Timed dry
The dryer runs for a set time instead of stopping when its sensor finds the load dry.
What it is for
Topping up a load that came out slightly damp, drying a single item, or fabrics the sensor handles badly. AEG allows 10 minutes to 2 hours in 10-minute steps for cottons, synthetics and mixed.
Makes differ, check your machine’s manual: the same drawing can mean different things on different brands, and only your model’s manual says exactly what a programme does, how hot and how long.
- What it looks like
- A clock on a tumble-dryer panel; AEG adds small heat waves beside it.
- Names makers use
- Timed programme (Bosch); Time Drying / time dry (AEG); Timed Dry (Whirlpool)
Where makes differ
Bosch draws a plain clock for its timed programme and a clock with an arrow for Ready in time; AEG a clock with heat waves; Whirlpool lists a timer symbol. Sensor programmes (cupboard dry, iron dry) stop by dryness, not time.
Often confused with
The programme is set to start later — or, on some machines, to finish at a chosen time — and is counting down.
Other symbols with the same shapes
Sources
No single published standard defines washing-machine or dryer programme icons, so this meaning is taken from 3 makers’ own guides and manuals, each fetched and read on the date shown:
- Bosch: Bosch Home UK — Tumble dryer symbols and settings — Dryer display: Timed programme symbol (a clock) — “Timed programme activated”. Checked 2026-09-25.
- AEG: AEG — LAVATHERM 7DEE835R / 7DEE832R tumble dryer user manual (PDF) — Display: “time dry option on” (a clock with heat waves); Time Drying for cottons, synthetics and mixed, 10 minutes to 2 hours in 10-minute steps. Checked 2026-09-25.
- Whirlpool: Whirlpool product help — Control Panel Symbols and Usage, Compact Heat Pump Dryer — Timed Dry: “Sets the length of a Timed Dry cycle”; Dryness Level is for the automatic cycles only. Checked 2026-09-25.
Written in our own words; quotations are the makers’ wording.