Model
Whirlpool WED9290FC*
Rank #107 means 106 of the 615 clothes dryer models we track cost less to run each year; the 86th efficiency percentile means it uses less energy for its size than 86% of those models.
What does the Whirlpool WED9290FC* cost to run per year?
Do the math and the Whirlpool WED9290FC*'s $99/yr puts it at rank #107 of 615, one of the more affordable clothes dryer models we track to keep running. Normalized for capacity, it ranks ahead of 86% of clothes dryer models we track on efficiency, a genuinely strong showing. Its CEF of 4.5 reflects combined energy factor, one of the class's core efficiency levers.
Immediately around it on the leaderboard, the Whirlpool WED7990FW* at $99/yr runs a little cheaper and the Whirlpool WED9290FW* at $99/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 Whirlpool WED9290FC*'s $99/yr adds up to roughly $1287 in electricity alone, before purchase price or repairs.
Also sold as: Whirlpool WED7990FW*.
By the numbers
The Whirlpool WED9290FC* 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 $99/yr, here is what the Whirlpool WED9290FC* adds up to before purchase price, water, or repairs enter the math.
Left running for a decade at today's US average rate, the Whirlpool WED9290FC* costs about $990. That is roughly $140 less than the class median, which would run closer to $1130 over the same ten years.
How the Whirlpool WED9290FC* compares
The clothes dryer class we track runs from $23 to $128 a year. At $99/yr, it runs about $14 a year cheaper than the class median of $113, and it is about $76 a year more than the cheapest clothes dryer to run at $23.
What drives its running cost
At 7.4 cu ft, the Whirlpool WED9290FC* 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 4.5, above 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). CEF combines drying performance with standby and off-mode energy use; for a given drum size, a higher CEF means less energy per pound of laundry dried, and heat-pump models usually post the highest figures in the class.
- Drum capacity. Drum capacity sets how much laundry one cycle can hold, and heating a bigger volume of air generally costs more energy per cycle.
Common questions
Is the Whirlpool WED9290FC* cheap to run?
Yes, relatively. At $99 a year it ranks #107 of 615 clothes dryer models we track, in the cheaper part of its class to run.
How much does the Whirlpool WED9290FC* cost per month?
Roughly $8.21/mo, spreading the $99/yr estimate evenly across twelve months at $0.1856/kWh. Actual monthly bills swing with your rate and usage pattern.
How is this running-cost figure calculated?
We take the model's published annual energy use of 531 kWh from ENERGY STAR and multiply it by the US average residential electricity rate of $0.1856/kWh, giving about $99 a year. It is an electricity-only estimate and does not include purchase price, water, or installation.
How efficient is the Whirlpool WED9290FC* for its size?
86th 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 107 | Whirlpool WED7990FW*7.4 cu ft | $99 |
| 106 | Whirlpool YWHD560CH**7.4 cu ft | $85 |
| 105 | Whirlpool WHD862CH**7.4 cu ft | $85 |
| 104 | Whirlpool WHD560CH**7.4 cu ft | $85 |
| 103 | Hisense DH5S452BT4.5 cu ft | $81 |
Source
ES_22856_WED9290FC*_05032016210958_9798020View certified clothes dryer listingsENERGY STAR data as of July 2026Whirlpool and WED9290FC* 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.