Spin dryers are back

Never had a tumble dryer. In different houses I have variously dried washing on a rack over the bath with the window open and door closed, on a rack above the large floor standing boiler, dried it in the utility room or, as now, on a rack in the integrated garage.

I have a Miele washing machine with a 1600 rpm spin, but also have a spin dryer in the garage.
It's an Indesit, with a spin speed of 2800 rpm.
So, washing gets done in the machine, including the spin cycle, then popped into the spin dryer from where it emerges almost dry!
It's astonishing to see how much water the spinner can still get out, despite the washing having had a 1600 spin in the machine!
The spinner was about £150, but I'm sure I've saved that over the past couple of winters, due to the tumbler being on for much shorter cycles! I love my spinner

I'm with yellowmellow the old twintub meant the kitchen was full of laundry all day Saturday . I loved my automatic in fact I truly believe the washing machine is the most liberating innovation of all.
Drying hmm. We live in Scotland so have a pully . Clothes dry overnight.
I do have a tumble drier but hardly ever use it. It is my oldest surviving gadget. I bought it in the wet spring of 1976 just before the hottest driest summer, because with 3 boys under 6 there was a lot of washing and we used real Terry nappies as I guess most of you did too?

I too used to keep a spin dryer in the cupboard under the stairs for the times the washing machine let me down. I also kept a baby burco for the same reason. Also found that putting towels and other washing over the upstairs banister dries things quicker than anything. I have a small tumble dryer (Creda) which I use for around 10 mins just to finish things off if I need to in the Winter. I am next to it then as it is usually in the Winter and I enjoy the heat coming out of the front while I do the veg for dinner!

We have solar panels which means some free electricity during daylight hours. The current unseasonal summer weather has meant that this was going unused as my washing dries beautifully outside and the slow cooker has been put in the cupboard as stews and soups have been off the menu in the heat.
I was thinking yesterday that there was nothing more I could wash to take advantage of this summer weather and the free electricity. All the curtains have been done, every bed stripped and everything including the mattress covers, duvets, valances etc ended up in the wash.
I always do an extra final spin once the wash cycle finishes to wring as much as possible out of everything except woollens. Can't imagine a spin drier could do much better.

I was told by an engineer many house fires are actually caused by dishwashers left on overnight so tend to run this, the washer and the tumble drier during the day when I'm home. I also have one of the Lakeland driers with a cover which goes over the whole thing - it's very efficient although a bit fiddly threading everything through the runners (the cat loves getting under the cover when it's on ). It's a bit like the old fashioned Flatley drier that my MIL had years ago which regularly would burn clothes if they were left too long - thankfully I think they were banned!

Forty years ago my DH and I used to live in a tiny flat with no facilities. We did the washing in the bath and spun it in a small freestanding spindryer which would bounce around the room unless held tightly while it got going.

My ILs bought us a twin tub as a wedding present which we finally replaced with a (useless) washer-dryer.

Forty years later I am in washing heaven with an old Whirpool washer with a high spin speed and a tumble dryer.

I have vivid memories of my mother doing the washing in a copper boiler and putting it through the mangle. Heavens!What progress! However, I read the green lobby wishes us to go back to the dark ages by restricting water use and domestic fuel consumption. Funny how all the newly minted environmental measures involve making women responsible for household tasks regress to manual labour again.

I used to have a top loader washing machine - automatic but spun as fast as a twin tub. I got it when we moved to a place with no room in the kitchen but a big (upstairs) bathroom where the washing machine had to go - and the old front loader tended to leak.
The top loader was brilliant and far quicker than modern machines - unfortunately I've downsized twice since then, no room in bathroom, no utility, washing machine has to fit under kitchen worksurface!

Nor would I Sucraft.
My DD and I had Creda spin dryers for many years. Mine broke and we drove over 100 miles to pick up a second-hand one, turning the trip into a quick visit to the lake district. Later that broke down too and I now have a different make - whilst she, lucky lady, still has her original Creda, which must be well over 25 years old now. 2800 revs a minute - brilliant.

Separate spin driers used to spin at 2000 revs whereas today's washing machines spin at about 1000-1400, nowhere near as fast.

I have a washer/drier as I have no room in my (small) garden for a washing line. I also haven't room for a separate washer & tumble drier. I have no room indoors to dry washing except my wet room, I do use my concertina airer for anything which cannot be tumble dried.

I never leave the machine on overnight (end up having some very late nights) or when I go out. I do envy my neighbour who has a greenhouse where she can hang things to dry. I will get one as soon as I've saved up

I was always flooding the kitchen? I would get bored waiting for the spin dryer to fill so I’d wander off only to discover I’d been wandering for too long.
Always doing something important of course.
Thank goodness we had a tiled floor, If was the cleanest for miles around. So no spin dryer now thank you very much. We have wooden floors now.

If they are coming back...I certainly won't be having one. We had one when we first got married. What a chore washing was. The rinsing and then spinning. It sounded like a jet taking off!, and as someone so rightly said....it would take off across the kitchen it the load was distributed evenly. A nightmare...I certainly didn't have it very long before I got an automatic.....at the time it was sheer bliss x

Wow narrowboatnan that's quite something, certainly saves using laundrettes .

Happysexagenarin I also use the dryer balls, (well actually one at the moment as my little grandson was playing with one and who knows where it is now)
Not sure if they make a difference.
But they were great when I had a bad back
The physio recommend rubbing up against wall with a spicky ball between shoulder blades.

My Washer also had spin cycle so will try the extra spin as suggested by some Gransnetters.

I’ve got a twin tub and use it every week. It’s made of plastic so isn’t as robust as the older, metal models but it does the job. There’s no heating element so I have to fill it with hot water. It’s the sort that’s sold for use on boats and in caravans. I’ve had it since 2013 and apart from having to give it an almighty thump sometimes to get the spinner spinning it works fine.

I do not own a spin dryer but I have borrowed one occasionally in the winter months and it is marvellous for heavier items, removing a lot more water than my automatic washing machine. I could be tempted to have one but I'm not sure where I'd put it - running out of space! Most of our laundry gets tumble dried, especially towels. I also use those knobbly dryer balls which seem to fluff up the towels and dry them a bit quicker. Large bed linen items go on the washing line weather permitting.

My 92 year old mum has a Bosch washing machine and a spin dryer she has had for donkeys years. She says the spinner still gets out more water than the fastest spin only programme on the washing machine. She likes it for thick stuff like towels.

I thoroughly recommend a heated dryer. I got one from Lakeland- it costs 4p an hour to run (we have a white meter so only costs 2p if it is on after 11pm & before 6am- it has a timer so we can set it for these times)
It takes a full washing machine load & dries beautifully. Also keeps bathroom warm so we turn radiator off.
It folds flat to store during the day.
Defo one of our 'best buys'

sarahellenwhitney, it’s not commonly known but things like washing machines are covered by the two year European guarantee. Retailers don’t really shout about it though.Don’t know what the position will be in the future.

We inherited two spin dryers, one from a spinster aunt and one from my late mother-in-law. Neither of these ladies had washing machines but they also had very little washing to do by hand. We washed sheets and other large items for them.

I gave one of the spin dryers away on Freegle to a lady who lives in holiday chalet. She was ecstatic. The other one I kept and it's really useful for small hand washed bits and pieces. I wouldn't be without it. I keep it in the spare bedroom.

I have friends who swear by washing/spinning in the automatic machine and then putting machine on spin cycle at the end.

Leah how on earth do you do your laundry? By hand? ???

I keep a spin dryer, usually in the loft or the garage. I have had cause to be really grateful, and so have friends and relatives when washing machines have not been fixable and washing has had to be done by hand in the mean time. I would not be without it, although it is not often seen

Two years ago my' sales bargain??' washing machine packed up one months after its one year guarantee ran out .Second new machine in only five years? I hunted around determined not to make the same mistake.
I paid twice the price and plus for my new machine with a two year guarantee, Not just for its guarantee but capacity and most important its spin speed. Wool items and synthetics dry indoors in no time It will do a 'spin only' if you want to put some hand wash in.I would rather go the 'whole hog' all singing and dancing machine than the expense of a spin dryer.

I know they're brilliant, but what with far from huge kitchen and no utility as such, I wouldn't have room for a spin dryer. I do sometimes re-spin after a machine wash - notably the other day, when I'd done a few jumpers on the wool cycle. They came out a lot less wet 2nd time.

My sheets etc. usually go over the banisters and dry very quickly, unless I need them in a hurry - succession of guests, etc. - in which case they go in the tumble dryer, which is in a covered area outside the back door, along with the extra emergency-overload small fridge.