Air drying vs tumble drying

[mojoawol]

DH recently saw something on tv saying how air drying clothes indoors is really bad for dust, allergies, mould etc - prob along the same lines as this
So he bought a tumble dryer.
I'm all for tumble dryers for use in emergency drying situations, but believe them to be expensive, environmentally bad and damaging to clothes, so I still insist on air drying stuff (which in winter months, with 3 kids, means laundry and drying is fairly constant). DH is dead against air drying now and it is leading to constant arguments.
Does anyone know (and pref have any evidence) of which is preferred method?

[ShatnersBassoon]

It's personal choice.

I prefer to pay for the convenience of not having wet washing and condensation in the house, so for me it's the tumble dryer. I have a back porch that I can air things in on wet days, but some things take days and days to dry when it's cold so the majority of things go in the dryer. My dryer doesn't damage anything, by the way.

[CointreauVersial]

It depends very much how well-ventilated your house is.

If you have windows running with condensation and damp patches on the walls then drying clothes indoors is probably not a good thing. A damp mouldy atmosphere is bad whatever the cause.

Our house is quite large and we have a separate, well-ventilated utility room. So I always air-dry my clothes (3 kinds here too!).

[CointreauVersial]

Kinds?? Kids, obv.

[surroundedbyblondes]

personally I wouldn't want to be drying washing on radiators all over the house. I agree, it can lead to damp and mould, so would avoid it where I could.

I tumble lots of things and especially for towels, bedding etc. it's a godsend. But I agree with you, it's not great for all kinds of clothes.The more delicate stuff gets air dried in the utility room. My thinking is having the tumble drier going in the room makes it warmer for the rest of the clothes to air dry too...

[sausagesandwich34]

I tumble 90% of my washing, it's only delicates that go on the airer

I have horrible memories of being a student and my jeans stinking because they had taken 4 days to dry!

the washing doesn't smell fresh, the house gets damp, it looks untidy, if stuff is directly on the radiator it makes the room colder, and you end up keeping the heating on for longer than if you weren't drying stuff

I'm with your DH

[InNeedOfBrandy]

Tumble drying isn't any more bad for the enviroment then any other electrical items. Mine is a 25/30p a load of electric. Why don't you just use it and make your life easier and house less smelly of damp.

[mojoawol]

oh ok, so its not as pricey as I had thought - 25-30p is pretty good. For some reason I had assumed it would be in the £'s.

I will obviously slowly start to use it more without making it clear to DH that he may be right and I may be in error....

[InNeedOfBrandy]

Ok I have a solution, have a look and see what its energy rating is, then you can say DH I will compromise but I don't want that one I want the A* one and I want to choose.

[Fluffycloudland77]

Ok, if you get a spin dryer (my current obsession on ebay) it will remove most of the water from the clothes (it spins at 2800rpm) so you wont need to tumble for as long.

They only take a few minutes to spin.

[Mintyy]

I air dry everything. I have a large clothes horse and I stick it outside the back door during the day, bring it in at night. Then I'll dry small things like socks and knickers on the radiators in about 15 minutes.

I have a tumble drier but only use it in absolute emergencies - can't stand the floppy feel of tumble dried fabrics.

[JambalayaWarmMincePie]

We recently bought one, having always just air-dried before. Its a condenser one so I have to empty the tank. I was shocked by how much water actually came out of the clothes, even after spinning twice. All that water was going into the air - which cant have been good.

[JambalayaWarmMincePie]

Ours is A rated - cost more at first obviously, but offset against the energy costs of one that wasnt as good, it worked out cheaper.

[worsestershiresauce]

I don't much like the floppiness of tumble dried clothes, but given the alternative is a damp mouldy house I live with it. We bought the most expensive machine we could as it has a very high efficiency rating hence isn't an environmental disaster. As a rule the cheaper the machine the less efficient it is.

[thereonthestair]

we had an energy consultant look at out house for energy efficiency overall. Apparently it is much better environmentally, and cheaper to tumble dry clothes and turn one radiator off, than have clothes airing but the radiator on. I was really surpised. Our tumble drier is good but doubt it's A+ just because of the age of it

[Bunbaker]

We have solar panels and I only run the tumble dryer during daylight hours. I do air dry as well, but only in the conservatory with all the windows open.

[Fluffycloudland77]

Where do you get an energy consultant from There? I'd love to have one round.

[fussychica]

I have a heated airer from Lakeland instead of a tumble drier - that works pretty well for us as most of the time it's only two of us but for a family probably wouldn't suffice. Works best when you trap the air inside under a large duvet cover - this speeds up the drying considerably.

[InNeedOfBrandy]

I have storage heaters so on economy 9 tafif which means after 12 I get really really cheap electric so my dryer goes on at 12 before I go to bed. But yes even in the day it's 30p.

[PickledGerkin]

Can I also say that the spin speed of your washing machine will make a difference.

I had a 8 year old Bosch 1200 spin washing machine, and a 1 year old AEG condenser drier.

My washing machine died and couldn't be fixed (part no longer available) so I bought a 1400 spin AEG washing machine.

It massively reduced the drying time. I think I have said this before under a previous name but if I do school uniform, (something you may be able to relate to) my washing machine holds 8kg so 10 jumpers and 10 trousers it takes less than 1 hour to tumble. I put it on a "damp" setting and leave it in the drier after it finishes so absorb any remaining heat.

A load with jeans in does take slightly longer but no more than 1hr 20. I know because I put the washing machine on at the same time so when I turn the drier off I can see how much time is left on the washing machine.

Tumble drying all the way

[pootlebug]

When I look how much water collects in the water compartment of the condenser dryer, even with a fast spin in a decent washing machine, I am very grateful I can pour it down the sink rather than having it make my house damp by drying on the radiators.

I do dry the odd delicate item on the airer, but 90% of the washing gets tumbled.

[peckforton]

I have a rotary drier outside and have attached an old sun parasol over it with bungee cords so I can leave washing out even if it is going to rain. Great for towels and other heavy items such as jeans that would take ages to dry normally. I then bring them in and give them a sort time in the drier to air them.

[ivykaty44]

When you say air dry - I take it you mean inside the house and not outside?

As drying clothes on a washing line is by far the cheapest and easy way of getting cloths dry, as long as you can plan your washing to be done on fairly dry days. I have a space in the garden/ot the back door under cover so also have a couple of airers to put out undercover and wait to dry, as the wind still whips round but the rain doesn't they dry in a dayish.

I must admit I prefer the line drying clothes to tumble dry clothes as they smell better imo all fresh and crisp.

[MerryChristMoose]

No chance of line drying here for 6 months of the year. It's -16 today. It seems Canadians don't like radiators. We have warm air heating. My best woollens get hung to dry. Everything else gets tumbled. The static is a nightmare though because the air here is so dry.

[ivykaty44]

I was in Banff back a few to many years ago to mention, we had a drying room shut of from the rest of the house - is that what they still do MCM?

[MerryChristMoose]

We live in a town house. The washer and dryer are in the basement along with the furnace and water heater. Bigger houses have utility rooms.

A friend of ours in Calgary has her laundry on the same floor as the bedrooms, which I think is a great idea. No lugging piles of washing and drying up and down stairs. Another friend has a brand new house with a laundry chute in the main bedroom wardrobe. It drops into the corner of the utility room.