Lakeland Dry:Soon - what am I doing wrong?

[SparrowBird]

We got the deluxe one, with cover. Did a load and put it on last night. Trousers on top, tops and Tshirts on middle, socks/pants bras on the bottom. Most of the tops were hung across two bars, not one.

Came down this morning after 12 hours. Trousers 90% dry, jumpers about 50%, socks and bras barely!

With the jumpers, the bits touching the heater bars were dry but the arms hanging down were nowhere near. Worst of all were the socks at the bottom. Again the bit over the bar was dry but the rest of the sock was as damp as when we first hung them out.

What are we doing wrong?

Admittedly this is a draughty house with shit insulation so the floor of the hallway is cold. Does this means things on the bottom rack are doomed to never dry?

At 8am I shuffled things around but have just checked (after 15 hours) and still not great.

I have probably paid £1 for electricity but so far got the same result had I dried the trousers over the radiator and put everything else on a normal clothes horse.

Help!

You need to lie things over it as shelves rather than hang them on the bars. I love mine as we have a cold draughty house where washing tends to go a bit musty if its on a normal clothes horse but I mostly use it for toddler clothes as I can get a full load of small stuff on there!

I have no experience with the Dry:Soon, but from what you've said I'd return the Dry:Soon and get a bog-standard airer and a dehumidifier. Position the dehumidifier so that the dry air stream is directed towards the (middle of the) airer and you should get a much better result.

I bought mine due to a damp problem when I was living in a poorly heated, draughty rental flat and it not only sorted the damp but worked wonders for drying my washing - I love it. (I bought mine about five years ago now, so this may not be relevant any more, but mine is an EcoAir one which cost me just under £130)

Have you checked that all bars are getting properly hot? I am surprised that your bits aren't dry yet, especially socks etc. I find a draught helps. Sorry to not be more helpful!

I hang things over the bars, use a sheet as a cover & use a dehumidifier. Get 2 loads dry in a day. Put socks and underwear on a soctopus and hang that off one of the bars.

I bought one while we had to wait almost 3 weeks for a replacement tumble dryer, it was on the recommendation of a friend.
We found it utterly useless unless as described by a pp, you can lay very few things flat across the racks. That made it dry a bit faster.
Fine for my friend, a single woman who does 2 washes a week. Not so great for a family of 5 doing 2 loads a day!
Once our tumble dryer arrived I gave the airer to my mum

Hmm. But if I hang things over it as shelves then it’d fit just six tops at a time? 🤨

Hmm. I have an older one which may be a higher temperature I guess. A pair of jeans will easily dry overnight on the vertical bit. I don't have a cover on mine but generally have a bath towel draped over the top. How hot are the bars to touch? Radiator hot?

I hang things on the bars, usually a bit squashed up as I put too much on it. It's on the landing so there's more air movement than in a bedroom. I have a sheet over it. I do 4 loads over the weekend. They are dry this morning.

I hate mine! I stuck the pointless thing on Facebook marketplace just now…

I find lying something big (jeans or a jumper) flat on the bottom tier then hanging everything else as normal above it works best

@SparrowBird

Hmm. But if I hang things over it as shelves then it’d fit just six tops at a time? 🤨

No, you pile them up.

3 or 4 tops deep.

I also fiddle/reorganise when I have time (if I’m in a hurry) so that sleeves and armpits get a shot.

I fold tops and lay them across the bars. Need to turn them over once. It does work best if there is airflow around it.

You can't hang things over the bottom rungs as there's no heat rising upwards from the floor to dry them. Work on the premise that heat rises and you'll find it a lot better! You can lay things flat over the bottom shelf - I usually put a pair of jeans across as they need a bit more direct heat than anything else.

Don't do too big a load. I aim for one thing on every other rung on the top and middle, so a gap in-between each item of clothing. It's not essential though, that just dries them faster. You can fit on a lot more toddler clothes than size 18 adult :D

I find a well-placed load of clothes dries in around 12 hours. Longer if you've got too much in there or for very thick jumpers/hoodies/jeans. Put the thickest stuff at the top so it gets the most rising heat.

Oh and we have a dehumidifier running too, which I think makes a big difference. Ours is in the conservatory so without that it turns into a cold sauna in winter.

Agree with others - it doesn’t work to hang things on the lowest rungs. I lie loads of socks and pants squashed up on those rungs and they pretty much dry overnight- I give them a little shuffle around in the morning to catch any damp corners.

Trousers I hang down from the top rungs so they go through the middle bars too, and I get the waistband bits as close to the top bars as possible.

T-shirts - i usually need to shuffle them a bit to get the last bits dry. I take things off as they dry to give the rest more room. You don’t have to do this but it speeds up the process.

I tend to hang shirts on hangers from the very top bar so they are hanging through the rails, and I spread the arms over the sides so the armpits don’t stay damp. This works pretty well.

I don’t usually dry jumpers on there in case of shrinkage but if I do, I tend to drape them over the top of the airer on top of the big sheet I cover it all with.

When the kids were little I would do the stacking thing - I’d make little piles of 4 T-shirts etc and fit 4 piles on each shelf. But they’re too big for that now!