Drying washing - heating vs tumble dryer?

Surfbabe

I don;t have a tumble drier. I hang washing out on line and unless its raining it dries to some extent. I then hang it on a clothes airer and leave overnight near a radiator before ironing.

DKLS

I couldnt live without my dryer, makes the clothes easier to iron an otherwise the house would look like a chinese laundry.

Lucylocket01

I line dry. If thats not possible I put them on the clothes airer in the spare room with the rad on. Only takes a few hours for jeans and towels. Lighter things take no time at all.

We used to have a drier but I sold it cos I never used it. Cant see why they are so needed to be honest.

Krystaltips

I'm awful... I always use my drier... I peg out on dry days but if there's any hint of precipitation or it's late I shove it in the drier... and I always do towels in the drier, they come out fluffier than the line and I don't use fabric softener... I also shove those things that can't be tumble dried on the radiators... I don't even know what happened to my clothes airer... Although in the old days I used to just put washing on the airer in the spare room... Haven't had one of those for 4 years!

adandem

Lucylocket01 wrote: »

I line dry. If thats not possible I put them on the clothes airer in the spare room with the rad on. Only takes a few hours for jeans and towels. Lighter things take no time at all.

We used to have a drier but I sold it cos I never used it. Cant see why they are so needed to be honest.

This is just what we do too, gave our drier away;) I just love the smell of line dried clothes, even if they've only been there a short while.

I sometimes hang towels over the bannister upstairs and I put all the undies on one of those circular peg thingies in the airing cupboard.

I also make sure i've used a high spin speed as I find that can make a difference to drying times too;)

Ms_Chocaholic

How much energy does it take to run my household appliances?

It is surprising how expensive some appliances can be to run especially if they are used on a daily basis. So how much will that mean in terms of running costs?

To work out the running costs of electrical appliances multiply the rating by the amount of time it is on to give the number of kWh (kilawatts per hour). Then multiply the cost per kWh (look at a recent electricity bill or tariff leaflet for the appropriate figure - we used 6.6p for the example below).

Wattage divided by 1000 x time used in minutes divided by 60 = kWh
kWh x cost in pence = cost

e.g. A 900 W vacuum cleaner used for 15 minutes: 900 divided by 1000 x 15 divided by 60 = 0.225 kWh
cost = 0.225 x 6.6p = 1.5p
Therefore using a vacuum cleaner for 15 minutes costs 1.5p

The table below shows the typical rating in Watts for some of the more common household appliances:

Cold Appliances

• Freezer 150
• Refridgerator 100

Heating and Hot water appliances

• Immersion heater 3000
• Instantaneous hot water 3000
• Oil filled radiator 500-2500
• Radiant heater/fire 1000-3000
• Storage Heater 2000-3000

Wet appliances

• Dishwasher 3000
• Tumble dryer 2500
• Washing machine 2500

Cooking appliances

• Electric hob 4 rings 2500
• Grill (alone) 2500
• Kettle 1800-2500
• Microwave oven 800
• Toaster 1050-1360

Lighting appliances

• Light (common incandescent) 100
• Light (compact fluroescent) 20

Home entertainment

• Portable radio/CD 18
• DVD Player 15
• TV widescreen 70
• TV standby 5
• Video cassette player 35
• Playstation 50

Miscellaneous

• Blanket (under) 60-120
• Blanket (over) 150-350
• Fan extractor 75
• Hair dryer 400-1200
• Iron 1200
• Vacuum cleaner 900

How can I use this information?

Most modern appliances will label how many watts they consume. This can be used as a guide if you need to buy a new appliance or simply identify which appliances are costing you more money to run.

Ms_Chocaholic

If anyone's still reading after all that, how can I find out how energy efficient my tumble dryer is?

Thanks

jay11_2

I use my drier loads, even though the heating is on. Partly because running the dehumidifier for 6-8 hours costs a similar amount as the tumble drier for 1 hour, and partly because this damp house is so small that even an upright airer gets in everyone's way. I do line dry whenever possible, but rain is rain, and uniforms etc. need to be clean and dry.

I don'y know about efficiency, Mrs Chocaholic, other than watching the meter when the TD, and nothing else, is on, googling it, or buying one of those plug-in energy counter things.

stevec59

Have you seen:-

http://www.rotaire.com/

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Mn0s9kTg2FM


Looks like a fab idea.

Steve

kim_ley

i use my dryer about once a day and love it clothes frre so much softer easier to iron if they need it at all mine is a new very energy efficient one and my last quarterly bill was £60 and that includes running a pc all day (home office) a laptop when im bored tv playstation and a forgetfull o/h who never turns anything off so every light at once etc...