Efficiently drying clothes

MattMattMattUK

pmk741 said:

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?

It would depend on what you class as cold, even in the middle of winter no room drops below 14c without the windows open as I live in a very well insulated new build flat and that was only one day, most of the time even in winter my flat sits around 18-19c without using the heating. Plus the dehumidifier does put out some heat so that room would normally be a couple of degrees warmer anyway.

But in theory yes, the minimum operating temperature of the dehumidifier is around 14c and they tend to work best at 18c or higher, but then if your house is only 14c a tumble dryer will have to work harder to heat up as well, so it is all relative. 

Alanp

We use the one from Lakeland, it’s called a dry soon. Comes with a cover and costs pennies to run. Stuff dries overnight 

tooldle

We have the Lakeland heated airer and a dehumidifier. Clothes dry within hours and no condensation problem 

Rosa_Damascena

Drying washing has always been a bugbear of mine and I would much rather use the great outdoors for this purpose.

I can tell you that the power in the Aldi heated drying rack is pretty useless. I have two Dri-Buddi's and they are brilliant. One was £15 from the chazzer; the other from Freecycle and they serve me well, although you have to be realistic - thick materials such as denim are going to take several hours to dry.

Ant555

Alanp said:

We use the one from Lakeland, it’s called a dry soon. Comes with a cover and costs pennies to run. Stuff dries overnight 

I second this - got the dry soon and it works a treat, overnight drying is great.

I got the optional cover with a special deal at the time  - My personal opinion is that it works fab with the cover on but my results are mixed when the cover is not on.

I typically use a normal airer infront of a large radiator in a spare room - swapping items around when partially dry but the dry:soon gets used when we have lots of washing or if its too warm for heating and wet outside.

outtatune

Get a freestanding spin dryer, they're about £170 and depending on the fabric will drain around 500ml of water from a single load. That should deal with any condensation issues.

Bigphil1474

We've used a standard clothes horse for the last 25 years, for when we can't hang clothes outside. Leave it in the bathroom with the window open. No condensation and no cost. Just need enough clothes so that time waiting for them to dry isn't an issue

applemacms

50+ years  ago I loved my Flatley dryer, which silently dried rhe clothes and heated the  nursery. Does anything  similar still exist today?

hmc

Hi, I’ve used the Lakeland for years , it’s in the spare room and window open a bit when on . I don’t always cover it and I have the mesh drying shelves for it as well . It’s 6p an hour electric so it says . I do have a dryer which is only used for towels as I like them soft lol . 

PollyWollyDoodle

Lakeland heated airer for me, it’s brilliant and I have never had problems with mould or condensation. It does work better with a cover, I just use a spare sheet.