Dehumidifier rather than tumble drier

I'd be interested in knowing about this

I used one for a while till one of my children "borrowed" it and failed to return it. I found it very good and effective at drying clothes. It takes longer than a tumble dryer and needs more room as, of course, you have to hang the clothes round it. One thing that is rarely mentioned is that whereas alot of clothes dried in a tumble dryer don't need ironing, many of them dried with a dehumidifier still do. This means if you are concerned about the cost of electricity than this has to be factored in.

I don't have a tumble drier and almost never iron clothes. When dry outside they go out on the line, when wet they are given a good shake then hung on an airer.

I use a dehumidifier in the winter in our bedroom and conservatory to avoid condensation, but did not find it very effective at clothes drying. Perhaps mine are not designed to dry clothes?

I try and hang my washing outside whenever possible, then drape on clothes airers round the radiators to finish off.

Not ideal, but that’s what I do.

Same here calendargirl. We have one in the conservatory that deals efficiently with condensation, not so good at drying clothes although it does have a clothes drying setting. Depends on the room it’s in perhaps.

We have a Meaco 12L one that has a laundry drying mode, it is used in the boxroom for drying laundry if the weather is to bad to dry outside, I find it very helpful and much cheaper than using a tumble dryer.

Thank you everyone. I live in a flat so, like many in this country, am not allowed to put washing to dry outside and that would not help for most of the winter. I can stand the airer inside an open door in the summer and it dries in a flash, but I have resorted to the drier in the winter in the past.

It really helps to hear others experience with the dehumidifiers.

I bought one in January after asking on GN about condensation. It has a laundry button.
Like Bridie it's in the boxroom and does a good job. The waste water is great for using in the iron and watering plants.
I have an energy efficient tumble dryer too. It's hard to compare the cost as the dryer is on for a short time whereas the dehumidifier needs to run for hours to dry things like jeans.
If Martin Lewis says it's efficient then I believe him.
BTW it has helped with my condensation problem too.

At the present moment I would look very closely at how much electricity a dehumidifier uses.

My own experience is that they are only of any use for drying clothes if they are used in a very small space. On board our motor boat clothes did dry faster if the dehumidifier was on, in our house they don't.

At present I find that anything smaller than bed linen dries satisfactorily just hung up in the back-kitchen as our washing machine spin dries very well. So it is only sheets and duvet covers that go into the dryer.

We have a Vax dehumidifier and it is fantastic at trying clothes. I hang everything outside when i can and bring them in when either it rains or is getting late in the day, normally a couple of hours in the spare room on the airer with the dehumidifier going is enough to get them bone dry. Have yet to use it for clothes that have just come out of the washing machine.

We have a Meaco 20L low energy one, bought to help with the condensation problem we live in an old house.
But is is great for drying laundry in the winter and fairly cheap to run.

I read elsewhere on a similar thread that someone with a “smart” meter had costed her dehumidifier use at around 9p a day. It was a fairly large one that runs all the time with an auto-cutoff when the required humidity level has been reached.

The other thing to factor in to the cost is that drier air in your home costs less to heat than more humid air. So as well as reducing or eliminating any condensation problems, the cost of running the dehumidifier should be more than compensated for by a reduction in heating costs.

I put my washing on the airer next to a radiator which is on low overnight (cheap rate elec), put the dehumidifier on and it is virtually dry by morning.