What’s the best way to dry clothes this winter?

Kysa85

Hi, 

I’ve seen lots of bits of information on various social media feeds about how to dry clothes this winter but if I’m honest I haven’t been paying too much attention.

However, we are a busy family with young children and I need to do a wash a day to keep on top of everything. We don’t have a tumble dryer and I’ve started to notice that clothes on the airer are taking longer than 24h to dry which then puts me behind and also I think the clothes start to smell a bit musty if they take too long to dry.

What’s my best (and by that I mean cheapest) option to get them dry quicker.

As I see it, the options are:

Put the heating on for an hour and isolate it to the smallest room, put the airer in there and shut the door.  Condensation could be an issue though.

Pay out £100 for a dehumidifier and put that in the smallest room with the airer and shut the door.

Pay out for an electric airer. I’ve heard they are not all that unless you get one with a cover. 

We are going on holiday in the Oct half term, our eldest birthday is in Nov and then Xmas is Dec so I don’t really want to have to pay out for a dehumidifier, etc unless it really is going to be the best option and save us money in the long run. 

Thanks! 

Bendy_House

Hi Kysa.

A bit more info, please.
WHERE do you currently have your airer ( a clothes horse?)?
What ventilation does that area/room have?
Do you have an outdoor space? If so, what?
Do you have a garage?

grumbler

The best way - this winter and any other season is outdoors under a roof.

We have a passage with a plastic roof and for many years have never used our tumble drier or dried anything indoors. And it hardly ever takes more than a day to dry, whatever the weather.

Bendy_House

grumbler said:

The best way - this winter and any other season is outdoors under a roof.

We have a passage with a plastic roof and for many years have never used our tumble drier or dried anything indoors. And it hardly ever takes more than a day to dry, whatever the weather.

Absolutely.

It's understandably counter-intuitive at first - surely summat left outside will get damp? But, it doesn't.

I think I've mentioned before a farmhouse we often walk through on one of our fav coastal walks (Bucks Mills). They're pretty clearly holiday-letting a few of the lovely stone outbuildings, and they have a very large carport which has a W/M and T/D constantly running inside it, covered but otherwise completely open to the windy elements. Both are in perfect order, and there will be no RCD tripping from damp - because both are bone dry.

You can see the contrast between the outside area, sopping wet from the rain, and the completely dry roofed 'port, where the ground is as dry and dusty as it always is.

There will be some days which are very humid and saturated with damp, but even in these conditions the majority of wet from the clothes will be removed. After a day, take it inside to finish off.

For most folk, whether drying the clothes inside (in a thoroughly ventilated room) or out, there should be next-to-zero energy required.

TELLIT01

We are fortunate that we have an enclosed carport running the length of our house.  Most things will dry under there even on damp days, as long as there is a breeze.

getmore4less

Got 2 loads(40+) of shirts dried outside yesterday, it was not raining.

Once on hangers they can move between in/out if it looks like rain.

we don't have cover  thinking about putting some up for the winter as the BBQ is in the same space(just outside patio doors) and I don't like getting wet.

Slinky

If you're putting stuff on a drying rack inside, you need to keep turning things over every few hours and rotating stuff around. This speeds up drying and stops stuff going smelly.

D924

You actually need to combine the "dehumidifier" and "heat the smallest room" options. Dehumidifiers are extremely inefficient at low temperatures 20C or less. There will be an energy efficient "sweet spot" balancing heating input with dehumidifier efficiency.

Or invest in a heat pump tumble dryer, over time that will probably be more efficient and less hassle. Drying clothes without a private outdoor space is certainly a nightmare.

Apodemus

D924 said:

Dehumidifiers are extremely inefficient at low temperatures 20C or less. 

...unless it is a dessicant wheel type rather than a refrigerant type.

Bendy_House

Slinky said:

If you're putting stuff on a drying rack inside, you need to keep turning things over every few hours and rotating stuff around. This speeds up drying and stops stuff going smelly.

I guess that's all about moving the air again, so that fresh - lower humidity - air gets to the clothes.

I'd imagine that, in the less-accessible folds of the clothes, the RH would be much higher, so less EVAP would take place. I understand that air flow also literally picks up water molecules in it's path, so possibly two helpful factors taking place.

It strikes me that a very effective and very cheap way of drying clothes would be with a fan-assisted air dryer, no added heat, in an unheated, but well ventilated room (so the room itself isn't affected).

Eldi_Dos

Have been using 4" USB fan 5v and cost £9.99, sits on top of bookcase and blows towards clothes dryer/horse which sits in front of window in spare room with trickle vent open. Laundry goes on at 10 am and most stuff can be folded up that evening, no heating on in room yet.
In winter normally use dehumidifier with vents closed.