Tumble Dryer vs Radiators

furndire

CFC wrote:

When I was a kid tumble dryers hadn't been invented, but one piece of equipment some people had was a Flatley airer. Anybody remember 'em? Cheap to run I would guess. Tumble dryers eat electricity...

Was that the tent type of thing with like a bar for an electric fire in the bottom. I don't think they were cheap to run, plus they were very dangerous, started a few fires.
Going off at a slight tangent, my mother had a bed warmer which was a sort of metal cage which had a light bulb in to heat the bed up.

CFC

No, a Flatley was like this, just found a picture of it. It also had a lid, kind of aluminium or steel too which went on it. I presume there was a kind of heater underneath the metal bottom board. The clothes hung on the wooden slats. The heat given off was fairly gentle - but hardly any houses except fairly new builds had central heating when they were popular. Saved airing the washing on a clothes airer in front of the fire!

http://www.ukwhitegoods.co.uk/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=44063

Interested to hear about both a tent like contraption and a cupboard with a blower in it - not come across either of those before! I love the bedwarmer with a metal cage for a bulb too.

I've got a collectable Deco electric fire - it was clearly originally made for a 'bedsit' or studio flat, as the bars will lift up into a horizontal position, allowing you to put a pan over the fire.

Cameraman

We have a condenser tumble dryer in our flat and it’s excellent. There is no condensation from it at all. It has a 6th sense mode to calculate the drying time automatically too. Before we got it we used the radiators to dry clothes but ended up with a condensation problem as a result. The amount of water that ends up in the tray to empty after a wash load that would have been dripping down the windows is almost enough for me not to worry about the cost of the electric.

[Deleted User]

I always had a tumbler drier and we moved to a new house 18 months ago. I gave my td away because this house has a built-in washer/drier.

It washes really well but the td aspect is dreadful. It takes a hugely long time with a half load and everything gets very very creased. It is also very hot when drying. Too hot for the clothes and imo potentially a fire risk

I decided to bite the bullet re drying as we are not allowed to dry outside (leasehold) and I now have 4 different-sized airers, which all fold very compactly. One is stored in the en suite in the spare bedroom and that is used for overspill washing if necessary. That one is a plastic one, which folds flat and has 2 large fold-out wings

One massive one from lakeland is stored neatly on the first landing and it is brilliant because it is so versatile and can hold 3 full washes. I wheel that one into the first floor lounge if I have a massive wash. The sun comes in there so everything dries in approx 14 hours max
http://www.lakelandlimited.co.uk/product.aspx/!20648

One wooden folding airer is stored under the wash basin in a spare bathroom and is always useful for overspill
http://www.lakelandlimited.co.uk/product.aspx/!4655

This one is neatly stored in my kitchen behind a butchers trolley and is fab. I put it in front of the patio doors ( k glazing so the warmth comes in). I use this one a lot as it is so compact and versatile
http://www.lakelandlimited.co.uk/product.aspx/!3010

I realise that I have enough space here so that washing is not intrusive but I can cope well without a td and that would also be the case if my children were still at home

By the way I sometimes, also dry washing on the wooden airer when it is standing in the bath and as the bathroom is small and enclosed. I just put the fan on from time to time

Drying on the rad is not good because you`ll find that the top of the rad rusts quite quickly. Hang-on airers are much better and it is better still to have a proper airer in a sunny spot

bunking_off

tawnyowls wrote:

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.

Ironing?? 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.

That isn't strictly correct, in both cases. It would be true if the heating elements were on permanently, but they're not - in reality they cycle on & off, controlled by a thermostat. Think about it this way, when you use your iron even on the cotton setting, is it on permanently or is it quietly turning on & off (if there's a light on it you'll see that)? This means that for both the tumble dryer & iron, the power usage will be considerably less than (maximum rated power) x (time).

TKP_3

I have a condenser TD, but only use it for towels (it makes them soft and fluffy). The rest goes on the line in summer and on a clothes horse in the ulitiy room (next to the boiler) in winter. Bigger wetter items (jean etc) go on those clothes hangers that go over the radiaters.

furndire

Interested to hear about both a tent like contraption and a cupboard with a blower in it - not come across either of those before! I love the bedwarmer with a metal cage for a bulb too.

I've got a collectable Deco electric fire - it was clearly originally made for a 'bedsit' or studio flat, as the bars will lift up into a horizontal position, allowing you to put a pan over the fire.

I remember the Flatley Dryers now, I think I had one many moons ago, but not for long.
We used to be in the 2nd hand game 30 plus years ago, and there was a lot of interesting electric stuff kicking about, most of which was highly dangerous

I think the bed warmer was a baby glow, or something like that, far superior to hot water bottles, as it heated most of the area of the bed you slept on - again very dangerous, as the heat from the lightbulb had nowhere to go.

tawnyowls

bunking_off wrote:

That isn't strictly correct, in both cases. It would be true if the heating elements were on permanently, but they're not - in reality they cycle on & off, controlled by a thermostat. Think about it this way, when you use your iron even on the cotton setting, is it on permanently or is it quietly turning on & off (if there's a light on it you'll see that)? This means that for both the tumble dryer & iron, the power usage will be considerably less than (maximum rated power) x (time).

True - you have to make certain assumptions (unless you're planning to sit in front of the TD or iron with a stopwatch), but because both cycle, then hopefully the cycles should be roughly equivalent.

csarina

I have a condensor dryer which I use on econ 7 at night. Only use it if I have to....i.e. when its rained for days on end and we have no clothes left to wear. I find that quite a bit of the stuff can be put away without ironing......this morning it was fine so put a light wash on the line, promptly it started to rain, so now its on two radiator rails I bought from Argos eaons ago, it will dry as the heat in the house cycles on and off, the window in the kitchen is open a tad to let any steam out. occasionally the stuff in the dryer feels a little damp when I take it out, if its to be ironed I just fold it up, but if its going away I drape it over the rads for 10 -15 minutes to finish it off then fold it ready to go away.

I have not noticed a huge hike in my leccy bill using the TD.......you have to be sensible, as soon as the weather improves the washing will be hung on the line again.

buxtonrabbitgreen

I also bought a washer dryer as my kitchen is so small. Like the other poster said it runs too hot creases everything but still takes 90 mins to dry a full load. I think part of the problem is the very fast spin speed (for the creasing) Also I have a prepayment meter for electricity and I know it costs £2 for a 90 min load. But when you have changed all the beds and one child finally decides to tidy thier room, it is impossible to keep up with washing stuck on radiators. I do mostly dry (in the winter) on an airing horse in front of my bedroom radiator but it is making the room smell very musty, so despite the expense I think i will have to use the dryer more.