Model
Danby DDY040D4WDB
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 DDY040D4WDB cost to run per year?
Rank #79 of 615 puts the Danby DDY040D4WDB among the cheapest clothes dryer models we track to keep running, at roughly $59 a year. Its size-adjusted efficiency percentile of 72 is comfortably above the class median. At a CEF of 2.68, its combined energy factor is the single figure that best explains how it earns its running-cost number.
Immediately around it on the leaderboard, the Danby DDY040D3WDB at $59/yr runs a little cheaper and the Danby DDY040D4DSDB 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 DDY040D4WDB'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 DDY040D4WDB 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 DDY040D4WDB 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 DDY040D4WDB 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 DDY040D4WDB 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 DDY040D4WDB 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. Beyond size, its CEF of 2.68, below the class median of 3.93, is the class's own efficiency yardstick, combined energy factor, and it is what separates two similarly sized models with different running costs.
- 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 DDY040D4WDB 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 DDY040D4WDB 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 DDY040D4WDB 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 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 |
| 78 | Fulgor Milano FM4CD24W14 cu ft | $59 |
Source
ES_31682_DDY040D4WDB_082920231514333_4991376View certified clothes dryer listingsENERGY STAR data as of July 2026Danby and DDY040D4WDB 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.