Reluctance to use a tumble dryer is a British quirk

[User3735]

I've noticed that there is a lot of shame around using a tumble dryer, and even people who have one are reluctant to admit it, and make excuses why they have one and say they use it rarely. The claims of them being extortionate and terrible for the environment seem exaggerated to me whenever I look at the latest energy uses and cost. According to Which, the average tumble dryer costs around £150 per year to run (and less than £60 per year for a newer heat pump dryer). Yet people will buy expensive heated airers, rails and dehumidifiers to probably a similar value.

I have observed this tumble dryer reluctance from people from all financial backgrounds. The only pattern I have noticed is those who had one in their home growing up are more likely to use them, and those who didn't think they are to be avoided at all costs. I wonder if they did cost significantly more when they were new, and it is a misconception of running costs?

I have always had one, and when they have broken I have replaced asap. Our current dryer broke down this summer, and I put off replacing while the weather was better, but I now seem to have been influenced by the tumble dryer haters and I have a strange sense of satisfaction of powering on through winter without one. Whilst I get an utterly pointless sense of satisfaction that I am winning, the time spent shaking out, hanging and turning clothes takes up quite a ridiculous chunk of time compared to tumble drying and I am very time poor. Given our wet climate and issues with damp, I really can't understand why so many people are against them?

I don't like the feel of towels which have been tumble-dried. They go all fluffy and somehow not very absorbent.

I like my towels to exfoliate!

Also, if you're a fan of natural fabrics I think tumble dryers are a no-no. If you like microfibre etc, then fine. They'd be DEATH to my merino and cashmere, I'm sure.

I use my tumble dryer for bedding, towels etc but clothes go on the aider where they’ll generally dry overnight. I hate having washing taking ages to dry.

My bedding goes over the banisters and she shower screen - dries overnight.

And no towels aren’t meant to be fluffy,they are less absorbent that way. I have a linen towel I use for the gym and it is way more absorbent than ordinary towels.

I'm the person the op is describing. I have a tumble dryer, but it takes some kind of dire emergency for me to use it.

It shrinks so much stuff, and I hate the feel of tumble dried clothes - they're always sort of limp and floppy.

Today I'm putting towels on the line, and they'll be put on an airer in the spare room overnight to finish drying with a dehumidifier. I know this is far more effort than putting them in the tumble, but I prefer the way they feel when I've done that.

Love my heated airer...15 years and still working as new. No room for a tumble dryer in our house (Terrace ) so never used one. Heated airer drys everything overnight and can be folded away and popped into the cupboard...

Horrible things

Everyone talking about clothes being ruined or shrunk is probably referring to really old ones.
We have got a heat pump dryer,much less heat and very gentle, so cheap to run.
The heated air is reused so very efficient.
Clothes come out soft and as if ironed,no shrinkage.
When I tip litres of water out of the condenser bit I'm very glad that's not on my walls!
I always get a musty sick smell from people who "dry"their clothes inside, they never really dry quickly and sort of go off
It's a very good point about allergies but also some of us don't want to lift up towels sheets due to injury etc.
All the " fresh air" people, its an an trope when houses were smoky from indoor fires, I'd be a bit concerned if your house doesn't have fresh air
Brits love being martyrs though.
Huff, puff, complain and carry on doing it😂

We're in a tiny cottage so don't have the room for one. The air quality's good here so it makes sense to dry outside whenever we can. But even if we had the room for a dryer we're on Economy 7 so our daytime electricity is extra expensive. We try to run energy-hogging appliances overnight - but I wouldn't want to run a dryer when we're asleep.

If the weather's bad we put the clothes on an airer in a small room, run a dehumidifier overnight and they're dry by morning. It probably takes twice as long as the cycle of a heat pump dryer but then the dehumidifier uses less than half the energy of a heat pump dryer....and much, much less than a condenser dryer which chews through electricity.

It works for us. But then we did an "eco audit" about 5 years ago and have massively reduced our energy use since then. We're saving our pennies up to install solar next so even if we could magic up the space we'd do that before we got any new devices.

So you own no items of clothing that aren’t supposed to be tumble dried? No jumpers, Lycra things, bras, logo t-shirts, socks etc? Everything just goes in there and you never follow the care instructions?

We have a good heat pump one (I know they aren't all equal) which costs us a max of 15p a load atm (cheap rate electricity plus solar/ battery system)
I put delicates on the dolly maid dryer but everything else (towels, cleaning cloths, uniform, shirts, kids clothes, underwear, socks, bedding etc) in the dryer
If you pull everything out when it beeps, hardly have to iron a thing.
I have t-shirts / vest tops in good nick that have been regularly worn for 20yrs, we still have bedding & towels which we got for a wedding present 17yrs ago so I don't think it's prematurely aging/ wearing stuff.
I've always washed cool & split colours/whites, done zips and clasps up - which I think ages stuff more than the dryer.

No jumpers, Lycra things, bras, logo t-shirts, socks etc? Everything just goes in there and you never follow the care instructions?

I've always tumbled dried all those things and have never once had a problem.

I’m all about avoiding using energy when the task at hand can adequately be done using less or none. Climate change.

I have had a washer dryer in the past but found it could only cope with drying half a load so couldn't just put a load in and it come out dry. That was why I chose just a washing machine when it broke as I couldn't justify the price for a washer dryer.

I don't have one, believing that they do limit clothing life and wondered if that was so. Yes and No seems to be the answer and this article is interesting -

@margotrose Do your jumpers all have magical non-shrinking powers?

I use mine every day. I can't stand towels that are rough. No shame here.👍

The 'quirk' over not using came from the expense of running it. many of the early ones only pushed wet moisture into the air around it.
To me the real Eccentricity is California suburbs making it illegal to have a clothes line in your garden to use all that hot sun. It lowers the tone apparently and house prices.

Me too. My towels don't go 'crunchy' they're not hard but not super soft either and they dry you off so much quicker than a tumble dried towel, ime.

In the UK in winter you need some type of heat to dry laundry.
I don't want washing hanging around my house or damp so its the heat pump dryer.

Really? I only like fluffy tumble-dryer towels. Otherwise they go hard and stiff and the towelling clumps together.

I don't really understand how people use dryers. Firstly they don't take a full load, so there's in/out of machine faff to handle a load. Then if the clothes get over-dried they feel horrible, under-dried and you need to hang them anyway. Clothes in the wash don't dry evenly, so it means loads of faffing in/out of the machine. We use airers so everything gets hung in 5-10 min per load, and we heat the house plus open windows to air each day, so it all dries quickly. The airers get turned on if we need something to definitely be dry by morning. Then there's the fluff clearing, which is annoying and shows clothes damage.

If I thought a dryer would be helpful then I'd get one and not be fussy about it. I don't though.

Mine has a huge drum, I just put the laundry in, close the door and switch on.
The newer ones have sensors , no over or under drying.
It's very gentle, nothing gets scorched or feels awful.
Can't imagine having clothes hanging everywhere, then ironing

I really do think people are discussing old style TD.
The heat pump ones are nothing like the old schorchio ones at all!

They take a full load from my washing machine. If it’s not quite dry put it on for a bit longer.

So much easier and quicker to take load from washing machine and put in the dryer, than the faff of taking it all out and hanging each item of clothing on an airer. And in a damp cool summer like the one we just had the clothes take ages to dry.

It’s not so bad with a large utility room with a built in airer, but otherwise taking airing racks in and out of cupboards and drying things around the house - no thanks.

I have never had a clothes line in my life, so am quite happy to use the dryer and hang things to air on radiators.
In addition, whilst I was working away a lot, it would have been almost impossible to do the weekly or fortnightly washing turnaround without one.
Furthermore, I live in a country where there are local bye-laws about hanging washing outside on Sundays/public holidays, so being able to use a dryer removes these limitations.
You can also save yourself a lot of ironing, if you get the timings right.
I can honestly say that I have never felt the electricity bills were too high either.