Any suggestions for drying washing indoors

HappyMJ

chirpychick wrote: »

Obviously it is not an issue right now but I was wondering how everyone dries their washing in the colder weather?

We used to put ours to hang up and dry in the spare room but now we have a small child we don't have a spare room and my nan keeps telling me if i let clothes dry indoors he will get pneumonia or something and that I shouldn't be so tight and just use the tumble dyer but I started using the dryer when he was born in December and the gas/electric bill has more than doubled and I can't afford to carry on that way!

I read you can't put the clothes over radiators because it stops the house heating up properly too.

We live in a very small house too which makes it harder.

I wondered what everyone else does?

Clothes will still dry outside in winter...they just take longer and it's highly likely to rain a little before they dry. The best way to dry clothes indoors without causing too much condensation issues is in the bathroom with the extractor fan on. You might have a kitchen with an extractor fan that can be closed off to the rest of the house. That can be used too. Whatever room you dry them in you need the room to be ventilated. Open the window in the spare room if you dry them in there.

The cost of drying clothes in a dryer is quite high. A dryer typically uses 1kWh per kg of clothing which has been spun dry in a washing machine that spins at 1400 rpm. That'll cost whatever you unit rate on your electricity bill is. To reduce costs a little you can almost dry things in the dryer that you are about to iron then when ironing them they will complete drying without the use of steam.

flea72

Just ask your nan how she dried clothes before she had a tumble drier, as i doubt they were in common use, when she was your age

I only tumble stuff that takes ages to dry or is bulky, so towels and bedlinen mainly. Everything else goes on a clothes airer. Most clothes dry within a day, heavy stuff like jeans can take a couple of days.

FairyPrincessk

I still put things out in winter, but it is made easier for me because I work from home so if it is going to be a dry day I can get the wash on and hung out early. Sometimes things are still damp around the edges, but they'll usually finish off on the airing rack over night. If there is just a light drizzle, I'll leave the clothes out in it, but if it is harder, I dash out and grab them. It isn't ideal---it takes planning and work--but it can be done.

One tip is to try to get most bulky things washed and dried before winter starts, and to try to eliminate things that take a long time to dry from your winter wash. So, for your little one, fleece rather than knitted jumpers might help as little ones tend to be a bit messier. Fleeces dry very very quickly, whereas a knitted jumper might take a couple of days.

~Chameleon~

I have never owned a tumble dryer. Neither did my parents. Nor did they have central heating yet managed to dry all the washing a large family produced. Every available space (banister rails, doors, over chairs placed back-to-back) was used for drying bedding. We often made tents from it as kids

I don't see how drying clothes indoors could cause pneumonia unless you had insufficient heating and ventilation creating a cold, damp atmosphere. I'd say the dry atmosphere caused by central heating would be potentially more harmful.

I have a tall heated towel rail in my bathroom which is ideal as it will just about accommodate a single load of washing which is then dried in less than 24 hours

kboss2010

Damp in a house, particularly an old house, causes mould which causes respiratory problems. Very damp houses are not healthy to live in for this reason.

I have the same issue and I don't own or have space for a tumble drier. We don't use the dining table which is in the kitchen so we have a clothes horse on the table and keep the windows open (mine is from Ikea and it's huge!). Cooking heats the room somewhat which helps too. Use radiator drying racks rather than putting clothes directly over the radiator.

You can buy a thing to put over your rotating washing line which apparently stops the washing from getting wet when it rains but allows it to dry although I've never bought it as they're quite expensive.

Heavy items like jeans, jumpers etc i find only dry in Winter when put directly onto the radiator for a few hours. This, however, has made the paint behind our radiators flake a little (the whole flat is falling to pieces though, it's rented and the landlord hasn't done anything except replace the broken fridge for the last 8 years.)

beedeedee

Firstly I would recommend that you greatly reduce the amount of washing you do - it does not make you a bad mother! People seem to wash things just for the sake of it nowadays and it shortens the life of many garments or items.......really ask yourself if you can get away without doing them. Jeans, trousers, winter woolies, towels and many other things do not need washing after every wash or even every week in many cases. I know that with a small child things do get grubby - but even then there will be things that can be dealt with by a quick sponge. Reducing the load of washing is a priority, then the space you do have can be utilised efficiently. It's not good to dry things over a radiator - but we've all done it and the radiator racks you can buy, will hang over the slats in your airing cupboard to give quite a bit more vertical drying space in there. Hope this helps.

happydays89

I have a little spin dryer and its great,my w/machine spins at 1200.When I put them is the spin dryer I can get a pint of water out even more when its towels.The clothes then dry very quick.I have a radiator under the window so I hang things on coathangers on the curtain rail.Giving clothes that extra spin means a lot less moisture going into the house.

cosette

I don't know how you currently dry stuff outside, but if you have a whirly-gig (rotary) airer, you can buy covers for them.

Have a look here - https://www.onepercentstudio.com/rotaire-dryline.htm
or https://www.ecowashinglines.co.uk

I've had mine for two years and wouldn't be without it. I dry outside almost every day of the year, the only exceptions being when there is heavy snow or when it is exceptionally windy.

Even in the depths of winter, washing will dry to 75-100% outside. Underwear doesn't dry too well though, for some reason. What I tend to do is hang out nearly every day, while at the same time bringing in anything that is dry or nearly dry. Our rotary airer is really big so I can fit many loads on at once, in different stages of drying/wetnes. Anything that needs it, I then just finish it off indoors in the airing cupboard or on airers. It saves having really damp stuff hanging about in the house.

The only downside is that it does extend the drying cycle - some things I leave outside for 2-3 days before bringing in - but I just take account of this. I've even just about managed to train my teenagers to consider the washing cycle because they won't be getting their clothes back the same day or even the next!

We do own a tumble drier but I don't think I used it at all last year and only twice the year before that when we had a prolonged period of heavy snow.

GwylimT

As someone who until recently had spent their life at the coast putting things on a washing line was unheard of due to the salty damp air, now we are in land I might give using a washing line a go this winter. When not using the tumble drier we air things in a room with the heating on and the window open to avoid damp, we put a draft extractor on the bottom of the door so it doesn't make the rest of the house chilly. We don't let anything air for more than a day otherwise the clothes smell horrendous, so if they don't dry we finish them off in the tumble drier.

Any

How is your house in general? How much washing are you doing?
I cannot see couple of washing machines a week would create enough damp to cause pneumonia...

I dry my clothes in a kitchen in a corner. But I have quite big kitchen. I dry clothes there all year round, but my Aga is on normally and it dries fairly fast. It is off at the moment (I try to switch it off in the summer) and everything takes a lot longer, but it still dries in roughly 24 hrs...

I work though so I put it up one night when I come home and take it off next day night / morning after, so it doesn't bother me that it is there. It is the only option for me - putting clothes outside when it can start raining any moment when I am at work is not worth the risk.