Model
Samsung DVG50A85***
Rank #522 means 521 of the 615 clothes dryer models we track cost less to run each year; the 25th efficiency percentile means it uses less energy for its size than 25% of those models.
What does the Samsung DVG50A85*** cost to run per year?
The Samsung DVG50A85*** costs about $128 a year to run, well up the cost table for its class at rank #522 of 615. Capacity-normalized, it ranks ahead of just 25% of clothes dryer models we track, a soft spot worth weighing against the dollar figure. At a CEF of 3.48, 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 Samsung DVG50A86*** at $128/yr runs a little cheaper and the Samsung DVG55A77*** at $128/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 Samsung DVG50A85***'s $128/yr adds up to roughly $1664 in electricity alone, before purchase price or repairs.
Also sold as: Ge GFD45GSM***.
By the numbers
The Samsung DVG50A85*** 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 $128/yr, here is what the Samsung DVG50A85*** adds up to before purchase price, water, or repairs enter the math.
Left running for a decade at today's US average rate, the Samsung DVG50A85*** costs about $1280. That is roughly $150 more than the class median, which would run closer to $1130 over the same ten years.
How the Samsung DVG50A85*** compares
The clothes dryer class we track runs from $23 to $128 a year. At $128/yr, it runs about $15 a year above the class median of $113, and it is about $105 a year more than the cheapest clothes dryer to run at $23.
What drives its running cost
At 7.5 cu ft, the Samsung DVG50A85*** is a large clothes dryer for its class, which spans 3.8 to 9.2 cu ft with a median of 7.4 cu ft, among clothes dryer models, bigger capacity is the most common reason a running-cost figure lands on the high side, all else being equal. Beyond size, its CEF of 3.48, 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 Samsung DVG50A85*** cheap to run?
Its $128/yr running cost, rank #522 of 615, is above what most clothes dryer models we track cost to run, so this is not one of the cheaper picks on electricity alone.
How much does the Samsung DVG50A85*** cost per month?
About $10.63 a month, which is the $128 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: 687 kWh from ENERGY STAR times the US average of $0.1856/kWh comes to about $128 a year. It covers electricity only, not the purchase price, water, or installation.
How efficient is the Samsung DVG50A85*** for its size?
25th percentile once size is factored in. That means its size-adjusted efficiency is not the main reason for the running-cost figure above; its capacity plays a large role too.
Cheaper to run in the same class
| Rank | Model | Cost/yr |
|---|---|---|
| 554 | Samsung DVG50A86***7.5 cu ft | $128 |
| 553 | Samsung DVG50A88***7.5 cu ft | $128 |
| 552 | Whirlpool WGD8127L**7.4 cu ft | $128 |
| 551 | Frigidaire FDGX21E4EW8 cu ft | $128 |
| 550 | Kenmore 7165*20*7.4 cu ft | $128 |
Source
ES_1023593_DVG50A85***_04182021094231_80078459View certified clothes dryer listingsENERGY STAR data as of July 2026Samsung and DVG50A85*** 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.