Model
Danby DDY040D4DSDB
Rank #79 means 78 of the 615 clothes dryer models we track cost less to run each year; the 72nd efficiency percentile means it uses less energy for its size than 72% of those models.
What does the Danby DDY040D4DSDB cost to run per year?
Rank #79 of 615 puts the Danby DDY040D4DSDB among the cheapest clothes dryer models we track to keep running, at roughly $59 a year. Efficiency-wise, once size is accounted for, it edges out 72% of the class, a modestly above-average showing. The CEF figure of 2.68 on this model captures combined energy factor, the main efficiency lever ENERGY STAR tracks for this class.
Immediately around it on the leaderboard, the Danby DDY040D4WDB at $59/yr runs a little cheaper and the Marathon MVD420W at $59/yr runs a little more, a sense of how tightly models are packed at this point in the ranking. A clothes dryer typically stays in service for somewhere around 13 years; over that span, the Danby DDY040D4DSDB's $59/yr adds up to roughly $767 in electricity alone, before purchase price or repairs.
Also sold as: Aeg DC240.
By the numbers
The Danby DDY040D4DSDB normalized against its whole class, so each figure means something.
What it costs you over time
Running cost is an every-year number, so it compounds. At $59/yr, here is what the Danby DDY040D4DSDB adds up to before purchase price, water, or repairs enter the math.
Left running for a decade at today's US average rate, the Danby DDY040D4DSDB costs about $590. That is roughly $540 less than the class median, which would run closer to $1130 over the same ten years.
How the Danby DDY040D4DSDB compares
The clothes dryer class we track runs from $23 to $128 a year. At $59/yr, it runs about $54 a year cheaper than the class median of $113, and it is about $36 a year more than the cheapest clothes dryer to run at $23.
What drives its running cost
At 4 cu ft, the Danby DDY040D4DSDB is a small clothes dryer for its class, which spans 3.8 to 9.2 cu ft with a median of 7.4 cu ft, at the small end of the class, capacity itself is doing a lot of the work to keep that figure down, separate from how efficient the unit actually is. Its CEF of 2.68, below the class median of 3.93, reflects combined energy factor: a higher figure means it wrings more useful work out of every kilowatt-hour, so it is the efficiency lever to weigh against raw size.
- Heat source and Combined Energy Factor (CEF). Heat-pump dryers recycle heat instead of generating it fresh with a resistance coil, and typically use meaningfully less electricity per load than a conventional resistance dryer, at the cost of a longer cycle; CEF is the federal figure that captures this.
- Drum capacity. A larger drum can dry a bigger load per cycle, but it also usually needs more energy per cycle to heat the extra air volume.
Common questions
Is the Danby DDY040D4DSDB cheap to run?
Yes. Its $59/yr running cost puts it at rank #79 of 615, below what most clothes dryer models we track cost to run.
How much does the Danby DDY040D4DSDB cost per month?
About $4.9 a month, which is the $59 annual estimate spread across twelve months at the US average rate of $0.1856/kWh. Your own bill scales with your local electricity rate and how heavily you use it.
How is this running-cost figure calculated?
The formula is annual kWh times price per kWh: 317 kWh from ENERGY STAR times the US average of $0.1856/kWh comes to about $59 a year. It covers electricity only, not the purchase price, water, or installation.
How efficient is the Danby DDY040D4DSDB for its size?
72nd percentile once size is factored in. That means its size-adjusted efficiency is a real factor in the running-cost figure above; its capacity plays a large role too.
Cheaper to run in the same class
| Rank | Model | Cost/yr |
|---|---|---|
| 83 | Danby DDY040D4WDB4 cu ft | $59 |
| 82 | Danby DDY040D3WDB4 cu ft | $59 |
| 81 | Kenmore 8120#4 cu ft | $59 |
| 80 | Danby DDY040D1DSDB4 cu ft | $59 |
| 79 | Aeg DC2404 cu ft | $59 |
Source
ES_31682_DDY040D4DSDB_042620241527158_4515190View certified clothes dryer listingsENERGY STAR data as of July 2026Danby and DDY040D4DSDB are used here for identification only and are not endorsements. Figures are computed by WattWise Labs from public ENERGY STAR data, not measured in our own lab.