Do tumble dryer balls really work? We test three different kinds to find out

Almost two-thirds of people in the UK own a tumble dryer, turning to them during cold or inclement weather to quickly dry wet laundry. However, as even energy-saving models can seriously hike up your electricity bills, users are always on the lookout for clever ways to reduce drying times and keep energy use low.

One much-touted drying hack is to use tumble dryer balls. These small plastic or wool balls go into your tumble dryer with your wet laundry, working to separate items as they move around the drum and prevent clumps which take longer to dry. They also claim to spread warmth through each item more efficiently, improving evaporation and fluffing fibres as they go. Other stated benefits include reducing static (so no knickers hitching a ride on your clothes) and preventing creases. All of this sounds like a lot for a plastic ball to achieve, so we decided to put them to the test ourselves.

Do tumble dryer balls work?

Industry experts believe that adding a tumble dryer ball to a load is a good idea: “Dryer balls untangle your laundry, maximise warm airflow for a quicker and more efficient cycle, while looking after your purse strings,” says Vivien Fodor, laundry category manager at Indesit. “Not only that, they help to prevent your laundry from creasing, meaning less ironing and cheaper energy bills.”

As a tumble dryer user and dryer ball fan, I also believe that they make a difference. However, as I picked up a set of woollen balls when I first bought my tumble dryer and have stuck with them since, I’ve never tried any other types. I was intrigued to see how much of an impact they had on drying times and if I’d notice the difference in my laundry.

Roughly, there are three different types of tumble dryer balls, which I’ll look at below. It’s worth noting here that some experts suggest that a clean tennis ball will do the same job, so you could begin by experimenting with one in your laundry.

What are the different types of tumble dryer balls?

Wool balls

Made from tightly compressed balls of felted wool, wool balls are a natural product, generally biodegradable at the end of their lifespan and are, at least compared to plastic, an eco-friendly option. They make very little noise as they move around the drum, are gentle on clothing and draw away some extra moisture from your clothes during the cycle.

You can also add a few drops of essential oil to these wool balls so that your laundry smells gorgeous when taken out of the drum, making them an alternative to dryer sheets and fabric softener.

You’ll need multiple wool tumble dryer balls to get the best results, with most makers recommending you use three to six in each load. In addition, they don’t last forever and over time you may notice that the balls will begin to shed a little. If they pick up any dirt, they can also benefit from a freshen up in the washer from time to time.

Solid plastic balls

Solid plastic tumble dryers are usually made from rubbery plastic, so as not to damage your tumble dryer drum. While the design of these can vary – you’ll find cubes as well as novelty shapes – they tend to have one feature in common: nodes. These small protrusions on the outside of the ball are what help fluff up fibres and break down the stiffness created by water drying in fabric. The ball and its nodes separate laundry as it moves around the drum, helping to prevent creases and massaging the dryer’s heat into your fabrics.

They make more noise than wool balls, as they’re heavier. However, with plastic tumble dryer balls, you usually only need one or two balls to get the job done.

Reflective balls

An alternative to wool and solid plastic, reflective balls are light, hollow plastic balls with a mirror-like coating. This coating aims to reflect heat as the load dries, helping to distribute it more evenly throughout the wet laundry. Boss It claims that its reflective Rapid Dryer Ball can reduce drying time by between 30% and 40%. They also state that you only need one ball per load.

There are a few downsides to reflective tumble dryer balls. One is that their main aim is reducing drying time, rather than fluffing up fibres. Another is that the ball will lose its effectiveness as coating wears off, which usually takes around 150 cycles. Finally, these balls are generally quite noisy in the machine

How did these tumble dryer balls perform in our tests?

To test a trio of tumble dryer balls, I placed each one in two different loads of wet laundry. One was composed of five shirts, with this test aiming to evaluate the dryer balls’ ability to remove creases. The other was a load of towels, which allowed me to assess how soft and fluffy a tumble dryer ball could make their fibres. The same items were repeatedly washed and dried, and drying times were noted for each. Both were dried on a cotton cycle, with towels on maximum dryness and shirts on ironable dryness with an anti-crease setting activated.

Softness and feel are, of course, subjective, but I have tried my best to clearly assess and describe how each item felt when initially taken out of the tumble dryer. To more clearly express any improvement in softness, amount of creasing reduction I observed and reductions in drying time, I have given each set of tumble balls a score out of five in each of these categories.

No ball

Drying time: 3/5
Wrinkling: 2/5
Fabric softening: 2/5

As I use tumble dryer balls for every load, going without made me notice the difference immediately. Towels lacked their usual fluffiness and while they functioned perfectly well, they had less of a tactile feel and a slight firmness. Drying them with no ball took three hours and 25 minutes

Shirts came out with the usual creases and required ironing, although most only required a single iron pass thanks to the anti-crease option on my tumble dryer. They took one hour and 20 minutes to dry with no ball.

Wool

Drying time: 4/5
Wrinkling: 2/5
Fabric softening: 5/5

For this test, I used Lakeland’s All-Natural Wool Dryer Balls. I found these balls worked very well at softening clothes. Although they only sped up the drying time for my towel load by five minutes, the towels emerged fluffier and more tactile than when using no ball. When drying shirts, the time was around the same as the solid plastic ball at 55 minutes, but the fabric was noticeably soft. However, they appeared to have less of an effect on creasing, comparable with no ball at all.

Solid plastic

Drying time: 4/5
Wrinkling: 5/5
Fabric softening: 4/5

For this second test, I used Indesit’s Tumble Dryer Softening Ball. I found that the towels took around the same amount of time drying but were softer than when using no ball, although not as soft as after the wool ball test. This ball performed much better with shirts, taking 25 minutes off the standard drying time. The shirts also seemed to have fewer creases and were softer than when using no ball.

Reflective ball

Drying time: 5/5
Wrinkling: 3/5
Fabric softening: 3/5

For my final test, I used Boss It’s Rapid Dryer Ball. This ball was the only one which noticeably reduced the drying time of the towels, though it wasn’t by much. This ball took the total drying time down by just ten minutes, to 3hrs 15mins. The towels weren’t especially fluffy upon removal, although they felt more pleasant than when I used no ball at all. The shirts were a different matter. For this test, the drying time was 46 minutes – just over half of that when drying with no ball – and produced shirts with only light creasing remaining and slight softness.

Do tumble dryer balls work? Our conclusion

Following my series of towel and shirt drying tests, I can say that there are definite benefits to using tumble dryer balls, though your mileage may vary depending on the results you’re seeking.

While my thick towels did not see significantly reduced drying times from tumble dryer balls, all three types of ball did have a noticeable effect on them in terms of softness and fluffiness. My shirts fared better overall when using any type of ball, though each had its own advantages. Visible creases were reduced more effectively with the solid plastic ball, drying times were nearly cut in half with the reflective ball, while a softer feel was best achieved by woollen balls.