Maytag MED5500FW Running Cost (Clothes Dryer)
Maytag MED5500FW: running cost
ENERGY STAR certifies the Maytag MED5500FW at 608 kWh/yr, about average for its category to run for its category.
That $114 is priced at 18.8¢/kWh, the average of all 51 state rates this site tracks. Your own state's rate is one click away.
How the Maytag MED5500FW compares to other clothes dryers
The category average is 572 kWh/yr; this model runs 6.3% above it, ranking 282 of 639 clothes dryers tracked here for running cost. 639 certified clothes dryers, one average, about $7/year of daylight between it and this model; the full methodology has the rest.
Neighbouring models
Right next to the Maytag MED5500FW on that list: Kenmore C691341 ($114/yr, 608 kWh/yr) runs slightly less, while Maytag MED5630H ($114/yr, 608 kWh/yr) runs slightly more.
Within the Maytag lineup
Of the 42 ENERGY STAR certified clothes dryers Maytag makes, the MED5500FW is the cheapest to run, $15/year less than Maytag's priciest, the MGDB955FW.
Maytag MED5500FW over 12 years
NAHB's Study of Life Expectancy of Home Components puts a typical clothes dryer's service life at 12 years; run the Maytag MED5500FW that long and it costs about $1,372 in electricity, on top of whatever it cost to buy.
Is it worth replacing?
Efficient as certified clothes dryers go, $114/year is a reasonable baseline if you're comparing what else is on the market.
See what else is certified in this category before you decide.
If you're keeping it
A clothes dryer like the Maytag MED5500FW is a real household expense whether or not it needs replacing yet; a protection plan is one way to budget for a repair rather than a full replacement.
How this was checked
Ranked 282 of 639 certified dryers for running cost, the Maytag MED5500FW is also worth reading with a caveat specific to this category: the methodology page explains why ENERGY STAR's own combined-energy figure for dryers can overstate the electric bill impact of a gas model. The rest of what changes this number, by state rather than by model, is in the guide to why your state changes this number. The 608 kWh/yr figure is ENERGY STAR's own certification, not a wattage estimate; exact dataset IDs are on the data sources page.