Drying clothes in winter

I've a heat pump, a Candy. Works really well. And it takes 9 kilos.

Do you have an outhouse or space for a shed you could run electric to? Not sure how safe a shed and tumble dryer would be but we had a brick outhouse we connected electricity to in our old house and stuck the dryer in there!

Around here there's very little difference between inside and outside (but we live in a very old house).

It doesn't matter if it's raining outside honestly! Open the windows.

It's all to do with relative humidity and temperature. Basically even when raining the relative humidity outside is probably lower than the relative humidity inside.

The way I eventually explained it to myself is that outside is HUGE while inside is tiny.

Obviously if the rain and wind is pushing the rain inside the house close them but normally it's ok.

Yes if it's pouring with rain it's pretty pointless.

I still open my windows for a bit daily though as we like the fresh air and can't stand a stuffy house - there are benefits beyond ventilation just for humidity's sake.

If it's dry I leave the windows open for as long as I can, and our bedroom window is always on the latch, and in the kitchen I open the window a little whenever there's steam. We have a dehumidifier in the bathroom so it's actually one of the driest rooms in the house.

Maybe this is a stupid question, but how does ventilation work when it's usually raining outside? Surely you're just swapping inside wet air for outside wet air?

I've started going to the laundrette once a week, it's been fantastic.

My mum recently did that (bedding and towels) for the first time ever, and she was really pleased with it.

I have an airer and dehumidifier on the landing, so it’s out of the way. I close all the doors upstairs and stuff is dry within a few hours. Sometimes it can take a bit longer if it’s a bigger load of washing. I always do an extra spin in the washer as well - and then a good shake before I put the stuff on the airer as it helps the creases drop.

I wouldn’t have anything in the kitchen as you’d get cooking smells. If you can get a tumble dryer, that would be good for a lot of stuff but there is still stuff I wouldn’t put in…like cotton t shirts for example. That’s the sort of thing I put on the airer and then stuff like undies, towels, bedding etc goes in the dryer.

Really feel for you that have the drying problems. If it's any use I always make sure I've purchased a good quality washing machine - almost top of the range expense wise but not quite Miele ) my spins are amazing & items come out really light as in definitely not soaking wet. My top spin is 1400.
I put my dry soon heated airer in the small spare bedroom upstairs & it's usually warm ish in there ( heating thermostat is 18 degrees ) if I've had the Lakeland airer on all
night that little room (single bed room) you can feel the heat hit you when you open the door it really does get that warm with the airer on.

In regards to washing machines I tend to go for the German brands, had a Bosch which was fab & took some right hammer, current one is Neff which is also German brand.

I'm washing a full load of jeans today so I will report back with exact drying times.

I know. I can't abide laundry hanging about the place anyway! Get a tumble dryer. Game changer. As pp have said, a condenser dryer, just try to find a spot somewhere, it's totally worth it.

Is the dehumidifier inside the airer? That's where it should be. Especially if you're opening windows. You want the air around the clothes as dry as possible.

Open the window afterwards.

Like this

I have my radiator clothes rack over my banister in the hall so the clothes are dangling down over the stairs. Heat rises so they are dry pretty quickly. I have 3 of them over the banister, then my dehumidifier is in the hall. I also put the clothes horse in the bath and the clothes dry on there quickly too.

@Hercisback1 true! Mine is around 17c as that's what I find comfortable

Garage/shed/the understairs cupboard /spare room/landing for a tumble dryer?
I really couldn't live without mine. I took a cupboard out to accommodate it. I'd rather have that, than no tumble dryer.

Have always dried laundry inside as live in a flat.

Top tip is not to ram the washer. I put a maximum of 8 (10 in the summer if everything is shorts and t-shirts) items plus socks in the washer at at time.

If you are at home all day, you can get away with wearing the same top for 2 days. Or do what I do, when I get home from work which I wear a uniform, wear the same top after work that lasts 3 days unless I drop food down it.

Get a tumble dryer

You can put it in a shed

Are you overloading it? They need space for air to circulate.
They work double well with a dehumidifier.

I don’t know what I’m doing wrong. I have the Lakeland one with cover and it takes AGES to dry things.

A washer dryer should work fine. You just need to remember they dry a lower kg that wash, for example a 8kg washer will probably only dry 5kg. So ideally get as big as possible, a 9kg washer with 6kg dry.

we still hung most clothing to dry on rack near open window if possible when in our old flat, but dryer meant all towels and bedding were easily dried and not taking up every door drying. Also thick items like jeans in dryer.

Aeg or lg are best