Pros
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Energy efficient
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Tons of installation options
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Dries clothes
Cons
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Takes forever
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Complex controls
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Needs draining
Review body
Of course, a dryer that is expensive, doesn’t hold a ton of clothes, and doesn’t dry them quickly is hardly going to be the most popular model—especially among Americans. Most shoppers we talk to want a dryer with a ton of room that can get clothes dry quickly. While efficiency is in the back of most people’s minds, it’s still in the back; if the dryer can’t dry your clothes, it’s going to have problems appealing to conventional buyers.
That said, most buyers looking for a compact ventless option don't have a choice. If you don't have a vent, you don't have a vent. In that case, we think the Bosch 500 is one of the best options in the class, but you'll want to understand its strengths and weaknesses fully before making a decision.
About the Bosch 500 Series WTW87NH1UC Heat Pump Dryer
- Dimensions: 33 1/4" x 23 1/2" x 25" (H x W x D)
- Capacity: 4.0 cu. ft.
- Finishes: White
- Cycles: Permanent Press, Jeans, Delicates, Outdoor/Sport, Quick 40 Min, Time Dry, Air Fluff, Cotton, Mix, AntiShrink, Sanitize, Hand Wash/Wool, Bulky/Large Items, Quick Dry Auto
- Cycle options: Low Heat, Time Dry, Remote Start, Start/Pause, Finish In, Level Adjust, Dryness Level, End Signal, Wrinkle Block
- Matching washer: Bosch WAW285H1UC Front Load Washer
- User manual: Bosch WTW87NH1UC Use and Care Manual
The Bosch 500 Series Heat Pump Dryer is a compact, ventless dryer. It draws moisture out of clothes using heat pump technology rather than by heating up air from your home and venting it outside. That uses way less energy, but it results in a more efficient dryer that can be installed in more places—though you’ll need to drain water from the dryer via hose or periodically empty the small tank since that water needs to go somewhere.
What we like about the Bosch 500 Series WTW87NH1UC Heat Pump Dryer
The compact design can go just about anywhere
The Bosch 500 Series WTW87NH1UC Heat Pump Dryer is perfectly designed to match the Bosch WAW285H1UC Front Load Washer, making it a modern, stackable pair.
Though the matching washer will obviously require hot and cold water, the Bosch 500 Series heat pump dryer doesn’t require a vent or much space to operate. It will draw water out of your clothes that you’ll need to get rid of, but you can either empty the included tank manually or hook up the included drain hose to a sink, floor drain, or the same water standpipe your washer is using.
This allows you to fit this dryer in far more places, including interior bathrooms and laundry rooms where you may have water and access to a drain, but running a vent outside would be too difficult.
The compact design can work side-by-side with a matching washer, stacked, or on top of pedestals. Though the capacity is small, it does make the dryer easy to reach for shorter people, even when stacked up with the washer together.
The design is beautiful
Normally, an all-white appliance is a bit too plain to stand out in a field of specialized finishes. Not so with the Bosch 500 Series Heat Pump Dryer, which looks great even with a relatively simple white finish with its stainless door, although it may look a little out of place if you plan to put it in a stainless-steel kitchen European-style.
You can modify the cycles with nearly endless customizations
This heat pump dryer from Bosch includes 14 dry cycles for users who are particular about their clothing's preservation.
Though we’ll talk about the downsides of this in a minute, this dryer has a ton of different cycle customizations. There are 12 pre-programmed cycles on top of the typical time-dry, with the option to adjust the heat level and the dryness level you prefer.
User reviews appreciated the flexibility, especially because the standard programs often left people with a lot to be desired—and some pretty damp clothes.
What we don’t like about the Bosch 500 Series WTW87NH1UC Heat Pump Dryer
It takes a long time to dry clothes
The Bosch website mentions that this compact dryer offers 4 different temperature settings for efficient drying, but with its quickest running around 70 minutes, timeliness is not a leading feature.
Though ventless dryers are more efficient in terms of the energy usage per cycle, they tend to take longer to dry your clothes. The Bosch 500 Series Heat Pump Dryer exemplifies this, with a normal cycle that takes a full 105 minutes to get a load fully dry, a “quick” cycle that takes 70 minutes before getting the job done, 85 minutes on delicates, and more than two hours for bulky items to only get 82% dry.
User reviews are always skewed heavily by people that are dissatisfied, but there are a lot of complaints about this dryer not getting clothes dry or simply taking forever. People that used the time-dry setting (and not the pre-programmed settings) frequently found themselves tapping the Extra Dry cycle to add some more time, or having the dryer run for nearly two hours before getting a load done.
This dryer will get your clothes dry eventually, and it won’t use as much energy or air to do so, but it will take time. If you find yourself trying to jet through two to three loads of laundry on a Sunday afternoon, this dryer may drive you nuts.
It doesn’t hold a lot of clothes
True to its title, this dryer's drum is much more compact than normal dryers–which ultimately means drying smaller loads at a time.
That it doesn’t hold a lot of clothes is somewhat of a given with a “compact” ventless dryer, but if you’ve had traditional vented dryers in the past, its size will take some time to adjust to. You just can’t stuff a huge load of clothes in this dryer. It has a capacity of about 4 cubic feet, which is about 50% to 75% less than most other dryers in this price range.
Again, it comes with the territory—it does say “compact” right in the name. And, if you’re using this with a matching compact washer, it’ll handle a load from that just fine. But, if you’re mixing and matching and trying to avoid having to install a vent, just be aware this dryer won’t hold some of the bigger loads you may be used to stuffing in your washer.
Controls have a “learning curve”
Since the Bosch 500 Series WTW87NH1UC Heat Pump Dryer draws out moisture using heat pump technology unlike traditional dryers, expect an adjustment period when it comes to learning its controls.
The most common theme we saw among user reviews with this model is the controls take awhile to get used to. There isn’t a typical Normal setting, so you need to either pick one of the other settings or use the manual time-dry function.
In our tests, we used the Cotton cycle and it generally worked fine. The cycle took awhile, as we expected, finishing up in 105 minutes, but getting clothes 100% dry, while peaking at just over 156°F, which is the temperature cutoff we expect most dryers to stick to. The quick cycle is faster, but at 70 minutes to get a 100% dry load, it is actually longer than most dryer’s normal cycles.
Other settings may get a particular type of load dry more quickly, but the general theme is the same: Long cycle times will get your clothes dry, but take much longer than you’re probably used to. The settings can be confusing, but the learning curve here is probably just learning that you can’t expect to open the door in an hour and have fluffy, dry laundry waiting for you to fold.
Warranty
The Bosch 500 Series WTW87NH1UC Heat Pump Dryer comes with a fairly standard 1-year warranty on parts and labor for the entire machine, after that, only certain components will be covered for longer. Per Bosch:
•Limited warranty for non-electronic components; parts only (1st to 2nd year) •Limited warranty for control board (microprocessor); parts only (1st to 2nd year) •Limited warranty for motor or any component of the motor (1st year to 2nd year)
What owners are saying
User reviews are always skewed heavily by people that are dissatisfied, but there are a lot of complaints about this dryer not getting clothes dry or simply taking forever. People that used the time-dry setting (and not the pre-programmed settings) frequently found themselves tapping the Extra Dry cycle to add some more time, or having the dryer run for nearly two hours before getting a load done.
Users appreciated the flexibility of its modifiable cycle options, especially because the standard programs often left people with a lot to be desired—and some pretty damp clothes.
Should you buy the Bosch 500 Series WTW87NH1UC Heat Pump Dryer?
The Bosch 500 Series WTW87NH1UC Heat Pump Dryer is a great choice for users who don't mind sacrificing the convenience of faster drying times in order to save energy.
Yes—If you're in the market for a compact, ventless dryer, it's one of the best
If you’re shopping specifically for a compact, ventless dryer you probably fall into one of two camps: You want an ultra-efficient dryer that is quiet and doesn’t use a lot of energy, or you live in a building that simply doesn’t give you an option to have a vented dryer.
In either case, you’ll need to adapt to the particulars of this type of dryer. Like all compact, ventless dryers, the Bosch 500 Series Heat Pump Dryer gets clothes dry but it takes much longer to do so than a traditional vented dryer. Normal cycles took over 90 minutes to dry a single load, and even quick cycles clocked in at 70 minutes. The dryer also doesn’t hold a lot of clothes, so your loads will need to be smaller. If you’ve got a large family that does the wash on weekends, that means you may be spending two to three or more hours just getting through the same amount of clothes.
We’re guessing those who desire an efficient dryer will be more willing to live with those sacrifices. It’s much more frustrating to be told you can’t have something you want (a larger, faster dryer) than it is to be told you can get what you want, but it has some drawbacks. User reviews seem to confirm this, with most ventless dryers having tons of 1-star reviews from people claiming they don’t dry their clothes fully, many being surprised because they love Bosch’s superb dishwashers but maybe weren’t aware the company’s dryers differ from typical dryers.
For this particular model, our tests show the clothes get dry just fine; it just takes a lot longer to get there compared to a full-size model. For a compact, ventless model, however, it's one of the better options you can currently buy.
If you don’t need a ventless dryer and don’t mind a more conventional (and energy-hungry) vented dryer then you’ll probably be happier with a pick from our roundup of the best dryers. They use more power, but they’re bigger, faster, and genuinely more affordable to use.
Meet the tester
TJ is the former Director of Content Development at Reviewed. He is a Massachusetts native and has covered electronics, cameras, TVs, smartphones, parenting, and more for Reviewed. He is from the self-styled "Cranberry Capitol of the World," which is, in fact, a real thing.
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