 5i range, the Hisense DH5I104BWAB isn’t a KitchenFit model that’s only as deep as a kitchen counter, unlike the washing machine, the Hisense WFI1045BWQ. That’s arguably less important here: a tumble dryer doesn’t have any pipes at the rear, so it can sit almost flush with a wall, so it doesn’t stick out too far.

And, it’s very important that there’s a big drum to allow clothes to tumble properly and dry. Hence, the large 10kg capacity here. At this kind of size, you can easily dry large items such as duvets, and most weekly loads can go in whole from the washing machine to the tumble dryer.

While the tumble dryer is designed to rotate clothes, the Hisense DH5I104BWAB also ships with a dryer rack that clips into place. This let me dry items that aren’t normally tumble-dryer safe, such as delicate jumpers or shoes.

Control of the Hisense DH5I104BWAB is via the 3.5-inch screen and the control dial. Rotate the dial and the screen shows you the name of the chosen drying cycle, the maximum load you can put in and the estimated run time (the latter adjusts automatically, with the humidity sensor used to shut the dryer down automatically when clothes have reached the required level of dryness).

The Eco mode is a set-and-forget mode for Cupboard dry clothes, but the Cotton cycle gives you more control over options, including setting the drying temperature and adjusting the target level between Cupboard, Extra Dry and Iron.

A drying temperature isn’t something I often see (the Haier HD90-A3Q397U1 is the dryer that I’ve seen to include this option), but it’s a nice feature to have, as it allows me to adjust the setting to suit different items, such as lowering the temperature for more delicate ones.

There are some special settings, too. Auto is useful for smaller loads (up to 5kg), as it senses the load and adjusts the drying settings automatically. For clothes you need in a rush, the Quick 29’ option is good, although you can only put in 1kg of wet clothes; for more clothes, the Power Speed 59’ option does up to 4kg of wet clothes.

There are also options for Down clothing and Bedding, and a Wool rack mode (for the optional wool rack).

There’s a 10-minute refresh option that helps deal with musty clothes, but if you want to eliminate odours and get wrinkles out, hit the Steam button for a 45-minute refresh of up to 1kg of dry clothes.

A steam mode in a tumble dryer is not a new feature, but different machines handle it in different ways. For the first-time use, the manual says to pour in 500ml of pure water into the water tank, using a ‘pointed container’, which should be aimed at the gap underneath the pull-out condensate tank.

After this, it would appear as though the Hisense DH5I104BWAB automatically refills this container from water extracted from clothing, in a similar way to the Beko B5T49231IW. The Haier HD90-A3Q397U1 operates differently and has a clip-on water tank that should be filled with purified water. 

Pay attention, as there’s also a water filter under the condensate tank, which needs to be removed and cleaned regularly.

The Hisense DH5I104BWAB is also compatible with the ConnectLife app, which allows you to remotely control and monitor it via the app. The app’s a good way to keep an eye on a load of tumble drying, pinging a notification when it’s ready. With the sync option, the Hisense DH5I104BWAB can be set to the right drying cycle based on the washing cycle selected on a washing machine.

After a load has been on, the condensate tank should be pulled out and emptied, and the two filters (one in the door, one at the bottom) should be cleaned out.

Performance

• Excellent drying
• Very low running costs

All heat pump-based tumble dryers are cheap to run to one degree or another, but the Hisense DH5I104BWAB is exceptionally so. Running it through my tests, I found that it dried brilliantly and cost less than much of the competition.

Starting with the Cupboard dry setting, I found that the Hisense DH5I104BWAB cost just 18p to run this mode with my standard 5kg (dry) of washing. At the end of the test, an impressive 99.59% of water had been removed, leaving my clothes feeling extremely dry.

That’s a very cheap result, with the budget Hoover H-Dry 350 HRE H9A3TBE-80 costing 29p for a similar result.

Next, I tried the Hanging dry option, which is suitable for putting clothes into a wardrobe. Here, 97.98% of the water had been removed, with a running cost of just 17p. That’s just 1p more expensive for a similar cycle and result on the Miele TQ 1000 WP.

Using the steam function to refresh some musty clothes, I was pleased to see that this cost just 4p to run. That’s a cheap way to bring life back to clothes, without having to go through a full wash and dry cycle.

Should you buy it?