Cheapest way to dry laundry?

united4ever

Tumble dryer or putting it on a heated towel rail in the bathroom with window open to prevent mould? This time of year it's so hard to get the laundry dry any other way. How much does it cost to have a heated towel rail on all day with the window open a bit? Thanks

teddysmum

united4ever wrote: »

Tumble dryer or putting it on a heated towel rail in the bathroom with window open to prevent mould? This time of year it's so hard to get the laundry dry any other way. How much does it cost to have a heated towel rail on all day with the window open a bit? Thanks

You would have to only have a tiny amount of washing to rely on a towel rail to dry it all.


We use washing line, then clothes airer in fine weather and the tumble drier in bad weather of for emergencies, as they do use a lot of power. (I remember a work colleague being astounded at the rise in his electricity bill after buying a tumble drier on the birth of his daughter, and using it often.)

SplanK

Maiden and dehumidifier may work out cheaper and more efficient.


Granted, there is an initial cost, but more efficient than what you are suggesting and maybe cost less than trying to heat a room with a window open! Might as well just be chucking money out of the window. At least with a dehumidifier it heats the room as well so as long as you keep the door closed...

sillygoose

SplanK wrote: »

Maiden and dehumidifier may work out cheaper and more efficient.


Granted, there is an initial cost, but more efficient than what you are suggesting and maybe cost less than trying to heat a room with a window open! Might as well just be chucking money out of the window. At least with a dehumidifier it heats the room as well so as long as you keep the door closed...

That's kind of what we do, it goes on racks in the Conservatory, even this time of year when its pretty cold in there stuff dries in a a few days. We have a decent dehumidifier that runs in there all the time (well as its humidistat requires).

Every other day I can empty several litres out the tank. It stops the conservatory getting damp and the dried air seems to encourage the laundry to dry quickly. Power consumption isn't too bad.

SplanK

I am fortunate enough to have a spare room (otherwise known as the man cave/office) which I dump the cloths in there. Usually 12-18hrs and its dry. Keeping the door closed keeps the heat in thus further improving drying time.


Problem with a conservatory is its too 'leaky' to hold in the heat so you don't get the benefit and it slows down the drying time.


The other thing to note is I have a desk fan pointing at the maiden as well as a dehumidifier. The increase in air movement speeds up the drying time whilst the dehumidifier removes moisture and heats the air.

pelirocco

Its my experience that drying clothes indoors ends up with very smelly clothes

YORKSHIRELASS

I have just worked this out, hope I have got my maths right! My current electric tariff costs 15p per kwh.

My Lakeland heater airer is 200w so costs 3p per hour to run.

My 10L dehumidifier is 260w so costs 3.9p per hour to run.

My modern tumble drier is 2500w so costs 37.5p per hour to run.

So last night I put a 2 thick flannelette double sheets and 4 pillowcases on my heated airer for 12 hours overnight. It wasnt completely dry this morning so it went in the tumble drier for 20 minutes to finish it off. Total cost 49p to dry this washing.

Had I just put it in the tumble drier in the first place it would have probably cost about the same.

There are so many variables though. You cant tumble dry everything. I dont have a lot of space for an airer so cant have washing hanging around all the time. I dont like drying washing indoors without having the dehumidifier on but dont run it overnight because it is noisy.

If we have lit the woodburner on an evening I stand the washing in front of this when we go to bed to make use of the free heat.

At the end of the day the cheapest and best way is always to get it out on the line and I try and do this even in winter. If a good day is forecast in the week I will save my beddings and towels for then.

VoucherMan

I just put mine on a maiden, in the unheated spare room. 24 hours later it's dry, cost 0p.

Norman_Castle

YORKSHIRELASS wrote: »

My Lakeland heater airer is 200w so costs 3p per hour to run.

My 10L dehumidifier is 260w so costs 3.9p per hour to run.

My modern tumble drier is 2500w so costs 37.5p per hour to run.

.

Power ratings on appliances are maximums and are given to avoid overloading sockets. My washing machine is rated at 2200 watts but only uses this while heating the water,. The rest of the washing cycle is between 5 and 250 watts.

sillygoose

Norman_Castle wrote: »

Power ratings on appliances are maximums and are given to avoid overloading sockets. My washing machine is rated at 2200 watts but only uses this while heating the water,. The rest of the washing cycle is between 5 and 250 watts.

True, and my 12L dehumidifier is max. rated 210W but only runs about 40% of the time even in a closed room full of damp laundry, even with the humidity stat set highish (at 2/3rds). So more like 80W per hour average consumption.

HappyMJ

Norman_Castle wrote: »

Power ratings on appliances are maximums and are given to avoid overloading sockets. My washing machine is rated at 2200 watts but only uses this while heating the water,. The rest of the washing cycle is between 5 and 250 watts.

I would imagine a tumble dryer would have the heating element switched on most of the time.

I rarely use the tumble dryer if I can avoid it. I just hang the clothes on a rail and open the window a little. Cost - free..