Clothes Drying Advice please ?

I have 2 clthes horses which i set up in the spare room, leaving the door open. I find that what really matters is spacing the wet washing out ( hence 2 racks) . 24 hours later I fold the dry items and tumble dry anything that is a bit damp… which is not usually much at all.

Grammaretto

We all probably wash our clothes too often anyway.
A df whose adult son lives at home plonks his "dirty" clothes to be laundered every day. Df sniffs them and hangs out most back in his wardrobe. He never notices.

That's amazing about the 10L of water in the dehumidifier Razza

Do you remember those wooden airers popular when my DC were small? Beloved by Shirley Hughes, the children used to turn them into play houses.
They are probably collectors' items on Antiques Roadshow.

My nan, and dd3,called theirs the maiden.

We have a rather nice greenhouse that we turned into a Garden Room with a couple of comfy chairs, small tables and power for a heater in the colder weather. We now put the bulk of our washing in there on a clothes horse (metal rack) and the sun does the rest. ☀️

I do miss my Aga for drying - and warming myself up. Nothing here in the bungalow, not even an electric fire.

No tumble dryer gave it away when we moved as no garage or utility. As my DD has used a Lakeland Drier for years with no issues I bought one from the Lakeland outlet on ebay it was half the price of a new one and came with one year guarantee. However I wish I'd bought the smaller version for the two of us as it would have been more than adequate. That said it works perfectly with a sheet thrown over. I do rotate the clothes after a couple of hours but dont have on overnight just leave the cover over and place in bathroom clothes dry by morning. I also have an over bath maiden which is perfect for handwash or very small washloads. Everything drys quick in our bathroom with ventilation.

harrigran

The cost of an electric dryer from lakeland is probably the same as two or three years use of a tumble dryer so would take a few years to recoup the cost.
I watch the monitor on my smart meter while running the dryer and it is not as bad as feared and certainly better than having washing draped around the house.

I’ve thought that as well, it will take a long time to recoup the initial outlay of a lot of the things suggested to avoid using a tumble dryer, including a humidifier. Although the saving in energy if everyone used them would be good overall.

I dried my washing on an airier this week instead of putting it in the dryer as it was raining. I put it in the garden room off my lounge so when the sun came out later that afternoon, the room warmed up. That evening I was rather put off by looking at my clothes while I was sat down and also by the smell from the soap powder - not unpleasant but still a bit unnatural. My clothes were not fully dry after 24 hours so I had to leave it up another night. The T-shirts were much more creased than they are in the drier and as I hate ironing, I hope the dresses drop out as I wear them!

So my experiment was not as successful as I had hoped! Maybe the washing will dry quicker in the winter when my heating will be on? I did have a small radiator put into my airing cupboard when my hot water tank was removed so in the winter I can hand up six or eight items in there to dry which will help.

My bungalow had a really bad damp problem when I moved in until I installed a better boiler, more air bricks and a positive air exchanger so I really don’t want to have wet clothes hanging around for days. And if I bought a humidifier, I would have to recoup the cost of that.

Maybe with the new pricing measures introduced today and being careful with heating costs this winter, the occasional use of my dryer won’t be too expensive!

I always put my washing in the tumble dryer for a few minutes just to decrease them. Then hang them next to a radiator and dehumidifier. It dries very quickly and I haven’t ironed anything for years.

Grammaretto

I found a photo of the Flatley. Ours had been mum's but she gave it to us to dry the baby clothes when we lived in a top floor flat.

We had a Flatley too. Gifted by my parents in (I think) 1980.
We used it mainly to dry nappies when they came off the line damp. We only had open fires so obviouslyno heating in many months.

It leaked heat into the room so made our freezing cold kitchen just about bearable in the coldest dampest months.

It eventually gave up the ghost but we still use the sticks for various jobs. We have them stationed in rooms with tall windows so we can still draw the curtains easily.

BlueBelle and no Nick Abbot this weekend! ?

FannyCornforth

BlueBelle and no Nick Abbot this weekend! ?

wrong thread, sorry!

Right now I would hesitate to buy any device that uses electricity!

Put up a pulley instead!

Modern washing machines spin clothes so efficiently that if you hang them on the pulley when they come out of the washing machine, they will dry in the course of the rest of the day, or overnight.

I have a pod from Lakeland. It’s brilliant. Clothes dry crease free as you hang them up on the spokes and then zip it up. It has a hairdryer sized heater at the bottom which inflates the cover and dries the clothes. It has a timer and vents in the top. I’m thinking to move it from my spare bedroom into the living room during winter as it will definitely take the chill off a room!!

Lots of people on line recommending a dehumidifier, works by drawing the water out of your laundry, tumble dryers have to heat the air/clothes before evaporating the water… not sure about cost comparison tho.

I try and peg out over the winter as well as the summer I just love to see clothes on the line. I do have a indoor airer for when the weather is bad and hardly ever use my tumble dryer unless I really need something

A friend recommended a camping rotary airer put the things on hangers on it out side then bring it in through the patio windows if it rain s. Seems like a good idea ? I've bought one but haven't actually used it yet !

My washing does very well drying out of doors on my lines in dry weather but the recent days of rain have been a problem. The pilot light on the central heating has gone out so can't hang clothes over the radiators.

That heated clothes horse sounds an excellent idea and I'd be buying one immediately if I had a place to put it.

BTW is that pod from Lakeland really safe?

I hang my bedding and towels over my upstairs bannister and clothes on hangers in doorways if I need to.But always prefer clothes line outside ...weather permitting

I wanted to have a sheltered area built over my washing line (Wooden posts with open sides and a corrugated PVC roof) at the back of our garage, (an area away from rest of back garden) The cat would also love it as she loves to be outside ... but hates getting wet! Hubby thought it would look unsightly and wouldn't let washing dry as air would be moist if raining etc, so have reluctantly cancelled.
I used to have a retractable line over my bath but have swapped bath for shower now and only room for a clothes maid in there. It is our of the way though and the clothes do dry so that is best we can do to avoid over use of tumble drier.

I have ordered an outside retractable washing
line and it’s going up in my garage.

As long as it is not raining I still put my clothes out on the line to dry. They either dry totally and that is job done, or at least get quite a lot drier, and they smell so much nicer than clothes dried inside. Then I bring them in and anything not dried enough goes on the clothes horse and finishes off

I might put up a vileda line indoors (they do one with four lines i think & its extendable& pops back in when done.I might set it up in dining room.My eldest son puts his wash draped up over the doors& with heat rising it works a treat.I also found that its more cost effective to take them to the laundrette to dry in their dryers if you have loads to dry as it only cost me 2.50 for huge amount of washing(could have been less but i only had a 50p not a 20p on me for last few!) I shudder to think how much that lot would have cost in my own dryer on electric. And as laundrette is round corner now weve moved (about 1 minutes drive) didnt use much fuel so son was pleased.(far too many to carry&we are a disabled household)

Aldi did a heated airer a bit back for about £40- havent found it online recently though.

Spare room ..
Same here this year, I gave my tumble dryer away so I wasn’t
tempted to use it ..

I have two ordinary clothes horse driers which I stand in front of a radiator. Or put outside in good weather. Usually only need one for washing machine full. Haven't used tumble drier for ages.