To ask if I should get a spin drier? (a winter laundry thread)

[MagnaTiles]

It's raining here and my mind has turned to drying clothes this winter. Our dehumidifier is broken, and whilst I was looking at replacements, I came across spin driers. Apparently you put in the wet laundry, it spins round at 2800rpm for a couple of minutes, the water drips out into a bucket in a satisfying way, and much reduces drying time/humidity and mould issues. The one I looked at said only 30 watts for a cycle which I find hard to believe?!

It's hard to find out much about them online (which is making me a bit suspicious), and the only person I know who has had a spin drier was my grandma in the 1960s. Does anyone have one, and if you do, does it work? Does it damage your clothes? Could I spin hand-washed wool jumpers in one?

Our house doesn't have damp issues except for wet laundry, so I'm wondering if I could get one of these instead of replacing the dehumidifier, and get the laundry much drier at a greatly reduced energy cost.

Thanks very much!

Do an extra spin on your washing machine it does the same thing.

I assume a higher speed spin means more creasing. Would this be a problem?

My gran had one when I was growing up she didn't have a washing machine so had the spin dryer to wring out her hand washing.

Not heard of these before!

Your washing machine will have this function. Maybe not as high as 2800rpm but it'll work without doing a washing cycle. On mine I have to tell it not to put water in (think it's called rinse) and then I select the rpm - takes 13 minutes.

I spin delicate hand wash stuff like wool at 800rpm otherwise it damages the fibers. Anything cotton (bed linen, towels etc) get done on max.

Yes, things crease

I always do an extra rinse on heavier things they definitely dry quicker. Takes 10ish minutes.

You might have read my post on another thread as (too) few people know about them.
2800 is double the spin of most washing machines, which in turn halves the drying time and the risk of damp and mound. It also means your clothes are back in circulation faster, obviously!
Things don’t crease because they stay in one place (folded if you like) and the drum spins. I use it for delicate hand wash items too. They dry flat much faster.
Microfibre and fleece come out dry to the touch. I also use it to spin floor mops so they don’t hang around wet.
And yes, watching the water gush out of what a 1400 washing machine would consider “spun” is very satisfying!

I wouldn't be without mine. Brilliant for things like woollen jumpers if you wash them by hand. Brilliant for getting clothes far drier than in a washing machine. In the days of small children also brilliant when teddies needed a quick wash and spin.

Really efficient energy-wise too.

Oh, and spinning twice doesn’t really work. Imagine squashing something with a weight for five minutes or ten. Not a huge difference. Same for rpm.

No it isn't.

I have a washing machine that spins at 1400rpm and my spin dryer spins at 2800rpm.

The stuff comes out of the spin dryer dryer after 2 mins. There as a repeat spin in the washing machine takes 10 minutes.

OP unless your house is very airy then a dehumidifier would work better to dry your clothes.

A spin dryer is only really worth it for towels and bedding.

I had two dehumidifiers and a spin dryer.

I had a spin drier in the early 70s, I’d love one again, sadly no space.

It takes ages for a load. Takes ages to load up so it doesn't wobble, need to wait between spins. Mine does not allow soft toys. Yes it dries well but it's not as easy as bunging it on a clothes horse and waiting. But they do get a lot dryer. Could tell the difference between my washing machine and the faster spin one on holiday.

Clothes horse drying. Takes one day to dry to damp and a bit longer to air. I usually swap things around on the clothes horse so that it is quicker and hang things to air away from the wet stuff. I used to have an airing cupboard that was good for finishing off stuff.

I've had a spin drier for decades. We don't use it much in summer but once we can't reliably line-dry then it'll come into its own again. We get about a litre of water out of a load, which is a litre the dehumidifer won't have to suck out the air. We do have a washer-dryer but rarely use the dryer cycle and if we do, we spin dry things first then put back into the machine as it makes a big difference.
And as PPs have said, if things are being hand-washed, then it's a great help.

There is only so much liquid that can be extracted from textiles by mechanical means (either spinning or squeezing). The more absorbent the fibres, such as cotton and viscose, the less will come out. Microfibres are synthetic and do not absorb into the actual fibres, so will spin quite efficiently. So if you have lots of polyester and nylon clothes go for it, lots of cotton and viscose (the latter, whilst man made is still cellulose and holds a lot of water, it is also delicate and can be damaged by too much spinning). Also note that bamboo fabrics are also a type of viscose so will behave in the same way.

With cotton there will always be 50% water remaining, viscose is higher (can’t remember the figures), nylon can be as low as 2%.

I think that the optimum spin speed is 1200rpm, beyond that in increase in extraction is minimal, takes more energy and increases wear and tear on the machine.

Can you tell that I spent many years involved in the “extraction of liquor from woven and loose stock fibres”? On an industrial scale.

We have a spin dryer and it does make a difference for us in the length of time it takes to dry a load of washing in the house. The clothes also seem to come out softer. We can't afford a tumble dryer and have no space for one either so this is our next best option. The washer we have doesn't have a single spin option, only rinse & spin so that doesn't work. It's not a huge amount of water that comes out, usually, but it does make a difference for us.

I got a new Candy washing machine recently and was SO cross that it wouldn’t do a spin without a rinse. Nothing about it in the instructions and no answer from customer support.
Eventually on YouTube I found that if you go to “options” on “rinse and spin” you can eliminate the rinse.
It might be worth investigating.

To those who say their machine only does rinse and spin....my Samsung is the same HOWEVER when on that programme if I press and hold the spin button (next to the temp button, not the large programme button) it will do a spin only. If thats confusing I can do photos later to explain.

I used to have a spin dryer. They are excellent. The spin drier was much quicker and more effective than the spin function on my washer-drier machine. The vertical barrel is more efficient. And yes there's a lot less creasing and fragile fabrics are fine. You can use them to rinse hand washing too.

The spin dryer was as effective as a spin and an hour of tumble dry in my current washer-drier. Neither get the laundry quite cupboard ready but not far off.

In an ideal world I would have what my mother used to have - washer, spin drier, and tumble drier. Due to less space I only have a washer-drier now, and a big ceiling airer to finish off.

I had one years ago (until it went 'bang' one day!). I loved it. I used to put the lovely jumpers my Mum had made for me through a hand wash, then I'd tie them up in a pillow case and whizz them round in the spin drier. Never had an issue with that.

My mum had a spin dryer before she got a washing machine.
Relatively compact and effective but not something that ever appeared on her radar after she got a washer (no tumble).

If you only have the money / space for one then I would replace the dehumidifier.

A big range of opinions here - thanks for the replies!

Those who own a spin drier, how dry would you say the washing gets? How long roughly to dry on an airer afterwards?

The ability to spin woollen items is very attractive, we're a large family and wear a lot of wool sweaters, probably more so than ever this winter. I get fed up of wringing out by hand!

BlackeyedSusan: when you say it takes ages to load, could you expand a bit more on that? My understanding was that I could shove some laundry in (perhaps half a load), spin for two minutes, leave it to rest for five minutes, and then do the other half load? Then hang out on airers. I have three airers on the go at a time, 7-10 washes a week (big family), so swapping things around only gets me so far! And quite expensive in dehumidifier running costs.

Molecule: the professional credentials are swaying me! I'm now looking up residual dampness and centrifugal forces.

AmaryllisNightAndDay: that's interesting about rinsing hand washing. Do you mean that I could spin out my wool-wash with the soap still in, then rinse it, and then spin again in the machine? That would be amazing, but I'd be worried about damaging the machine.

I’m in the market for a spin dryer at some point. I grew up using mum’s twin tub but have had automatics since I moved out. A couple of years ago I picked up a Portable twin tub to save laundrette costs when we were away in our van and I was blown away by how clean and dry laundry came out from this tiny thing. I use it occasionally to spin handwashed clothes but I’d love a full size spinner.

It’s a bit scary as it powers up and you have balance the load or it will bang, just like an off-kilter washing machine but twice as fast.
You also have to press the washing down with a circular rubber mat. Clothes spinning out and catching in the mechanism would be a disaster at 2800 rpm!

Drying time is difficult to measure, I just consider half in all conditions. My washing goes out of the way on a pulley airer and I forget it until I need it or a new load has to go out.
Family of 4 but not much heavy woolen stuff.

I spin soapy stuff all the time! There is a small pool of water in the bottom before it reaches the spout but you can tip the machine to get rid of it.

The only thing that doesn’t fit in my spinner drum is a double duvet/ quilted bedspread so they go to the launderette.