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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

my neighbours should but the tumble dryer on during the day

89 replies

entiledornot · 10/02/2015 19:40

My neighbours really piss me off with their tummble dryier. It goes on for 3 hours almost every night, I hear the slow spinning groan in my lounge when I just want quiet to read a book in the evening.

OP posts:
chillybits · 11/02/2015 09:42

I'm very sensitive to noise, especially low droning noises, but its my problem. I can be driven crazy but I can't stop my neighbours living their lives. Any kind of household noise is acceptable up to about 11 I think.

I find having counteractive noise is the only way I can deal with it, so music on, TV whatever.

JudgeRinderSays · 11/02/2015 09:45

why don't you do your 'quiet reading' at a different time?
Do tumble driers get hot enough to start a fire?

angelos02 · 11/02/2015 09:48

Play loud music to drown out the noise. They obviously don't give a shit about interrupting your peace and quiet.

bloomingMargaret · 11/02/2015 09:49

If tumble dryers are so dangerous why do they sell them?

I have a car port with a washing line under it. As long as its not freezing and there is either some wind or sun it drys in a day or two. I was taught not to waste electricity.

Effiewhaursmabaffies · 11/02/2015 09:53

Go read in another room

Oldraver · 11/02/2015 09:55

FGS get some bloody earplugs if it bothers you that much.... but no you would rather your neighbours alter their routine or move the fecking thing

TO.READ.A.BOOK

RiverTam · 11/02/2015 09:55

as always, it's the person being disturbed who's expected to suck it up. Surely if you choose to live in an attached house, the onus is on you to not create such noise as a tumble drier running for hours on end, especially if it's up against an adjoining wall - as well as not to expect perfect silence.

We both work. Washing is done in the evening (but never after 9.30, i.e. the cycle has to finish by then) and hung on airers/radiators to dry, or done at the weekend. I would never hoover in the evening, or before 9 at the weekend. Because I live in a terrace and am considerate of my neighbours.

Oldraver · 11/02/2015 09:59

Judge I think tumble dryers are a major cause of fires... We have had ours mended recently so got to see all the workings. The heating element is basically a great big coiled element of glowing hot metal. I looked at it and wondered why there were not MORE fires,

I am religious with clearing the fluff but still lots gets inside the machine

expatinscotland · 11/02/2015 11:16

'I have a car port with a washing line under it. As long as its not freezing and there is either some wind or sun it drys in a day or two. I was taught not to waste electricity.'

Good for you. Some people live in flats with no outdoor space and drying on racks causes condensation and mould and takes forever. A dryer gets it done far more quickly.

Yes, they sound like really inconsiderate neighbours Hmm who don't give a shit.

Get some earplugs.

GotToBeInItToWinIt · 11/02/2015 11:27

I'll swap your neighbours for the students next door to us who have their massive speakers on the adjoining wall, and have parties 2-3 nights a week until 7am (which is when we get up). A tumble dryer would be bliss.

Seriously 7pm is fine. It it was on overnight and was keeping you awake then I could see the problem.

HelpMeGetOutOfHere · 11/02/2015 11:31

that must be a seriously loud tumble dryer?

Ours is in our lean to and not connected to the house so I do run it in the day, but due to working its usually on most evenings and weekends. There are 5 of us in the this house and we are all out at work,school, college so household duties are done on an evening.

ShadowSpiral · 11/02/2015 12:24

I didn't know drier timers existed until I read this thread.

Anyway, if they're out during the day they don't have much of a choice about having the tumble drier on in the evening if they want clean clothes.

Tumble driers are a fire risk so should only be on when people are home and awake, even if this is a bit annoying for neighbours who want silence.

SolomanDaisy · 11/02/2015 12:35

It must be quite a noisy dryer. Maybe you could ask them to pull it out from the wall a cm or so, just in case it is banging? You could also offer to buy one of those mats for it to stand on. You really can't ask them not to use it.

Behindthepaintedgarden · 11/02/2015 12:51

I can see how it is irritating, and if it's going on for three hours most evenings that must be really annoying.
Unfortunately, though, because electricity is cheaper after certain hours and a lot of people are out at work during the day anyway, there is a logic to them using the dryer at night time rather than during the day and there's not really much you can do about it.
I think, in some European countries there are actually laws about washing machines not being used after a certain time in the evening, so it's certainly not an unreasonable thing to find a bit irritating though.
Just ignore some of the rude responses on this thread!

LonnyVonnyWilsonFrickett · 11/02/2015 12:56

Poorly maintained tumble driers are extremely hazardous. Lint builds up in the filter and then with the heat it can easily catch and go on fire. Having recently interviewed a family who lost their house due to a tumble drier fire I am v aware of it.

AmazonGrace · 11/02/2015 13:21

I'm considerate to my neighbours and wouldn't run a drier for 3 hours late in the evening, I don't vacuum late either. If I lived in a house with thicker walls then maybe I'd reconsider but knowing how easily I can hear the neighbours microwave, which must be attached to the party wall, I wouldn't run something as noisy as a drier that late and that continuous as the noise travels extremely easily.

AmazonGrace · 11/02/2015 13:23

I don't own a drier actually, I manage ok without one and always have clean, dry clothes in the morning. It's called being organised JOKE!

Behindthepaintedgarden · 11/02/2015 13:27

I'm often up earlyish (about 8.30) on a Sunday morning and it would be really handy to get my weekend hovering done then. But it just wouldn't be fair on the people in the apartment above me, who might want a lie on.

I think in modern houses and apartments there has to be give and take, and someone who has a machine droning for hours every night of the week really needs to stop for a minute and think about the neighbours and give them a break now and then.

afreshstartplease · 11/02/2015 13:30

It's a dryer, not a rave

Behindthepaintedgarden · 11/02/2015 13:32

I don't think anyone compared it to a rave afresh.

GotToBeInItToWinIt · 11/02/2015 14:27

But 7pm isn't late!

FisherQueen · 11/02/2015 14:33

I've asked our upstairs neighbours not to run their washer/drier after 11pm as it is incredibly nosiy in our flat and makes sleep impossible (they agreed when they came down and heard it). That was aftrt one memorable night when the spin cycle started at 1:30am! But anything before that is fair game - people have to get shit done and they may not get home from work until 7pm.

AmazonGrace · 11/02/2015 14:45

But if they're running it for three hours every night from 7pm, reading a book or not, that would be annoying!

misscarlar · 11/02/2015 14:58

I agree with asking them to move it if they can, but my washing machine often starts up at 4am ready so it finishes as i get up in the morning people make noise

GotToBeInItToWinIt · 11/02/2015 15:14

Really wouldn't bother me Amazon, but like I say I have students next door who have parties until 7am. A tumble dryer is hardly high in the 'offensive noise' stakes.

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