Any suggestions for drying washing indoors

rachbc

I think out dehumidifier was around £40.

I dry all my washing in our spare room/ my craft room/ on 2 airers but they take up a lot of floor space so am going to get this

http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/00176080/

which will hold 2 loads worth and is tall enough to hang sheets over.

We have a cheap white knite dryer which I use for bedding/ towels/ emergencies but hubby wants to upgrade to a triple A rated one which costs 14p a load against 60p so will probs end up using that more

EstherH

Thanks MRSTITTLEMOUSE and everyone who has answered re dehumidifiers.

At the moment no washing has got done for days and DS put a load of his washing in last night. It is now just stuck in the basket waiting for me to do something with.

Gingerbiscuit_2

A question about dehidmifers, I have an AC unit at home which has been great as tiny flat, tiny windows and no outside space. It is also a fan and dehidmifer, however when I have tried it on dehidmifer it still blows out hot air on the hose part is that normal? I thought it would just suck it in like on fan and not mean I have to hang hose out of window which in winter means that I might as well just leave window open when drying clothes!

richardc1983

Gingerbiscuit wrote: »

A question about dehidmifers, I have an AC unit at home which has been great as tiny flat, tiny windows and no outside space. It is also a fan and dehidmifer, however when I have tried it on dehidmifer it still blows out hot air on the hose part is that normal? I thought it would just suck it in like on fan and not mean I have to hang hose out of window which in winter means that I might as well just leave window open when drying clothes!

In dry mode you are supposed to leave the hose inside the room circulating the warm air. In a proper dehumidifier warm air blows out the front rather than cold air. The cold air is what dehumidifies and the heat blowing out the back means your room will get warmer and drier.

I used to have one and pointed the hose at the washing and it dried in no time.

SpikyHedgehog

MRSTITTLEMOUSE wrote: »

I dry outside all year round (provided it is'nt wet) then if they're still damp I'll put them on the clothes horse and put the dehumidifyer on over night.
By morning the clothes are nice and dry and the room is warm thanks to the dehumidifyer which costs very little to run.
I have a tumble dryer but don't like using it as I don't like the way the clothes feel dried in that.
I'm lucky that I have three big attic rooms and I have a permanent washing line hung up in one of them so when it rains I'll dry washing in there,leaving the dorma window open slighlty to provide a draught.
Best thing in winter though is to not let the washing build up.Do little and often

I was thinking about the 'little and often' thing this morning: I was off work 3 days last week while DS2 was ill, so took advantage of the good drying weather to get lots done. The forecast is now set for rain, so I did a half load of all the dark stuff now in the basket, so I can keep the basket as empty as possible.

Now, I know a half load uses more than half the electricity, water & gas to heat the water (as I have a hot fill machine) than a full load though it only takes half the washing...

But the advantage of a half load is that I can spread stuff out on the clothes horse - I've only got 1 and not got room for another free-standing one, nor yet the money for a ceiling hung airer - so it dries more quickly. If I have loads of laundry to do, as often happens at the weekends with 2 lots of school uniform & my work clothes and keeping all the other clothes to make full loads, but it's a not a great drying weekend weekend, that's when I end up using the tumble dryer to get it all done.

And that's definitely expensive to run, not only as a stand alone appliance but also as I have to have the hose outside the back door which is in the kitchen, so the kitchen gets cold, and it's only a mini dryer so it takes about 3 hours to get a full wash load dry. So I'm trapped near tot he dryer for most of the day.

So, am I right in my idea that using half loads in the week to keep the loads down (plus making clothes last longer by spot cleaning & airing between use so minimising the quantity in the basket) and drying on the horse, so that the weekend loads are small enough to also dry on the horse, is more energy efficient than keeping most of it till the weekend and using the dryer with lots of heat pumping out of the house?

Kaz2904

Ginger, Richard is right. Dehumidifiers work by sucking the cold wet air in through the front of the unit, doing their magic and extracting all the wet from the air and then blowing out the warm dry air rom the top of the unit. If you can manage to get your warm hot air to blow onto your washing, you will dry your washing quicker too. Also, the warm dry air rises so make sure that you keep the dehumidifier down low. This is why it works to hang one of those ceiling airers in the void at the top of the stairs. The warm dry air rises and dries the washing. It becomes cold and damp and sinks down to the ground floor. The dehumidifier then sucks it up from there and dries it out making the air toasty warm again.
Can't wait until my house is not cold and damp all the time! Just got to get un hole-y walls so I can get it decorated and put a carpet back down too, then we'll be toasty and I can get a ceiling airer

MRSTITTLEMOUSE

One of the good things about a dehumidifyer in the winter is that it warms the room as it dries it out.
My kitchen is always toasty warm when get up in the morning when I've left it on overnight.
So a very good/cheap way of keeping the chill off and ensuring your room is never dangerously cold.

nargos

I use a dehumidifer but I stll have problems geting some cloths dry fast enough when drying them on a cloths horse to stop them from smelling musty. Best thing I have found to do is to take them to mums and use her dryer every few months.

btw if you are going to by a dehumidifer then shop arround on the internet. I found that the cost of them in stores can by way higher (as in 2x) than in those shops websites.

BaconandEggs

Really confused now after reading this thread.

We try and dry things on the line - but in winter is is difficult - so washing gets put on clothes horses near radiators.

Doing this, we've noticed more moisture collecting on the windows - which will almost certainly lead to mould if not kept under control.

So the options appear to be:
a) take washing to laundry to dry.
b) tumble dryer
c) dehumidifier

Obviously there is the cost to consider (initial outlay + running).

I like the sound of the dehumidifier discussed in last few posts (can people recommend so decent ones which have a tank that can be emptied and do not require a hose going outside?) but my main concern there is the noise.

Would be interested to hear what people could suggest.

richardc1983

Dehumidifies are very quiet like the sound of a fridge.