Tumble Dryer vs Radiators

furndire

One thing that people have not mentioned re not having a tumble dryer is that you end up having to iron a lot more clothes, and ironing also cost time as well as money - I bet the iron runs the meter pretty quickly as well.
You also tend to need less clothes, as you can wash and dry them, so much quicker.
When the weather is nice, I put them out to partially dry, especially towels, and then finish them off in the dryer.
Drying clothes indoors puts loads of water in the air, which has to go somewhere, eg in your furniture and carpets, this in turn tends to turn the furniture cold, and your room takes longer to warm up.

jacksons_mum

ive just got a new dryer off MIL for christmas and i dont understand it! it isnt a condenser as it doesnt collect the water but there is no hole to put a hose anywhere. apparently the air just comes out of the door but this is making my kitchen really wet, the window gets full of condensation and even the tiles get wet. the only solution i can think of is to open the window every time i use it but that lets all the heat out and means i cant have the dryer on when im out or in bed. any suggestions anyone?

LJM

i dont own a tumble dryer i use radiators and outside

jcr16

jacksons_mum wrote:

ive just got a new dryer off MIL for christmas and i dont understand it! it isnt a condenser as it doesnt collect the water but there is no hole to put a hose anywhere. apparently the air just comes out of the door but this is making my kitchen really wet, the window gets full of condensation and even the tiles get wet. the only solution i can think of is to open the window every time i use it but that lets all the heat out and means i cant have the dryer on when im out or in bed. any suggestions anyone?

we had the same prob. i bought a tumble drier boc thing that went on end of hose and collected fluff and water. it was 16.99 from betterware. worked fab but i still had to have a window open slightly to allow the room to stay dry.my windows have a safety lock on them so i can open them a little then re-lock and this is what i did

hth

furrypig

i have a condensor tumble dryer and we had it in the garage to begin with but now in a utility room! I love it especially as I hate ironing and hubby and kids work/school shirts go in and don't need to be ironed anymore ... hurray!

I use a line outside as well but at this time of year my td is on most days!

tawnyowls

HappyIdiotTalk wrote:

Does anyone know what it costs to run a grade A efficient tumble dryer for one load? Currently my OH is drying clothes on the radiators. I dont know for sure but I'm willing to bet that it costs more to do this than run a tumble dryer. Also damp air is more expensive to heat than dry air so its probably hitting us twice.

Also we've got a horrid kitchen with no room for a dryer, so I'd need one that doesn't need venting as it'd have to go in the cellar. Are there any good one's that collect the water in a tank?

It's easy enough to work out, if you have the instruction manual. That should tell you how many kW it uses at low and high heat. Failing that, look on the machine - it should tell you what kilowattage it is. If you run it for 1 hour, it will use that many kilowatt hours of electriciy. Find your electricity bill and see what you're being charged for each unit (which is a kWh), and you've got your answer. So, for instance, if your TD is 3kW and your electricity charge is 10p per kWh, it will cost 3 x 10 = 30p to run it for 1 hour. There is a calculator here (http://www.ukpower.co.uk/running-costs-elec.asp), but there's a bit of a mistake on it; it works out the cost no problem, but it should end up with a cost per hour, not per month (we wish!).

It does seem less cost-effective to dry clothes on radiators - from what I've read, draping clothes directly onto the radiators reduces the temperature output from them quite drastically, thus the thermostat thinks the house is colder and the boiler has to work harder to maintain the same heat output. It's supposed to be better to use radiator airers, as they let the heat circulate.

furndire wrote:

One thing that people have not mentioned re not having a tumble dryer is that you end up having to iron a lot more clothes, and ironing also cost time as well as money - I bet the iron runs the meter pretty quickly as well.
.

Ironing??:eek: Well, if you must ... you're right; many irons are rated at 2kW, so if you're ironing for an hour and a half, you'd use the same amount of electricity as running a 3kW TD for a hour.


You can cut the cost of tumble-drying down by drying the clothes outside as much as possible and finishing them off in the TD, washing two lots of clothes (divided by colour) and then dividing them by weight for the drying, so that loads of quick-drying jumpers aren't overdried just because there's a couple of pairs of jeans in along with them, and not overloading the TD, so there's plenty of air circulation. It's worth opening the door once or twice during the cycle, pulling the clothes out and giving them a good shake and putting them back in again. Also, don't set it for too long a cycle - a lot of people seem to set their TD for 90 mins or more, but if you divide the laundry by weight, you should find that light things will probably dry (from wet) in under an hour. Best to set it in 30-min blocks and check after each one, but keep a timer handy so that you don't forget about it and let it cool down in between.

furndire

Agree tawnyowls, use your timer, you can cut down the drying a heck of a lot, I tend to set for 30 minuits, you can always put them on again. You will soon then be able to judge how long your drying is going to take.
I have various tumble driers since the late 60's when they first started to be more readily in the shops, and wouldn't be without one.

furndire

Agree tawnyowls, use your timer, you can cut down the drying a heck of a lot, I tend to set for 30 minutes, you can always put them on again. You will soon then be able to judge how long your drying is going to take.
I have various tumble driers since the late 60's when they first started to be more readily in the shops, and wouldn't be without one.

skintas_2

i have a tumble dryer only use it when i have to, when i first got it was on everyday, still paying the bill 2 years later, use it if you must or else put on coat hangers, hang on shower rail above the bath this drys just as goo. or put in cupboard near emution heater.

CFC

Radiators in winter, outside in summer. No ironing necessary for OH's shirts (good job or he'd have to do it himself) - thiis is managed by hanging on a hanger and giving it a good hard brush with the hand to get out big creases and then leaving to dry.

I last got the iron out 4 years ago.... in fact I don't know where it is, I last SAW it 4 years ago too!

:rotfl: