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Rotary airer or washing line?

We finally have a garden and as sad as it sounds, I'm very excited about drying clothes outside instead of using the airer indoors.

Currently there's a retractable line in the garden, but I had assumed I'd get a rotary airer. Is there any real benefit in one over the other?

Was gutted I couldn't hang any washing out today - we don't have any pegs yet!
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  • Linda32
    Linda32 Posts: 4,385
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    I have a rotary line because I don't have the length for a line. Our garden is wider then it is long and a line doesn't fit along the wider part.

    The washing dries perfectly well on a rotary line if the weather is fine enough.

    It would dry the same on a line.

    If you do buy a rotary don't buy a cheap one as it is likely to fall over or it won't be wide enough for sheets.
  • PasturesNew
    PasturesNew Posts: 70,698
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    Both have their place - and you can have both.

    A retractable line has a limited lifespan, you really want a good beefy washing line :)

    I prefer a line, but I've got a rotary.

    Given the choice I'd have both... you can never have too much line space :)
  • Hi,


    get a decent rotary, unless you will be using it every day, you can fold it down and stick it in the shed when not in use.


    Saves joints getting rusted up by rain and makes garden look tidier.


    I put a golf ball over spike, when not in use, just to prevent anything falling in.
  • VfM4meplse
    VfM4meplse Posts: 34,269
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    DD265 wrote: »
    We finally have a garden and as sad as it sounds, I'm very excited about drying clothes outside instead of using the airer indoors.
    My kind of OSer! :beer:

    Personally I'm not a fan of rotary driers because of the limited space for circulation, nor retractable lines as they tend not to hold too much weight (you can forget drying linen bedding on them, for a start).

    Your best step IMO its to go DIY on this :D. Two fixed concrete posts (such as those found on garden fences) straddled by one of these vvvv, and propped up with a pole if necessary will do the job nicely.

    D92683CE9323CE9E434BD2739B9D33D24626E60356D2C9C67356D21EC69AC8136343939D49CD63CD9DF5CE.jpg

    Obviously the poles will require investment if you don't have any, but look around for any fixed point and get creative. The other advantage is it that its all-weather and once you've fixed it to your require length, it doesn't need to be messed around with.

    Wrt aesthetics: the only time it will be that noticeable will be when its being used.
    Value-for-money-for-me-puhleeze!

    "No man is worth, crawling on the earth"- adapted from Bob Crewe and Bob Gaudio

    Hope is not a strategy :D...A child is for life, not just 18 years....Don't get me started on the NHS, because you won't win...I love chaz-ing!
  • A line is less obtrusive when not in use but harder to move when not in use (unless the rotary is cemented in as in a house I once rented! This was not a good idea as it would have been very hard to remove when the rotary line needed replacing.)

    Cost wise, we've been in this house nearly 12 years and I'm on my 4th rotary and I do change the line in them when it breaks, but my next door neighbours have a tumble dryer and the 12 year old rotary. I do have a lot more washing on mine than they do and use it all year round.

    I had a line at the previous house that went all the way down the long thin garden and I could dry 2 good loads at a time. I got a prop (like this https://www.wilko.com/en-uk/wilko-extendable-clothes-prop/p/1289640 ) for it so I could push the filled line as high as the end poles which helps with the sagging and lets you use the space under the line while the washing is on it.

    I do think that washing seems to dry quicker on a line and tangles less. But now I have a small square garden that had a rotary when we moved in.

    I've not had a retractable line and suspect that with my heavy wash loads I'd probably have to replace that every few years as I have done the rotarys... but if I moved somewhere with one, I'd keep using it until/unless it broke on me.
    C.R.A.P.R.O.L.L.Z #37 - waterproof wearing cage customiser, chief of cable ties and duct tape

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  • I prefer a line so that the air and sunlight can circulate all around,everything dries faster than on a rotary one. I used to have a rotary but got rid of it because I was frustrated by the time it took to dry the washing.If it was fully loaded the breeze or sunshine wasn't getting to the laundry pegged on in the middle.
  • I have two lines - I had a retractable in the last house but found the knot slipped no matter what. But my current lines have the hooks on the ends so that I can take them down from one end and coil neatly when I don't want them up.


    I second the clothes prop - one of mine is shop bought but the other is a piece of 1" x 1" wood that the ex cut a notch in the end of - it came from his stash and has outlasted several metal ones,
    “the princess jumped from the tower & she learned that she could fly all along. she never needed those wings.”
    Amanda Lovelace, The Princess Saves Herself in this One
  • A line is less obtrusive when not in use but harder to move when not in use (unless the rotary is cemented in as in a house I once rented! This was not a good idea as it would have been very hard to remove when the rotary line needed replacing.)

    Cost wise, we've been in this house nearly 12 years and I'm on my 4th rotary and I do change the line in them when it breaks, but my next door neighbours have a tumble dryer and the 12 year old rotary. I do have a lot more washing on mine than they do and use it all year round.

    I had a line at the previous house that went all the way down the long thin garden and I could dry 2 good loads at a time. I got a prop (like this https://www.wilko.com/en-uk/wilko-extendable-clothes-prop/p/1289640 ) for it so I could push the filled line as high as the end poles which helps with the sagging and lets you use the space under the line while the washing is on it.

    I do think that washing seems to dry quicker on a line and tangles less. But now I have a small square garden that had a rotary when we moved in.

    I've not had a retractable line and suspect that with my heavy wash loads I'd probably have to replace that every few years as I have done the rotarys... but if I moved somewhere with one, I'd keep using it until/unless it broke on me.

    my Aunty had a long garden with the washing line line going down the middle, my uncle made two long props to take the weight of it all when fully loaded & get it up high so it was out of the way of the veg garden. It was also on a pulley loop thingymajig so you could peg the washing on it at the back door, move it along and then put the props in when you were done. Great it was especially if it rained and you wanted to get the washing in you could reel it in very quickly. I've never had a garden big enough to do the same thing myself though
  • Mistral001
    Mistral001 Posts: 5,346
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    A line will dry the clothes quicker than a rotary dryer. If getting a line I would use a propping pole in the middle. That will take the load off the line and its fixings and also give a little more height.
  • DD265
    DD265 Posts: 2,202
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    We've got two props that the previous owner left behind. The retractable line is fence-mounted, and there's a hook on the other side of the garden to put the loose end on.

    We'll give it a go (I've bought some pegs!) and see how we get on.

    I can always leave a gap in the middle of the washing for us to walk through ;)
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