Tumble drier v Washing Line

mamashaz

I have a dilemma about tumble driers or washing lines - which option is the greener?

My family has as few clothes as possible and therefore needs to dry them using a tumble drier. This is because my son and daughter are still at the age where they need clean school clothes every day and I just can't wash and iron them every evening. A tumble dryer cuts down on the cost of clothes (most are bought from eBay anyway) and the hassle/cost of ironing.

But I still feel guilty about using all that electricity. So should I stick to my current option or buy more clothes and dry on the line/airer inside and iron them?

Thoughts please ...

pollys

MMmmm not sure. I have 3 at primary school and they have 3 sets of uniform each. This way I wash only when I have a full load and only use the tumble drier for emergencies. I line dry or dry on a clothes horse. The uniform gets handed down as they all wear identical sweatshirt, polo shirt and trousers. I would rather save on the electricity and not have the hassle of washing and drying everyday.

I'm probably not much help

Contains_Mild_Peril

You already know which option is greener - the question is, is it viable for you? If most of the clothes are secondhand to start with, there's very little that could be "ungreen" about line drying even if you do buy more clothes, and the clothes will smell nicer, but unpredictable weather makes it difficult. I haven't used my washing line for about a fortnight because we've had heavy showers every day. I know that non-iron shirts are only non-iron when tumble dried, but some trousers are fine for line drying without ironing.

superdog_3

Know this dilemma well!
I managed to get extra uniforms through charity shops and our schools own second hand shop. When I do wash i try and leave the clothes on a line or clothes horse until the very last moment then only if desperate will I stick them in the TD. Cuts down on TD use.

[Deleted User]

I don' bother with line drying stuff.

Where I live people light their bonfires during the day and it's just a waste of effort trying to be green or save the electric.

It's not as though they are immediately next door but they are close enough for black bits to get on the washing and to get blown into my house.

rls1973

hi
i saw something on here about putting a dry towel in the tumble dryer and apparently it cuts down the drying time a lot (dont know the science of it!)
it's that time of year when you put stuff on the line and it rains on and off all day.
no need to iron though if tumble drying, leaves them nice and soft and no creases so it seems worth it, especially when the iron uses so much electric. dont know if you're supposed to but i also sometimes dry things by draping them on the hot water tank (havent got the radiators on yet!)

suitusir

Hi,

We always used to line dry but now prefer drier, i know its not greener, but my wife had really bad asthma and was always having attacks, what we were told and has cut her attacks to none existent( and she had them every day), was when the clothes are wet outside, the pollen sticks to the wetness in the wind, when you put your clothes on, you are in contact with so much pollen under your nose.

Its made my wife's life 1000% better but its costs us a little extra, but its worth the cost.

Hope that helps,


Keep smiling,

Kevin

mamashaz

Thanks for all your thoughts.

My son and daughter are at different schools so can't pass uniform down. They each have two sets of everything so I wash often to make sure they always have a clean uniform - I think I'll hunt down some more things from the charity shops/eBay so I don't have to wash and dry quite so often. I ironed the line-dried stuff that I did during the nice weather that we had last week whilst watching Coronation Street last night so using electricity for both the iron and the tv but I expect this is much much less than the tumble drier uses.

rubix_76

Mamashaz,

Just an idea, but would it be cheaper to buy more clothes and wash less often, also enabling you to dry on a radiator (or in our case our conservatory) versus electric every time you dry with the tumble ? Buying them from Asda or Tesco might be cheaper too.

Going slighly off topic (sorry) but I had the same thought about whether using a dishwasher Vs washing up by hand. I am sure I have heard somewhere it is cheaper with the machine as it is more efficient at heating and uses less water (feel free to correct me if I am wrong). Our hot water is heated by a combi-boiler upstairs and it seems to take an eternity for the hot water to come downstairs to the kitchen, and we are on a water meter so even more cost.

Happy Friday

Rubix

SusanCarter

rubix_76 wrote:

Going slighly off topic (sorry) but I had the same thought about whether using a dishwasher Vs washing up by hand. I am sure I have heard somewhere it is cheaper with the machine as it is more efficient at heating and uses less water (feel free to correct me if I am wrong). Our hot water is heated by a combi-boiler upstairs and it seems to take an eternity for the hot water to come downstairs to the kitchen, and we are on a water meter so even more cost.

Apparently some study was done of handwashing techniques across Europe and it was found that with modern dishwashers as long as you always run your dishwasher full then it is more efficient than handwashing. I guess with washing machines it is always best to have a full load too.

mamashaz

Just a quick update to say thanks for your suggestions. I did buy some more school clothes for the children - thanks to eBay and charity shops. I was using the washing machine and tumble drier much less (until my son started to wet himself at school and the bed too - time to get him checked out tomorrow) and drying things on racks too.