Drying clothes in winter

[Primarkcouture]

I have the heated airer, the dehumidifier and no less than 3 socktopuses. But no tumble dryer and no space for one. Spring, summer and into Autumn I'm line drying then finishing off in the heated airer and dehumidifier. Both taking up space in the living room.

AIBU for not knowing where to begin drying clothes in the flipping British winter?

Tempted to build an outbuilding for drying purposes or failing that moving to a hot country where I can dry my clothes outside all year round.

I can't have a pulley maid as my ceilings are not 'solid' as it were. They are lowered and are thin plasterboard.

Drying on radiators around the house with sopping wet clothes leads to damp and mould for sure.

I may need to somehow find space for a tumble dryer after all. Any recommendations for a compact one?

Imagine living in a hot country and never having to think about this!

Ah that will be it. It was dry and cold but still so everything came back in damp.

Wash at home and dry at laudrette.

If you are spinning ventilating and dehumidifier you shouldn’t get mould.

We haven’t in the last three years since we didn’t bother to replace our dryer. In fact our house is dryer without the dryer. The amount of steam the condenser dryer let off was huge still just didn’t realise it.

I’ve just got a heated pod thing to add to my armoury for clothes drying. It dries things quickly if only put about 4 to 6 things in (on hangers), so have to be on hand to swap things round. But worth it for weekends when I have stacks of washing to get through (like this coming weekend, post washing machine breakdown). It folds up small too. It’s a bit of a crap design though, the one shared by a pp looks better.

Why single out radiators? Drying things on any of the standard airers, heated airers, Pulleymaids, and drying pods mentioned by everyone else on this thread will also put all the water from the clothes into the air in your house. Won't that cause the same issues unless you remove it by ventilating or using a dehumidifier?

Do people really do this? What do you do, pack a big bag of wet clothes, drive it to the launderette, go home, and go back to collect it? I'd spend my life hauling the big wet bag of laundry around!

We have an 8 metre 4 lath pulley (Sheila Maid) over the landing and stairs, a shorter 6 lath double layer (two sets of laths, one above the other) Kitchen Maid in the back bedroom, a standing airer in the living room when needed, over door hangers and radiator airers. We have dehumidifiers in the hallway, living room and back bedroom. Windows are opened every day for a few hours to air the house. Washing is spun at 1400 rpm. Family of four, previously five before DC1 left home. We haven't had a tumble dryer since the last one started smoking over twenty years ago.

I've always dried indoors in the winter and never had mould

What about using one of those outdoor tumble dryers? There are quite a few in Swansea so I presume they are nationwide?

I've not used one as I don't need to but I thought they were a great idea for people who don't want to go to a launderette and wait.

I still dry my washing outside in the winter. It might come back in a bit damp still but then doesn’t take long to finish drying inside.

It was windy today I got two loads of clothes and a load of towels washed and dried, it's cold but they still dried
We have underfloor heating in our bathroom, so I put a couple of airers in there and a dehumidifier with the door closed and it dries really quickly.

I take 2 or 3 washed loads to petrol station 1 to dry and never had an issue. Probably less practical.with no car. If heating is on extra spin and over radiators/clothes horse with window open when not too cold!

Some tumble dryers work. Mine is this one:
Beko DTLCE80051W Freestanding Condenser Tumble Dryer, 8kg Load
It gets things properly dry in about 15 minutes so long as I don't overload it - I do smaller batches for a shorter time rather than leaving in a big load for ages.
I prefer line drying, and do it all year in dry weather so long as there is a modicum of sun and wind, and sometimes leave things hanging in the top bathroom with the window is open if showers are expected. But sometimes this is impossible for days at a time and the dryer comes in. Leaving things on radiators is hopeless because the house is a bit prone to get damp.

A couple of extra spins in the washing machine does really help clothes dry a lot faster.

No real advice beyond that - I line dry outside in winter where possible but otherwise it's airer.

I have a hotpoint washer dryer which works reasonably well, I don’t use it for everything but works well for towels/sheets that would otherwise take ages to dry. I also do heated airer with a cover (just chuck a sheet over it) and dehumidifier, we don’t have any outdoor space at all and are a family of 4 so in winter this set up is running practically 24/7. We put it in the bathroom which is sometimes a bit annoying but at least I’m not having to look at it when I’m trying to relax of an evening. Extra spin really does make a difference too.

How many are you washing for? I've a pulley, a wee airer in the kitchen and a dehumidifier for three of us and i just about keep on top of it.

I have a washer dryer which I was really sceptical about at first but it's absolutely incredible. I have an LG one, think it was about £600 but I now couldn't be without it.

Beats my heated airer hands down. So many people told me washer dryers were rubbish but I've not had a single issue drying anything, can do a full load washed and dried in 3-4 hours which beats the airer anyday!

I don't have a heated airer. I don't have a dehumidifier and I have one socktopus. I don't have a tumble dryer or space for one.

I line dry outside whenever I can and when I can't I dry my washing inside in the kitchen on a airer.

My airer is huge and on wheels. So I wheel it into the living room when cooking.

I spend my life moving washing around and so many pictures in the house have drying laundry in the background (to my dismay)!

It's just the way it is.

They shouldn't be sopping after a wash. Is there a problem spinning?

You can line dry outside if it’s windy - I did all my sheets on Wednesday. Bring inside and stick over the bannisters overnight to get from “cold and possibly damp” to “properly dry”. The bigger issue for me is being out at work all day - I do draw the line at hanging washing out in the dark.

Washer dryers do work if they aren’t over-filled - I take tops and trousers out and dry on the airer, and tumble underwear and pyjamas. Means the airer isn’t overloaded.

Sun but zero wind where we are today, so stuff came back in slightly drier but absolutely freezing.
I keep putting outside for as long as I can, it’s so still just now it’s not doing anything though.

Any form of drying inside risks mould - the same amount of moisture come out whether radiator or heated airer. I've never had mould in this house. In an old house I did get mould so used a dehumidifier when drying washing.

You won't get mould from drying washing on radiators any more than you'd get from drying it any other way (unless it's an externally vented tumble dryer) because it's the same washing so the same amount of water being dispelled into the air.

I’ve dried mine on radiators for 20 years and never had mould in our house 🤷‍♀️