Model
Whirlpool WGD8620H**
Rank #540 means 539 of the 615 clothes dryer models we track cost less to run each year; the 14th efficiency percentile means it uses less energy for its size than 14% of those models.
What does the Whirlpool WGD8620H** cost to run per year?
Rank #540 of 615 puts the Whirlpool WGD8620H** among the pricier clothes dryer models we track to keep running, at roughly $128 a year. Capacity-normalized, it ranks ahead of just 14% of clothes dryer models we track, a clearly below-average result. The CEF figure of 3.48 on this model captures combined energy factor, the main efficiency lever ENERGY STAR tracks for this class.
Immediately around it on the leaderboard, the Whirlpool WGD6620H** at $128/yr runs a little cheaper and the Whirlpool WGD560LH** 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 Whirlpool WGD8620H**'s $128/yr adds up to roughly $1664 in electricity alone, before purchase price or repairs.
Also sold as: Amana NGD5800H**.
By the numbers
The Whirlpool WGD8620H** 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 Whirlpool WGD8620H** 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 WGD8620H** 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 Whirlpool WGD8620H** 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 7.4 cu ft, the Whirlpool WGD8620H** 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 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 Whirlpool WGD8620H** cheap to run?
Its $128/yr running cost, rank #540 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 Whirlpool WGD8620H** 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 Whirlpool WGD8620H** for its size?
14th 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 528 | Whirlpool WGD6620H**7.4 cu ft | $128 |
| 527 | Whirlpool WGD5620H**7.4 cu ft | $128 |
| 526 | Electrolux EFMG627****8 cu ft | $128 |
| 525 | Electrolux EFMG527****8 cu ft | $128 |
| 524 | Electrolux EFMG427****8 cu ft | $128 |
Source
ES_1129244_WGD8620H**_10142018202938_8978529View certified clothes dryer listingsENERGY STAR data as of July 2026Whirlpool and WGD8620H** 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.