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?

My cleaner hangs our washing out, which is great, but not so great when she insists on putting it on the airer when it's too cold, or won't use the drier (even though I've said to her that we're very happy to use the drier, especially for towels).
She spent weeks wondering why we often don't hang washing out in summer (because when you WFH it's ok to chuck a load in the drier but not go outside for ten minutes and then also have to keep an eye out for rain)

Never use mine.
Line dry or dry in the house.

My last tumble drier burst into flames. I’ll never buy another.

I have a washer dryer and I won't use the dryer function because it's crap and smells funny. But a proper vented dryer is a fantastic thing. I would use it if I had one.

I do a lot of laundry and I live in a flat. In the winter I have to use the dehumidifier, and it absolutely makes a difference in drying time to use it. It keeps the damp from forming in my bathroom, too.

In the summer I'll put it in my bedroom where it can catch the breeze from my oscillating fan (I can't sleep without the fan even in the winter.)

My preference is to hang washing outdoors and that’s what I do in the summer and on crisp winter days. When it’s damp in the winter it goes in the tumble dryer on low, comes out and gets hung straight up, no ironing required. Don’t over dry it then it won’t crease. I prefer to tumble dry than have damp washing hanging everywhere and also you can power through the piles of washing quicker.

I grew up with one and I use mine almost every day. I have never had anything shrink in the drier, ever. I could not do without one. What I dont get is dishwashers. Ive got one but I have never used it. Its easier to hand wash, dry and put away.

Is there any particular reason why you turn the dehumidifier on in the morning after they have (more or less) dried, rather than overnight whilst they are drying?

I think part of the reluctance is space - unlike the US people don't tend to get much sq ft for their money so it's not always easy to have room for one. We had a washer-dryer for a bit but it could onlu dry a couple of items at a time and it broke down after a few years (repair guy said washer dryers weren't very sturdy) so have given up on the idea generally.

Bloody love mine and don’t know how people manage with out tbh.

Excellent for bedding,towels and pants and socks in particular.

I like dry in the summer but it’s rained so much for the last month so impossible to dry outdoors.

We do have a clothes horse and dehumidifer for things that can’t be tumbled.

Our tumble dryer caused a massive house fire. We were rehoused for 6 months.

I swore I’d never get another. A year later l was sick of not being able to get anything fry and bought another one.

We use our tumble dryer all year round. Like the dishwasher, we’d struggle to be without it.

No idea whether it's a British thing or not, but I'm British and absolutely everything gets tumble-dried in this house (apart from bras, and the occasional pair of hand-knitted woollen socks). I don't have room for a separate washer and dryer and there are aspects of the washer-dryer that annoy me, but I would hate to be without it.

All very romantic drying things "on the line", but in practice that means they get impregnated with road grime and pollen, and I value my/my partner's health more than my electricity bill — we're both allergic types with asthma, hayfever, etc. Drying on a rack indoors, same problem — increased humidity, more mould growth, more spores, more asthma. Fuck that.

I use ours all year although in the summer I use the line as well . Towels go in it all year . I’ve absolutely no problem with admitting I use it .

After having a new build that we dried clothes on an airer and had mould, we know exclusively use a tumble dryer. Unless it’s something like a delicate wool jumper.
Completely agree with the competitive not using the tumble dryer. We have a heat pump one as it pays for itself in the savings from a standard one after 18months.

people drying loads of clothes then having damp. Also hate the smell on other people of Danny dried clothes.

I've never had one and don't understand why I'd need one. It hardly takes any time to hang stuff on the airer - I imagine I'd spend more time than that separating all the can-be-tumbled-tried clothes from the cant-be. I have lots of natural fibres too which aren't tumble-drier friendly.

Most of the world do not use dryers, they are very much a North American thing which obviously have become popular in colder climes finances permitting. I've got friends in Spain, france and Italy, none of which have dryers.

I store my loo roll and gerbil bedding in my dishwasher. I don't mind washing dishes and I very much mind having something inaccessible because it's in the washer.

YANBU OP it winds me up to no end seeing people go on and on about their dehumidifiers and claiming that this is so much more green than me single handedly sending the world to hell in a handcart with my very energy efficient heat pump dryer.

I think people just get their info from some wildly outdated source and it sticks in their head.

Mind you when I was a child I claimed that I did not like dishwashers as I didn't think they got things properly clean. I assume this was some kind of reverse snobbishness/defence mechanism that my mum had assumed and passed onto me, because washing up is THE WORST chore in the history of household chores.

I think that must be where it comes from - if you can't afford one/don't have space then you make up all sorts of reasons why it's better that you don't have one anyway, and then they get stuck.

Sorry I love my tumble dryer. I love the way clothes smell and feel when they come out of it. I love the time and energy and effort it saves me. I love not stressing about mould growing in the corners of the bedroom.

I hardly use the tumble dryer from Feb - Oct. Clothes are either dried outside or on lines strung up in the conservatory if it's wet outside. In winter I'll tumble dry to avoid that musty smell.

We have a washer dryer and we do use the dry function but mostly on things like towels and bedding. I worry it shrinks clothes!

This is so funny. I’m the total opposite. If anything of mine hasn’t been tumble dried I have to re wash it and tumble it. I can’t stand the feel of non tumbled clothes especially crispy towels 😭 it makes me gag. (I do have sensory issues). I use my dryer 7 days a week as I do about 90 million loads of laundry

Half my clothes don’t even go in the tumble drier so it’s not possible to put everything in. While I do use it in the winter I certainly don’t in the summer and living in the SE where it’s dry I make the most of my big, suburban, fume free garden to dry. Why would you throw away money like that ? Pointless. ( and of course it’s bad for clothes)

I use mine a lot but it is one of the vented ones that is quite quick, some take hours

No like because they shrink cotton. I have an airing cupboard which works well

The people who don't use them have space for drying indoors in bad weather, I'd imagine.

With us, it would mean a miserable clothes horse covered in wet clothes in the living room or bedroom five days a week, and the radiators on more to enable it to dry, costing more in gas. Damp air and condensation on the windows. No thanks. We're not living in the 1940s and YANBU. However, anyone with outside space who uses one in dry sunny weather is an idiot.