Efficiently drying clothes

pmk741

HI all,

Has anyone used an electric clothes rack/horse? Are they expensive to run ?

I am contemplating buying one however I don't want to if it is no cheaper/greener than using a traditional dryer.

I don't normally use the heating during the day and am resisting this especially with current increase in gas prices .

I do work from home now so was contemplating buying an electirc heater to get me through the winter and if I'm running both maybe I should just leave the heating on low and not bother with it or the heater for my office.

Thanks

neilmcl

I'd stick with a dryer if you can. The amount of moisture a clothes rack releases into the air when drying wet clothes indoors will lead to condensation and related problems, ie, mold. Whilst a heated clothes horse will dry clothes quicker than a normal one it will take an age in comparison to a dryer and wont be that good for your clothes either.

comeandgo

I visit a lot of elderly and they seem to use heated clothes racks more than the non elderly as they can’t always go outside to put out washing and tumble dryers expensive.  Non of the houses I visit have condensation or mould and the racks give a nice warm background too.

pmk741

Thanks but I wasn’t very clear. I don’t currently have a dryer. I currently use the a couple of racks in the spare room which is now effectively the drying room. It’s just not going quick enough so I am looking at options. Our washing machine is coming to the end so buying a a washer dryer is an option…. 

Bendy_House

What power rating are these drying racks?

And does your 'drying room' have windows - ideally more than one?!

beckstar1975

Ae are a family of 5 (3 teens and 2 adults) and we manage with our heated dryer and never use the tumble dryer. We are now both working from home in the same room as both the tumble and rack - the tumble dryer is too noisy for when we have calls etc. We get at least 3 loads of washing dried in 24 hours on the heated dryer - the top rack dries much quicker than the bottom one so worth swapping over during the day. Bonus is that you can only open one side if you don't have much so it doesn't stick out too far. Does make the surrounding space warmer too (and can hang wet coats/shoes on it too)

We bought ours from the Lakeland outlet on eBay - and bought the cover too after reading reviews. You can use a duvet cover instead but you definitely need something.

Now planning to get rid of the tumble full time, I wouldn't go back now.

MattMattMattUK

Buy a condensing dehumidifier and run that in the room with the washing in, with the door shut. Using a dryer (or the dryer component of a washer dryer) is both expensive and will damage clothes. A dehumidifier sucks the moisture out of the air, the clothes dry quicker, are not damaged and is a lot more cost effective to run. A full load in s small room will dry in around two hours with the dehumidifier running, that will cost around 20-30p, the same load in a tumble dryer, or drying in a washer dryer would cost £0.90-1.40 depending on type and efficiency. 

Grabs39

I have one, I can't say it uses a noticable amount of power.  It's a cheap Argos one, not the swanky Lakeland one.  We also have a (Aldi) dehumidifier.  Using these it means that jeans dry in about a day, instead of the 3 days they would otherwise take.

We don't use a tumble dryer so couldn't compare.

EDIT - I've checked the label and it uses 230 Watts.  If it takes 12 hours to dry everything then that would cost me about 44p.  To add we only really use it for towels and cotton clothes, anything polyester just goes on a normal clothes horse and drys within a few hours by itself.

pmk741

IBendy_House said:

What power rating are these drying racks?

And does your 'drying room' have windows - ideally more than one?!

It has a small window which we just leave open 24 / 7. 

The Atmos ezzy dry pro I’m looking at 1300w.

Don’t really have a problem with mould / condensation.

pmk741

MattMattMattUK said:

Buy a condensing dehumidifier and run that in the room with the washing in, with the door shut. Using a dryer (or the dryer component of a washer dryer) is both expensive and will damage clothes. A dehumidifier sucks the moisture out of the air, the clothes dry quicker, are not damaged and is a lot more cost effective to run. A full load in s small room will dry in around two hours with the dehumidifier running, that will cost around 20-30p, the same load in a tumble dryer, or drying in a washer dryer would cost £0.90-1.40 depending on type and efficiency. 

Does this work even if your house is cold?

Stompa

MattMattMattUK said:

Buy a condensing dehumidifier and run that in the room with the washing in, with the door shut. Using a dryer (or the dryer component of a washer dryer) is both expensive and will damage clothes. A dehumidifier sucks the moisture out of the air, the clothes dry quicker, are not damaged and is a lot more cost effective to run. A full load in s small room will dry in around two hours with the dehumidifier running, that will cost around 20-30p, the same load in a tumble dryer, or drying in a washer dryer would cost £0.90-1.40 depending on type and efficiency. 

We use a dehumidifier too, though ours is a dessicant. It works pretty well, and takes about 4 hours for us.