How to prevent damp drying laundry indoors?

Bollotom

Pound Shop have some gadgets called 'Damp Trap'. My missus gets them and they collect the damp in crystals and as soon as the container is full of water you just dump it. Oh, they cost £1. :cool:

lstar337

sniggings wrote: »

make your mind up, first you say a dryer costs less to run then say it costs more.

Typo.

sniggings wrote: »

I said all day OR night if you are going to correct me get it right yourself.

They don't need to be run all day, or all night. Just while the clothes dry.

sniggings wrote: »

we have no idea of the humidiy in the Op's place so it could take all day, also factor in the room size, fact is they need to be on for hours to dry clothes

I used to live in a damp flat with a RH of about 80% for most of the year, and it still didn't need to be on all day.

sniggings wrote: »

I have one and even after being in the dryer the clothes nearly dry the dehumidifier still had to be on for most of the day and the clothes were still not totally dry.

Try to understand that not all clothes are suitable for a tumble drier. All clothes are suitable for an airer.

sniggings wrote: »

A good drier can cost less than 30p to dry a load whereas yes a dehumidifier has a stat but chances are it will be on full most of the time as the drying programe is normally full power, would only be on less power in the smallest of rooms and one where the humidity is very low, which is probably not the case, the most expensive dehumidifier on John Lewis is 750watts so 8hours you would be spending 6 units of electric instead of 2 with the drier, so sorry but you are totally and utterly wrong. :rotfl:

Carry on paying extra to ruin your clothes in the drier, I don't care. Most of the people on this thread with any sense already know you are wrong.

sniggings

lstar337 wrote: »

Typo.

They don't need to be run all day, or all night. Just while the clothes dry.

I used to live in a damp flat with a RH of about 80% for most of the year, and it still didn't need to be on all day.

Try to understand that not all clothes are suitable for a tumble drier. All clothes are suitable for an airer.

Carry on paying extra to ruin your clothes in the drier, I don't care. Most of the people on this thread with any sense already know you are wrong.

Clearly not wrong, just go onto Currys, John Lewis etc etc the running costs are there, a dehumidifer has to be on all day to dry clothes, are you really claiming it only takes a couple of hours! many many posts on here say as much, that they have theirs on over night or whilst at work etc

80% :eek: I doubt it very much,you would still be in hospital, and no dehumidifier would dry clothes in 80% humidity.

I've not said all clothes can go in a dryer,but most can,tho that can't canbe dryed with other means, next to heater, dehumidier etc etc

but in general a dryer and a good spin on the washer as I said in my first post would be cheaper to use than a dehumidifier.

Cat2011

I've been drying my clothes on airers for about the last 12 years, in 7 different properties and never had a problem with damp.

WestonDave

The other benefit of a dryer is that you don't end up with racks of clothes around the place drying - which in a small flat may be a relevant consideration.


However vented dryers are pretty wasteful of energy - you burn a load of electricity to create heat that you then blow straight outside. Modern condensing or even heat pump dryers avoid wasting the heat as it stays in the house.


Drying clothes on radiators will mean your heating has to work harder to heat up the weight of water in the clothes - its not a free means of drying clothes but it often feels like it because the costs are disguised into the general heating costs.


The other problem with room drying is that humid air also requires more energy to heat it - so heating a room with a rack of wet clothes in the middle will take more energy than one without. (This is fundamental physics - to change water's state from a liquid to a gas requires energy). Also unless that air in the room gets changed for fresher drier air, humidity levels will build leading to condensation damp. If you have a draughty old house it will be fine because the incoming fresh air is enough to change the air - if you've sealed your house up for energy efficiency then you may end up with a damp problem.


The other issue is the size of the drying space - a drying contains the clothes in a small drum and operates on them in there to dry them. To some extent putting a dehumidifier in a small (airing) cupboard with the clothes has a similar effect. If you are drying clothes in a big room with a dehumidifier running it will be doing all sorts of other drying - drying the soil in the pot plants, drying the moisture from furniture, and even trying to dry you out if you are sitting in the room.


So there isn't necessarily a single best option - choose the best you can depending on the available tools - however the worst is going to be air drying in a tightly sealed room and no dehumidifier - the water won't be going anywhere!

PlymouthMaid

I have no idea personally if a dryer warms the house as I have never had one (response to ? earlier). I guess it probably does but for all I know the heat produced could be vented to the outside.

RealGem

I had one of these when I was a student:

£9.99
http://www.tesco.com/direct/retractable-indoor-clothes-line-quatro/212-3166.prd

same one for £12.99 in case Tesco sold out:
http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/8505600.htm

As they go over the bath, you can close the door and not have to worry about damp (if your bathroom is adequately decorated for moisture).

I used to leave the bathroom radiator on low and the vent open slightly, and there would not be a build up of moisture.

This way was cheaper than both a dryer and a dehumidifier.