Price What an Appliance Costs to Run Before Replacing It — Free
Replacement decisions are usually made on the purchase price, because the running cost is invisible until the bill arrives. Watts, hours and your tariff turn that into a number you can compare against a new unit — and the payback figure makes the trade-off explicit rather than aspirational.
The proof surface
Free path: the card computes locally in the browser with no key and no account. Where an AI step helps, any free chat assistant works — Google AI Studio's free tier and Groq's free tier were both no-card and rate-limited when this page was reviewed on 2026-09-13 (limits change; check before you rely on them).
Why the flat version breaks
An energy label gives a rating and a hypothetical annual figure based on standard test cycles. Your tumble dryer and your tariff are not standard test cycles, which is why the same appliance can cost twice as much to run in one house as another.
How to price it in four passes
The plate on the back of the appliance carries a figure that is more reliable than any memory. Motors and compressors cycle, so an average draw measured with a plug meter beats the nameplate figure when you can measure it.
Three dryer loads a week is about half an hour a day. Entering the hours of a heavy day produces a yearly figure that overstates the cost by a factor of three.
Tariffs, standing charges and time-of-use bands differ. A national average produces a comparison that is not your comparison, and the card is only useful at your own price.
The card prices a replacement at the same run time and states the simple payback. Anything longer than the warranty period is a purchase decision, not a saving.
SAMPLE DATA, NOT A VERIFIED CLAIM: Tumble dryer · 2,400 W · 1.5 hours a day · 0.29 per kWh · replacement 800 W. Replace these values with your own source before you rely on anything.
What breaks first
Using the energy label's annual figure
Labels use standard test cycles that no household reproduces. The label is useful for ranking two new machines against each other, not for pricing your existing one.
Ignoring the duty cycle
A fridge compressor does not run continuously, and a heater on a thermostat runs about half the time. Entering nameplate watts at 24 hours a day can triple the real figure.
Comparing purchase price with running cost
A cheap replacement with a poor efficiency rating can cost more over five years. The payback line is the comparison; the purchase price on its own is not.
What you pay otherwise
| The usual route | What it leaves out | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Running the old appliance another year | The annual figure you just calculated, spent again | the running cost, yearly |
| Buying on purchase price alone | A cheaper unit with a higher running cost for a decade | the difference, every month |
| Standing charges on a second fridge | A full year of connection costs for occasional use | paid whether it runs or not |
| This page + the free meter reading receipt | Computed in your tab, result on screen before you type anything | $0 |
Try the free meter reading receipt
A dryer is already priced at 0.29 per kWh against an 800 W replacement. Change the daily hours to 3 and the annual figure and the payback both move.
Open the free meter reading receipt →Keep the work if you will use it again
Daily, monthly and annual draw, the cost at your tariff, and the replacement payback, with no account.
The running cost, the monthly draw and the payback stay free. The one-time tier adds the printable receipt for the shop plus the saved appliances behind it.
Boundary: This calculates from the figures you enter; it does not measure your appliance and it is not energy advice. Appliance consumption, tariffs and any efficiency scheme differ — check your own bill and the manufacturer's documentation before making a purchase decision.