Drying washing - heating vs tumble dryer?

lilmissmup

I am thinking of getting a dryer, my gas went up by 34% this quarter but electric only up by 9% so if i got a dryer i think it would be cheaper than having the heating on.

Janepig

michelefauk wrote: »

our tumble drier is not working at the mo so we have been going to the launderette, not as bad as it sounds to be honest! I chuck about 5 loads of washing in at one go (the driers are HUGE) and it costs about £2.00 max for all that, I keep stopping it and pulling out and folding things as they dry. Especially for towels, jeans etc, I dont think you can beat it. Plus you get to sit in the warm launderette and read the paper for half an hour, bonus! In the launderette I am using, the machines take 20p pieces, one 20p lasts about 6 minutes which doesnt sound much but the driers are very very hot, much higher than a domestic drier I think.

Worth considering, I definately am a convert!

I want to go to your launderette - mine is 20p for 3 minutes!!!! But it is definitely worth it, especially when the weather prevents you from drying outside. I dry a mountain of washing for about £2 (half an hour). The dryers are so hot that the clothes are still warm in the basket hours later. And it helps cut down on ironing too if you fold the clothes as you take them out of the dryer.

Jxx

larmy16

My tumble drier cost approx 15p for 40 minutes drying. This was to finish off some clothes that were almost dry. I use it occasionally. I have a shower rail over my bath (no shower) and find that clothes dry in a day, are then finished off in the airing cupboard and no ironing as I smooth them out.

michelefauk

Just to add to my post above, I went to the launderette again yesterday. Had 2 massive (yellow Ikea) bags of wet washing, including 6 pairs of adult jeans, 4 bath towels, a dressing gown which is very thick, plus loads of other clothes, uniforms, sweatshirts etc.
I chucked the whole lot in one machine, cost £2.40 to dry in about 50 minutes. All came out lovely and warm, so hot that it was still warm when I was unpacking it over an hour later. out of all that, I only had to iron 5 things as I had folded all the clothes carefully while they were still hot.

great value, lots of magazines left there for others to read so passed the time very quickly, no wet washing draped all over the house, what a result! really dont think i will bother getting the tumble drier fixed to be honest

foreign_correspondent

When I lived in holland we had no space for a washer or dryer, but there was a launderette just over the road - a huge service wash, (big, tightly packed ikea bag size) where everything was washed, dried and folded nicely cost about £4.

I loved it, it felt like such a luxury, and we could mainly manage with about one wash a week, so it wasnt too expensive! So nice to get everything back fresh, folded up, and ready to go in the cupboards!

Bogof_Babe

I have a condenser dryer and it is shocking to see the amount of water collected in the chamber from just an average load, and to think of all that being in the atmosphere when drying "naturally". It must go somewhere.

In our holiday flat we have no access to a garden, and no tumble dryer, so I have to hang things around the place. I got some small radiator airers (the radiators are too small for normal airers) from Wilkinsons that just take two items each, and these are good for odds and ends but obviously no good for towels, bedding etc. I've also got a plug-in freestanding airer but it gets in the way so I try not to use it too often.

I was wondering about those non-electric dehumidifiers that I've also seen in Wilko's. Not sure if they'd be any good though.

As regards t/dryers in the launderette, if it was not too busy you could leave the washing in the dryer for a few minutes before putting the next 20p in, so it would be in the residual warm air and it should cut down the overall cost.

Steph998

My son is a student, and he takes his washing out of the machine and hangs it in the living room on an airer... without heating and just a gas fire it takes a day or so to dry. He has a shared line outside - summer time is fine, but towels etc in the winter are a nightmare. He is on a pre paid meter....we put an old tumble dryer in the flat...and whenever it is on, for towels or jeans, the red light flashes like mad (indicating something is using a lot of power) so I assumed an old tumble drier does use a lot of units.

BallandChain

I just hang everything on a couple of clothes horses to dry. Then when it's nearly dry put it in the airing cupboard. The place we moved to has a makeshift washing line in the airing cupboard which was here when we moved in. It certainly gets things dry, however we suffer with damp and I'll be getting a dehumidifier shortly so will see if that helps dry the washing.

I have had a tumble drier in the past but think they are too expensive to run now. In fact, there is a washer/drier here provided by landlord, but I only use it for washing the clothes, etc. I tend to think if you tumble dry certain items of clothing they start to loose their shape and shrink.

pulliptears

Im a recent convert to a Tumble Dryer (6 months) and now I cant live without it. I tend to wash on a saturday morning, dry in the afternoon and iron it at night. A weeks worth done in 2 or 3 loads, in a day.

I hated having washing around, on radiators, clothes airers in the bath etc. Its not costing a huge amount, and to be honest the time it saves me and the not having it hanging round for days is worth the few pounds a week it costs me.

BallandChain

How do you find it cost wise? I used to use the tumble drier a lot when electric was cheaper. I'm all electric here and it's costing a fortune just with the heating.