Dryer ball effectivness test
 

I'll jump straight into my results so far. (for dryer ball results go to "DRYER START")

Clothes color: DARK

weight of clothes dry minus container weight: 16 lbs.

(cold water/ medium load) wash start: 9:30pm

NEXT MEASUREMENTS TAKEN AT: 4:40 pm next day

weight of wet clothes minus container:18.5 lbs.

DRYER START-addition of two dryer balls

Time: 4:50 pm

Temperature at start of drying: 69 F/ 21 C

Setting: "Optimum" dry no "extra wrinkle care"
Low heat (delicates)

End of drying: 6:15:30 pm

EDIT:TIME TO DRY- 01:25:30

RESULT: dry clothes, not damp at all

I plan to do more tests such as of course a control, with no dryer balls, in the future.

White- NO DRYER BALLS
 

WET WEIGHT= 8.40 lbs. (I do subtract the container weight)

HEAT: Low

DRYNESS SETTING: Optimum

WRINKLE CARE: Off

START DRYER

START TIME- 8:42 pm

TEMPERATURE:70 F, 21.4 C

END TIME- 9:32:50 pm

TIME NECESSARY TO DRY-00:50:50

RESULT- dry

It would seem the balls took longer to dry, however, there was less clothes/water (8.4 lbs vs. 16 lbs) in that load.

SUGGESTION -- weigh the clothes both dry and wet, so that you can know how much water is intrained in the clothes. That way you know the amount of water the dryer has to evaporate away.

Thanks, I'll weigh the clothes wet and dry in the future

NO DRYER BALLS

COLOR- dark

WEIGHT WET-14 lbs.

TEMPERATURE- 70 F, 21.6 C

START TIME- 11:10 am

DRYNESS SETTING- optimum

HEAT- low

END TIME- 12:16:05 pm

TIME NECESSARY TO DRY: 1:06:05

RESULT- dry

Not looking good...
 

The load with the two dryer balls 16 lbs. took longer than the 14 lb. load with no dryer balls by a significant amount of time (00:19:25)

Test # 4
 

4 DRYER BALLS

COLOR- red , yellow, green

WET WEIGHT-12 lbs.

START

SAME DRYER SETTINGS
START TIME- 2:18 pm

START TEMP.- 69 F / 20.7 C
2:33 pm, 69 F / 20.9 C
3:26 pm, 73 F / 23.1 C
3:32 pm, 73 F / 23.2 C
END TIME- 3:34:40 pm

TIME NECESSARY TO DRY- (01:16:40)

Test #5
 

4 DRYER BALLS

COLOR- dark

DRY WEIGHT- 10 lbs.

WET WEIGHT- 15 lbs.

START

START TIME- 3:44 pm

START TEMPERATURE- 74 F / 23.4 C

END TIME- 4:50 pm

TIME NECESSARY TO DRY- 01:06:00

These results say that dryer balls are plainly useless. I still need to do more tests.

...my wife uses them (!!) but the only benefit that I can detect is SOUND -- the dryer is MUCH MUCH quiter when it stops with them inside (duh).